Best Wok for Stir-Frying, (2024), Tested and Reviewed | Epicurious

All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Table of contents

The best wok overallThe best affordable carbon-steel wokA good wok for beginnersA splurge-worthy heirloom wokWhat kind of wok should you get?How I testedWhat I looked forOther carbon-steel woks I testedThe takeawayEssential wok accessories

The best wok is a superhero. Hit it with high heat and it stir-fries veggies and proteins with ease, propels steam through a stack of bamboo steamer baskets like it’s nothing, deep-fries, braises, and produces eggs with crispy, lacy edges that cry for a drizzle of soy sauce—and a piece of bread to sop up the golden, briny yolk. (If you know, you know.)

Buy the right wok and take care of it, and it will serve you well. But which one to buy? It can be confusing, because there are so many choices that, to the uninitiated, may seem way too similar to parse. Let us save you some churn. Find details on the top picks below and scroll farther down for more information on how we tested, which woks didn’t make the cut, and the essential tools to use when wok cooking.

Yosukata 14-Inch Carbon Steel Wok

Amazon

What gives wok cooking its signature “wok hei” or “guo chi,” the so-called breath of a wok, comes from the magic of carbon steel, searing temperatures, and fast cooking. To achieve that you want a wok that heats quickly, and the Yosukata delivers. It reached 440℉ within 30 seconds and 614℉ in 60 seconds. Made of black carbon steel, this wok has a beautiful handle and weighs just under four pounds. While it takes a period of time to build a naturally nonstick patina on the surface of any wok, we didn’t have any trouble with sticking when we made fried eggs in this one. Even though it’s a flat-bottom wok, the gentle slope of the sides and the 5.5-inch center made it feel like a more traditional round-bottom wok. The rivetless design meant there weren’t any obstructions to the shoveling motion of a wok spatula.

Of our top picks, this is the most expensive at $60 at the time of writing. It also doesn’t include a lid, but you can buy a matching dome lid for about $40. (You can buy a generic dome lid for half the price.) Also, the angle of the handle may make it awkward for those who are shorter to use.

Joyce Chen Carbon Steel Wok, 14-Inch

Amazon

You can’t go wrong with the Joyce Chen carbon-steel wok. It’s a classic and consistently tops “best of” lists. It does what a wok is supposed to do and does it well (just not quite as well as the Yosukata). It passed all our tests, and with respect to its ability to develop a nonstick surface, we made fried rice with no stickiness issues at all. The price, $36 with the dome lid at the time of writing, is a steal. The wok is made from spun steel, which is why it has ridges on the side. Those ridges come in handy, providing friction that allows you to hold ingredients that need a moment away from direct heat.

This wok heats quickly, though not as quickly as the Yosukata: It hit 341℉ after 30 seconds and 517℉ after 60 seconds. It was also the lightest of the well-performing models at just 3 pounds 3 ounces. If you struggle with lifting heavy pans you should be able to handle this one.

If you have a gas stove, the wooden handle will char. Over time, the grip will degrade as a result. But, if you don’t cook over flames, it’s not an issue, and this wok, as all carbon-steel cookware does, works with an induction cooktop. The spun-steel construction, while helpful for keeping ingredients from sliding down the sides, isn’t as aesthetically pleasing as, say, hand-hammered surfaces.

Souped Up Recipes Carbon Steel Wok

Amazon

This pre-seasoned wok from YouTube creator Souped Up Recipes is not only a favorite of Bon Appetit food editor Shilpa Uskokovic, it’s also one of the best woks we tested. The hammered pre-seasoned carbon-steel interior is nonstick right out of the box, so you can start cooking with it the moment it arrives. It has a 12-inch diameter, a detachable wood handle, and a pour spout for easy maneuvering. This wok reached a temperature of 400℉ after 30 seconds, and 530℉ after 60 seconds, so it heats even faster than the Joyce Chen (but not quite as quickly as our top pick, the Yosukata). Wok cooking can be kind of intimidating, but because this comes as a set with a lid (you can choose either a flat wood lid or a metal dome lid) and a wok spatula, spending $40 on this bundle is a reasonable introductory investment.

There’s no helper handle, and the wood handle it comes with needs to be screwed in by hand before you can start cooking. The wood handle is also a bit flimsy-feeling, but apart from that, we had no complaints.

Smithey 12-inch Hand-Forged Carbon Steel Wok

Smithey

In general, we don’t recommend spending more than $75 on a wok, but hear us out—this wok will last multiple lifetimes, and it’s absolutely stunning. Those looks are particularly nice to have in a wok. Their size and shape makes them harder to store than a typical frying pan or saucepan, so you may have to let it take up semipermanent residence on your stovetop, and if you have to see it all the time, it may as well look good. The entire thing is hand-forged, and it has an arched carbon-steel handle that manages to stay cool to the touch (even when cooking on very high heat) as well as a helper handle. This is a great choice if you have a gas stove, since there’s no wood that can get charred by open flame. The 12-inch diameter is smaller than most others we tested, but it was really nice for making smaller batches of fried rice and stir-fries for one or two people. It comes pre-seasoned and reached 400℉ after 30 seconds and 550℉ after 60 seconds.

At $325, this is an expensive piece of cookware. You don’t need this wok, and it doesn’t wildly outperform the cheaper options. But if you want something that will look gorgeous for generations, this is it.

Get a carbon-steel wok. Just say no to stainless steel, heavy-gauge cast iron, and nonstick. None of these other materials are ideal or even appropriate for proper stir-frying technique. Stainless-steel woks are often heavy, food tends to stick to them, and they don’t take on a patina like carbon steel does. Cast iron is even heavier, takes a long time to heat, and retains that heat for a long time. That heat retention, which is a plus in cast-iron cookware such as Dutch ovens, makes cast-iron woks less responsive. The nonstick coating on nonstick woks (like the coating on nonstick pans) degrades from high temperatures: You shouldn’t really heat it beyond 400℉, never mind the 500℉–600℉ temperatures you want for a fast stir-fry. The coating also won’t hold up well to the constant spatula contact of stir-frying.

A wood handle that has a little girth is helpful for safe maneuvering of the wok. It allows you to steady the wok while you actively stir-fry and offers enough balance for lifting, tilting, tossing, or pouring. A wood handle is also less likely to burn your hand. Woks also come with a loop-style helper handle that can be all metal or have a wood grip. If you have a gas stove, the wood grip likely will get charred, so opt for a metal helper handle if you can. (The Wok Shop allows you to choose your wok configuration to include a metal or wood handle.)

While you can easily drop more than $75 for a wok, you don’t need to. Woks are not cooking tools where a higher price equates to better quality. In fact, you can get a great wok for $40. If you’re paying $100 or more, it is likely for the brand name or the aesthetics—or because the piece is an exclusive status symbol. If you want that, go for it, but it isn’t necessary to pay big bucks to get a good wok.

The wide mouth of a wok makes for simpler deep-frying.

It doesn’t matter if you buy a raw or pre-seasoned wok. The process to clean it and break it in is the same. After you wash a new wok with soap and hot water to remove any factory coatings, the seasoning process helps to fully dry the surface and introduce fresh coats of oil. It creates a foundation for building a patina over time. So for each wok we first washed it with hot water, a sponge, and soap, and then heat-treated it on a gas stove at 23,000 BTUs for about 5 minutes. This helped to fully dry the surface, burn off any remaining factory sealants, and create the foundation for building a patina. Finally, we stir-fried green onion segments and sliced ginger in oil over medium-low heat for several minutes.

You can see the patina that begins to develop after seasoning.

As we said earlier, quick heating is one of the important factors in wok hei, so we measured how hot each wok got in 30 seconds and in 60 seconds. The temperatures ranged from 316℉–476℉ at 30 seconds, and 387℉–787℉ at 60 seconds. In general, black carbon steel reached a higher temperature faster.

Finally, we cooked with each wok. We made a simple stir-fried Taiwanese cabbage to test basic functionality of the wok and how it handles. We also took note of how well each wok worked with a metal wok spatula, and found that riveted helper handles could cause the spatula blade to catch.

We made wok-fried eggs to test whether the surface would easily release each egg. We also used each wok in “everyday” cooking situations—such as stir-frying an entire meal, deep-frying, and steaming—to get a sense of how they worked and how they felt without capturing precise measurements.

We focused on carbon-steel flat-bottom woks, because they’re versatile. Round-bottom woks are traditional and originally shaped to fit in a pit-style, wood-fired stove. But contemporary kitchens, especially in homes in the US, have flat stovetops (gas, electric, or induction) that can’t accommodate a traditional wok. While you can use a wok ring as an adapter, it’s not a great idea because it creates distance between the wok surface and the heat source. Situations that we might recommend a round-bottom wok would be if you have a high-end gas stove with a custom grate for round-bottom woks, an induction wok, or a stand-alone outdoor wok burner.

For the most part, we chose woks with a 14-inch diameter. This is a comfortable size for most home-cooking needs and accommodates a 12-inch bamboo steamer. Smaller woks are available if you have limited storage space. But if you want to take advantage of all of a wok’s capabilities, you really need one with more surface area. Anything beyond 14 inches though, may challenge your stove’s heat output–unless you have a dedicated wok burner.

While it didn’t make our best-of list, we don’t think this is a poor choice. In fact, we recommend it if you want something a bit larger. The Babish wok performed pretty well and had a beautiful, flush handle that made it easy to stabilize while actively stir-frying. The deep sides are beneficial for deep-frying—we deep-fried chicken wings and a double batch of churros, with no issues. And, the larger capacity is helpful for steaming, because it can hold more water.

It’s heavy at 4 pounds 4 ounces. And while the deep sides are good for deep-frying, the extra capacity might lead folks to think they can cook more in it than they actually can. Remember that overcrowding ingredients in a wok makes them steaming and simmer in the sauce rather than stir-fry. You might also need a wok spatula with an extra-long handle to minimize the risk of burning your fingers on the edge.

Babish Carbon Steel Flat Bottom Wok

Amazon

This long-handled wok was a bit of an outlier in our testing, since it has a rounded bottom, a 12-inch diameter, and a handle that’s nearly 30 inches long. It does come with a ring adapter to use on an indoor gas stove, but we also liked that this was compatible with an outdoor wok burner and cooking over a campfire. It heated faster than any other wok we tested, reaching a temperature of 450℉ within 30 seconds, and was easy to season and cook with, even when using the ring adapter. It is a bit of a specialized piece, so we wouldn’t recommend this as your everyday wok option—but if you like to cook outside, it’s a solid choice.

Barebones Living Long-Handled Wok

Huckberry

This is a beautiful wok, with a hammering pattern imprinted on the surface. We really wanted this one to pass all the tests, but it warped in the center after the seasoning process. The rivets on the helper handle dipped a little too deep on the side, so we kept getting the spatula stuck. Also, the handle is positioned at an angle that makes it slightly awkward to hold or pick up.

Craft Wok Hand-Hammered Carbon Steel Wok

Amazon

Walmart

This is a black carbon-steel wok that heated quickly, but fell short elsewhere. It arrived dented and scratched, with sloppy welding. It’s slightly smaller than the other woks at 13 inches. And even that inch of difference affects the portion of ingredients it can accommodate. We found that we were losing ingredients over the edge because we couldn’t adjust quickly to the shallower depth.

Craft Black Pre-Seasoned Hand-Hammered Carbon Steel Wok

Amazon

The Kenmore wok is…fine. It functions as a wok but there’s nothing to sing about. It has deep sides with a steep slope that aren’t conducive to holding ingredients. As with the Babish wok, the steep sides can give a false sense of capacity. The cooking surface also got dinged up after the simple stir-fry.

Kenmore Hammond Carbon Steel Wok

Amazon

Target

This hand-hammered, raw carbon-steel wok was beautiful, but underperformed. It took over a full minute to reach 350℉ and had some scratches and denting upon arrival.

Mammafong Flat Bottom Carbon Steel Wok Pan

Amazon

Did you know Helen Chen was Joyce Chen’s daughter? The story goes that the Chen family sold the rights to Joyce Chen cookware and Helen created her own line of cookware with a different company. We were curious to see both woks side by side. The basic cooking function of the wok was fine, but sadly the Helen Chen wok arrived with a broken handle and had lesser quality finishes.

Helen's Asian Kitchen Flat Bottom Wok

Amazon

TableCraft Bamboo Handle Wok Spatula

Amazon

There are many styles of wok spatulas. We prefer one that has a stainless-steel blade with a tapered edge and 14-inch handle with wood or plastic grip. You can also get bamboo or heatproof silicone. But the thinness of the stainless-steel blade is nice for getting under ingredients.

Stainless Steel Spider Strainer

Amazon

A spider is important for deep-frying with a wok—it’s the cleanest way to shift, turn, or remove whatever you are frying. Look for a wider strainer to accommodate more food.

M.V. Trading Aluminum Wok Lid

Amazon

If your wok doesn’t come with a lid, it might be sold separately. So look for a matching lid, or you can get a generic one. They’re essential for steaming or braising.

Chainmail Scrubber

Smithey

The more you cook with your wok, the more nonstick it will become—but even woks that have been seasoned over years will get food stuck on them sometimes. We love this chainmail scrubber for removing stuck-on food and sauce without damaging the seasoning or patina on your carbon-steel cookware.

We’re home cooks just like you—and we bring a home cook’s perspective to all of our rigorous testing. But unlike you, we have an extra 10 hours a day to spend geeking out over kitchen tools because it is literally our job. We don’t only use our recommended products in controlled settings, we bring the best ones into our own kitchens to help us put dinner on the table on a Wednesday night for our families, or to throw a dinner party for 12. When we recommend a product, you should trust that we’ve used it—a lot—just like you will. Read more about our testing process and philosophy here.