To Find the Best Woks for Stir Frying and More, We Smoked up Our Kitchen

A dependable wok is the cornerstone of so many cuisines across the globe—the key to executing stir fries and dishes like gai pad king or red-cooked pork. So, how do you choose one? If you live in a city, one good option is to visit your local Chinatown, where you can find a number of woks for an affordable price while supporting local businesses. But if you don't know what to look for, that strategy can be hit-or-miss.

For those seeking more guidance, we evaluated 13 popular flat-bottomed models that you can order online. After multiple rounds of testing, dozens of batches of fried rice, and smoking out our kitchen daily, we’ve found the five best carbon steel woks. Our favorites are super heat-responsive, nearly nonstick, and easy to manage on home burners.

The Winners, at a Glance

The Yosukata Black Carbon Steel Wok is a heat-treated, pre-seasoned option with added durability and solid heat responsiveness. Its smooth, slick surface is easy to clean and built to last. We also liked the wooden handle, which kept our hands cool.

Similar in design to the Yosukata (which also features a wooden handle and a metal helper handle), the Mammafong Blue Carbon Steel Wok was very responsive. It's large enough to stir-fry fried rice without flinging grains everywhere. Over a year later, it has continued to perform well in our long-term testing.

The Joyce Chen wok needed to be pre-seasoned before use, but this step was painless. Plus, the surface was quite nonstick—even sticky fried eggs slid out effortlessly.

This wok is pre-seasoned, has a wide base for extra stability, and comes with a wok spatula and a flat, wooden lid for easy tossing and steaming. It heated up quickly, and we really liked its extra-large capacity.

The Misen wok had an ergonomic and heat-proof stainless steel handle that made it easy to maneuver. It also had a well-seasoned surface that was nearly nonstick out of the box. It’s pricier than our other winners, but we think it's a worthy investment.

The Tests

• Pre-Seasoning Step: Prior to testing, we seasoned each wok (using these instructions and a total of four rounds of seasoning), to level the playing field.
• Egg-Frying Test: We fried an egg in two teaspoons of vegetable oil over medium-high heat to assess any imperfections in the existing seasoning. We repeated this test twice in each wok.
• Stir-Frying Test 1: We stir-fried greens, looking at how easy it was to stir-fry and toss in each wok.
• Stir-Frying Test 2: We made garlic fried rice, evaluating sticking and assessing batch-cooking, stirring, stir-frying, and saucing capabilities.
• Responsiveness and Conduction Test: We boiled six cups of water over high heat, studying heat responsiveness, conduction, and uniformity.
• User-Experience Evaluation: Throughout testing, we assessed how easy each wok was to use, paying attention to the wok’s handle and build quality and how balanced it felt in hand.
• Ease of Cleaning: After each test, we cleaned each wok, following these instructions.

How We Chose Which Woks to Test

Woks come in all kinds of materials, though we don’t recommend buying Teflon-coated nonstick (which breaks down at high temperatures), cast iron (too heavy), or stainless steel (too sticky). Instead, we prefer carbon steel woks because, like carbon steel pans, they heat quickly and evenly. They’re also durable, relatively affordable, suitable for both gas and induction burners, and get more nonstick as their seasoning builds up over time. 

We chose to focus on flat-bottomed models for this review, since round-bottomed woks require a wok ring or some other mechanism for stability. Flat bottoms are better for home cooks, most of whom are cooking on gas or electric burners rather than traditional high-output wok burners. For similar reasons, we also prioritized Northern Chinese-style, or “pow,” woks over Cantonese-style woks. The former has a long handle that’s more intuitive and safer to use (since it’s closer to a Western skillet) than the short “pig ear” handles of the latter.

What Are the Essential Tools for Cooking with a Wok?

We have a whole guide to wok accessories that can be found here, divided by "must-haves" and "nice-to-haves." Our must-haves include:

• A wok chuan (spatula)
• A spider (for deep-frying)
• A bamboo steamer
• A lid
• Circular steaming racks
• Cooking chopsticks
  

What We Learned

How to Season a Wok

Some of the woks we tested came pre-seasoned, which typically means that they are heat-treated and a thin layer of oil is rubbed over the surface. In other cases, the carbon steel undergoes bluing, an oxidizing reaction in which the surface is treated with a compound and typically heated to produce magnetite, which is rust-proof, corrosion-proof, and reasonably nonstick.

But many woks come unseasoned and require a few (easy!) steps to get them ready for cooking. If the handle is oven-safe, you can wipe the wok with a thin layer of oil and pop it in a 500°F oven for 45 minutes (repeating a few times to build up seasoning). Alternatively, you can do the same thing but over a burner: First, heat the wok over high heat until it's smoking then give it a good scrub (after it's cooled) to remove any wax coating. Then, place the wok back over high heat, maneuvering it so the entire surface gets evenly heated. Finally, give it a rub with neutral oil (like canola)—the wok is now ready to use.

Fried Eggs: Evaluating the Woks' Nonstick Abilities

Cooking eggs is the benchmark for testing the nonstick properties of virtually any cooking surface. Why? Eggs are rich in protein, which bonds to the surface of a hot pan in a process known as adsorption. Eggs are also mostly liquid, so they tend to seep into the cracks of the imperfect metal surface of a wok. Unless a wok is well seasoned, the amount of adsorption can be significant, which leads to lots of sticking.

In a perfect world, every wok would be well seasoned after years of cooking, practically guaranteeing a nonstick surface. But all of the tested models were brand new with only the four layers of light seasoning that we added. To maximize nonstick properties in this test, we made sure to heat each wok until it showed faint wisps of smoke, then swirled in a measured amount of vegetable oil until the surface was coated and just short of smoking. We fried one egg at a time, noting the time it took to release from the pan, as well as how much scraping was necessary to release the egg fully. We then repeated the test for each wok.

Good performers like our favorite from Yosukata and the Helen’s Asian Kitchen and Zhen San Huan woks exhibited minimal (though not zero) sticking on the first fry, and the eggs released with gentle scraping using a fish spatula. By the second fried egg, sticking was virtually nonexistent in these models. Most notably, these woks had ample flat surface areas—between five and six inches—which meant more direct contact with the heat source.

Poor performers in this test were kind of a nightmare in comparison, showing plenty of sticking. The Made In was perhaps the most egregious example: the eggs were completely stuck to the pan, and the yolks were either broken or overcooked by the time we managed to scrape everything off. Craft Wok was another subpar performer but for a different reason. This hand-hammered model showed an uneven distribution of heat, which led to uneven cooking. While one side of the egg released reasonably well, the other side was stuck.

Stir-Frying Greens Tested the Woks' Agility

Unlike frying eggs, stir-frying greens is primarily a test of movement: How effectively does food pass through different zones of heat, producing a cooked but vibrant and fresh quality? For this test, we stir-fried multiple batches of leafy green vegetables like yu choy and Shanghai baby bok choy in each of the woks. We standardized each batch of vegetables by weight, using a measured amount of cooking oil, salt, and garlic as a simple aromatic. We tossed each batch every 30 seconds until the greens were cooked through.

The best performer in this test was Yosukata wok, which cooked the greens quickly and evenly. Most importantly, this model was light enough to flip and tumble food with one hand—an essential skill for keeping food moving through zones of direct heat, steaming, and convection. These models were also fairly nonstick throughout cooking, showing no signs of burning or premature browning.

Underperformers, like Made In and Craft Wok, tended to cook greens unevenly. The Made In wok’s limited flat cooking surface and smaller overall diameter made it difficult to toss greens effectively, and food tended to stay piled in the center of the pan. As a result, the Made In browned the greens instead of cooking them uniformly. While the Craft Wok had a larger diameter and bottom surface area, the uneven distribution of heat made it difficult to cook the greens evenly. The walls were also a bit shallow, which made tossing a little tricky. Finally, the Craft Wok was a bit too heavy to handle with one hand. Similarly, the Zhen San Huan and the Smithey woks were virtually impossible to lift with one hand, so stirring was the only option.

Fried Rice Was the Ultimate Test

Even in its simplest forms, making fried rice is an effective test of a wok’s ability to shift gears and handle multiple stages of cooking. For example, many fried rice recipes begin with frying cooked rice in batches; the rice is emptied into a bowl, then the wok is reheated to continue cooking aromatics and any additions before finally incorporating the rice again. Throughout cooking, the wok rapidly heats, cools down, then heats up again. There are several potential points of concern: Does the rice stick to the pan? Do the aromatics stick to the pan or burn? Can you toss the rice in the pan to distribute sauce and seasonings evenly?

We made identical batches of garlic fried rice in each of the woks and recorded any differences in rice sticking, as well as performance when tossing and stirring. We noted heat responsiveness when cooking the garlic, and took an extra step to “sear” soy sauce around the outer edge of the wok to replicate the seasoning step in most recipes. Each batch was standardized by weight for each ingredient.

The best woks in this test exhibited virtually no sticking when tossing and stirring rice. Models like the Yosukata and Mammafong were easy to handle, and the tossing motion felt natural as the rice flipped up and cascaded back down to the center in separate grains. The top performers were also highly responsive to changes in heat so that we could lower the temperature enough to cook the garlic without burning it. When it came time to crank up the heat, sear the soy sauce, and toss everything together, these woks heated back up in less than 30 seconds.

Underperformers like the model from Craft Wok showed some signs of rice sticking and were generally a bit too heavy to toss food easily with the non-dominant hand. Because of that added weight, we didn’t feel particularly connected to or comfortable with these woks. Their heavier gauge also made them less responsive to changes in burner heat and sometimes led to bits of burnt garlic.

Evaluating Heat Responsiveness

Finally, it was time to boil water: A simple test for heat responsiveness and conduction, as well as how evenly the wok heated up. For most wok cooking applications, speed is key. We heated six cups of water over high heat, starting at the same temperature (60°F), and recorded the temperature with an instant-read thermometer at 30-second intervals until the water boiled at 212°F (give or take a degree).

The speediest woks in this test—like the models from Mammafong, Joyce Chen, and Yosukata—boiled water at least two to three minutes faster than all the other models. They also showed limited signs of uneven heating, and the seasoning remained intact after boiling.

Wok	Time to Boil
Yosukata	9:30
Made In	11:30
Mammafong	7:06
Joyce Chen	8:50
Craft Wok	12:30

The slowest woks in this test included the models from Craft Wok and Made In, which took upwards of 12 minutes to boil water. We noted that these woks also had the smallest bottom cooking surface in contact with the burner—between four and five-and-a-half inches—which explains why they didn’t conduct heat as easily or react as quickly as other models.

Despite its heavy gauge and considerable weight, the Zhen San Huan wok boiled water in about 10 minutes, which was pretty fast compared to other models. Why? If we had to guess, it’s due to the large bottom surface diameter: The Zhen San Huan wok had the largest bottom diameter (eight inches) of all woks tested, which meant a significant portion of the wok was in direct contact with the heat source.

The Criteria: What to Look for in a Wok

A good wok should be easy to handle, heat-responsive, and durable. It should take on additional layers of seasoning well, whether it requires initial seasoning at home or comes pre-seasoned. Since the motions involved in wok cooking can be rather dynamic—think vigorous stirring, tumbling, and tossing—a proper wok should be light but not flimsy. Home burners can’t get as hot as wok burners, so it’s also important that the wok’s sides aren’t too thick so they can heat up quickly and reliably.

Our Favorite Woks

What we liked: The Yosukata Black Carbon Steel Wok is a pre-seasoned, stamped wok with a smooth, beautiful blue-black surface. It's a fast, heat-responsive pan that performed well in nearly every test. Fried rice and vegetables slid effortlessly across the surface, and despite its smaller lip-to-lip diameter, there was still enough room to toss food. As the thinnest gauge model in the lineup, the Yosukata exhibited the fastest heat gain of any model, boiling water in nine minutes flat.

This model also features a helper handle, which gives added flexibility and stability when handling large quantities of food. The wooden handle is wedged and screwed into a welded base, and it stays cool throughout cooking. Because of that welded construction and added weight, this wok feels incredibly durable despite its slightly thinner gauge. It also has a welded metal helper handle, which is a welcome feature for stability.

What we didn’t like: This wok is heavy and the handle is large, so cooks may find it a little awkward to maneuver. The wooden handle is also tricky to remove if you’re trying to season the wok in the oven (a little gentle heating expands the metal, which helps release the handle). The first few eggs we cooked stuck a little, but its seasoning (and, therefore, its nonstick properties) improved within a few days of cooking in it. It also came with a protective film of oil, which needs to be scrubbed off before seasoning and cooking.

Key Specs

• Weight: 3.5 pounds
• Metal Gauge: 16 (1.6 millimeters)
• Flat cooking surface diameter: 6 inches
• Lip-to-lip diameter: 13.5 inches
• Depth: 3.75 inches
• Induction compatible: Yes
• Comes pre-seasoned: Yes
• Good to know: Also available in an 11.8-inch size

What we liked: This wok was a pleasure to use. It heated up quickly and evenly (it was the fastest during our boil test), and the angled handle made it easy to toss food. It was also on the lighter side, which made it easy to scrape out garlic fried rice into a serving bowl. While it was pre-seasoned, we still had to scrub off the factory coating, but this didn’t take long at all. 

What we didn’t like: Like the Yosukata, fried eggs stuck a little bit, though after using the wok for a while now, it's built up seasoning and is less sticky. The only other qualms we had were that the helper handle is metal, which got warm during cooking, and that it’s on the pricier side.

Key Specs

• Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Metal gauge: 16 (1.6 millimeters)
• Flat cooking surface diameter: 4.25 inches
• Lip-to-lip diameter: 14 inches
• Depth: 4 inches
• Induction compatible: Yes
• Comes pre-seasoned: Yes

What we liked: After a thorough scrubbing and seasoning, this wok was quite nonstick: It was the only wok that produced clean, unbroken, unstuck fried eggs  (though your results may vary depending on your initial seasoning). Its capacious bowl made it easy to toss bok choy and garlic fried rice, and it boiled water in eight minutes and 50 seconds, the second fastest in the lineup. Finally, with a wooden handle and helper handle, we had no fears of singing our fingers when moving the wok or serving food (though this does mean you can't season it in the oven). 

What we didn’t like: At a little over three pounds, this wok was heavy. Its narrow, slippery handle didn't provide good leverage, either, so it was hard to hold steady when tossing or scraping out food. We noticed the metal bowl was bent a little bit near the handle, which made the wok's shape more of an oval than a circle. However, this didn’t affect cooking or cleaning.

Key Specs

• Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Metal gauge: 17.5 (1.5 millimeters)
• Flat cooking surface diameter: 6.5 inches
• Lip-to-lip diameter: 13.5 inches
• Depth: 4 inches
• Induction compatible: Yes
• Comes pre-seasoned: No

What we liked: This wok heated up quickly and evenly. We appreciate its tall sides, which gave it a large 6-liter capacity (compared to the 3-liter capacity of the Joyce Chen, for example). It also had a wide, flat bottom that kept it stable during cooking (even on gas burner grates), and its wood handle was comfortable to hold and stayed cool. It comes pre-seasoned and also includes a wok spatula and a flat, wooden lid, making this a solid choice for anyone’s first carbon steel wok. 

What we didn’t like: Some people might not like the hammered texture of the pan and it lacked a helper handle. 

Key Specs

• Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Metal gauge: 17 (1.4 millimeters)
• Flat cooking surface diameter: 4 inches
• Lip-to-lip diameter: 12.5 inches
• Depth: 3.75 inches
• Induction compatible: Yes
• Comes pre-seasoned: Yes

What we liked: Though we appreciated the wooden handles of our other winners, the Misen wok had a comfortable, flat stainless steel handle that stayed surprisingly cool during use (and made it oven-safe up to 550°F). It had steep walls that helped contain fried rice, so we could stack rice up against the sides instead of having it slide back down into our cooking area while we were frying the vegetables. Our favorite part of this wok was how nonstick it was. The first egg we fried got partially stuck, but every subsequent dish we made came out without a hitch.

What we didn't like: The higher sides made it more difficult to shake and toss ingredients in the pan. It’s not the most expensive wok we’ve tested, but it is the priciest of our winners.

Key Specs

• Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Flat cooking surface diameter: 5.5 inches
• Lip-to-lip diameter: 12 inches
• Depth: 3.5 inches
• Induction compatible: Yes
• Comes pre-seasoned: Yes

The Competition

• Smithey Carbon Steel Wok: While this is a beautiful, burnished wok, it was quite heavy at over three pounds. It took FOREVER to boil water—more than 15 minutes! Plus, the wok basin was very shallow (it's around three inches deep), and we accidentally flung grains onto our cooktop when making fried rice. It’s also $325, and for that price, we expected more from it. 
• Imusa USA WPAN-10018 Non-coated Wok: It isn’t available anymore, but we found this wok’s angular handle hard to grip. It was also stickier than other woks, with fried eggs and bits of rice adhering to the bottom.
• Helen Chen's Asian Kitchen Flat Bottom Carbon Steel Wok: This spun wok performed well in testing, but its durability is suspect. The wooden handle screws into a riveted base, so there are a couple points of failure over repeated use. In fact, by the end of testing, I could feel the handle start to loosen, and the rivets seemed to be warping slightly. Additionally, the wooden helper handle is not removable, so it’s difficult to season this wok in the oven without burning and ruining the handle.
• Zhen San Huan Hand-Hammered Carbon Steel Blue Wok: This beautiful, hand-hammered wok is a beast of a cooking vessel. The surface is treated with magnetite, which produces a stunning blue-black surface. At more than seven pounds, the Zhen San Huan is not ideal for traditional wok tossing. It has a massive bottom surface area (eight inches) and was the thickest metal wok in the lineup. It had superior heat retention, but it was very slow to heat up on my stove. While this wok performed well in most tests, the heavy weight made maneuvering difficult. And given the hefty price tag (upwards of $250), this wok isn’t the best choice for everyone.
• Craft Wok Flat Hand-Hammered Carbon Steel Pow Wok: Though attractive, this wok performed poorly in fried egg and stir-frying tests: Food tended to stick to the surface, and eggs needed a lot of scraping to release. Because it's hand-hammered, there were imperfections in the metal, and the distribution of heat seemed uneven. The wok was also quite heavy for its size, and felt awkward when tossing. The bottom surface of the wok I received was also slightly warped, so it was not induction compatible.
• Made In Blue Carbon Steel Wok: This wok had a limited cooking surface that felt cramped and made tossing difficult. Eggs stuck both times we tested it, and some seasoning came off with the eggs during cleaning in the second round. While we found the rounded metal handle easy to hold, it could get hot during cooking.
• Yosukata Round Bottom Carbon Steel Wok: While we loved the flat-bottomed Yosukata, this one was sticky and had a vertically angled handle that made it super awkward to maneuver. It didn’t help that it was also quite heavy.
• Wok Shop Carbon Steel Pow Wok: Previously one of our top picks, we received several emails from readers about The Wok Shop, citing delayed orders, orders that were never received, and poor customer service. For those reasons, we've decided to remove this wok from our recommendations.

FAQs

Should I buy a stainless steel wok?

Stainless steel woks are not ideal. Not only are they extremely heavy and difficult to maneuver, they also take a long time to heat up and cool down—a fatal flaw for anything that requires rapid, on-the-fly heat adjustments—like a stir-fry. Foods—particularly proteins—have a tendency to stick to steel.

Can you deep-fry and steam in a carbon steel wok?

Yes, you can absolutely deep-fry in a carbon steel wok. In fact, we have a whole guide to deep-frying in a wok, which can be found here. We like a wok for deep-frying because its flared, roomy, concave shape helps contain oil and splatters, amongst other reasons. You an also steam in a wok. We have a guide to steaming in one here. You'll need a bamboo steamer or a circular steam rack and a wok lid to do so.

Can you use a carbon steel wok on a grill?

Yes, you can use a carbon steel wok on a grill. We did a whole article on stir-frying in a wok on a grill, in fact! If you want to take your wok cooking outdoors, we also recommend checking out an outdoor wok burner.

Are woks compatible with induction cooktops? What are the pros and cons of using a wok on an induction cooktop?

If you have a carbon steel wok, then yes, it is induction-compatible. You can read more about induction cookware here, and more about how induction works in this article.

While most folks use woks with gas burners, induction can be beneficial when cooking with this type of pan. This is because induction—which relies on magnetism to "heat" pans—provides a more focused, fast, and even heat than gas or even electric. Plus, you won't have harmful gas fumes clouding up your kitchen. That said, if you're using a round-bottomed wok, it won't work on induction, which has a flat, glass-topped surface.

What's the best oil for seasoning a carbon steel wok?

Vegetable oil works great! It's cheap and has a high smoke point that won't go rancid when exposed to high temperatures.

Why We're the Experts

• Tim Chin is a professional cook and previously worked at America's Test Kitchen. He's written many recipes, explainers, and equipment reviews for Serious Eats.
• Tim grew up cooking with a wok, it being one of the first cooking tools he encountered in the kitchen. "My parents still use the same dinged-up Cantonese-style wok from those early years. Its handles have been replaced three or four times, the seasoning is jet black and about two millimeters thick, and honestly, it will probably outlive me," Tim says.
• Grace Kelly is an editor for Serious Eats. She has professional cooking experience and has also worked at America's Test Kitchen.
• For this review, she tested a handful of woks we hadn't previously considered. Since then, she's been using the Mammafong wok at home as part of long-term testing.
• Overall, we have evaluated 13 popular woks for this review over multiple rounds of testing. Each time, we have re-tested our previous winners (which still score top marks) and added recommendations for new standouts, like the Misen and Joyce Chen models.
• After receiving emails from readers, we removed our original favorite from The Wok Shop. Readers cited delays, orders that were never received, and poor customer service.