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Cast iron skillets are like a fine wine: they get better with age. These pieces of legacy cookware can do everything from sear steaks to bake upside down fruit cakes. The best cast iron is an investment — if not in price, then in maintenance and maneuvering the heavy pan. 2 Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven
To find the best cast iron skillets, I spoke with three chefs and tested nine pans by cooking steaks, cornbread, and sunny-side up eggs. The Field Cast Iron Skillet won the top spot and lives on my stovetop. It heats evenly and became seasoned in less than a week. For a budget-friendly option, the Lodge Classic Cast Iron Skillet is a steal and performed nearly as well as the best overall.
Best overall: Field 10.25" Cast Iron Skillet - See at Amazon The Field 10.25" Cast Iron Skillet is the ideal cast iron skillet to have in your kitchen; it sears as well as it bakes, and develops a smooth, nonstick surface after just a few uses.
Best budget: Lodge 10.25" Classic Cast Iron Skillet - See at Amazon The affordable Lodge 10.25" Cast Iron Skillet excels in everything you expect cast iron to do, from retaining heat to providing a naturally nonstick surface.
Best enameled: Le Creuset 10" Signature Skillet - See at Amazon The Le Creuset 10" Signature Skillet is a must-have for meat-eaters, searing steak to perfection quicker than any other pans we tested.
Best lightweight: GSI 10" Guidecast Fry Pan - See at GSI Weighing less than four pounds, the GSI Guidecast Fry Pan has a remarkably lightweight body that retains heat and sears meat just as well as heavier cast iron pans.
Pros: Even heat retention, great sear on the steak, quick to develop seasoning
Cons: Helper handle is not very helpful, no pour spouts
Any new piece of cookware takes some getting used to — how fast and evenly it heats, or how much fat it needs to prevent sticking. Cast iron can be particularly intimidating, but I felt comfortable right away using the Field pan. The best cast iron skillet overall is lighter than most of the other pans we tested and cleaned easily.
Like many of the skillets, the Field arrived pre-seasoned. In our first test, the cornbread did not turn out when flipped, but it was easy to remove individual pieces without any crust sticking to the bottom. The seasoning, and therefore nonstick quality, became even better throughout our testing. When I later cooked the egg, it slid right off the surface without a trace stuck to the pan. Of course, nothing will be as effective as using the best nonstick pan, but the Field comes pretty close.
The steak cooked evenly and seared quickly in the Field pan, allowing a great crust to develop without overcooking. Additionally, the cornbread had an even brown exterior and smooth, risen top.
The other consideration for the top spot was the the Stargazer 10.5-inch Skillet. The cornbread in this pan was well-risen and had the most evenly browned crust I've seen in testing cast iron pans. Plus, the steak had a nice, dark brown sear. However, Stargazer did not replace our top pick because I found it more unwieldy than the Field pan. Both the main and helper handles are longer on the Stargazer. While that does keep your hands further away from the content of the pan, it made it more difficult to store and move from the oven to the stovetop.
Pros: Fully nonstick after a few uses, useful pour spouts, even heating
Cons: Slower to heat up
Nothing stuck to the Lodge 10.25" Cast Iron Skillet. The cornbread turned out perfectly, without a crumb left on the bottom, and the eggs slid off the surface without breaking. In part because it turned out unblemished, the bottom of the Lodge cornbread was the most even golden-brown of those we made.
The shallow pour spouts were very helpful when pouring out grease and oil from cooking the steak. The handle is shorter than that of our top pick, but both got hot to the touch quickly.
It was a close call for the best cast iron skillet overall between this pan and Field. Lodge fell out of the top spot because of the searing test: a crust did develop on the Lodge steak, but it took longer to achieve a darker brown. This could lead to overcooking in an effort to get a better crust. The Le Creuset and Field skillets produced thicker crusts in a shorter amount of time.
Ultimately, you'll get basically the same performance with the Lodge pan as with pricier options. Lodge cast iron even beat our Le Creuset in our guide to the best Dutch ovens.
Another budget friendly brand is Victoria. By a fair margin, the Victoria 10" Cast Iron Skillet produced the tallest cornbread. It is not one of our top picks because while it did well, it did not outperform the others in the steak or egg test. It is a solid choice for a low-cost cast iron skillet.
Pros: Heats up quickly and stays hot for as long as you're cooking, even heat distribution
Cons: Not good for baking, heavy
If you can't cook outdoors, searing on a good cast iron pan can be a substitute for grilling, said Pasternak. While you can't mimic the smokiness of open flame cooking, the heavy bottom and heat retention of cast iron pans can sear and char your food. The Le Creuset Signature Skillet produced the most even and crispiest sear of all the best cast iron pans we tested.
Many of the steaks I made ended up with crispy and deep brown crusts, but it was quicker in the Le Creuset. For me, this made it easier to achieve the medium-rare cook that I prefer; I didn't have to keep the steak on the pan past when it was done to my liking in an effort to achieve the sear.
This was notably heavier than the other skillets, almost impossible for me to lift and keep level with one hand. Additionally, the Le Creuset did produce a low risen cornbread that stuck to the bottom of the pan.
If you're loyal to DTC cookware, the Our Place Cast Iron Always Pan was like most of the pieces we've tested from Our Place: attractive, came with useful accessories, and heated evenly. The cornbread I made in this pan had an even rise and browned crust — it was not as fluffy as that from other pans. This is a solid piece of cookware, but for the price, I'd splurge for the Le Creuset.
Pros: Even heating, lightweight, easy to clean
I wasn't convinced that a lightweight cast iron with a high level of performance existed until I tried the GSI Guidecast Fry Pan. At three pounds, the Guidecast Pan is 1.5 pounds less than the next lightest pan I tested, and it performed well in all my tests.
Due in part to the pan's flared sides, the cornbread came out with a pinched edge. This was more than made up for by the evenly browned bottom crust, thick enough to provide a satisfying crunch with each bite. Similarly, the steak developed a thick crust without overcooking the middle.
Though the seasoning wasn't fully developed (there was some sticking with the sunny-side-up egg), I could see it starting to build up. The surface became shinier and smoother, a tell-tale sign of cast iron seasoning.
The other cast irons pans we've tested are described as skillets, but most of them are shaped more like a saute pan, with deeper and straighter sides. The GSI, however, is distinctly a skillet with flared sides and a smaller cooking surface. In using the pan outside of testing, I found the shape paired well with the lighter weight; I naturally started using it to toss and saute contents like I would in an aluminum-core pan.
Seasoning and coating: The best cast iron pans come pre-seasoned, bare, or enamel coated. Pre-seasoned pans are immediately ready to cook with, while bare pans need to be seasoned before use. With any bare or pre-seasoned cast iron, you'll have to keep an eye on the seasoning layer and re-season when necessary.
Enameled cast iron is easy to spot; it has a smooth interior with a slight sheen and often comes in bright exterior colors. These pans are less reactive and don't require seasoning. However, the heat conductivity is slightly dulled due to the coating and these pans do not have the "get better with age" quality of uncoated cast iron.
Size: In our research, we found that 10 inches was the standard for cast iron skillets. That is what we recommend for most home cooks. If you're regularly cooking for larger groups, most of our top brands offer 12-inch skillet, but those will be heavy and difficult to move around. An 8-inch cast iron works just as well as a 10-inch, but larger cuts of meat will hit the edges of the pan.
All cast iron pans are heavier than aluminum or even stainless steel. We compared the weight of these skillets to each other and found minimal differences. All of the skillets had one extended handle and one helper handle. However, we preferred pans with helper handles that you could fit your fingers in, as opposed to just extended grips.
I spoke with three chefs to get tips and tricks on how to use and maintain cast iron: Chef Robyn McArthur of the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts in Austin, Texas, and Atara Bernstein and Ariel Pasternak, co-founders of Pineapple Collaborative.
Cornbread: We used Mark Bittman's NYTCooking Cornbread Recipe to evaluate the heat retention and distribution of each pan. We measured the height (and therefore the rise) of the cornbread at the edge and middle. We looked at the browning and crust on the edges and underside of each cornbread.
Steak: We based our steak testing on this recipe from Serious Eats. We seared New York strip steak by heating canola oil until smoking, placing the steak in the center of the plan, and flipping repeatedly for 6 to 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the steak. The best seared steaks have a deep brown crust that is visible from the side of the steak when you cut into it.
Eggs: Our last test was to make a sunny side-up egg in the middle of the pan with less than half a teaspoon of butter. We did this last to give the skillets a chance to develop a bit of seasoning. We looked for the egg to slide off the pan without breaking or sticking.
Maintenance: Before and after each cooking test, we cleaned the skillets according to the manufacturers' instructions. We noted if it was difficult to remove stuck food and if the texture of the surface changed after scrubbing. Seasoned cast iron is smooth and semi-glossy; after all three tests, we evaluated each pan for these qualities to indicate a well-seasoned surface.
You can use soap on cast iron, but it should be sparingly. Most importantly, do not soak your pan, and make sure it is completely dry when you store it. McArthur says she will heat the pan up over a low light to make sure there is no moisture before putting it away. This can prevent rust, as suggested by Bernstein, Pasternak, and multiple manufacturers of the pans we tested. Always consult the cleaning instructions that accompany the skillet.
You season the best cast iron skillet by using it, initially with a fair amount of cooking oil. The process of oil becoming cooked into the pan's surface (seasoning) is called polymerization, McArthur said. The more you cook on the pan, the more oil is absorbed by the surface, making it more nonstick. Even if the pan is pre-seasoned, we found most will still take a few cooking sessions to become truly nonstick.
You can place your skillet on the grill, in the oven, or on an induction stovetop. One of the beauties of the best cast iron cookware is that it can be used almost anywhere. Always consult the manufacturer's instructions before using your cookware, especially regarding oven-safe temperatures.
While chefs have differing opinions on which foods affect cast iron, you can be extra careful by avoiding simmering acidic dishes and cooking fragile pieces of fish. Some cooks find that strong flavors or odors linger on their skillets, even after washing and re-oiling. You can entirely avoid this by having separate skillets for sweet and savory dishes, but we don't think that's necessary unless you are cooking with extremely delicate flavors.
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