Woks are versatile and made to last, so shopping for one can be a once-in-a-lifetime task. To find the best options, we spoke with experts and then got to work sautéing, frying, and steaming. One clear winner stood out: the Sur La Table Professional Carbon Steel Wok. Thanks to its softly curved angles, it performs a lot like a professional, round-bottom wok. And its comfortable wooden handle and light weight make this wok easier to lift, toss, and pour from.
Our pick
This wok flew through our cooking tasks and is a delight to use. It’s lightweight and stable on the stovetop yet still perfectly sloped for easy frying. This model requires seasoning, but the payoff is worth it.
The Sur La Table Professional Carbon Steel Wok performed nearly identically to our previous top pick from the Wok Shop, which also means it outperformed every other wok we’ve tested. The bottom is flat enough to stay stable on a stovetop, but the sides slope out subtly so that a spatula glides easily when stir-frying.
The trickiest part in our tests was seasoning the wok—a necessary first step for any unseasoned carbon-steel pan and an ongoing process that’s achieved through cooking with the pan. But just as advertised, this wok became more evenly seasoned with each use. For cookware that could last you decades, this wok is also an excellent value.
Also great
This lovely pre-seasoned wok provides a shortcut to a slick surface, though it still requires some prep. It’s stable but heavy, so lifting it requires some strength (and likely both hands).
Some manufacturers offer woks that promise to take the seasoning step out of your hands. The Yosukata 13.5-inch Pre-Seasoned Blue Carbon Steel Wok is one of them—although it still requires some minimal seasoning and cleaning before use.
This wok has a hand-hammered bowl with a teal tint from the blue steel. We prefer the stability and slightly lighter weight of this flat-bottom wok, which runs a little smaller at 13.5 inches. (Yosukata also makes a 14-inch round-bottom wok, which is still quite flat on the bottom and can work on a gas range, if you don’t mind a minuscule wobble.)
However, this wok is 5 ounces heavier than our top pick, so we found it a little more difficult to lift with one hand. We recommend this wok for folks who are willing to spend more for style and convenience and for those who have the strength and mobility to maneuver a heavier wok.
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