How to season a cast iron skillet on the stovetop

Properly seasoned cast iron skillets are great to cook with on your stove top! What is less well-known is how to season your pan, how to maintain the seasoning, and how to avoid common pitfalls that will damage your seasoning or pan.

I cannot stress this enough: keep excess water and water droplets AWAY from your cast iron pan. If it gets rusted, particularly on the inside, you'll have to scrape off the seasoning (which can be fairly labor-intensive) and start from scratch.

When reseasoning your pan, let it heat until the oil starts to smoke, then turn off your burner. I did not explicitly state this in the video and want to make sure that this essential piece of knowledge is known.

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[GoatAficionado]

I dont have an oven and was worried that i couldnt get a cast iron pan but after seeing this im buying one!!!!

[tonyjackson]

I intentionally only seasoned my entire handle just two or three times; just enough for good anti-rust purposes.
From then on I only applied seasoning oil to about an inch of the handle, back from the rim where it meets the skillet. Doing this creates a beautiful and cool looking contrast between the very lightly seasoned handle and the eventually heavily seasoned skillet. It also serves as a monitor and indicator of how well and thorough your skillet's seasoning is building up.

[miask]

Hi. There’s some good info here, but as a Southerner with cast iron left to me by my dad, I do things differently. I never put that much oil in the pan to season it. I just make sure it’s really well coated with just a bit to swirl around. I always re-season pre-seasoned cast iron. I find that it’s never seasoned that well. I have a little corn “broom” for cleaning out left on bits when washing. I never use soap, like you say. After use, I don’t re-season my pans, but I do coat the pan with a light coat of oil, then wipe it down. If you take care of cast iron, it will be virtually stick proof. I use metal or wooden utensils on my pans. It was good enough for Grandmom…One more tip; for the best cornbread, heat oven to 400f, put the pan in for a few minutes. Put the pan in the oven for until butter is melted. Make sure to spread the butter evenly. Drop temp down to baking temp-mine is 350f. Pour batter in sizzling pan an bake until golden. The corn bread will have a delicious crispy, bottom crust. Yummy!

[DNuts-wsuz]

Thanks. Keeping it heated and oiled is the key to forever lasting

[Damselfly]

well I agree with about half of that, been using cast iron fir over 50 years, and before that I remember growing up watching it being used AND HOW...it used to be tabu to use soap because cast iron pans used to be made with a material that reacted with lye, mild detergents we typically use do not contain lye anymore, so after cooking if you put some water in ur warm, not hot pan and add a couple drops of dish liquid and swish it around and then give it a quick rinse and dry, heat and do recoil the cooking surface soap won't harm it!!! BUT, ve sure you have an all over seasoned not just a preseasoned pan, they come preseasoned but thats just a temp coating so they don't rust till purchased due to moistures, they should be washed by hand, (agree no dishwasher), dried well heated and coated ALL OVER, wiped with paper towel to get off any oil that could drip and put the pan upside down in a preheated 400° oven for about an hour, take out allow to cool slightly and apply another all over coat and repeat that process till its been 3 season times...once that initial seasoning is done you will only need to treat the cooking inner surface after each use, and ur pan is safe from pitting, rusting and surface damage, it is pretty nonstick at that point...I've used metal utensils safely with that process for YEARS...

[maryanne]

If a pan is not bought per-seasoned especially, the purpose of including all even non-cooking surfaces in the process is to guard against rust. Even the handle. 😊

[mysteretsym]

You dont have to “re season” a cast iron every time you use it, every time you cook oil in a casts iron pan you add to your seasoning

[maryanne]

There's always more than one perfectly fine way to do many things. This method works, even if others do as well. Appreciated! 😇

[victoriab]

Great video. I’ve been using the oven to re-season a second hand mistreated Dutch oven and it has taken 4-5 times so far in the oven. So this video was so awesome for me! What a time saver! Thank you!

[aarrontaylor]

Hear is my tip/s: 1) when new season at least 10 times all over for a very good seasoning 2) never wash it, empty your food out, rinse under hot water, dry with towel, sprinkle with flour (will stick to any moisture on pan for wiping off), add a layer of seasoning on every week. 3) cook only meats in pan for 1-3 month (adds a layer of seasoning each time) liquids after this time nothing acidic for 6-12 months. 4) if you use any acidics then assume that at least 2 layer of seasoning was removed so reapply. Congratulations following this will mean your x times grand children may very well be inheriting this cook ware

[matthewrs]

My opinion is to go ahead with soap but only with a soft sponge or cloth. The reason being that soap will NOT remove polymerized oil (the seasoned surface). I'd rather use the soap to remove the NON polymerized oils that accumulated on my pan during cooking and could potentially go rancid between cooks.

[mnmcdac]

Can you use butter in your iron skillet to cook foods

[phi]

Very useful and entertaining, thank you!! I had no idea I couldn't cook with wine, no wonder my seasoning keeps disappearing lol

[tburrows]

When doing a quick season after cooking I use avocado oil ( high burn point ) and as the pan is over the heat and all water has evaporated from the wash. I like to use a silicone brush. Idir the oil vice paper towel.

[maregalindo]

Thanks for the great tip🙌🏻
Watching you from Mexico👋🏻

[danieljdesimone]

too much oil🤯🤯 That's how you create a sticky mess. You are supposed to wipe a light amount of oil all over then get a fresh towel and actually wipe it off before heating it.

[clayvision]

Dawn Soap and gentle scrubbing is fine, noticed virtually no damage on my seasoning since i started doing it that way

[johannesbjerkejannesson]

Great video man! One of the better ones out here😊

[andrewsloane]

The reason they say you can't use modern soap is that early manufacturer of soap makers used to put a product in their soaps called Lye other wise known as Caustic Soda or Sodium Hydroxide. It's the exact same stuff that is in oven cleaner. Modern dish soaps do not have this chemical in it because lye can actually burn the skin. I used oven cleaner to clean up my cast iron skillet as I wasn't happy with the results of the original seasoning that I did 6 months ago.

[pattimalay]

Appreciate your video. I just got my first Lodge and your video popped up in my search. Subscribed, too! 😊