Cast iron is one of those materials that, once you come to know and understand, you’ll inevitably fall in love with.
It gets better as it gets older, in the sense that the coating it develops will make your foods taste better and better.
Plus, it should work on any cooktop for indoor or outdoor cooking.
If only you knew how to pick the best cast iron skillet, right?
After all, a cast iron pan features a straightforward design, which is why identifying the best one from a pile of skillets that look almost the same is quite challenging.
Well, stick around and discover your non-stick cast iron options, size and price-wise, with a few special notes on the tiny details that make for a great purchase.
Are you ready?
See Our Best Cast Iron Skillets
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Best Overall
1Lodge L10SK3ASHH41B Cast Iron Skillet
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| 2
Best For Low Budgets
2Utopia Kitchen Cast Iron Skillet
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| 6
Best For Higher Budgets
6STAUB Cast Iron Skillet
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1. Lodge L10SK3ASHH41B Cast Iron Skillet
- 12-inch/30.5cm in diameter;
- Made of pre-seasoned cast iron;
- Includes a red silicone handle cover in the package;
- Compatible with inductive stovetops.
Pick your kitchen horsepower skillet from Lodge, and you won’t be sorry.
Coming from the only full-line of cast-iron cookware American-made, this model will give you the unrivaled quality you’re expecting.
The large size easily accommodates three chicken breasts or four frying eggs at a time.
Yet, with great size, you’re also getting greater heat retention since more material gets super hot.
Clearly, it’s the ideal size for a skillet; it is solidly built and backed up by a reputable manufacturer—all the more reasons to consider it an excellent investment.
Specifications
Pros
- Versatile kitchen tool for cooking various dishes;
- Effective with heat retention and distribution;
- Easy to wash and maintain;
- Robust and meant to last.
Cons
- Somewhat heavy, difficult to manoeuvre with one hand.
2. Utopia Kitchen Cast Iron Skillet
- 12-inch/32cm in diameter;
- Made of cast iron with a black finish type;
- Ready to use, seasoned from the factory;
- Oven safe, but not dishwasher safe.
With this cast iron skillet from Utopia Kitchen, cooking delicious dishes in a non-stick frying pan is no longer a utopia.
Seasoned straight from the factory, sized to serve an entire family, and available for an average price tag, it provides you with good value for your money.
We consider this to be one of the best options for non-sticky cast-iron skillets.
With a large bottom and high sides, a well-crafted handle paired with an extra helper handle, it will quickly become your go-to pan.
Specifications
Pros
- Good cooking capacity;
- Comes ready for cooking;
- Versatile and sturdy;
- Provides good value for the money.
Cons
- Over time, it does require extra maintenance.
3. Cuisinel Cast Iron Skillet
- 10-inch/25.4cm in diameter;
- Made of pre-seasoned cast-iron with black finish;
- Package also includes a glass lid and a silicone handle cover;
- Suitable for grill, oven, stovetop, and induction cooktop.
Slightly smaller than other models but still in the average-sized category, this 25cm cast iron pan will sit nicely on your cooktop and enter the oven without hassle.
It has a smooth finish; it is easy to clean and maintain, not to mention that it comes with a glass lid.
All these for a price you’ll hardly find elsewhere.
One nice touch that also makes it stand out is the silicone handle designed with a hang-hole—no need to put it aside when you hang the skillet and risk losing it around the kitchen.
Specifications
Pros
- Solid construction;
- Sized to easily fit the oven;
- Comes with a lid;
- Versatile and suitable for any cooking machine.
Cons
- Despite the factory seasoning, comes with recommendation to season before first use.
4. KICHLY Cast Iron Skillet
- 10.25inch/26cm in diameter;
- Comes ready to use, with seasoning from the factory;
- Suitable for indoor or outdoor cooking;
- Compatible with electric hobs.
This cast iron skillet from Kichly is super-affordable and comes in a decent size.
Even though it is not as heavy as other models, it will still do a decent job once you heat it up.
The nice overall finish and the smooth, flat bottom make it stand out, just like the fact that it has a helper handle and two pouring lids.
As long as you maintain it accordingly and season it frequently, you’re supposed to enjoy it for a very long time.
All while your foods will become tastier with every time you cook in it.
Specifications
Pros
- Versatile skillet, meant for various uses;
- Works with multiple heat sources, from electric to ceramic top stoves;
- Easy to maintain, as long as you use it regularly;
- Warms up fairly easily and retains heat.
Cons
- Not the thickest cast iron skillet you can find.
5. Overmont Cast Iron Skillet
- L size, 9.6inch/24.5cm in diameter;
- Pre-seasoned with soy oil;
- Ergonomic handle with tilted design;
- Suitable for barbeque and oven.
Overmont is selling this pre-seasoned cast iron skillet in three sizes.
We’ve picked the largest one, which is still not that large as you’d expect, though you can consider it ample at 24.5 cm.
Feel free to choose your desired size, or consider their special package of buying the whole set of three sizes, S, M, and L.
Seasoned in the factory, with a soy-based oil, you could get it to do the hard work straight out of the box.
And you won’t help but notice how lightweight it is.
For this price, it’s above-average quality, and you might want to check it out!
Specifications
Pros
- Has a reasonable price;
- Lightweight and comfortable to use;
- Easily fits any grill;
- Facilitates heat distribution.
Cons
- Not that large, despite the L size label.
6. STAUB Cast Iron Skillet
- 9.84inch/25cm in diameter;
- Made of cast iron, with scratch-resistant enamel coated interior;
- Compatible with all hob types, induction included, but also with grill and oven;
- Comes with a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects, applicable for domestic use;
Fair enough, the price of this STAUB cast-iron skillet could easily shock you, especially if you’re not familiarized with the outstanding quality of this brand or with the particularities of enamelled cast iron.
Even so, knowing that it is recommended by top chefs such as Paul Bocuse will make you stop and stare for a while.
So, as you do that, you’ll start noticing what makes it so unique.
This is a cast-iron skillet with enamel interior, the ideal combo between cast iron and non stick cookware.
It’s scratch resistant and dishwasher safe, something you clearly haven’t heard with the cheaper cast iron pans out there.
And if you also consider the good size and how it matches all hob types, you won’t think twice about purchasing it if you have the money.
Specifications
Pros
- Stick-resistant right out of the box;
- Doesn’t react with acidic foods;
- Really solid, meant to last for years;
- Safe to wash in the dishwasher.
Cons
- Quite a hefty price tag.
Cast Iron Skillet Buying Guide
Non-Stick Surface
When it comes to this material, there are simple cast iron and enamelled cast iron skillets.
The ones with a perfect non-stick surface straight out of the box are the enamelled ones.
If you go for a simple cast iron pan, even when pre-seasoned from the factory, you might still need to give it an extra seasoning round yourself, to be sure it won’t stick to your food.
The need for repeated seasoning doesn’t mean the product is not of high quality.
It’s just how things work with cast iron, where seasoning chemically binds to the metal, turning into this smooth, completely non-stick, and non-scratch surface.
Once a proper layer of seasoning was formed, you’ll get a flawless non-stick surface meant to last you forever, provided you take adequate care of it.
Heat Distribution
Heat distribution is important with cookware because it can tell you if the chosen material heats fast and evenly and how high its emissivity is.
From this perspective, cast iron is an interesting material because it doesn’t heat evenly, but it still has an excellent volumetric heat capacity and a high emissivity.
The fact that it doesn’t heat evenly can be relatively easy to fix – you just need to let it sit on the burner for around 10 minutes before putting the food in it, or you can even heat it in the oven for up to 30 minutes.
Once you’ve covered that part, heat distribution will be a breeze because of its two main advantages.
The excellent volumetric heat capacity indicates that once cast iron gets hot, it stays like that.
It doesn’t lose heat easily, which is extremely handy when it comes to searing meat.
Then, the high emissivity rating reflects its tendency to radiate heat energy from its surface.
For reference, if stainless steel is rated with .07, cast iron scores a .64!
Thanks to this high emissivity, the food you place in the skillet won’t cook just at the surface that is in direct contact with the cast iron.
It will also cook through more efficiently, as the heat radiates very well.
These three aspects combined make for outstanding heat distribution, with one condition – have a little patience to let the pan get super hot.
Helper Handle
Top-quality cast iron skillets are particularly heavy.
For this reason, they are often designed with a helper handle that would pair the standard handle of any skillet.
If a model is designed with a helper handle, it allows you to pick it up using both hands. The trick, of course, is always to wear protective gloves.
Because of their small shape, you can’t cover the helper handle with a silicone handle holder as you do with the main handle.
Enameled Cast Iron
As suggested above, enamelled cast iron is the perfect combo between all the benefits cast iron can bring and the effortless non-stick cooking provided by the enamel layer.
In this form, the skillet is made of cast iron and then covered with a vitreous enamel glaze. So, it’s not an alloy but rather a treatment applied to the cast iron’s surface.
Once the glaze fuses with the cast iron, you get the excellent protection that traditional, repeated seasoning is supposed to give.
In other words, if you opt for an enamelled cast iron skillet, you don’t need to season it, you don’t have to worry that it will rust either, and you certainly won’t have to stress about cleaning it up.
What’s more, this combo is ideal for drawing flavour from foods and it doesn’t react to acidic ingredients.
You can do a lot of slow cooking in it, knowing it won’t stick to food and you won’t have to throw it away rather than cleaning it up.
What’s the catch? Well, you can expect to pay at least three, if not four, times the cost of a bare cast iron pan for the enamelled models.
Size
When wondering about the size of a skillet, you might be tempted to believe it reflects the size of the cooking surface or, otherwise said, the diameter of its bottom.
However, the actual pan sizes listed in product descriptions don’t indicate the diameter base-edge to base-edge, but rather wall-top to wall-top, which is more extensive.
So, because the design could make the skillet’s walls rise more or less steeply, two different models with the same 12-inch/30.5cm size could have slightly different cooking surfaces.
In any case, the cooking surface will be smaller than the advertised size.
So, cast iron pans usually come in three main sizes: 8-inch/20.32cm, 10-inch/25.4cm, and 12inch/30.5cm.
A small 20cm skillet will fit frying just one egg, one chicken breast, or one steak at a time.
However, you can use it to make omelettes with a fluffy texture.
By throwing in more eggs on a small surface, they will be forced upward, making your omelette really thick.
An average 25cm pan can take in up to two chicken breasts or even fry three eggs at a time.
If you don’t feel like cooking in it, it will certainly help with sauteing veggies in bulk or reheating leftovers.
Finally, a large 30cm pan will let you fry four eggs or three chicken breasts at once, bake a pizza in the oven, or fry your morning bacon strips without having to cut their ends.
It will heat up slower, but it will retain more heat and for longer.
Our Verdict
If you’d have to pick just one pan to have in your kitchen, a cast iron skillet would probably make the best choice.
From crispy potato hash to cooking a full chicken for dinner, throwing pizza or bread in the oven, and even cooking at your outdoor grill with it, there’s nothing that this versatile pan won’t handle.
Now you know that you can choose between bare and enameled cast iron models, the latter making the high-end alternative.
And you also know that the heavier a skillet is, the better you’ll cook in it.
We’ve shown you both the affordable and the pricey top-rated models, so it shouldn’t be too hard to pick a favorite or an entire set!
