If you’re not yet cooking with carbon steel, you’re missing out. And if you’re already in the know, and you’re ready to upgrade to the best carbon-steel pan, you’ve come to the right place. We tested 16 popular and top-rated brands to find the best options for searing, roasting, sautéing, and moving seamlessly from stovetop to oven—whether you want to spend $40 or $300.
The best carbon steel pans
You’ll see a lot of different pan materials flying around kitchen supply stores—non-stick, ceramic non-stick, copper-core. Well, carbon steel is pretty much what would happen if a stainless-steel pan and cast-iron skillet had a baby—a beautiful, perfect baby that got the best qualities from each parent.
Similar to cast iron, carbon steel is an iron-carbon alloy and requires a little extra care and routine seasoning. But if treated properly, it takes on a slick, almost nonstick surface. Carbon steel cookware also works on any heat source, including induction, and it’s often a fraction of the price of comparable stainless steel skillets. If properly cared for, high-quality carbon-steel pans are trusty kitchen workhorses with incredible versatility; they can tackle almost any job in your day-to-day cooking and even release a fried egg as well as the best nonstick skillet. Like cast iron and stainless steel, they can also go straight from the stovetop to the oven.
Professional chefs, particularly in Europe, have reached for carbon-steel cookware for decades, yet they don’t occupy the same place in the imagination of the American home cook as materials like cast iron and nonstick. But given their utility and value, they should. In fact, our top pick from German cookware brand Merten & Storck costs about half of what our favorite stainless steel pan does and a third of our top cast iron skillet (and yet we still managed to select an even less expensive carbon steel pan as a budget pick on top of that).
The best carbon-steel pan: Merten & Storck Carbon Steel 10″ Skillet with Stainless-Steel Handle
Carbon steel performs best when it’s well-seasoned, and many contenders here required some oil, heat, and time before we were able to start cooking (i.e. they came unseasoned). Not so with this pan. Made with the know-how of German steel manufacturers, it was ready to go after a quick (soap-free) wash, and the very first time we used it, a fried egg slid right off with the ease of teflon. The sides are moderately sloped, allowing for plenty of cooking space, and chicken thighs cooked evenly and browned beautifully. Merten & Storck released a version of this pan with a stainless steel handle in 2022 (the handle on the earlier model is made of carbon steel), and definitely it’s worth the extra few dollars; the stainless steel feels nice in the hand, and it stays cool even after a long spell on a hot burner (generally not true of pans with carbon-steel handles). This pan also happened to be one of the lightest pans in the bunch, which requires a little mindset adjustment if you’re used to weight as an indicator of quality. However, it’s nice to only need one hand to hoist a whole roast chicken in or out of the oven, and you’ll want to cook many of them with this pan.
What we didn’t love about the Merten & Storck Carbon-Steel Pan
Other than the fact that it’s not quite as aesthetically pleasing as our splurge pick (below), there’s honestly nothing we didn’t like about this pan.
The best affordable unseasoned carbon steel pan: Sardel Carbon Steel Skillet
Unseasoned skillets take a little bit of nurturing, but the payoff can be grand. Seasoning your own pans allows you to have more control over the process (not all manufacturers season their carbon cookware the same way). This was certainly the case with the Italian-made Sardel pan. Out of the box, its waxy coating was relatively easy to remove with mild dish soap, hot water and a non-scratch sponge. First-time seasoning was straightforward, and the skillet darkened beautifully after just a few uses. Chicken thighs browned perfectly and easily released from the pan, and fried eggs were crispy once they set. Compared to other unseasoned pans we tested, it was relatively lightweight yet sturdy. The textured handle is both attractive and ergonomic, as its concave shape allows for a better grip.
What we didn’t love about the Sardel Carbon Steel Skillet
While the handle has great functionality, it does get rather hot. (It wasn’t as hot as others we tested.) Also, seasoning and caring for the pan might be a downside for some.
A splurge-worthy carbon steel pan: Smithey Carbon Steel Farmhouse Skillet
If you’re looking for a carbon-steel skillet that is both high performing and good looking displayed on your stove top—or hanging on your pot rail—then we suggest this gorgeous hand-forged pan from Smithey. In fact, were it not for the price, this might have been our top pick overall. Made in limited quantities in Charleston, South Carolina, this skillet is inspired by the design of traditional fire tools and it arrives beautifully seasoned. And while we did get good results right out of the box, as is expected with this kind of cookware, the nonstick surface definitely improved after a few uses. The round handle is easy to grip and isn’t so long it feels unwieldy. Also, presumably because this is a bigger skillet that only comes in a 12-inch size, it has an additional helper handle that makes it easy to move from the stovetop or oven to the dining table. We especially liked the low, sloped sides and the expansive cooking surface. If you’re an experienced cook, then this skillet is worth the splurge—it’s an instant family heirloom (Psst! That’s even more true if you go for the custom engraving).
What we didn’t love about the Smithey carbon-steel Farmhouse Skillet
The obvious downside to this pan is the price tag, but these skillets are clearly made to endure generations of cooking (so if it’s in your budget, we say it’s worth the investment).
How we tested
While deciding which carbon-steel pans to test, we looked for popular and highly-rated options that are readily available online or in stores in the U.S. We also chose pans as close to 10 inches as possible (except for the Smithey, that only came as a 12-inch skillet, and the Mauviel and Vollrath, which were 11 inches), since that’s the size used in most home kitchens. Then we tested how seven skillets responded to frying eggs and browning skin-on chicken thighs in a tablespoon of oil, plus how quickly they could bring room temperature water to a boil.
What we looked for
Seasoning
Seasoned carbon steel is happy carbon steel. And while there is a lot to be said about the convenience of a pre-seasoned skillet, overall, the pans that required seasoning out of the box performed better in the initial tests and developed a dark brown patina without much effort.
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