The best cast-iron skillets we tested
Best cast-iron skillet: Lodge Chef Collection 12-Inch Skillet
Best non-stick cast-iron skillet: Smithey No. 10 Cast-Iron Skillet
Cast-iron skillets often carry one of two reputations, depending on your familiarity with them. Skeptics see them as expensive, heavy behemoths that aren’t worth the burden of their delicate care routine. Cast-iron devotees, however, view the material for the workhorse it truly is. A quality cast-iron skillet is durable, versatile, retains heat well and can become a go-to culinary tool in your home and over your campfire. And don’t believe the myths — cleaning and maintaining a cast-iron pan isn’t all that hard.
If you haven’t been lucky enough to inherit a generations-old Wagner or Griswold cast iron, fear not. We put 16 of the best cast iron skillets through various trials and tests. Each pan came pre-seasoned and was ready to use right out of the packaging, and we got to work searing steaks, frying eggs and baking cornbread.
After judging each on their cooking results and accounting for various design features like weight and handle, we landed on two skillets that should suit cooks on a budget and those looking for an heirloom cast-iron pan.
The Chef Collection pan — Lodge's lightest skillet — outperformed most of its much higher-priced competitors at nearly every test we threw at it.
For those willing to pay extra for a more aesthetic skillet, the Smithey's ultra-smooth, polished interior and copper color make it stand out, while also delivering top-notch non-stick capabilities.
Best cast-iron skillet: Lodge Chef Collection 12-Inch Skillet
Since 1896, the Tennessee-based Lodge Cast Iron has churned out quality cast-iron cookware — and garnered rave reviews along the way. We found that the reasonably priced Lodge Chef Collection 12-inch Cast-Iron Skillet lives up to the hype. The Chef Collection pan — the company’s lightest skillet — outperformed most of its much higher-priced competitors at nearly every test we threw at it.
The Lodge Chef Collection 12-inch Skillet rose to the top of our rankings for delivering great results across all our testing criteria and for its affordable price. Lodge, the oldest and longest-running American cast iron manufacturer, reimagined its classic cast-iron skillet in 2019, releasing the Chef Collection that’s 15% lighter and features a slightly elevated, elongated and curved handle that gives better leverage and control. It has sloped sidewalls that, while shallower than the classic version, make it easy to move your spatula around the pan.
Weighing just 6.5 pounds, compared to the classic version’s 8 pounds, the Chef Collection comes preseasoned with 100% natural vegetable oil and has two slightly larger pour spouts that allowed us to deftly remove oil from the pan without a dribble in sight. Out of the box, the pan was quite smooth, with a slight pebbling, and, after giving it a quick clean, we put it straight to use, baking the cast iron staple of cornbread. With just 1 tablespoon of butter melted in the pan before pouring in our batter, the cornbread released beautifully from the pan, leaving only crumbs from our cutting behind.
Fried eggs fared just as well: Again, cooked in 1 tablespoon of butter, they released and flipped with zero sticking, simply gliding around the pan. The steak we seared in 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil did stick slightly but came up with a gentle tug of our tongs. The sear was nicely even with just the crust you want when cooking on a skillet.
The Lodge also featured our favorite handle. The elongated, curved design made it quite comfortable to hold, and gave plenty of room for our bulky oven mitt to fit around. The helper handle was also big enough to get a nice grip on, which gives a big assist when you’re trying to lift the filled pan from the oven to the stovetop and back again.
The skillet came in second for how quickly it heated oil, but where the Lodge Chef Collection fell a bit behind was in our heat distribution test: Using an infrared thermometer, we found the middle to be quite a bit hotter than the perimeter. To counteract that, we suggest rotating the pan while cooking, especially if you’ve got, say, several slices of bacon going at once. The 12-inch pan is large enough to cook six eggs at a time, making it a great option when feeding a family. But for those cooking for one or two or who prefer a lighter skillet, it comes in 8-inch and 10-inch sizes, at just over 3 pounds and 4.6 pounds, respectively.
Like all the pans we tested, the skillet was super easy to clean up: Cast iron is not dishwasher-safe, but the preseasoning means little food sticks to the pan and anything that was left behind came out easily with a simple scrub brush or dish towel. (Tip: Be sure to dry the pan completely, and don’t let it soak in water, as cast iron will rust if left wet.) Reseasoning the pan was also a breeze: Add a thin layer of oil, distribute it with a paper towel and bake it upside down for an hour or so. That’s it.
With Lodge’s long and well-regarded company history, lifetime warranty, great results and under-$50 price point, we think the Chef Collection 12-Inch Cast-Iron Skillet will be the new focal point of your kitchen essentials.
Best non-stick cast-iron skillet: Smithey No. 10 Cast-Iron Skillet
The Charleston, South Carolina-based Smithey has only been around since 2015 but builds heirloom-quality pans in the United States to honor classic vintage cast-iron pieces. Straight out of the box, we had high hopes for the Smithey No. 10 Cast-Iron Skillet, if only due to its beautiful aesthetics. With its ultra-smooth, polished interior, copper color, signature three-hole design on the helper handle and pretty stamped California Valley quail bird logo, the craftsmanship is easy to spot.
So we were delighted to discover that the super-smooth 10-inch skillet we tested looked lovely on our countertop, but its performance was as good as it looked, proving to be one of the best nonstick cast iron pans we tested. Preseasoned with multiple layers of grapeseed oil, it aced nearly all our tests. Cornbread? Baked perfectly crisp on the outside, it released from the pan without a hitch. Fried eggs? They just slid across the pan. The steak? It picked right up without sticking to the skillet at all, searing nicely with a beautifully crisp crust.
The Smithey also heated oil the fastest, scored near the top when it came to heat distribution and, with its two well-sized pour spouts, didn’t leave a drop of oil outside the jar we poured it into. The three holes on the helper handle are a trademark of the brand, but they also serve a functional purpose, allowing you to easily hang the pan from a rack and giving it better grip. The 10-inch skillet is on the heavier side of the pans we tested, but the slightly curved handle offered a nice balance, so it was still easy to control.
Again, as with all the pans we tested, cleanup of the Smithey No. 10 was easy, as was seasoning. It should be noted that the pan’s surface began to appear blotchy with each use, but that happened to all the higher-end pans we tested. The blotchiness evens out with use, causing that original copper tone to turn to a black patina over time.
Also available in 6-, 8- and 12-inch versions (engraving is available on some models, if you want to personalize your pan), and featuring a lifetime warranty, we recognize $170 is a lot to spend on a pan. But with its great performance, we’re fairly certain this will become an heirloom piece you’ll be happy to pass on to your kids.
How we tested
While at a glance many of the cast-iron skillets we tested appear quite similar, they do differ when it comes to categories such as performance, build and ease of care. Our testing included 12 cast-iron skillets, ranging in price from $22 to $295. All were preseasoned, easy to clean and measured 10 to 12 inches in diameter.
We compared everything from weight, handle comfort and ease of pouring oil from the pan into a Mason jar. We also noted how long each took to heat oil and the evenness of heat distribution across each pan. But most importantly, we judged how well they worked — and how nonstick they were — when it came to searing a steak, frying an egg and baking cornbread.
We focused on the following criteria when testing each model:
Warranty/support
- Warranty: Does it come with a warranty? If so, how long?
- Customer service: Is it easy to contact the company for questions or concerns?
Performance
- Evenness of heat distribution: Cast iron is known for holding its temperature, but not necessarily heating evenly. To see which pans did a better job, we used an infrared thermometer gun to measure heat at all areas of the pan.
- Time to heat frying oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit: Using the thermometer gun and a stopwatch app, we timed how long it took a half cup of oil to reach the temperature in each pan.
- Seared steak: We cooked the same size rib eye in 1 tablespoon of oil at the same temperature for the same time period, noting whether it stuck to the pan, how well it seared and how uniform the searing was.
- Fried egg: We fried an egg in 1 tablespoon of melted butter, recording whether it stuck to the pan and how easy it was to flip.
- Cornbread: Using the same recipe poured into 1 tablespoon of melted butter, we noted whether the bread had a nice uniform browning on top and how well it released from the pan when slicing.
Build and design
- Weight: How much does it weigh, and does it seem too heavy or too light?
- Diameter of pan: How many inches is it across?
- Quality of materials: Was the surface smooth? Were there any scratches, casting marks or voids?
- Handle: Was the handle comfortable or ergonomic? Was it too short or too long? Was it easy to grab while wearing a bulky oven mitt or using a kitchen towel? Did it have a helper handle, and how easy was that to hold on to?
- Pour spout: How many pour spouts, if any, were included? When pouring a half cup of oil from the pan into a Mason jar, was there any dribbling or spilling down the side of the pan or jar?
- Depth of sides: We measured how deep each pan was. (Shallower sides are better for ease of sautéing, while deeper sides allow for deep-frying.)
Care
- Ease of cleanup: All the pans tested were hand-wash only. Did it take much elbow grease to remove any bits of food, or to clean out butter or oil?
- Preseasoning: The pans were also all preseasoned. We noted how they were seasoned and what oils were used.
- Ease of seasoning: We reseasoned each pan once, baking in an additional layer of oil and noting its ease.
Everything to know about cast-iron skillets
Caring for your cast-iron pan
If you’re new to cooking with a cast-iron pan or avoiding it because you’ve heard you can’t ever get it wet, wash it with soap or you must bake the pan for hours after each use, don’t worry. There are plenty of cleaning and caring myths surrounding cast iron, but the truth may put your fears to rest.
First, you certainly can get cast iron wet — but you don’t want to soak the pan for long periods to avoid any rusting that may occur. When the pan has cooled, rinse it with hot water by hand and use a stiff bristled scrub brush or the abrasive side of a sponge to remove any bits of food, oil or grease. For stubborn spots, it’s perfectly fine to use a small amount of mild dish soap. The important thing here is to dry the pan completely right away. Water left on the pan can cause rust but even those stains can be removed by scrubbing the area with steel wool. You can even add a thin coat of vegetable oil to the pan once it’s completely dry using a paper towel and rubbing it in thoroughly before storing.
Finally, since new cast-iron pans come preseasoned, they’re ready to use immediately. And the great thing is the pan keeps getting seasoned naturally each time you cook with it. But sometimes you will need to build extra seasoning. To do so, coat the pan in a light layer of cooking oil, rub it in with a paper towel and then either heat it in the oven upside down at 500 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour or on the stovetop on medium-high heat until the oil dries, repeating as necessary.
And that’s about all it takes. Reading through your skillet’s care instructions is a good idea, as those included with the models we tested packed tips and tricks for ensuring longevity and peak performance.
Bare cast iron vs. enameled cast iron
View this interactive content on CNN.comNot all cast-iron pans are created equal. If you’re able, look at the difference between the two pans above. On the left is the Lancaster Cast Iron No. 8 Skillet, a bare cast-iron pan, which can also be referred to as raw or traditional cast iron. On the right is the Le Creuset Signature Skillet, which is finished with a “black satin enamel.”
There are tradeoffs between the two when it comes to certain qualities. Bare cast iron requires more intentional care (though we repeat, don’t be scared off!) while enamel cast iron is more forgiving. Le Creuset, for example, claims its skillet is even dishwasher safe. Bare skillets can handle just about any temperature or heat source, so cooking over the campfire is fair game. Enamel, however, has its limits. Le Creuset says its skillet is oven-safe up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Enamel is also a little more fragile during use. Most manufacturers suggest avoiding metal utensils like the spatula photographed above because using them with too much force can chip or scratch the enamel. Bare cast-iron skillets have much less risk. As long as you maintain that seasoning, it may outlast you.
Then, of course, there’s the actual cooking performance. We’ve made delicious dishes with both bare and enameled cast iron. A bare cast-iron skillet builds a nonstick coating that enamel can’t. Still, it might come down to personal preference — and our two favorites are each bare.
Other cast-iron skillets we tested
The shallow walls on the Great Jones King Sear give you easy access to an expansive 12-inch cooking surface, and it's not outrageously expensive. But at nine pounds, this thing is just too dang heavy.
A 12-inch skillet for just over $100 is a more approachable price than what many of the trendy cookware brands are offering these days, as you’ll see further down this list. Great Jones’ King Sear performed decently in our tests too, searing a steak to perfection and easily cleaning off. The biggest drawback, though, was this skillet’s weight. At nine pounds, it was the heaviest in our testing pool. Adjusting the pan during cooking was a serious task because of that heft, and it was even more bothersome while trying to tilt, turn and scrub while cleaning. Pouring oil from its spouts, which are too small, is a two-handed task out of necessity. Maybe more muscular chefs will take less umbrage with the weight.
Weighing in at just over four pounds, this Pennsylvania-made skillet came up just shy of earning the title of splurge pick. It looks sharp and performed well, though we would have loved to have seen a helper handle for two-handed maneuvers.
Lancaster Cast Iron’s No. 8 skillet felt so light in our hands that we questioned if it was even made of the correct material. Fear not: It’s the real deal. This four-pound, 10.5-inch skillet was easy to pick up and move around and a pleasure to cook with. Eggs slipped around the pan, cornbread came out divine and steaks seared supremely. Its spouts poured oil smoothly, and it heated up more quickly than enamel counterparts. The lack of a helper handle wasn’t a big deal for those easy tasks, though one might come in handy when cooking heavier items.
Don't sleep on the OG. While newcomers expand on the colorful cookware trend, Le Creuset remains the champ with 26 shades available for this classic skillet. Its gently sloped walls and forgiving care instructions stood out.
The newer brands on this list are trying to pull off what Le Creuset has done for generations by making beautiful stovetop staples that are built to last. To no surprise, the signature skillet fared well in testing, with its sloped sides bringing melted butter back to middle for a particularly runny egg. Its curved handle was comfortable to hold despite being relatively short, and its helper grip was one of the most useful because of its size. I could actually fit my fingers in it. Le Creuset says this is dishwasher safe, though we preferred to hand wash our skillet to ensure longevity. Even with these redeeming qualities, you have to be willing to pay up or wait for a sale, because only one skillet we tested was more expensive than this one.
This skillet bested all of the competition when it came to distributing heat. It lost ground in our rankings because it was tricky to handle and doesn't have any pouring spouts.
If you’re looking for a pretty, high-quality, non-stick enameled cast iron skillet, Made In’s 11-inch version is worth considering (especially if you’re also interested in a Dutch oven, as Made In’s cast iron pieces are available in matching colors — in this case lovely shades of green, blue, orange, red and white). The skillet performed very well during all the cooking tests we threw at it. Our fried egg flipped like a dream, without a bit of sticking. Ditto the steak and the cornbread, which we were able to lift from the pan crumb-free. When it came to the evenness of heat distribution, Made In came out on top of all the pans tested, although it was slower to heat frying oil to our desired degree. However, the handle design of this pan is where it falters. The 5 1/2-inch handle is too short to make it comfortable to hoist the nearly 6-pound pan and the tiny helper handle is practically useless. We were able to sort of grip it with a balled-up dish towel, but much prefer the wider versions seen on other models. The skillet also doesn’t have a pour spout, which makes it trickier to dispense of oil when you’re done cooking.
Yeti has moved into the world of cast iron with its acquisition of Butter Pat, the makers of top-notch skillets at top-dollar prices. If you can afford it, it's a great purchase. But we love several options priced lower.
In our previous round of testing, we were impressed by the results from a skillet made by a small Maryland-based company called Butter Pat. Its handsome design partnered with terrific performance in each of our tests — a beautiful sear on the steak, easy-flipping eggs and not a single crumb stuck when baking cornbread. The only issue was the price: over $300 for the 12-inch skillet.
Yeti has since acquired Butter Pat and made a few tweaks to the skillet, which it claims is the first of many cast-iron designs in their plans. Bringing Butter Pat under the Yeti umbrella has lowered the cost for consumers a bit, as a 12-inch skillet will now run you $250. But that’s still more money than we can recommend spending when there are plenty of more affordable options.
This enameled skillet from Caraway is an aesthetically-pleasing pan that looks as good as it performs (and the enamel coating still looks pristine after months of use). It comes pre-seasoned, so it's ready to go right out of the box, too.
If you’re on the hunt for a cast iron skillet that can also up your kitchen’s style sense, this enameled pan from Caraway is what you need. lt’s available in six different color options, each subtle and stylish. I tested the light cream color and it adds a soft colorful touch to my pan cupboard.
Beyond its looks, this Caraway skillet is a stand-out in terms of cooking performance and heat retention. It cooks evenly regardless of what I’ve got inside, be it chopped veggies, a couple of chicken breasts or a homemade pizza. A lot of this can be attributed to how well it retains heat, too. So much so, that this skillet stays warm for upwards of a half-hour or more after I shut off the flame.
Another thing to note is its weight. It weighs just under six pounds and is noticeably hefty. This is the case with most cast iron pans but something to keep in mind if you like to use it to finish meals in the oven (make sure to grab it with two oven-mitted hands to avoid possible drops or spills).
This light skillet was comfortable to wield, though it ranked toward the bottom of the standings in heat distribution.
We fancied the look of Field’s cast-iron skillet right out of the box. With its simple, minimalist design, lightweight and smoothly polished finish, it also felt nice and comfortable in our hand — easy to manipulate and lift from oven to stovetop and back again. Yes, the helper handle is more of a helper tab, but we didn’t need much assistance in lifting this skillet. It did a wonderful job with cornbread, leaving nothing but a few crumbs from our slicing and the eggs and steak left just the smallest bits behind on the pan, easy enough to scrape right up with our spatula.
The heat distribution and time it took to heat oil were toward the bottom of the pack and the Field lacked any pour spouts. Let’s just say our oil pour test did not go well. It’s also quite pricey at $165 for the 10 1/2-inch skillet, though that’s the same ballpark as quality pans from Smithey and Lancaster Cast Iron. Are you willing to pay more for a pan made in the USA using recycled iron sourced from American vendors? If yes, we could see this skillet packing in with your gear for a camping trip where you’re cooking over a campfire and not worrying about pouring or spills.
That octagonal shape doesn't just look cool. It also made pouring out oils and liquids easy from any angle. Only a few qualms kept this from beating out our upgrade pick.
While most of the cast-iron skillets we tested were quite similar in looks, the Finex 10-inch Cast-Iron Skillet is a standout. With its unique octagonal design, large coiled handle and industrial vibe, it also stood out in many of the tests we put it through. It came out on top when it came to even heat distribution — the only pan that measured the same temperature in both the center and around the edges. It was also the winner when it came to searing steak, with no sticking and a perfect, even sear on both sides. And, like several other pans, it released cornbread with ease.
Handcrafted in the US, it came with a super-smooth polish, but ours had a tiny pit that shouldn’t have been there. It got points for its lifetime warranty and did a fine job when it came to pouring out oils (its shape means eight pour spouts), but it was the slowest pan to heat oil and felt extremely heavy even though it weighed 6.3 pounds. That said, it was the handle that kept the Finex from nearly edging out our upgrade winner. The company’s “speed cool” spring handle was too big for our hand to wrap around comfortably and we thought it was hotter than the cast-iron handles. The helper handle, meanwhile, is a small tab, making it difficult to maneuver.
The inclusion of an oven-safe glass lid, a wooden spatula and two silicone grips was a welcome bonus to this nice-to-look-at pan that performed admirably.
Our Place built its brand on well-made, Instagrammable cookware, and the company’s attractive 10.5-inch cast-iron pan continues that trend. But the enameled skillet, which comes in eight pretty colors, isn’t just nice to look at; it’s also practical and easy to use. Thanks to its black matte enameled cast iron construction, the pan doesn’t need to be seasoned.
Unlike most competitors, Our Place includes an oven-safe glass lid, a bonus for home cooks who love a good stir-fry. It also performed well in our cooking tests, perfectly searing our ribeye and crisping fried eggs to perfection. Still, Our Place’s cast-iron skillet is expensive, heavy and slow to heat oil — all drawbacks that kept it from nabbing our top spot.
Is this a bad skillet? Not at all, especially when it's more affordable than many of the others we tested. We still prefer the Lodge Chef Collection.
We love the simple, classic design of the Milo, with its flat but comfortable handle, large helper handle and completely smooth porcelain enamel finish. It comes with a lifetime warranty and is reasonably priced, and we love that it’s available in white and is made using 49% recycled cast iron.
At 6 pounds, the 10-inch skillet was one of the lightest we tested, was near the top in even heat distribution and was among the best in the fried egg test, with nothing sticking at all — in fact, the egg just slid beautifully around the pan when we gave it a swirl. The cornbread left just a trace behind, and while the steak only stuck slightly, it didn’t brown as well as some of its competitors. The pour spouts were on the smaller side, and a little oil dribbled down the side of our jar. Overall, the Milo is a fine pan, definitely finishing in the top half of our competitors.
A bit heavier and with taller walls than our top pick from Lodge's Chef Collection, this classic is still a great buy for the price. You can bundle the 8-, 10- and 12-inch skillets for $55 at Amazon.
Like our overall winner, this Lodge pan is sturdy, preseasoned with 100% vegetable oil, comes with an amply sized helper handle and is nice and smooth with a slightly pebbled texture. It worked wonderfully when it came to releasing cornbread from the pan, lifting right out with ease and, while our fried egg flipped nicely, it left just a bit stuck to the pan. The steak stuck a bit, but the sear was nice and brown.
The classic Lodge does have deeper sides than the Chef’s Collection, which could be appealing if you plan to do a lot of deep-frying in your skillet. But it also took a full minute longer to heat oil. Priced at $25, it’s a good value. Even so, we recommend upgrading to the Lodge Chef Collection skillet.
That price is hard to turn down, but poor results in many of our tests led us to recommend paying just a bit more for a Lodge that won't let you down.
The least expensive of the cast-iron pans we tested, Valor’s 12-inch skillet did fine. Preseasoned with pure vegetable oil, it’s similar in size to the classic Lodge pan we tested and nearly identical to the Utopia. With a slightly pebbled cooking surface, it was slightly rougher than any other pan, fared near the top for heat distribution and heated up third fastest.
The egg we fried flipped right over without sticking at all. But the cornbread, while looking great, left a little behind when we cut into it, and the steak stuck some while flipping and didn’t brown very well. The Valor also lost points for its small helper handle and pour spouts that left much of our oil spilled outside the jar. With no warranty listed, we’d pay more for a better model.
You might be sensing a theme here: We tested several budget-friendly skillets, and many of them will get the job done fine. But the best thing about our top pick from Lodge is it won't cost you much more to forgo sacrificing quality.
The largest diameter-wise of any pan we tested, the Utopia is nearly identical to the Valor pan. With slight pebbling, it’s on the rougher side, but it came with no scratches or marks from the factory. At 8 pounds, it was one of the heaviest pans we tested. It also cooked a perfect egg and was among the winners when it came to evenly distributed heat. It didn’t fare as well on the steaks — there was some sticking and uneven browning — or the cornbread (which didn’t release as well as the others).
It was in the middle of the pack when it came to heating oil, and the small handle didn’t balance well with the pan’s weight. The two pour spouts, meanwhile, were on the smaller side, and a fair amount of oil poured down the side of the pan rather than into our jar. If you’re just looking for an inexpensive starter skillet, this will do the trick. But if your budget allows, we’d step it up to a higher-rated model.
Both the main handle and the helper handle were well-designed on this affordable model that puts up the best case as a budget pick. If you want to dabble in cast-iron cooking, consider Victoria.
If you’re looking for an inexpensive pan that produces fine results, the Victoria is worth a closer look. Preseasoned with 100% non-GMO flaxseed oil, it features a longer, 7-inch curved handle than other models, along with a wide helper handle. While we found the long handle useful for putting it in a hot oven (less chance of burning ourselves), it made it unwieldy when spreading oil or butter around the pan.
With a very slight pebbled texture, it was quite smooth and released cornbread perfectly, made a beautiful fried egg and stuck just a bit when flipping the steak. The pour holes are larger than others and not a drop of oil spilled as we poured it into a jar. Founded in 1939 and based in Medellin, Colombia, the company provides a lifetime warranty and boasts a proven track record. We still think the Lodge Chef Collection is worth the slightly higher price, but the Victoria was our favorite of the four least expensive pans.