Half Sheet vs Jelly Roll vs Quarter Sheet: Which Pan Does What

The sheet pan aisle confuses people because the names are inconsistent. A jelly roll pan is sometimes called a sheet pan. A cookie sheet is sometimes called a half sheet. A quarter sheet pan sounds like a quarter of a sheet but it is actually one quarter of a full sheet, which is a size most home ovens cannot fit. Once you know the four standard sizes and what each is built for, the buying decision gets simple.

This guide covers the actual dimensions, the recipes each pan handles best, and why two half sheet pans is the most common right answer for a home kitchen. Pan thickness, rim height, and material all matter too, but size is the first decision.

The four standard sheet pan sizes

Bakery and restaurant sheet pans follow a standardized sizing system. Home-market pans usually follow the same dimensions, sometimes with a few millimeters of variation between brands.

• Full sheet: 26 by 18 inches, 1 inch deep. Fits 36-inch commercial ovens. Does not fit standard 30-inch home ovens.
• Half sheet: 18 by 13 inches, 1 inch deep. Fits standard 30-inch home ovens with clearance. The most common professional pan you will see in a home kitchen.
• Quarter sheet: 13 by 9 inches, 1 inch deep. Half the size of a half sheet. Fits side by side with another quarter sheet on a single rack in most home ovens.
• Eighth sheet: 9.5 by 6.5 inches, 1 inch deep. Useful for toaster ovens, small countertop ovens, and single-portion bakes.

Then there are two specialty sizes that come up often:

• Jelly roll pan: 15.5 by 10.5 inches (sometimes 17.25 by 11.5), 0.75 to 1 inch deep. Slightly smaller than a half sheet, slightly shallower. Designed for a single thin sponge cake that gets rolled.
• Cookie sheet: typically 17 by 14 inches with a rim on only one side (or no rim at all). The open edge lets you slide cookies off easily. Closer to a half sheet in size but without the full perimeter wall.

What each pan is built for

The right pan depends on what you bake. Here is the practical match.

Half sheet pan

The most versatile size. A half sheet handles:

• A standard batch of 12 to 16 drop cookies (3 by 4 grid with spacing).
• A sheet pan dinner for 2 to 4 people. Chicken thighs and vegetables fit with enough room for browning.
• A single thin sheet cake (use a recipe scaled for 18 by 13).
• A jelly roll cake (the cake will be slightly thinner than on a dedicated jelly roll pan, often 0.5 inch instead of 0.75 inch, which makes the roll a touch tighter).
• Roasted vegetables for a family of four with room to spread.
• Granola, croutons, toasted nuts, dried herbs.

If you only buy one sheet pan, this is the size.

Quarter sheet pan

Useful as a second size, especially for small households or for batches that do not justify heating up a half sheet’s worth of pan.

• A half-batch of cookies (6 to 8 cookies).
• Bacon for two people.
• Roasted vegetables for one or two people.
• A small batch of granola or nuts.
• Catching drips under a pie or a casserole when you want a smaller catcher than a half sheet.

Two quarter sheets can replace a half sheet for many tasks and let you bake two different things at once on a single oven rack.

Eighth sheet pan

A toaster oven and small countertop oven workhorse. Useful for reheating, single servings of roasted vegetables, and very small bakes. Most home cooks do not need one unless they cook primarily in a toaster oven.

Jelly roll pan

A specialty pan, useful for rolled sponge cakes (the namesake), bar cookies, and shallow tray bakes. The 0.75-inch depth produces a thinner, more even sponge than a half sheet does. If you bake rolled cakes regularly (more than twice a year), a dedicated jelly roll pan is worth the cabinet space. If not, a half sheet handles the same recipes with minor adjustments.

Cookie sheet

The pan with a rim on only one side or no rim at all. The open edge makes sliding cookies off easy and lets oven air circulate more freely around the bake, which can produce slightly more even browning on the tops of cookies. The tradeoff is that it cannot hold liquids, so anything with rendering fat (bacon, chicken thighs, drippy roasts) will leak onto the oven floor. A pure cookie baker may prefer this design. A general user is better off with rimmed half sheets and a sheet of parchment.

Why two half sheet pans is the most common right answer

Most home cooks end up using two half sheet pans more than any other bakeware they own. Two half sheets let you:

• Bake cookies in shifts. Drop the first dozen, bake them, slide them onto a cooling rack, then immediately scoop the second dozen onto the second pan (which is cool because it has not been in the oven) and bake. The cooled pan keeps cookies from spreading prematurely.
• Run a wet and a dry bake at the same time. Roasted vegetables on one pan, bacon on the other. The pans keep the moisture and fat separate so the vegetables crisp instead of steaming.
• Spread a sheet pan dinner. A crowded sheet pan steams more than it browns. Splitting a dinner across two pans gives every piece air contact and produces deep browning.
• Cool one while the other bakes. A pan that has cooled to room temperature behaves differently from a hot pan. Cookie doughs spread more on a hot pan, which can ruin a careful recipe. Rotating between two pans avoids this.

The marginal cost of the second half sheet (typically 20 to 30 dollars for a quality Nordic Ware or Vollrath pan) is small relative to how often it gets used.

What to look for when buying

The pan size determines what you can bake. The pan material and thickness determine how well it bakes.

• Heavy-gauge aluminum. 18 to 19 gauge (thicker is lower number) resists warping at high heat. Thin pans (22 gauge or thinner) bend when one corner heats faster than another, which causes oil to pool and food to cook unevenly.
• Rolled rim with steel reinforcement. The rolled wire inside the rim keeps the pan square even after years of use. Pans without reinforcement tend to deform.
• Light natural aluminum. Easier to match to standard recipe times and temperatures. Dark and nonstick pans bake faster on the bottom (see our companion article on sheet pan color).
• Made-in-USA brands. Nordic Ware, Vollrath, USA Pan, and Chicago Metallic make pans that hold their shape for decades. Cheap store-brand pans often warp within a year.

Sheet pan sizing is one of those topics that seems obvious until you go to buy a pan and realize the names do not match what you expected. Two half sheets in heavy-gauge light aluminum is the most common right answer for a home kitchen. Add a quarter sheet later if you find yourself heating up the half sheet for jobs too small to justify it. See our methodology page for the full bakeware testing framework.

Frequently asked questions