The Best Cast Iron Pans for Every Kitchen
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Cast iron skillets are the original workhorse pan of the kitchen. If you don't have one, you are missing out on a world of excellently seared steaks, crispy potatoes, delicious cornbread, and countless other delights made easier by a cast iron pan. Seriously, you need a cast iron pan.
To help you on your way to cast iron mastery we've put together this guide to help you pick the right pan and understand how to use it and how to care for it. (Don't worry, it's no more difficult to care for than any other pan.)
Check out our other kitchenware guides, including the Best Carbon Steel Pans, Best Air Fryers, Best Juicers, and Best Wireless Meat Thermometers.
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What’s So Great About Cast Iron?
Cast iron has two qualities that have endeared it to chefs across the centuries. The big one is that iron retains heat very well. That means when you add a steak to a sizzling hot pan the temperature doesn't plummet. The minute you pull the pancakes out, it's ready for more.
The other thing we cast iron fans love is that these pans last pretty much forever. I once visited a museum in Naples that had cast iron pans from Pompeii. OK, technically those were hammered, not cast, but let’s not split hairs, the point is iron lasts. Properly cared for they can be heirloom items handed down through the generations.
Smooth Cast Iron vs. Rough
Vintage cast iron pans, and some of our picks here as well, feature smooth, polished cast iron, whereas most pans made after the 1960s have a rougher surface. The difference is in manufacturing. The smooth pans have been polished after casting, the rough pans have not (or at least not as much, depending on the case).
In terms of performance … it really doesn't matter. The polymerized oil that forms the seasoning layer means that food isn't directly in contact with the metal, so the roughness of the metal doesn't come into play in any meaningful way. That said, if you, like me, just happen to prefer the look and feel of smooth pans, there's nothing wrong with that. Likewise, if you're on a budget, the cheaper, rougher pans perform exactly the same and will last just as long. You can even smooth them out yourself if you have the tools (though you will have to reseason them in that case).
Caring for Cast Iron
Many people are put off of cast iron pans by the many myths regarding cast iron: They're hard to clean, you can't use soap, you can't use metal utensils, and more. These are all false. Cast iron pans aren't hard to clean—you wash them with soap and a sponge like any other pan. If something burns and is really stuck, a chainmail scrubber will make quick work of it without hurting the seasoning.
The only thing that differs from cleaning any other pan is that you need to make sure you dry your cast iron well. If you don't, it'll rust. Though even rust isn't the end of the world. You just scrub out the rust and seal with a little oil. I like to heat up my pans after I dry them and then wipe them down with a bit of oil, but you don't need to do that every time.
And the metal utensil thing is completely false; I prefer to use metal utensils. See the accessories section below.
- Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
The Best Cast Iron Skillet
Smithey Cast Iron SkilletCharleston, South Carolina–based Smithey Forge makes the best cast iron pan I've tested, and that includes my personal collection of vintage Griswolds and Wagners. This pan (I have the No. 14 because I'm feeding a family of five; the No. 12 will be better for two) is everything those vintage pans are and, believe it or not, is much cheaper. Put simply, a Smithey pan is a great tool and also a work of art, built in the tradition of all great tools: strong, versatile, beautiful, and built to last a lifetime. If you buy a Smithey, consider it an heirloom gift to your children and theirs.
Performance-wise I found that the Smithey was the slowest pan to heat up—it's the thickest, so that's no surprise—but once it did it had a remarkably even heat distribution (which is not cast iron's strength). The cooking surface of the pan is glass-smooth, by far the smoothest pan I tested. And it was well seasoned out of the box. Cooking with this pan does have a learning curve, especially if, like I was for a few months, you're cursed with an electric stove. The Smithey takes a long time to come to temp, but once it does you'll need to pay attention to it, because it's easy to overshoot the temp you want. After a few days of cooking I got the hang of it, but when I go back to having a gas stove I will likely have to relearn how it responds. To some extent this is true of all these pans, but more so of the Smithey in my testing.
I have no complaints about this pan, but I will say that it is quite heavy, and if you don't have reasonably strong wrists this will be a burden to move around, even with the small grip opposite the handle.
- Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
An Excellent Lightweight Cast Iron Pan
Field Company No. 8 Cast Iron SkilletTo my eye, Field Company makes the best-looking cast iron skillet. Like the Smithey, these qualify as works of art, and Field Company's skillets are similarly well made. What I like the most about these is that, relative to pan size, they're lighter than other cast iron skillets. If you find large cast iron pans difficult to maneuver, Field is worth considering. They are definitely easier than most in this regard.
Like the Smithey, the Field Skillets (I tested the 8 and 10) arrived well seasoned, and almost a year later I still have not had to reseason them. They don't retain heat quite as well as the Smithey, but they do heat up faster, and it's much easier to control the temperature. These are my favorite pans for cooking just about any kind of egg. They're light and heat up quickly, and the smooth finish makes flipping your food maybe not nonstick but pretty damn close.
- Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
The Best Budget Cast Iron Pan
Lodge 10-Inch Cast Iron SkilletLodge's cast iron skillets are longtime WIRED favorites. We've been recommending these in gift guides and in our essential-pans post for years. They're not fancy, but they're durable, as nonstick as you can get right out of the box, and reasonably priced. The one I suggest for most people is the 10-inch linked here, though the 12-inch is also good to have.
Lodge pans have a rough surface (see above, “Smooth Cast Iron vs. Rough”), which is why they're cheaper than most of the pans here. The main effect of that roughness is that metal utensils are irritatingly loud scraping against it when you flip an egg, for example. I've also found that Lodge pans frequently have small blemishes, what I assume are little bits left from the casting process. Neither these nor the rough surfaces affect the performance. I pulled this test pan out of the box, washed it with some soap and whatever, and then wiped it down with some bacon grease before pouring in cornbread and popping it into the oven. When it was done, the cornbread popped out clean as if I'd seasoned the Lodge to perfection. Which in fact had been done, just not by me. If you want a workhorse pan for not too much money, this is the pan to get.
Other Cast Iron Pans
There are quite a few boutique cast iron makers, and while none of these outshine our top picks above, they're worth considering if you don't like the others for some reason.
Cooklife 12-inch Cast Iron Skillet for $150: Cooklife's cast iron arrives mirror-smooth with a decent, but not great, coat of seasoning. It ended up with the most cornbread stuck to the pan in all my cornbread testing. That said, this is a very light, maneuverable pan that's easy to cook with. The shape is a bit different, with more sloped sidewalls, and the performance is different as well—I found this to be more like cooking with carbon steel than cast iron, but maybe that's just me. Cooklife touts the fact that you can put this in the dishwasher, which … I don't have a dishwasher and it takes like 30 seconds, tops, to wash a pan, so I don't see much of a selling point there.
Vintage Cast Iron Pans
Vintage cast iron pans by manufacturers like Griswold, Wagner, and Birmingham Stove & Range used to be the cheapest way to acquire quality, smooth cast iron. I have several Griswolds and one Wagner; each was around $20. Yes, it's true, eBay ruined the antique market. Or saved it, depending on whether you're a buyer or seller. Whatever the case, the days when you could get a good-quality vintage cast iron pan for $20 are gone. Unless you're handy at removing rust from truly abused pans (which isn't that hard but does require some work), vintage cast iron is just as pricey as a high-quality new pan. A Griswold No. 8 (10-inch) pan on eBay sells for $60 to $300, depending on condition/restoration. For that price even I, lover of old things, would rather buy a Smithey.
That said, if you love the idea of a vintage pan, cast iron lasts, and there are many, many good pans available on eBay. If that's the route you want to go, keep an eye out for cracks (those can't be fixed) and, depending on your stovetop, you might also want to make sure there's no “wobble.” As cast iron pans age, the iron sometimes starts to sag in the middle. This won't affect you much unless you have a glass cooktop. If you do, make sure to avoid warped pans that won't sit flat.
It's also worth mentioning that as cool as old cast iron pans are, you don't know the history of them. Cast iron pans get used for melting lead, catching oil, and other unsavory things. It might be worth testing your vintage pans if you have any concerns.
How to Season Your Cast Iron
This is probably the most contentious thing in the world of cast iron. Everyone has their own way of seasoning, which makes it tough for beginners. That's why all the pans we recommend above need no seasoning to get started. They are all preseasoned.
If you buy a vintage pan, or if you damage your pan by scorching it (it happens), you'll need to build up a few layers of seasoning. Let's start by saying that there is no one right way. If you have a method that works, great—drop it in the comments below so others can try it. This is what I have been doing for 20-plus years, and it works for me:
- Wash your pan with soap and water. Dry thoroughly with a towel.
- Heat your oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit and put the pan in for 15 minutes.
- Take the pan out (using hot pads or an oven mitt) and coat it all over with Crisco. Coat the whole pan, even the bottom.
- Once you've got it covered in Crisco, wipe the whole thing down with a towel. Try to get as much off as you can. You won't be able to get it all no matter what you do, so there's plenty left to season it.
- Put the pan back in the oven and crank it up to 450.
- After 15 minutes, pull the pan out (with gloves again) and wipe it down again.
- Put it back in the oven and bake for about an hour.
- Turn the oven off and let it cool down completely.
- Repeat from step 3 as necessary.
For a new-to-you vintage pan, I'd do this four to five times over the course of a few days. If I'm just reseasoning one of my own pans, I do this process twice, and I do it about once every couple of years.
