Brownie Dish Size: 8x8, 9x9 or 9x13?

Updated September 2026 · Baking Resources

The standard brownie dish size is an 8x8 inch square pan, and almost every brownie formula you find is written for it. An 8x8 has 64 square inches of floor. A 9x13 has 117, which is 83 percent more, so pouring an 8x8 batch into a 9x13 gives you brownies barely half as thick, dry at the edges and set through before the center ever gets fudgy.

If you only own a 9x13, multiply everything by 1.8. If you only own an 8x8 and the formula was written for a 9x13, multiply by 0.55. Those two numbers solve most brownie pan problems.

Swapping between two pans right now? Our free cake pan converter does the area math and tells you the batter volume for any pair.

Updated September 2026

The brownie pan chart: area, capacity and finished thickness

Capacity figures below match our pan converter. The thickness column assumes a standard single batch of brownie batter, which is about 3 1/4 cups.

The row worth memorizing is the 9 inch round. Its floor area is 63.6 square inches against the 8x8's 64, which makes it the only truly free swap on the list. Same batter, same depth, same time, round instead of square.

How to pick a brownie dish size by depth, not by area

Area is how you scale the recipe. Depth is what decides whether the brownie is any good.

That table explains the whole 8x8 versus 9x13 argument. The 8x8 gives you 0.73 inches, right in the bakery band. The 9x13 gives you 0.40 inches, which is a thin brownie and will taste dry even if you pull it early, because there is not enough middle to stay soft.

The practical rule: aim for 3/4 of an inch of batter in the pan. To hit it, take your batter volume in cups, multiply by 14.44 to get cubic inches, then divide by the pan's floor area. If the answer is under 0.5, use a smaller pan or scale the recipe up.

Scaling factors between the common brownie pans

Multiply every ingredient by the number in the cell.

Two shortcuts people actually use. Doubling an 8x8 recipe into a 9x13 gives you 1.10 inches of batter instead of 0.73, which is genuinely gooey and needs about 10 extra minutes at a lower oven. And 1.5x an 8x8 into a 9x13 gives 0.60 inches, a solid middle ground if you want a thinner, chewier bar without doing awkward egg math.

Our recipe scaler handles the fractions if you would rather not do this on paper, and the 9x13 pan substitute guide covers the same problem from the other direction.

Worked example: an 8x8 brownie formula scaled to a 9x13

What you have: a formula written for an 8x8 pan listing 113 g butter, 200 g sugar, 2 large eggs, 65 g all-purpose flour, 40 g cocoa powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. You own one pan and it is a 9x13.

Step 1. The factor. 117 square inches divided by 64 is 1.83.

Step 2. The arithmetic.

• Butter: 113 x 1.83 = 207 g
• Sugar: 200 x 1.83 = 366 g, call it 365
• Flour: 65 x 1.83 = 119 g
• Cocoa: 40 x 1.83 = 73 g
• Salt: 1/2 tsp x 1.83 = a scant 1 teaspoon
• Eggs: two large eggs weigh about 100 g shelled, so 100 x 1.83 = 183 g of beaten egg

Step 3. The egg line, which is where people give up. Do not crack "three and a bit eggs" by eye. Beat four, weigh out 183 g, and put the rest aside. That is roughly three large eggs plus two tablespoons. Getting egg wrong is the fastest route to a cakey brownie, since egg is the ingredient that adds the most structure.

Step 4. Check the depth. 3 1/4 cups x 1.83 = 5.95 cups of batter. Multiply by 14.44 and you have 86 cubic inches, divided by 117 square inches of floor gives 0.73 inches. Identical to the original pan.

Step 5. The bake. Same depth means same temperature and nearly the same time. Bake at 350°F and start checking at the original time. A 9x13 loses heat through more surface, so add 2 to 4 minutes if anything.

Step 6. What you saved. Without the math you would have poured a single batch into that pan, baked a 0.40 inch slab, and thrown away half of it. Our guide to scaling a recipe covers the ingredients that do not scale linearly, including salt and leavening.

Worked example: cutting a 9x13 formula down to an 8x8

What you have: a 9x13 formula listing 340 g butter, 600 g sugar, 5 large eggs, 190 g flour and 120 g cocoa. Your only pan is an 8x8.

The factor: 64 divided by 117 = 0.55.

• Butter: 340 x 0.55 = 187 g
• Sugar: 600 x 0.55 = 330 g
• Flour: 190 x 0.55 = 105 g
• Cocoa: 120 x 0.55 = 66 g
• Eggs: 5 large eggs are about 250 g shelled, so 250 x 0.55 = 137 g of beaten egg, which is two large eggs plus about two and a half tablespoons

The check. Those weights add up to roughly 3.2 cups of batter, which is 46 cubic inches, over 64 square inches of floor. That is 0.72 inches deep, the same as the original. Bake at the original temperature and time.

The lazy alternative. Halving instead of using 0.55 gets you 0.65 inches of batter, close enough that nobody will complain, and the arithmetic is trivial. Halving is fine here. Halving a 9x13 into a 9 inch round is also fine. Halving into a loaf pan is not, because 45 square inches of floor puts the batter at 1.04 inches and adds 10 minutes to the bake.

The foil dam trick, when you refuse to do math

If you only own a 9x13 and refuse to scale the recipe, build a wall.

Take a length of heavy duty foil, fold it into a strip about four layers thick and as tall as the pan, and stand it across the pan to shorten the 13 inch side. Wedge it in place, then line the smaller section with parchment. A dam set at 8 inches gives you a 9 by 8 area, which is 72 square inches, so a single 8x8 batch bakes at 0.65 inches instead of 0.40.

It leaks a little at the seam. Press the foil hard against the pan floor and use a thick batter rather than a runny one. Our guide to lining a cake pan has the parchment folds that make this cleaner.

Pan material changes the numbers too

Same size, different metal, different brownie.

Light aluminum. The standard, and what most recipe times assume. Conducts fast, browns evenly, edges stay tender.

Dark nonstick. Absorbs heat and browns hard. Drop the oven 25°F and start checking 5 minutes early, or you get a dark ring of overbaked edge around a raw middle.

Glass. Heats slowly and then holds that heat. Brownies keep cooking for several minutes after the pan comes out, which is the classic route to dry brownies from a correct bake time. Drop the oven 25°F, and pull the pan 3 to 5 minutes before you think it is done.

Ceramic and stoneware. Behaves like glass, only more so. Add 5 to 10 minutes and expect very soft edges and a slow finish.

Disposable foil. Thin and flimsy, so it heats fast at the rim and flexes in the middle. Set it on a preheated sheet pan for a flat bottom and an even bake.

Cut count and the edge piece question

Brownie dish size decides how many pieces you get and how many of them are edges.

If chewy edges are the point in your house, the 8x8 wins on ratio and a brownie edge pan wins outright. If you want soft middles, the 9x13 with a scaled-up batch gives you more interior squares per tray.

For clean cuts, chill the slab for an hour, use a long thin knife, and wipe it between every cut. Warm brownies drag the crumb and every square ends up ragged.

Why deeper is riskier than thinner

A thin brownie is a disappointment. A brownie that is too deep is a failure, and the reason is heat travel.

Heat enters from the outside and moves inward at a fixed rate. Double the depth and the center takes far more than double the time to reach temperature, while the edges bake the whole time. Past about 1 1/4 inches you cannot win at 350°F, which is why deep bakes drop to 325°F and stretch the clock.

Doneness for a fudgy brownie lands around 165 to 180°F in the center on an instant-read thermometer. A cakey brownie goes to 200°F, the same as a cake. If you keep ending up with cake when you wanted fudge, the ratio matters more than the pan, and our guide to why brownies turn out cakey has the gram changes that fix it.

Frequently asked questions

What size pan is best for brownies?

An 8x8 inch square, 2 inches deep, in light aluminum. It puts a standard batch at about 3/4 of an inch, which bakes into a chewy edge and a soft middle in 25 to 32 minutes at 350°F. A 9 inch round has almost exactly the same floor area if that is what you own.

Can I use a 9x13 pan for an 8x8 brownie recipe?

Only if you scale the recipe by 1.8, or accept a thin brownie. A single 8x8 batch in a 9x13 sits 0.40 inches deep and bakes in 16 to 22 minutes, which gives crisp, dry bars rather than fudgy ones. The foil dam trick is the middle path if you do not want to scale.

How do I double a brownie recipe?

Double every ingredient by weight, including the egg, and move up to a 9x13. That puts the batter at about 1.1 inches deep, so drop the oven to 325°F and add 10 to 15 minutes. Baking two 8x8 pans side by side instead keeps the original depth and timing, which is the safer choice.

Is a 9x9 pan close enough to an 8x8?

Close, and usually fine. A 9x9 has 27 percent more floor, so the same batter bakes 0.58 inches deep instead of 0.73. Pull it 3 to 5 minutes early. If you want the original thickness, multiply the recipe by 1.27, which is easy on a scale and awkward with cups.

Why are my brownies raw in the middle and dry at the edges?

The batter is too deep for the oven temperature, or the pan is glass or dark metal. Drop to 325°F, add 10 minutes, and check the center at 165 to 180°F rather than watching the clock. If the pan is glass, pull it several minutes early since it keeps cooking on the counter.

How much brownie batter does an 8x8 pan hold?

An 8x8 holds 8 cups to the rim, and a standard brownie batch is about 3 1/4 cups, which fills it a little under half way. Brownies barely rise, so a shallow fill is correct here. Any batter over about 5 cups in an 8x8 will take 45 minutes or more and risks a raw core.

Does a metal or glass dish bake brownies better?

Metal, for most people. Light aluminum heats quickly and evenly and releases the pan's heat as soon as it leaves the oven. Glass lags going in and keeps cooking coming out, which is a common cause of dry brownies from an otherwise correct bake time.

How many brownies does a 9x13 pan make?

Twenty four pieces at a comfortable 2.25 by 2.2 inches, or twenty larger ones at 2.25 by 2.6 inches. An 8x8 cut on a 4 by 4 grid gives sixteen 2 inch squares. Cut with a long knife wiped clean between passes and chill the slab first for straight edges.

Related guides: Why are my brownies cakey | 9x13 pan substitutes | Round cake pan sizes | How to line a cake pan | Cake pan converter