--- slug: how_to_season_a_carbon_steel_pan category_path: home_kitchen/kitchen_dining/cookware/frying_pans title: "How to Season a Carbon Steel Pan" lead: "Scrub off the factory wax with hot soapy water, then build thin layers of baked-on oil: wipe on a tiny bit of high-smoke-point oil, heat the pan until it smokes and darkens, cool, and repeat two to four times. Each round leaves a slick, rust-proof patina — then cooking fatty foods deepens it." recommendation: name: "Strip the factory coating, then bake on thin oil layers until dark — repeat a few times, and cook to build the patina" reason: "Seasoning is just oil polymerized onto the steel by heat, so the goal is many thin layers, never one thick one. Wash the new pan with hot soapy water to remove its protective wax and dry it. Heat it until the surface darkens to a straw or blue tint, wipe on the thinnest possible film of oil — grapeseed or canola for their high smoke point, or flaxseed, a low-smoke drying oil that bakes into an especially hard layer — then buff it almost dry so no pooling remains. Heat again until it stops smoking and the oil turns matte brown, cool, and repeat two to four times. Thereafter, cook bacon, fries, and other fatty foods to darken the patina naturally. Maintain it by rinsing hot with little or no soap, drying on the burner, and wiping a whisper of oil before storing; too much oil at once just goes sticky." published: 2026-07-08 updated: 2026-07-08 ---