Beginner
Tart Pan Sizes: What You Need to Know
Tart pan sizes explained: the standard diameters, how area changes from 9 to 11 inches, and how to scale a filling to another pan.
A tart can overflow onto the oven floor when the pan is a size smaller than the recipe expects. Tart pans are shallow, so the number that matters is the area across the top, and a one-inch jump in diameter changes the volume more than most bakers expect.
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What counts as a standard tart pan size?
In the US the usual round pan is 9 or 9 1/2 inches across, which lines up with 23 to 24 cm in Europe. Brands vary a little, so a pan sold as 9 inches may measure a touch more at the rim and a touch less at the base. For an exact figure, take the measurement at the top of the pan, on the inside of the fluted wall.
Most tart pans sit around an inch deep. For those usual one-inch pans, surface area is the comparison that matters; deeper pans, which run up to 2 inches, hold more than their area suggests.
How round sizes compare by area
Because depth barely changes, the table below ranks the common rounds by the area they cover. The gaps are bigger than the diameters suggest.
| Round pan | Metric | Area |
|---|
| 8-inch | 20 cm | 50.3 sq in |
| 9-inch | 23 cm | 63.6 sq in |
| 9 1/2-inch | 24 cm | 70.9 sq in |
| 10-inch | 25 cm | 78.5 sq in |
| 11-inch | 28 cm | 95.0 sq in |
| 12-inch | 30 cm | 113.1 sq in |
How do you scale a recipe to a different pan?
Work out the area ratio between the two pans and scale the filling by it. The pastry follows the same ratio, though a little extra dough is easier to handle than too little, and any excess trims off after lining.
- Moving from a 9-inch to a 10-inch pan: scale the filling by 1.23.
- Moving from a 9-inch to an 11-inch pan: scale it by 1.49, roughly one and a half times.
- Moving from a 10-inch to a 9 1/2-inch pan: scale it by 0.9, or pour in everything when the filling stays under the rim.
Tartlets, pie fillings and substitute pans
Individual tartlets change the maths and the timing. Batter or filling for a single 9 1/2-inch tart stretches to four 4 3/4-inch tartlets, or five to six at 4 inches, and the small shells bake faster than a full tart, so watch for evenly golden edges rather than trusting the full-size time.
Pie fillings need more room than a tart pan of the same diameter offers, since pie plates are deeper with sloped sides. A filling made for a standard 9-inch pie generally sits better in a 10 or 11-inch tart pan, and custard or pumpkin mixtures spill most easily, so stop short of the rim and bake the surplus in a ramekin. A springform pan can stand in for a tart pan if the pastry is pressed about an inch up the sides, though the edge will not be fluted.
Which size and shape suits most kitchens?
The 9 and 9 1/2-inch rounds are the most common tart pans, with 10-inch rounds close behind, so they are the safe starting point. A long rectangular pan of 14 x 4 1/2 inches holds about as much as a 9-inch round. Measure the oven first, since a pan that does not fit is the one size problem no conversion fixes.
Size is only half of the choice; a two-piece design lets the tart come out whole, while a one-piece pan means lifting slices out like a pie. Our comparison of which tart pan with removable bottom to buy sets 9 and 9.5-inch pans against each other on material and coating.