Nothing beats the power and precision of a high-quality carbon steel wok. At its best, this durable, multi-purpose pan heats up in minutes, delivers a restaurant-quality sear, and responds to temperature changes in seconds. Not only that, but carbon steel—a durable, high heat-resistant carbon-iron alloy—offers the additional benefit of being naturally non stick once it's been seasoned, like our newly redesigned Carbon Steel Wok.
Even once you’ve narrowed it down to carbon steel, however, you’ve still got a handful of decisions to make: what size? Preseasoned or unseasoned? Round-bottomed or flat? We’ve got all these answers and more.
What Makes for the Best Carbon Steel Wok?
Whether or not something is the “best” is ultimately subjective, but here’s a few qualities to look for to make your decision easier.
Material Quality
Stir-frying—as well as several other wok cooking methods—happen quickly and over extremely high heat. Therefore, you’ll want a high-grade carbon steel wok that can heat up quickly, offers even heat circulation, and won’t warp when exposed to high temperatures.
Preseasoned vs. Unseasoned
A preseasoned wok can be a convenient, accessible option for home cooks who feel intimidated by the prospect of seasoning a pan from scratch. It can also be a great way for carbon steel beginners to learn what a properly seasoned pan should look and feel like, and—similarly—when it needs to be reseasoned.
Shape and Size Considerations
Woks come in two basic shapes: round-bottomed and flat. Round-bottomed woks are designed to optimize contact between the pan and the flames, as well as allow the flames to lick up and over the sides of the pan. This is how restaurants achieve that smoky, savory quality known as wok hei.
However, unless you have a special wok stove—outfitted with concave burners or a removable ring designed to hold the wok in place—a round-bottomed wok just isn’t a feasible option. Luckily, a high-quality flat-bottomed wok offers most of the benefits of a round-bottomed wok, and is compatible with virtually all stovetops.
Next, you’ve got to decide what size wok to opt for. Woks range in size from mini—roughly 8” or 9” —to massive: some restaurant woks are as wide as 30” in diameter. For the majority of home cooks, however, a 13” or 14” wok is the perfect option—large enough for most small- and medium-sized recipes, but still lightweight and easy to store.
Handle Type
Aside from shape and size, another variable to consider when shopping for woks is the handle style. Some woks feature a single long handle, similar to a frying or saute pan. This handle makes it easy to flip and toss your food, which is extra important when stir-frying and sauteing. You may also see woks with double loop handles—aka “helper handles” —as well as hybrids of the two, with a long handle and single helper handle.
Our newly redesigned Wok features our signature Stay Cool Handle in a longer length, which we prefer for its ability to lift and toss food during the cooking process.
Why Our Carbon Steel Wok Is the Best Choice
Built for Longevity
While made using a thinner, lighter carbon steel gauge than our previous wok, the newly redesigned Carbon Steel Wok is still incredibly durable and hard-wearing. With a little TLC and occasional reseasoning, you can expect this pan to last for decades, if not longer.
Preseasoned for Convenience
While not all manufacturers preseason their carbon steel woks, we chose to take care of the initial two seasonings (the most important ones) with a proprietary blend of shea and coconut oils so that our customers can enjoy their new pan from the moment they open the box.
Superior Heat Retention and Responsiveness
We used the highest grade of carbon steel to make our Wok, ensuring even heat circulation and the ability to quickly respond to temperature changes. These qualities are essential for wok cooking, as they help to prevent burnt, stuck-on bits of protein and starch; gummy or overcooked noodles or grains of rice; and other avoidable dinner disasters.
Ergonomic Design
As we touched on earlier, we very intentionally chose a long-handled design for our wok, giving the user optimal control and leverage when flipping and tossing food. On top of this, our proprietary Stay Cool handle design helps to protect fingers and palms from accidental burns by circulating heat away from the handle.
How to Use a Carbon Steel Wok
As mentioned in our guide to wok cooking, the wok’s unique conical shape and ample surface area makes it especially well-suited to stir-frying and deep-frying. However, this highly versatile pan is also a great choice for steaming, boiling, and Chinese-style braising (similar to simmering).
Pure carbon steel woks are compatible with all stovetops, including electric, induction, and gas. However, if you’re using a glass stovetop, make sure that the bottom of your wok isn’t textured (ours is totally smooth), as this can scratch or crack the glass.
Caring for Your Carbon Steel Wok
Cleaning Tips
Carbon steel may be ultra-durable, but it still requires a bit of special care and maintenance to keep it in good working shape. Make sure to avoid dish soap when cleaning your carbon steel wok, dry it immediately, and rub it with a tiny bit of oil before storing in order to protect the seasoning.
Reseasoning Process
No matter how careful you are with your wok, chances are you’ll need to reseason it at some point. If your pan is rusty from disuse or from being improperly seasoned to begin with, you’ll need to partially or completely strip it and start from scratch. For a tutorial on reseasoning, check out our designated guide.
Ready to Shop?
The most important thing about choosing a carbon steel wok is making sure it’s one you’ll use—a lot. And with our newly revamped Carbon Steel Wok—plus all the tasty wok-friendly recipes out there—we doubt you’ll have any issues with that.
