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Well-seasoned carbon-steel pans are restaurant-kitchen workhorses that combine the searing prowess and durability of a cast-iron pan with the maneuverability and convenience of a nonstick pan. Seasoning a new pan used to be an onerous process, but now, some pre-seasoned carbon-steel pans are as slick as a new nonstick-coated pan.
In addition to their nonstick characteristics, professional chefs like Danny Garcia, the executive chef of Kent Hospitality Group, value carbon-steel pans for searing. He says these pans are the next-best thing to a fiery grill for quickly developing char and caramelization on a piece of meat or fish — preferable even to cast iron, which he only uses for braising. Chef Jeremy Salamon of Agi’s Counter echoes this sentiment but wonders whether home cooks might be put off by the maintenance requirements.
Carbon-steel pans require more upkeep than aluminum nonstick pans, but they’re really no more demanding than a sharp kitchen knife: Avoid the dishwasher, don’t soak them, avoid scratching with abrasive materials, and towel-dry immediately after washing. As a finishing step, Garcia recommends wiping it down with a few drops of cooking oil on a paper towel to ensure there’s no chance of rusting.
Even well-seasoned carbon steel will still stick to eggs and fish if you try to use it before it’s hot. “If you put a splash of water in a pan and it beads up, that’s when you know you’ve got a hot pan,” says Garcia. This is how you know it’s time to add the oil — when it shimmers and glistens, not when it’s smoking.
For this article, I asked chefs for their personal recommendations for the best carbon-steel pans and I got to work in my own kitchen frying eggs, cooking omelets, and searing proteins to find the best carbon-steel frying pans for home cooks of all skill levels. We also have a comprehensive guide to all the pots and pans we’ve written about.
What we’re looking for
Pre-seasoning
As a bit of a cooking nerd, I don’t mind seasoning a pan. But having seasoned a pan in the past and testing it against the latest pre-seasoned pans, I’m confident that there’s no reason to risk burning yourself with hot oil while smoking up your kitchen unless you really want a project. Even then, you’re unlikely to end up with a better result than the perfectly glassy factory finishes that come on some of these pans. All of the options I’ve included are pre-seasoned, except for the Mauviel.
Handle material
Both chefs I spoke to cited heatproof handles as the difference-maker in a commercial setting. “When all our pans are kept on top of a hot stove, our cooks don’t burn their hands … if they accidentally grab the handle,” says Salamon. Some pans come with silicone grips that add even more heat resistance.
Cooking area diameter
Chefs might prefer deeper sidewalls in order to keep splatters more contained during searing. But this often means that the flat cooking surface at the bottom has to shrink to accommodate the steeper slope. This is an issue when using carbon steel on induction burners, which only produce heat where the pan contacts the cooktop. (And, as I mentioned, a cold pan is a sticky pan.)
Weight
A lighter-weight pan weighing around 1,200 grams (about 2.6 pounds) is easier to handle and quicker to heat up, but a heavier pan in the 1,400- to 1,500-gram (3.1 to 3.3 pounds) range retains more heat for better searing performance. The former might be better for more delicate ingredients, like eggs or fish, while the latter is preferable for steaks.
Maximum temperature
To get the full benefits from carbon steel’s ability to go directly from stovetop to grill to oven, a pan should withstand temperatures of no less than 500°F. Some pans use handle materials or feature coatings that reduce this rating.
Best overall carbon-steel pan
Pre-seasoned: Yes | Handle material: stainless steel, removable silicone grip | Cooking area diameter: 8.25” | Weight: 1431g (3.2 lbs) without silicone grip | Max temperature: 500°F
This pan has it all: Teflon-like nonstick performance, hefty heat retention for searing, and a comfortable, heat-resistant silicone handle. Additionally, it has the most subtly curved sides out of all the pans we tested. This helps you effortlessly flip eggs with a flick of the wrist and also extends the effective cooking surface area beyond the 8.25-inch diameter of its perfectly flat bottom. This was especially handy on my glass-top electric stove, which struggled at times to heat the straighter sides of the other pans. The removable silicone grip on the straight handle improves comfort while preventing burning.
The only real knock against the Misen is that it felt a little too slick during searing, allowing meats to slide around before they’d reached their optimal char. It also looks indistinguishable from a regular nonstick pan, which might lead a well-meaning houseguest or inattentive co-habitor to run it through the dishwasher.
Best less-expensive carbon-steel pan
Pre-seasoned: Yes | Handle material: Carbon steel | Cooking area diameter: 8.25” | Weight: 1178g (2.6 lbs) | Max temperature: 660°F
This carbon-steel pan is a no-nonsense kitchen workhorse with a humble price to match. It comes with a smooth, pre-seasoned nonstick finish and has the unmistakable look of a traditional carbon-steel pan. All it needs out of the box is a quick wash with hot water to remove the protective coating from the factory, and you’re good to go. While not quite as slick out of the box as some of the pricier options I tested, it needed only the slightest provocation from a spatula to nudge a sunny-side-up egg into over easy territory. This slight grippiness is a boon when it comes to searing meats and fish because it holds the protein in place, which helps develop char more quickly.
The Merten & Storck weighs about 18 percent less than the higher-end pans we tested, which makes it easier to maneuver. However, this also reduces its heat retention, as whatever food you place on it will make the temperature drop immediately, which negatively affects searing performance on bigger chunks of meat, like a bone-in steak. Most home cooks are unlikely to notice the difference, but professional chefs and cooking enthusiasts should upgrade to a heftier pan.
Note that although the pan has a uniform pewter finish out of the box, it will actually lighten in some spots (and darken in others) as you continue using it. This is a normal part of the seasoning process and nothing to be concerned about. While some user reviews complain of the bottom being slightly warped, the pan I tested sat perfectly flush against my glass-top stove. Sometimes, this warping can happen if a hot pan makes contact with cold water before it’s had a chance to cool down.
Best carbon-steel pan for eggs
Pre-seasoned: Yes | Handle material: Carbon steel, removable silicone grip | Cooking area diameter: 8.25” | Weight: 1195g (2.6 lbs) without silicone grip | Max temperature: 660°F
If you primarily intend to use a carbon-steel pan for frying eggs, the OXO Obsidian is a revelation (especially the smaller eight-inch version I initially tested while the ten-inch was sold out). Straight out of the box (after a quick wash with hot water), a proper preheat and a touch of fat is all that’s needed to get eggs gliding across the bottom as readily as a rogue ice cube skating across a hardwood floor. The included silicone-handle cover fills the hand and makes it easier to control than pans with all-metal handles. It’s a lighter-weight pan compared to the more expensive models we tested and is therefore not ideal for searing thick cuts of red meat. But it’s perfect for eggs, fish, and other delicate ingredients that benefit from being cooked on the slickest possible surface.
It was an extremely close call between the OXO and the Merten & Storck for the best less-expensive pick. They have the same cooking surface diameter, they weigh almost the same (if you remove the OXO’s silicone grip), and they are both excellent values for the price. But part of the appeal of carbon-steel cookware is its strikingly spartan aesthetic, which the OXO lacks. If that’s not an issue, or if the Merten & Storck is unavailable, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the OXO Obsidian in its place.
[Editor’s note: The OXO is currently out of stock, and we have reached out to the company to find out about availability and will update this guide when it has been restocked.]
Best unseasoned carbon-steel pan
Pre-seasoned: No | Handle material: Iron | Cooking area diameter: 8.5” | Weight: 1518g (3.3 lbs) | Max temperature: 680°F
This carbon-steel frying pan was one of my favorite pans in testing — but only after completing the rather involved initial cleaning and seasoning process. It arrives from the factory coated in a thick layer of beeswax that must be removed before you can even begin seasoning. This involves a lot of hot water, many paper towels (you don’t want melted wax down your drain), and a lot of elbow grease. Even 15 minutes of hard scrubbing in nearly scalding water wasn’t enough to remove all the wax. The seasoning process was a cakewalk by comparison. Just cover the bottom of the pan with oil, heat for five minutes, let cool, wipe down, and repeat once more.
After this initial seasoning, I was able to flip an over-easy egg with only minimal prodding from a spatula ,and it improved on each subsequent use. As the heaviest option I tested (albeit also an inch wider than the others), it was noticeably better at searing compared to the lighter, more affordable competition. I also appreciate its timeless design, from which other pans like the Merten & Storck draw their inspiration.
Given the substantial amount of prepwork involved in getting this pan to the starting line, it’s hard to recommend it over pre-seasoned options for most home cooks. However, it’s a great choice if you get satisfaction out of doing things yourself and frequently sear meat on the stove.
Best carbon-steel pan for searing meat
Pre-seasoned: Yes | Handle material: Stainless steel | Cooking area diameter: 7.5” | Weight: 1433g | Max temperature: 1200°F
The Made-In pan had the best searing performance out of all the pans I tested. This is because it has a more textured cooking surface — similar to that of a cast-iron skillet, such as a Lodge. This is ideal for searing because it lightly grips the protein as it chars, ensuring that nothing disturbs the browning taking place in the pan. It then naturally eases its grip as it approaches the optimal sear. Its deep sides are also nice for containing grease splatters. Both professional chefs we spoke to for this review independently cited this pan as their personal favorite for searing meats and fish in the kitchen. “I don’t nerd out on pans, but I know there’s a difference that a more advanced home cook or chef would notice,” says Salamon.
The downside to this texture is that eggs will stick more easily compared to the other pans I tested. I always needed my spatula to flip eggs over easy and ended up bursting the yolk more often than not. And the deep sides cut into its effective cooking diameter — which was 0.75 inches narrower than the other ten-inch pans I tested. And while Salamon and Garcia appreciated the heat resistance of its stainless-steel handle in a commercial-kitchen environment, I (and other members of my household) found that the curved shape made it trickier to maneuver compared to the other straight-handled pans.
Our experts
• Danny Garcia, executive chef and partner at Kent Hospitality Group (formerly Saga)
• Jeremy Salamon, executive chef and owner of Agi’s Counter
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