A staple in professional kitchens, carbon steel pans have a lot to offer the average home cook. Think of the cookware as a lighter cousin of cast iron that’s just as versatile and durable: It’s slick enough to lift a delicate rolled omelet without a tear yet weighty enough to get a deeply golden-brown sear on a thick piece of meat. After testing 11 of the best carbon steel pans, I believe that the Matfer Bourgeat Black Carbon Steel Frying Pan is deserving of a spot in any home kitchen. Though it comes unseasoned, the pan is worth the effort it takes to get it ready to cook: It’s sturdy, affordable and a cinch to maneuver. For a skillet that’s about half the price, the line cook–approved Winco French Style Fry Pan is a great budget-friendly pick.
Winco, OXO and Made In are some of the brands behind the best carbon steel pans.
Here are all the winners from my testing process:
- Best Carbon Steel Pan Overall: Matfer Bourgeat Black Carbon Steel Frying Pan
- Best Value Carbon Steel Pan: Winco French Style Fry Pan
- Best Preseasoned Carbon Steel Pan: OXO Carbon Steel Obsidian Series Frypan
- Best Carbon Steel Pan For Sautéing: Made In Blue Carbon Steel Frying Pan
Made of carbon and iron, these workhorse skillets—which are stamped or spun from metal sheet—are popular for their outstanding durability and ability to heat quickly and evenly. Within the category, there’s tons of variety. Whereas most come with long, flat handles, others are rounder and shorter. Some are heavy while others are barely over two pounds. And though carbon steel skillets traditionally need to be seasoned before use, these days, you can find “preseasoned” ones that are almost identical in appearance to nonstick pans. The right skillet for you comes down to a few personal preferences: how you plan to use it, how much you’re willing to spend and whether you’re game to season it yourself. (If you’re intimidated by maintenance in general, check out my comprehensive guide to how to season and care for carbon steel.) Ahead, here are the top options to add to your cookware collection.
For over 200 years, Matfer Bourgeat has been manufacturing professional-grade French cookware of all kinds, from copper to stainless steel to nonstick. Carbon steel is what the brand is best known for, though, and during testing, it was clear why Matfer Bourgeat’s most versatile pan comes so highly recommended by restaurant chefs. Not only does the ultra-durable Black Carbon Steel Fry Pan conduct heat well, making it an ideal cooking surface for a wide variety of dishes, but it’s also affordable.
After one thorough round of seasoning, the pan’s surface was thoroughly nonstick and ready to get cooking. To start, I seared a skin-on chicken thigh that came out evenly golden, and transferring the whole thing to the oven to finish cooking was a breeze. (The pan can withstand temperatures up to 750 degrees.) When it came to eggs, Matfer Bourgeat made me want to give away my nonstick skillet. Fried eggs shook free without the need for utensils; meanwhile, the yolks stayed runny while the whites cooked through with a tender yet golden crisp edge. It sailed through French omelet rolling, too, and made crêpes that released beautifully. Rounding out the pan’s appeal, it’s a snap to clean: I’ve either wiped it with paper towels or rinsed it under hot water to remove excess grease, then dried it over a low flame on the stove.
A fried egg in the Matfer Bourgeat carbon steel pan.
The main downside of this pan? Matfer Bourgeat’s recommended seasoning process is more tedious than other pans I tested: Instead of just oil, salt and potato skins are also needed. However, it has the most specific set of seasoning instructions in terms of explaining exactly how much of each ingredient is needed, and the necessary heating time and flame strength. It’s also worth noting that this pan is on the heavier side, weighing 3.7 pounds, so it might not make sense for someone who likes lightweight pans they can toss while sautéing. While I think most home cooks would be satisfied with the 10.25-inch pan, if you have a larger household, the brand sells nine different sizes, all the way up to 17.75 inches. If you want more details about the current model’s performance, check out my full Matfer Bourgeat carbon steel review.
Update: Matfer Bourgeat has lightly reformulated the pan to improve upon its already-impressive design. As of January 2024, the brand is in the process of selling off inventory of the original models and introducing the reformulated ones when retailers like Amazon and Wayfair need to restock. While the 10.25-inch pan likely won’t be available until later this year, according to a brand representative, retailers are already selling the updated pans in 11.85 and 12.63 inches.
Whether you opt for the original model or wait out for the new one (which I recently tested), you can be confident you’re bringing home a fantastic skillet. Overall, the new version performed just as impressively across all culinary tests. Its main differences relate to its design: It has a thermally-treated handle that didn’t get as hot as the pan heats up, plus a slightly concave bottom that helps prevent warping on induction cooktops. Both versions are durable, versatile skillets that I’d readily rely on for sautéing and pan-frying.
There’s a reason so many restaurants rely on Winco carbon steel pans. Not only are they lightweight and easy to clean, but when you buy one from a restaurant supply store, you can get it for less than $20. (On Amazon, it will cost you slightly more.) This pan performed each test very well, especially when it came to heat conduction, even outperforming other winning pans in the fried egg test. If you like to cook hot and fast, this is the one for you.
The instructions accompanying the new Winco skillet were fairly sparse, indicating a need for familiarity with carbon steel maintenance or a willingness to do your own research upon purchase. (After chatting with some experts for this piece, I chalked it up to the fact that the pans are typically purchased by cooks who already know what they’re doing.) That said, it was one of the easiest pans to season. It arrived without a wax or oil coating, and the directions explain to boil water in the brand-new pan, then wash it with soap and fresh water and dry well. Then, I seasoned the pan the way Hailee Catalano, the trained chef behind the immensely popular TikTok and Instagram accounts, did in restaurants: I applied a thin layer of oil and heated the pan over high (multiple times) until the surface darkened.
This pan performed each test quite well. Offering excellent heat conductivity, it was the quickest pan to boil water, plus it seared chicken skin more quickly than most others. It also made perfect fried eggs, which slid out of the pan without the need for additional utensils. Catalano also called out her preference for Winco’s weight (it was the second-lightest unseasoned pan I tested) and long handle length, which make for easy sautéing and flipping. Winco carbon steel pans are available in five sizes, from just under 8 inches (great for fried eggs, crêpes and omelets) to just over 11 inches (ideal for larger sautés and searing a lot of protein at once).
Those who are interested in exploring carbon steel but don’t want to season a pan themselves should look no further than OXO’s model. The home cook–friendly brand’s carbon steel pan resembles a nonstick pan and performs as such. Of the lightweight preseasoned pans I tested, this model seared the most evenly, plus it was so nonstick, some food barely had a chance to adhere. Sweetening the deal, it comes with a comfortable heat-resistant handle cover.
Right out of the box, the pan needed no more than a quick wash with hot soapy water before I could get cooking. OXO isn’t lying about this being a well-seasoned pan that’s ready to hit the stove: In fact, it’s almost too nonstick, as a fried egg slid around when I tilted the pan to baste it with oil, and crêepe batter didn’t instantly adhere. That said, flipping food was a snap, thanks to the pan’s lightweight construction and fairly high sides. And unlike all other pans I tested, OXO’s comes with a removable silicone handle sleeve that helps protect you from burning your hand. Even when the handle was piping hot, the sleeve stayed cool. Anyone who’s comfortable cooking with nonstick pans will find this one a delight.
If you want a carbon steel pan for flipping, sautéing, stir-frying and deep-frying, it’s important to pick one with high sides so your food doesn’t go flying over the edge. Measuring 4.5 inches tall, the sides on Made In’s Blue Carbon Steel Frying Pan were the highest out of all the pans I tested, making it the best option for those cooking methods. And though it’s an expensive pan, to be sure, it proved worthy of the price during testing.
A chicken thigh in the Made In carbon steel pan.
This pan’s design was a bit different than the others, with a rounded, curved stainless steel handle (traditional models typically have flat, straight handles made of carbon steel). Though I didn’t love the look of this design, I appreciated that the handle didn’t get too hot for my bare hands; furthermore, it was more comfortable in my hand as I flipped crêpes and shook it while frying eggs. It’s also worth noting this pan can withstand extra-high temperatures as a result of a thermal process of applying additional heat to the surface of carbon steel cookware for a corrosion-resistant outer layer. Though it’s unlikely even the hottest open-flame cooking setup will reach such a high temperature, this pan can handle up to 1,200 degrees.
Other Carbon Steel Pans I Tested
I tested seven other carbon steel pans that didn’t make the cut. Let me be clear that many of these pans performed well—just not quite as well as my winners. While seasoning, using and cleaning the pans, I rated each pan’s performance using points, and the non-winning pans are listed below in order of how they scored, from highest to lowest.
Lodge Seasoned Carbon Steel Skillet: This skillet is a favorite of Ali Slagle, author of the cookbook I Dream of Dinner (So You Don’t Have To), and I understand why: The pan sailed through testing, and at $40, it’s one of the cheapest preseasoned pans at full price. I almost named this skillet the best preseasoned option, but OXO edged it out by being slightly lighter and offering a cooking surface diameter that was more than an inch wider. I’d recommend this pan to anyone who loves to cook with cast-iron skillets but finds them too heavy for daily use (if none of the options above appeal to you).
Merten & Storck Carbon Pro Frypan: This lightweight preseasoned pan needed no more than a quick wash to get cooking. It gave a mixed performance. While water didn’t come to a boil especially fast, chicken skin took on color more quickly than expected, indicating excellent heat conductivity. But like OXO, it was almost too nonstick to compete with traditional carbon steel pans. It also didn’t retain heat as long as the other pans.
Mauviel M’Steel Black Carbon Steel Round Frying Pan: This pan’s seasoning instructions weren’t especially clear, increasing the likelihood of ending up with uneven, sticky seasoning. (Food writer and cookbook author Andrea Nguyen has this pan and used a seasoning method similar to Matfer Bourgeat’s.) It was also the only pan whose manufacturer said not to use metal utensils. That said, this pan gave an overall good performance—though I recommend others more enthusiastically, it wouldn’t be a bad investment.
Vollrath Carbon Steel Fry Pan: This pan seared chicken beautifully, but it struggled with some stickiness when frying eggs. While this lightweight, affordable pan comes recommended by line cooks, other pans with the same attributes performed tests more successfully.
De Buyer Mineral B Carbon Steel Fry Pan: This legacy brand’s pan came highly recommended, but it didn’t impress me during testing—especially considering its high price of $95. While it seared a gorgeous chicken thigh, it had the most issues with fried egg stickage. The brand also notes that it shouldn’t be heated over 400 degrees for 10 minutes, making it less versatile.
Ballarini Professionale Series 3000 Carbon Steel Frying Pan: This pan seared chicken slightly unevenly and had some issues with sticking fried eggs. While it’s affordable and lightweight, it was ultimately unremarkable.
Smithey Farmhouse Skillet: This pan was an anomaly in so many ways. It came highly recommended, but I found its performance lacking. Featuring a farmhouse-inspired design, this pan costs a whopping $295, making it the most expensive option I tested by far. Though it was preseasoned, it arrived with suggestions to first cook “dishes that require higher heat, movement and a good amount of oil or fat.” After a “seasoning” of sorts with sausage and onions, the pan’s coating did indeed strip off a bit (which is normal, per the brand), and the fond that developed in the bottom of the pan needed to be scraped off.
How I Tested The Best Carbon Steel Pans
When you unbox a carbon steel pan, it’s important to read the included instructions, which outline how to season, use and clean the pan—and every brand has its own particular directions. Therefore, I began testing by preparing each pan for cooking using the directions provided by the different manufacturers. To start, all of the brands recommended washing or wiping the pans with hot water; some suggested using soap for the initial wash, while others suggested using a sponge or brush. If a pan came coated in a traditional thick layer of beeswax, which allows the pan to sit in storage without rusting, I removed it using hot water and a sponge. Next, I dried the pans using a towel and/or placed them on the stove over a low flame. From there, the preseasoned pans were ready for use, with the exception of the Smithey; with the others, I had to do a round of seasoning.
Seasoning a pan essentially means burning a layer of oil onto it to create a nonstick layer on top of the iron. There are many ways to season a carbon steel pan, all of which involve a high-smoke-point oil, heat and time. Again, I followed each brand’s seasoning directions. Many instructed to add a “thin” layer of oil to the surface of the pan, while others recommended specific amounts. From there, most suggested heating the oiled pans on the stove over a relatively high heat until the surface color of the pan darkened significantly; brands like Matfer Bourgeat, which called for cooking potato skins and salt in the oil, broke the mold entirely. Throughout each process, I noted how clear the seasoning instructions were and whether the process felt overly tedious.
Next, I tested the heat conductivity and retention of each pan by timing how long it took to bring half an inch of water to a boil (212 degrees), then how long it took for that water to come to room temperature (75 degrees). Then, I got to cooking. If I were buying a carbon steel pan for home use, the first food I’d want to cook is a fatty item to help bolster the initial seasoning. Therefore, I decided to make skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs, which also allowed me to judge each pan’s searing ability. I heated a little neutral oil over medium-high heat, then I placed in a thigh. I cooked the chicken for 5 to 7 minutes per side, noting how immediately nonstick the pans were, how even the sear was and the time it took for each to achieve that color. Then, to test how nonstick the seasoning of each pan was, I fried eggs. I heated olive oil over medium-high until it rippled before cracking in an egg, then I let it set for a few seconds and tilted the pan to baste the egg with oil.
Lastly, in the most impressive pans, I made French rolled omelets and crêpes (carbon steel pans are often traditionally used for both), as well as baked cornbread at 400 degrees. These tests helped me determine just how nonstick and smooth the pan’s seasoning was, as well as how it handled the all-over heat of the oven as opposed to the direct heat of a range.
How To Pick A Carbon Steel Pan
While four carbon steel skillets stood out as winners during testing, the right option for you ultimately comes down to personal preference. Here’s what to consider when shopping for a new carbon steel skillet.
Seasoning
Do you want a traditional carbon steel pan that you season yourself before starting to cook? Or would you prefer a preseasoned pan that’s ready to be used straight from the box? Both styles have their merits. If you’re looking for a classic carbon steel pan that’s extremely durable—and you’re willing to do a little work before you can use it—opt for an unseasoned pan. For home cooks who want something a little easier, preseasoned pans are ready to use straight out of the box (after a quick wash).
Weight
Classic carbon steel pans tend to be comparable to stainless steel skillets in weight (which is to say they’re lighter than cast iron and heavier than nonstick). That said, there’s still some variety: Some pans weigh two pounds, while others weigh five pounds. While a heavier construction can lend a pan impressive searing power, lighter-weight pans are generally preferred, as they’re easier on the wrists when it comes to sautéing and tossing food.
Cooking Surface Area
Carbon steel pans have sloping sides to help with tossing food, but as Slagle notes, this can make the cooking surface area (and overall volume) much smaller than a cast-iron pan of the same diameter. Therefore, if a 10-inch stainless steel pan is the right size for your household, you’d likely be happiest with a carbon steel pan that’s 11 or 12 inches in diameter. (Generally speaking, a 10-inch carbon steel pan is best for households of one or two people.)
Slagle, who owns both 10- and 12-inch preseasoned Lodge carbon steel skillets, says that if she had to pick one, it would be the latter. “The 10-inch is maybe too small to fry two eggs at once,” she explains. “So in the 12-inch you can fry eggs with a lot of space, but also you could make a baked pasta. I think a bigger pan provides more empty space, which is better for browning.”
Handle Size/Design
Carbon steel pans traditionally have a long, flat handle that sits at an angle. This is intended to help keep the pan’s heat source farther away from where your hands would go when touching the pan, as well as provide more room for a two-handed flip or pour. The flatness and length of the handle may take some getting used to—notably, that it can get very hot during cooking. (Handle length and angle can vary greatly by pan, and unless the pan is incredibly lightweight, it’s typically easier to maneuver shorter handles.) Therefore, if you’re worried about burning your hands, it’s important to always use a towel or oven mitt when picking up the pan during use. You can also always buy a silicone handle cover that slips right on. (Some brands, such as OXO, include a cover with their carbon steel pans.)
My Expertise
Most of my work consists of translating professional cooking into content that’s digestible to home cooks. After nearly a decade of working in food media as a writer, recipe developer, recipe tester, food stylist and culinary producer for Food52, Bon Appétit and Epicurious, Taste, the Strategist and NYT Cooking (among others), I’ve used a great many skillets made from cast iron, stainless steel and more. (Prior to testing 11 pans side by side, the carbon steel pan I owned and used regularly at home was an 8-inch Mauviel M’Steel crêpe pan.) As I’ve moved around in the industry, I’ve found that there’s often a discrepancy in skillets that are recommended to—and preferred by—home cooks versus those who cook for a living. I see it as one of my duties to help close this gap.
To assist with the process, I reached out to several experts who’ve expressed an affinity for carbon steel pans and whose experience with the pans ranges from recipe development and testing to restaurant line cooking. I spoke with Ali Slagle, author of the cookbook I Dream of Dinner (So You Don’t Have To). Slagle also spends part of the year living and cooking from a camper van, so she’s not one to recommend superfluous kitchen equipment. I then chatted with food writer, editor and teacher Andrea Nguyen, whose illustrious career has spanned working in restaurant kitchens, writing for myriad food publications and authoring seven cookbooks. My last source was Hailee Catalano, who has amassed more than 2 million followers on TikTok and Instagram. On her channels, her professional culinary degree and years of restaurant line-cook training inform popular home cook–friendly recipes.
Why Do Professional Cooks Love Carbon Steel Pans?
Carbon steel pans are essentially a cast-iron, stainless steel and nonstick pan all in one package. Most importantly, they can take a beating and get better with age. These attributes, not to mention the fact that restaurants are often already outfitted with the pans, point to why professionals like them. The cooks I spoke with who have seasoned their own pans wrote it off as no more than a one-time bother. And if you accidentally cook your pan with something really acidic, such as tomato sauce, you don’t have to panic. “You can reseason it really quickly,” says Nguyen.
What Are The Downsides Of Carbon Steel Pans?
Most pros agree that carbon steel’s biggest weakness is that acidic ingredients are a no-go because they can strip the seasoning. Carbon steel pans are also very prone to rust if left unoiled and unused for lengthy periods of time; if you go months without using the pan, it may not be the best investment, or you’ll need to be willing to give it a coat of oil in between uses. Lastly, washing and seasoning a brand-new carbon steel pan can be tedious (in fact, that’s where the top two traditional pans lost points during testing), but that is a one-time annoyance.
How Long Do Carbon Steel Pans Last?
Carbon steel pans are built to last for generations, just like heavy enameled-iron Dutch ovens and cast-iron pans. All of the carbon steel pans I tested had a lifetime warranty for manufacturer defects, with the exception of two: Winco requires the pan be registered on the brand’s website to qualify for a warranty, and Vollrath has a 1-year warranty. Because these two pans are affordable and lightweight, they’re more likely to be purchased in bulk by restaurants, which work pans to the brink of ruin; it’s unlikely a home cook would wear out the warranty on either but important to note nonetheless.
How Do You Season A Carbon Steel Pan?
While any new carbon steel pan can be seasoned by essentially burning on a thin layer of oil, every pan comes with its own set of instructions about how to properly season it. After washing and drying a new pan according to the manufacturer’s directions, apply a thin layer of a neutral oil with a high smoke point (Catalano recommends using an inexpensive vegetable or canola oil) all over the inside and outside of the pan with a paper towel or a kitchen towel you don’t mind staining with oil. Then, “put the flame on high and heat the oiled pan until one coat of oil really burns and smokes,” she says. After the first layer of oil adheres, give the pan a good wipe to remove any excess blackish-gray carbon residue, then repeat with another layer of oil until the pan’s surface is very dark brown, if not black. If you use an electric cooktop, first make sure to purchase a pan that’s oven-safe to over 450 degrees, then season the pan in the oven.
