Metal radical on the left - the contracted form of 金. Marks 锅 as a metal cooking vessel: traditional Chinese pots and woks are forged from iron. The same radical front-loads almost every metal-tool character (钉, 钱, 钟, 铁).
Right component supplies the sound exactly: guō. The traditional form 鍋 used 咼 (also guō); the simplified 呙 is its modernised variant. Same phonetic in 涡 wō (whirlpool), 窝 wō (nest), 蜗 wō (snail) - a tight wō/guō family.
