Frequently Asked Questions

For bare cast iron, usually not. A basic pre-seasoned skillet from a maker like Lodge costs around $20-30 and cooks essentially the same as pans many times the price, because plain cast iron is just iron. You mainly pay more for smoother machined surfaces, nicer handles, and lighter weight. Enameled cast iron is a different story — there the price gap buys a genuinely better enamel and finish, which is why a Le Creuset or Staub costs more than a budget enameled pot.

A 10.25-inch (about 26-27 cm) skillet is the best all-rounder and the size most people should start with. It fits two servings of most things, a whole spatchcocked chicken breast-side up, or a batch of cornbread, without being too heavy to lift one-handed. Go up to 12 inches if you routinely cook for four or more; drop to 8 inches only as a dedicated egg-and-single-serving pan.

Seasoning is a thin layer of oil that has been baked onto the iron until it polymerizes into a hard, plasticky, semi-nonstick coating bonded to the metal. It is not a residue of old food — it's a cured surface. It builds up naturally every time you cook with a little fat, which is why a well-used pan gets slicker and darker over the years.

Most bare pans today ship pre-seasoned and are ready to cook on out of the box. To build the layer up: wash and fully dry the pan, rub a very thin coat of a neutral high-smoke-point oil over every surface, wipe it back until it looks almost dry, then bake it upside down at around 450-500 F for about an hour and let it cool in the oven. Repeat a few times for a stronger base. The key mistake is using too much oil, which leaves a sticky, tacky finish.

Yes. The old rule against soap dates back to when dish soap contained lye that could strip seasoning. Modern dish soap does not, and a little of it will not hurt a properly cured pan. What actually damages seasoning is prolonged soaking, the dishwasher, and harsh scouring — not a normal wash with warm soapy water and a sponge.

While it's still warm, rinse under hot water and scrub with a brush, sponge, or a bit of coarse salt. Stuck-on bits usually lift if you simmer a little water in the pan for a minute first. Then dry it completely — over a low burner is ideal — and, once dry, wipe a whisper-thin film of oil over the cooking surface before it goes away. Never let it air-dry or sit wet, and never put it in the dishwasher.

Rust is fixable — cast iron is nearly impossible to ruin. Scrub the rust off with steel wool or a stiff brush (add a paste of coarse salt for stubborn spots), wash and dry the pan completely, then re-season it with a few thin oil coats baked on as you would a new pan. For heavy, all-over rust you may need to scour back to bare gray metal first, but even a badly neglected pan comes back.

Bare cast iron is raw iron you have to season and keep dry; it's cheap, indestructible, great for high-heat searing, and reacts with acidic foods over long cooks. Enameled cast iron is the same iron core coated in glass enamel — no seasoning needed, easy to clean, safe for tomatoes and wine and long braises, and dishwasher-tolerant, but pricier and more prone to chipping. Bare wins for searing and cornbread; enameled wins for stews, braises, and acidic dishes.

It's a genuinely excellent enameled dutch oven with a durable enamel, a lifetime warranty, and decades of proven quality — but you are also paying a premium for the brand and color range. If those matter to you, it's worth it and it will likely outlive you. If you just want the performance, a well-made enameled dutch oven from a mid-priced brand cooks nearly identically for a fraction of the cost. Both are far more capable than they need to be for home cooking.

A 5.5 to 6 quart round dutch oven is the standard do-everything size and the right first choice for most households — big enough for a whole chicken, a pot of chili, or a standard boule of sourdough, without wasting energy heating empty space. Cooking for one or two, a 3.5 quart is plenty; feeding a crowd or batch-cooking, step up to 7 quarts or more. See our dutch oven size guide for a full breakdown.

Yes. Cast iron is naturally magnetic, so both bare and enameled cast iron work perfectly on induction. Just lift the pan to move it rather than sliding it — the rough or enameled base can scratch a glass induction surface, and cast iron is heavy enough to crack the glass if you drop it.

Bare cast iron is safe at any oven or broiler temperature — there's nothing on it to melt or burn off, which is exactly why it's ideal for moving a seared steak straight into the oven. Enameled cast iron is oven-safe too, but check the maker's limit, since many plastic or phenolic knobs are only rated to around 375-500 F; a metal replacement knob removes that ceiling.

A little, yes. Small amounts of iron leach into food from a bare cast iron pan, more so with acidic dishes like tomato sauce and with longer cook times. For most people the amount is modest and harmless, and can be a minor bonus. Enameled cast iron does not do this, because the glass coating separates the food from the iron.

Cast iron is one of the safest cooking surfaces there is: it's just iron, or iron coated in glass enamel, with no synthetic nonstick chemicals. It contains none of the PFAS ('forever chemicals') associated with traditional PTFE nonstick coatings, and it won't shed a coating into your food as scratched nonstick can. That inertness and durability is a big part of why many cooks switch to it.

In small doses, fine; for long simmers, be careful. A quick deglaze with wine or a short tomato sauce won't hurt a well-seasoned bare pan, though it may pick up a faint metallic taste and wear the seasoning a bit. For a long braise in tomatoes, wine, or citrus, reach for enameled cast iron instead — the glass coating is completely acid-proof.

Usually one of three things: the pan isn't hot enough before the food goes in, there isn't enough fat, or the seasoning is thin or patchy. Preheat the pan for a few minutes, add oil and let it shimmer, and give proteins time to release on their own — they'll unstick when they've formed a crust. If sticking is chronic, the pan likely needs another round or two of seasoning.

They're close cousins that both season and both take high heat. Cast iron is thicker and heavier, holds heat longer, and is better for steady searing, baking, and long heat retention. Carbon steel is thinner and lighter, heats and responds faster, and is what restaurant cooks favor for stir-frying and fast egg cookery. Many kitchens keep both; if you're buying one first, cast iron is the more forgiving all-rounder.

Effectively forever with basic care. Bare cast iron routinely lasts generations — pans from a century ago are still in daily use — because rust and worn seasoning can always be scrubbed off and re-seasoned. Enameled cast iron lasts decades as well, with the enamel being the main wear point; the better brands back it with long or lifetime warranties.

No, and we say so plainly. We don't run a materials lab or a controlled test kitchen. Instead, we compare each pan on its published specs and materials — weight, dimensions, cooking-surface size, oven rating, warranty — and on the well-understood physics of cast iron, informed by years of everyday cooking. Our how-we-research page explains exactly how, and what that method can and can't tell you.

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Prices are pulled from a live retailer feed and refreshed daily, each stamped with the date it was pulled, so what you see should be close to current. Cookware prices move constantly, though, especially during sales, so treat our figure as a guide and confirm the real price on the retailer's own page before you buy.