In [2]: df = pd.DataFrame({'a':[1,2,3], 'b':[{'c':1}, {'d':3}, {'c':5, 'd':6}]}) In [3]: df Out[3]: a b 0 1 {u'c': 1} 1 2 {u'd': 3} 2 3 {u'c': 5, u'd': 6} In [4]: df['b'].apply(pd.Series) Out[4]: c d 0 1.0 NaN 1 NaN 3.0 2 5.0 6.0