Ask the Experts: Best Wok to Buy

Interested in expanding your kitchen's culinary arsenal? Then a wok might be your next buy. Adept at producing intensely flavourful dishes of many kinds, a wok is an investment in expert cooking. Learn all about the best wok materials, sizes and features by reading our wok buying guide.

---

What Is a Wok?

The wok is a highly versatile stove-top pan with a rounded bottom and tall, curved sides. These features create excellent heat distribution, even over a very small flame. Nowadays, due to the construction of modern stove tops, woks are being designed with slightly flattened bottoms that allow them to balance on flat stove tops more securely.

Woks can either come with two handles on either side or with just one long handle. Models with two handles require that you toss ingredients with a cooking utensil, while models with a long handle enable you to toss ingredients without using a cooking utensil. Some woks also come with a matching lid, which allows you to steam your ingredients. Though well known for their ability to make excellent, evenly cooked stir-fry, woks can also be used to steam, boil, deep-fry, braise and more due to their deep shape and ability to withstand high temperatures.

Best Wok Materials

Traditional wok chefs consider cast iron and carbon steel the two best wok materials for flavour and even heat conduction. A wok's seasoning (a treatment of the pan's surface with heated fat that imparts both flavour and non stick properties) and its ability to conduct searing heat allow it to produce 'wok hei' in completed dishes. Wok hei translates to 'breath of the wok' and indicates the presence of a signature, sought-after smoky flavour created when oil and water droplets ignite and come in contact with ingredients as they cook. Though even some of the best traditional wok chefs can struggle for years to produce an authentic wok hei, doing so at all is only possible when working with the best wok materials: cast iron and carbon steel.

Cast Iron: Cast-iron woks are most conducive to seasoning and are excellent at heat distribution. There are two types of cast-iron wok constructions to choose from: Chinese-made and Western-made. Chinese-made cast-iron woks are thin and lightweight, which makes them excellent for stir-frying and tossing. They heat and cool relatively quickly, though they can shatter if mishandled. Western-made cast-iron woks are much thicker and heavier, meaning they heat and cool much more slowly than Chinese-made cast-iron woks do.

Carbon Steel: Carbon-steel woks are typically lighter and less expensive than cast-iron options. Carbon steel is excellent at heat conduction, so it can be used over the high heat typically used with traditional woks. Carbon steel is durable and can be seasoned, though it isn't as conducive to seasoning as cast iron. When shopping for a carbon-steel wok, be wary of inexpensive options – they don't conduct heat as evenly and are much more prone to damage than more expensive options.

Non Stick: Coated in a layer of non stick material, nonstick woks can't be seasoned and thus can't impart wok hei into any dishes. These non stick woks are acceptable for home use, as many can withstand and conduct the high temperatures necessary to make a good stir-fry. If you're interested in using a deep frying pan to make evenly cooked stove-top dishes but don't want to worry about wok hei or careful seasoning and cleaning, a non stick wok might be the wok for you.

Aluminum: An excellent conductor of heat, aluminum is a great wok material – but only under certain conditions. While bare aluminum has extremely low durability, anodized aluminum is electrochemically altered to be highly durable, non stick and easy to clean. Plus, the taste of metal won't seep into your food. Hard-anodized aluminum woks are supremely durable – even in comparison to anodized woks. If you're interested in an aluminum wok, we highly recommend going with an anodized or hard-anodized option.

Best Wok Diameters

While traditional woks tend to be 30m – 35cm or larger in diameter, there are several smaller sizes to choose from. Large woks are excellent for serving family-sized meals but can take up an inconvenient amount of space for someone serving only a couple people.

Mini: 7cm – 17cm in diameter

Small: 20cm – 25cm in diameter

Medium: 27cm – 33cm in diameter

Large: 35cm in diameter or larger

Best Wok Features

Dishwasher Safe: Not in the mood to clean your wok by hand every time you use it? Opt for a dishwasher safe option, typical of many non stick, stainless steel and aluminum woks.

Oven Safe: Looking for a wok that can withstand oven temperatures? Look no further. Some woks can also be safely seasoned in the oven.

Lid Included: Ensure that your wok comes with a snug, matching lid by narrowing your search to only woks with included lids.

PFOA Free: PFOA is a man-made chemical that has been associated with serious health issues. It has historically been used in the manufacturing process of chemicals including Teflon, which coat non stick pans. Though PFOA is no longer used in any UK or US manufacturing, it may still be in use elsewhere internationally, therefore it's a good idea to be careful when shopping for non stick cookware.

PTFE Free: A non stick chemical historically used on a wide variety of household products including Teflon pans, PTFE itself is generally considered safe. However, due to its production history with PFOA, it's understandable to be wary of products constructed with PTFE.

Enamelled: Coated in a thin layer of porcelain glass, enamelled woks are lightweight, durable, and non stick. Treated right, an enamelled wok will be able to serve you a lifetime's worth of flavourful meals.

Cool-Touch Handles: Considering woks are used in conjunction with extremely high temperatures, it's natural to worry about burning your hands accidentally on searing hot handles. Remove that concern by shopping for woks with cool-touch handles.