How to clean a cast iron skillet without ruining the seasoning

Step by step: how to clean a cast iron skillet without ruining the seasoning

Safety first. The pan and handle stay hot long after cooking; use a dry towel or handle cover. When you dry it on the burner or bake on seasoning, the oil can smoke, so run the range hood and keep the oil layer thin.

1. 1

   Clean the pan while it is still warm

   Let the skillet cool until you can handle it with a towel, but do not let food dry on overnight. Warm residue lifts much more easily than cold, set grease.

2. 2

   Scrape out food and pour off grease

   Pour cooled grease into a can or jar, not down the drain. Use a plastic scraper to push off any loose bits. You should see the black, slightly glossy seasoning under the food.

3. 3

   Wash with hot water and a little soap

   Run hot water into the pan, add a small squirt of dish soap and scrub with a stiff brush or non-scratch pad. Modern dish soap does not strip baked-on seasoning. Rinse well.

4. 4

   Loosen stuck-on food with simmering water

   If food is still stuck, add about 1/2 inch of water, bring it to a simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, then scrape once the pan cools a little. For crusty spots, scrub with a tablespoon of coarse salt and a splash of water, or use a chainmail scrubber.

5. 5

   Towel dry right away

   Dry the skillet inside and out with a lint-free cloth or paper towel as soon as it is rinsed. Never leave cast iron to air dry or sit in a wet dish rack, because bare spots can rust within hours.

6. 6

   Heat it on the burner to drive off moisture

   Set the pan on a burner over low to medium heat for 1 to 3 minutes. When the last of the moisture is gone, the surface looks evenly dark and dry.

7. 7

   Wipe on a very thin layer of oil

   Add about 1/2 teaspoon of neutral oil and rub it over the inside with a paper towel, then wipe again with a clean towel until the pan looks satin, not wet. Excess oil turns sticky.

8. 8

   Cool and store it dry

   Let the pan cool, then store it in a dry cabinet. If you stack pans, put a paper towel between them to protect the seasoning and absorb any humidity.

Can you use soap on cast iron?

Yes. A small amount of dish soap is fine on a seasoned cast iron skillet. Seasoning is oil that has been baked into a hard, bonded layer, and normal dish soap does not dissolve it. The old rule came from soaps that contained lye, which modern dish liquids do not.

Lodge’s cleaning instructions start with warm, soapy water and a stiff brush, and say to dry completely and oil afterward. What does damage seasoning is long soaking, the dishwasher, and steel wool used for everyday cleaning. Save steel wool for removing rust, which is covered in our guide on how to remove rust from cast iron.

Which cleaning method should you use for each mess?

Match the method to the mess: soap and a brush for everyday cooking, simmering water for stuck food, and salt or chainmail for crusty bits.

The salt trick is gentle: Made In’s cast iron care guide suggests a small pinch of coarse salt to loosen stuck bits without being overly abrasive.

How to fix a sticky, flaking or smelly skillet

Most problems come from too much oil or too little heat, and a one-hour bake in the oven fixes them.

• Sticky or gummy surface: too much oil was left on. Lodge’s troubleshooting page says to bake the skillet upside down on the top rack at 450 to 500°F for one hour, with foil on the rack below to catch drips.
• Black flakes in food: these are bits of carbonized oil or old seasoning, and Lodge notes they are not harmful. Scrub them off, then re-season or just keep cooking with fat.
• Lingering fish or onion smell: wash with soap and water, then bake the empty pan at 400°F for about 15 minutes, or leave a layer of salt in it overnight.
• Dull, gray or patchy surface: oil it and bake it. Lodge’s seasoning steps call for a thin coat of vegetable oil, canola or melted shortening, upside down at 450 to 500°F for one hour, then cooling in the oven.

What to avoid with cast iron

Avoid soaking, the dishwasher, and long simmers of acidic food in a young pan. Each one wears seasoning away and can leave bare iron that rusts.

• Soaking in the sink, even for an hour, can leave orange rust spots.
• The dishwasher strips seasoning completely and the pan comes out rusty.
• Tomato sauce, wine or vinegar cooked for a long time can dull new seasoning and give food a metallic taste. A well-seasoned pan handles a quick pan sauce fine.
• Plunging a hot pan into cold water can crack or warp it. Let it cool a little first.

Enameled cast iron (Le Creuset, Staub and similar) is a different surface with no seasoning to protect; see our stainless steel pans guide for other cookware in your rotation.

Mistakes to avoid

• Leaving the skillet to soak overnight, which almost always leaves rust spots by morning.
• Letting it air dry in a dish rack instead of towel drying and warming it on the burner.
• Pouring on a tablespoon of oil and leaving it; the excess turns gummy and sticky.
• Using steel wool for everyday cleaning, which scrubs off seasoning you want to keep.
• Running it through the dishwasher, even once.
• Storing it with the lid on, which traps moisture inside the pan.