23 Cast Iron Skillet Recipes to Put Your Trusty Pan to Good Use (2024)

FAQs

What foods are best cooked in a cast iron skillet? ›

We love to make roasted or sautéd veggies when we're first using a skillet, or if we have an older skillet that needs some love. Just toss your veggies in olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and start cooking!

For one, cast iron pans aren't perfectly smooth and foods like eggs may get stuck. For the best results, make sure to keep your cast iron pan seasoned, and preheat the skillet for a few minutes before you add any food to it. This allows the pan to heat evenly and prevents most food from sticking. Add fat as needed.

While cast iron can become non-stick with sufficient use over time, a newer skillet will almost certainly cause your eggs to stick to its porous surface. And that'll turn into one messy cleanup! But once your skillet is reliably non-stick, cast iron skillet eggs will become your new go-to for weekend brunches.

When cooking in cast iron, you should add a little oil to the pan before adding your food. This helps ensure the food doesn't stick, and it helps build layers of seasoning. You can generally use whatever oil you prefer, as long as the cooking temperature is below the smoke point of the oil.

Acidic foods (unless you make it snappy)

Acidic foods (like tomato sauce, wine-braised meats, etc.) enter the red zone when they spend too much time cooking in the skillet. It's particularly important to not marinate anything in a cast-iron pan, as many marinades are quite acidic in order to tenderize the meat.

Before Cooking

Remove your new skillet from the package and wash in the sink with warm water and soap. This will be the only time it is necessary to use soap on your cast iron skillet. After rinsing, towel dry to remove any moisture, and your new Lancaster skillet is ready for use.

All cooking oils and fats can be used for seasoning cast iron, but based on availability, affordability, effectiveness, and having a high smoke point, Lodge recommends vegetable oil, melted shortening, or canola oil, like our Seasoning Spray.

Can you use butter on cast iron? ›

Yes, you can season the pans for frying, sautéing, or baking in cast iron cookware like pans, pots, or skillets with butter, but it's not the right choice to season it for the first time. Butter immediately starts to smoke when added to a heated pan because cast iron can withstand a lot of heat.

The water should be warm too, as you never want to shock cast iron with a sudden and drastic temperature change from cold water, since this could cause warping and even cracking. Wash with something that will scour but not scratch.

Pre-Heat Your Skillet

Since cast iron holds heat, it's not necessary to use a heat setting above medium. These steps help prevent food from sticking. Don't forget to use a hot handle mitt!

Rinsing your skillet with cold water while cleaning off rust will help prevent new rust from forming quickly. After scrubbing and rinsing your skillet, make sure you dry it thoroughly by heating it for a few minutes on the stovetop. Once dry, coat the skillet all over in a thin layer of seasoning oil.

A thick-cut steak such as a ribeye or New York strip is best for cooking in a cast iron skillet because it can withstand the high heat of the skillet and develop a gorgeous crust, while remaining juicy and tender in the middle. Avoid lean cuts like flank steak or skirt steak, as they are prone to drying out.

Save the delicate fish for the non-stick pan, too. But salmon and other meaty fish that can stand the heat are fine. You should avoid cooking acidic sauces in cast-iron pans because the acid loosens trace amounts of molecules from the metal that can then leach into your foods, imparting a metallic flavor.

You'll use less oil, avoid harmful chemicals, and get a little extra iron in your diet.

The type of iron that comes from cast iron cooking is nonheme iron and is safe to consume. It is the same type of iron as found in plant sources such as beans, spinach and tofu. Children one to three years old only need 7mg iron daily, so if it's best not to cook every meal for children this age in cast iron cookware.