Carbon Steel Woks May Be ‘Better,’ but I’ll Never Give Up My Nonstick Wok

I use it every single day.

Elisabeth Sherman is a writer, editor, and fact-checker in the food, culture, and entertainment spaces. She has been working professionally at national magazines since 2015.

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Food & Wine / ZWILLING

When I bought my partner a Zwilling nonstick aluminum wok as a birthday present two years ago, I never considered I would be using it myself. Back then, I didn’t think of myself as an especially talented homecook. But this pan changed all that. It was the perfect tool to encourage my cooking skills, and now I use it daily.

But I always wondered if I could push my cooking to the next level. I recently started cooking with a carbon steel wok, which I had heard was what the experts use. It’s a beautiful and resilient piece of cookware that reaches extremely hot temperatures quickly. But I still prefer my Zwilling aluminum wok.

ZWILLING

To buy: Zwilling 12-Inch Matte Black Aluminum Wok, $100 at zwilling.com

What I love about the Zwilling wok is that it has a sleek black design, high sides, and deep bowl that can accommodate an impressively wide range of dishes. Creamy pasta sauce and perfectly golden brown tofu, and stir-fried vegetables of all kinds cook perfectly in this pan. I even use it as an alternative to a microwave, heating up chicken nuggets and leftover mashed potatoes in the bottom when I’m preparing dinner for my toddler. It’s so versatile, in fact, that I can honestly say I use it every single day.

I truly did learn how to cook with the Zwilling wok, in large part because it's just so fool-proof. Heat is distributed so evenly throughout the surface of the pan that it's nearly impossible to burn anything that I cook in it. And better yet, it heats up gradually, so that I’m never caught off guard by high heat and the sudden demand to cook my food quickly before it becomes charred or sticks to the sides of the pans.

Don’t get me wrong, my new carbon steel wok is easily one of the best looking pieces of cookware that I own. It’s hand-forged and hammered into shape, so I know it really will last for decades. And it’s actually much lighter than the aluminum wok, which makes it easier to maneuver on the stove.

It came pre-seasoned which is supposed to make the surface naturally non-stick, but that was not my experience using it. Once, while cooking tofu (which had been dried out before I started frying it) I noticed that there were hot spots all over the pan which made it especially tricky to cook with, since the heat wasn’t evenly distributed. After just a few minutes, pieces of tofu started to adhere to the side of the pan. In the end, I had to methodically clean the inside using hot water and the soft side of a sponge so that I didn’t scratch it.

Even then, patches of the seasoning had clearly worn away, and before bed I had to re-season it by sauteing a sliced onion with oil, and then heating it in the oven for around an hour. The pan recovered perfectly, but it was more of an effort. None of that is necessary with the Zwilling wok. All I do at the end of the night is wipe it down with a little bit of soap and warm water. That’s it.

If you’re a more experienced and skilled home cook, and you love (and have the time) to take care of elegantly crafted pans that will last you a lifetime, you will love a carbon steel wok. Fast-paced stir-frying over searing flames is high octane cooking at its finest — there’s no doubt that it can be fun. Plus carbon steel woks have a long and legendary history in traditional Chinese cooking that is absolutely worth exploring.

But what makes the Zwilling wok a staple in my house is that it’s so durable that even a home cook who is still learning the ropes can’t mess up a meal in it. Plus, it takes next to no effort to clean.

At just $100 it's one of the more affordable woks out there. When it comes to everyday cooking, I’ll take the Zwilling aluminum wok over the carbon steel any day.

At the time of publishing, the price was $100.