Meanings
present singular third person sautés · participle present sautéing · participle past sautéed · past sautéed · participle past sautéd · past sautéd · alternative saute · alternative sautee · alternative sautée · alternative dated sauter
- transitiveTo cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat, allowing the food to brown and form a crust stopping it from sticking to the pan as it cooks.
Lightly sautéing fresh spinach in a drizzle of olive or avocado oil meets this baseline, and it’s tasty and nutritious as well.
2021 July 1, Gregory McNamee, “Does spinach make you strong? Ask Popeye – and science”, in CNN, archived from the original on 11 Jun 20252 more examples
Parboil three-fourths cup carrot, cut in strips, fifteen minutes; drain, and sauté in one tablespoon bacon fat to which has been added one tablespoon finely chopped onion.[…]Cook until potatoes are soft, then add twelve small onions cooked until soft, then drained and sautéd in two tablespoons butter to which is added one tablespoon sugar. Onions need not be sautéd unless they are desired glazed. Serve from casserole dish.
1906, Fannie Merritt Farmer, “Lamb and Mutton”, in The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, section “Lamb en Casserole”, page 220Frying and sautéing are methods that heat foods for the most part by conduction from a hot, oiled pan, with temperatures between 350 and 450°F/175–225°C that encourage Maillard browning and flavor development.
2004, Harold McGee, chapter 14, in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, Scribner, →ISBN
Origin
- Frenchsauté
- Englishsauté
Borrowed from French sauté, past participle of sauter (“to sauté”, literally “to jump”); in cooking, diced onions jump in the pan from the hot oil.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian соти́рам, соте́
- соти́рам (sotíram)to cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
- соте́ (soté)a dish prepared this way
Catalan saltar
- saltarto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
Chinese Mandarin 嫩煎, 煎炒
- 嫩煎 (nènjiān)to cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
- 煎炒 (jiānchǎo)to cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
Danish sautere
- sautereto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
Finnish käristää, soteerata
- käristääto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
- soteeratato cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
- käristysa dish prepared this way
French sauter
- sauterto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
German sautieren
- sautierento cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
Hungarian pirít, megpirít
- pirítto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
- megpirítto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
- kevés zsíron, hirtelen kisütto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
Indonesian tumis, tumis
- tumisto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
- tumisa dish prepared this way
- tumisana dish prepared this way
Irish sótáil
- sótáilto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
Italian padellare, saltare
- padellareto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
- saltareto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
- rosolareto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
- saltataa dish prepared this way
Japanese 炒める, ソテー
- 炒める (itameru)to cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
- ソテー (sotē)to cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
Malay tumis
- tumisto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
Portuguese refogar, saltear
- refogarto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
- saltearto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
Russian жа́рить на ма́сле
- жа́рить на ма́сле (žáritʹ na másle)to cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
Spanish rehogar, ahogar
- rehogarto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
- ahogarto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
Swedish sautera
- sauterato cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
Turkish sotelemek, sote etmek
- sotelemekto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
- sote etmekto cook (food) using a small amount of fat in an open pan over a relatively high heat
- sotea dish prepared this way
Cite this entry
sauté. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/saut%C3%A9
“sauté.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/saut%C3%A9. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sauté,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/saut%C3%A9.
Source: sauté on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.