Sautéing uses a small amount of fat or oil to cook thinly sliced foods over high heat. Ingredients are sliced thin to make cooking faster and the food is moved around using jerking motions or a utensil to keep the ingredients moving. Successfully done, sautéed foods have been browned a little but still retain their flavour and moisture.

Sauté pans have a wide base with shallow sides. There must be a thin coating of oil, clarified butter, or other fat on the bottom of the pan, too much will have you frying the food instead of sautéing. Your ingredients must be in a single layer to allow steam to escape, or you will be stewing your food.

The use of clarified butter instead of real butter is because real butter has milk solids in them and will burn at a lower temperature. Sautéing is done at high heat, so the butter will be burnt.

Do not confuse Sautéing with pan frying.