The Best Carbon-Steel Pan (2025), Reviewed by Our Experts

The best carbon-steel pan will offer you all the convenience and ease of a nonstick skillet and then some. Properly seasoned carbon-steel cookware is just as nonstick as ceramic or PTFE-based nonstick cookware, and unlike those types of pans, carbon-steel cookware will actually get better the more you use it. Carbon steel is tough and durable, compatible with induction cooktops, it can withstand high heat, and there’s no need to worry about scratching its cooking surface. This is why we generally suggest opting for carbon-steel, cast-iron, or even a stainless-steel pan over nonstick pans, because they’re simply superior pieces of cookware—provided you care for them properly.

We get that not every home cook wants to season carbon-steel pans. If that’s you, there are plenty of pre-seasoned pans out there that we stand by. However, if you don’t mind the little teensy bit of work of seasoning a pan, you will be rewarded with an heirloom-quality pan with an exceptional finish.

The best-carbon steel pans

If you aren’t super familiar with carbon-steel pans, here’s a basic rundown. Compared to other long-lasting cookware like cast-iron skillets, they are lighter weight and easier to maneuver. They have a flat, wide cooking surface perfect for frying eggs and omelets, flipping crepes, searing meat, stir-frying vegetables—the list goes on. In terms of versatility, carbon steel can’t be beat.

Check out more on our top picks below, and if you’re interested in finding more of the best cookware, check out our reviews of our favorite cast-iron pans and best carbon-steel woks, or best Dutch ovens.

The best carbon-steel pan overall: De Buyer Blue Carbon Steel Fry Pan

Chris Morocco, food director in our test kitchen, loves the De Buyer blue carbon-steel Fry pan. De Buyer is an old-school name in the cookware world, and the brand’s carbon-steel pan is probably its best-known product. “I love these as an alternative to all but the best cast irons,” Morocco says. “They are lighter, easier to use and handle, season faster, and start out with slicker surfaces.”

The blue carbon steel pan is the most affordable pan in De Buyer’s lineup and it’s a bit more user-friendly than the higher end Mineral B and Mineral B Pro lines. One big plus about this pan is that you don’t have to go through the same initial process that completely unseasoned carbon steel pans require as it comes with a light layer of bluing as opposed to the traditional beeswax coating that can be a minor hassle to remove. That being said, we’d still recommend seasoning this pan yourself before using it, as during testing, the surface became much slicker following a few rounds of cooking. The pan also has a welded handle—no lumpy rivets in the way—which makes it easy to clean, and broad-angled sides ideal for tossing and flipping foods in the pan without a spatula. If you want a professional quality carbon steel pan that isn’t too intimidating, this is the one.

What we didn’t like about the De Buyer Blue Carbon Steel Frying Pan

We wouldn’t consider this a preseasoned pan. Our product testers found that compared to other skillets, you might need to reseason the De Buyer the first couple of times you use it. Also, this pan does have a smaller cooking surface relative to its diameter, but this is because the pan is designed to make it easy to maneuver and flip food with a flick of the wrist. If you aren’t interested in honing those types of cooking techniques professional chefs are famous for, you might prefer the pan below.

The best budget carbon steel pan: The Oxo Obsidian Pre-Seasoned Carbon Steel Pan

This has been one of our favorite carbon steel pans for several years now. It comes preseasoned and is equipped with a removable silicone handle sleeve which is always a plus with carbon steel pans, because, unless a handle is made of stainless steel (or occasionally, for some reason, wood) they can get very hot. The Oxo had fantastic heat distribution across its cooking surface, which is wider and flatter than some classic carbon steel pans, making it a bit more friendly for spatulas if you aren’t comfortable with a chef’s flip. It’s also lightweight and exceptionally easy to maneuver. Right out of the box this is a practically nonstick fry pan, and it’s available at a very reasonable price point

What we didn’t like about the Oxo Obsidian Preseasoned Carbon Steel Pan

Because the handle is riveted but not also welded, that means there’s a possibility the handle could come loose over time (we haven’t observed this yet though). The sides of the pan meet the base at a bit of a harsher angle, which makes it better for people looking to use utensils to maneuver food within rather than with flipping alone. Again, it all depends on the experience you’re looking for.

How we chose the best carbon steel pans

We tested each pan by cooking several batches of skin-on chicken thighs and fried eggs, judging heat distribution by looking at how evenly items cooked on different parts of the pans. For the skillets that did not come pre-seasoned, we went through the process of seasoning them ourselves with an initial layer of grapeseed oil before we got to cooking.

What we looked for in carbon steel pans

Other carbon steel pans we tested

De Buyer Mineral B Fry Pan

The basic Mineral B pan from the maker of our top pick comes with a welded-on handle with a heat-resistant epoxy finish that makes it easier to grasp and easier to clean because it doesn’t have rivets poking out. The problem is that the finish can melt above 400°, making stovetop to oven cooking (something we find ourselves doing a lot with carbon-steel pans) to be a bit of a problem. De Buyer recommends keeping oven time to 10 minutes even at 400°. This is why Morocco prefers the Mineral B Pro model, which comes with an oven-safe stainless-steel handle. This does add slightly more weight to the pan, but also makes it more comfortable in the hand.

Misen Carbon Steel 10-inch pan

This is a fantastic pan that we would recommend. It has a great pre-seasoned surface and a silicone handle, and its weight is nicely balanced between the handle and the pan. But, it’s slightly thicker than a traditional carbon steel pan and is more akin to a stainless-steel skillet in handling, which is why, for these purposes, we prefer the De Buyer or the Oxo. With repeated use the seasoning improved quickly, capable of executing the coveted “egg slide.”

Matfer Bourgeat Black Carbon Steel Fry Pan

This is a carbon steel pan preferred by many French chefs, and can be found in the bustling kitchens of countless Michelin star restaurants. The brand is 200 years old, and is sort of the old guard when it comes to carbon steel cookware. It’s a heavier pan (3 lbs 14oz). It’s pretty barebones with a welded handle and an unseasoned cooking surface, but is designed to get the job done.

Smithey Farmhouse Skillet

Smithey’s entry into the world of carbon steel is, without question, one of the most ornate pieces of cookware you can buy in the category. It works well too. Once seasoned, we got slick results from the cooking surface, and if you want a statement piece to hang from a pot rack, this would be it. However, we don’t think carbon steel pans should be expensive and this one costs $300, so we can’t make it one of our top picks.

Made In Blue Carbon Steel Frying Pan

This pan has an almost wok-like shape with wide, rounded walls. We appreciated the stainless steel handle, but reviews were mixed on the particular curve of the handle. Morocco, in particular, felt it was too severe.

Mauviel M’Steel Black Carbon Steel 11-Inch Pan

This is another classic professional chef’s workhorse similar to the De Buyer Mineral B, though slightly heavier. It also has a protective coating that took us over 10 minutes of scrubbing to remove. It’s a nice pan, just be prepared for a project when it comes out of the box.

Merten & Storck Carbon Steel 10-inch Skillet with Stainless-Steel Handle

The Merten & Storck pan aced our egg test. From first use, testers noted that “a fried egg slid right off with the ease of Teflon.”