Affoumado recommended using a salve or some sort of oil-based conditioner to season your cast iron skillet. This cleaner from Blackstone, which has a 4.7-star average rating from 7,720 reviews on Amazon, is ideal for maintaining your cast iron skillet’s seasoning. Made from a mix of canola, soy, palm oils, shortening and beeswax, this conditioning salve comes in a thick paste that you spread on the surface of your skillet and heat to help maintain the seasoning. Depending on the size of the skillet, you should use around a tablespoon or two of the paste and you may have to repeat the process at least three times, according to the brand.
Instead of using a sponge or an abrasive metal-based cleaning tool such as steel wool, Affoumado recommends using a bamboo scrub brush, since it’s thorough enough to remove food debris without scrubbing away the skillet’s layers of seasoning. This one has a 4.6-star average rating from 7,483 reviews on Amazon and comes with three individual brushes. The brushes have a round ergonomic handle on top, making them easy to hold on to as you clean, and they even come with a small ceramic dish to hold it in place.
To spread the salve onto your skillet, Affoumado recommends using a lint-free cotton cloth, such as a cotton bandana. These cotton bandanas are great for distributing the conditioning oil on your skillet since they won’t leave lint behind. You can get these in a range of different colors and combinations, but either way, they’re a great item to have in your kitchen drawer or pantry, especially if you cook with your cast iron skillet often.
If you prefer to use a sprayable oil for seasoning your cast iron skillet, consider this one from the cast iron skillet brand Lodge. While it looks like a nonstick cooking spray, it’s meant for maintaining the layers of seasoning on your cast iron skillet. All you have to do is spray a thin layer of the oil on the pan and wipe away any excess oil with a lint-free cloth.
Aside from being a foundational cooking ingredient, kosher salt has a coarse texture that makes it abrasive, meaning it can remove residual food and grease from your cast iron skillet without damaging it or removing layers of seasoning, especially compared to dish soap. Plus, since it comes in such a large container, you can split this up with your cooking salt and salt meant solely for cleaning your cast iron skillet.
There are several ways to clean a cast iron skillet without ruining it. Here are a few methods our experts recommend:
Method 1: Use coarse salt and a bamboo cleaning brush
Method 2: Use hot water, mild dish soap and a bamboo cleaning brush
Many people confuse seasoning and maintaining a cast iron skillet — what’s often called seasoning (adding oil or a salve to the skillet and heating it) is technically a form of maintenance, since the pan is already seasoned. While many cast iron skillets come pre-seasoned, if you get one that isn’t seasoned or if you’re trying to revive an old cast iron skillet, you should season it properly so that your pan is fine to use. Here’s how experts recommend doing it:
Method 1: Use a seasoning salve and a cotton cloth
Method 2: Use a cooking oil with a high smoke point
As mentioned above, cast iron skillets typically come pre-seasoned. Old cast iron skillets or ones that have been through a lot, however, require seasoning. “Seasoning is what you do when you first get a new cast iron skillet or if you’ve stripped a vintage pan back to the iron and then built up new ‘seasoning’ layers,” says Affoumado. “We use "maintenance" as the term after you’ve used your pan for years and it is properly seasoned. You’re maintaining the seasoning.”
Yes, you can technically use dish soap to clean a cast iron skillet, but it isn’t the most ideal solution, according to Affoumado. While there’s a lot of debate about whether or not soap is fine to use on a cast iron skillet, most experts will say that if you do use soap, it should be a very mild dish soap, such as one without dyes and fragrances. This is because the ingredients in soap can damage the surface of a cast iron skillet over time. In terms of getting rid of bacteria or grime, however, our experts say that any residual that could be on the surface of the skillet would be killed once it’s heated to at least 200 degrees, according to Affoumado.
The main reason you should thoroughly dry your cast iron skillet each time you use and wash it is to prevent rust and ensure it’s in good shape to use in the future, according to Lewis. “Regular use of an already seasoned iron skillet requires just rinsing and wiping it out before drying on a stove burner and re-oiling to prevent rust,” he says. While simply drying with a cloth helps, drying on the stove helps maintain the seasoning of the skillet and further dries it out.
Using a minimal amount of ingredients and products, such as coarse salt and cooking oil, is best when cleaning a cast iron skillet. To prevent ruining your cast iron skillet, you should avoid using non-mild dish soap to clean it and make sure that each time you clean it, you dry it extremely thoroughly. Plus, while using olive oil for cooking in a cast iron skillet is fine, you shouldn’ t use it to season a cast iron skillet because its smoke point is too low and it can lead to a rancid taste and smell, according to Affoumado.
Additionally, it’s best to avoid using strong cleaning products to maintain a skillet, according to Lewis. In fact, Lewis advises people to “not to use abrasive or cream cleaners” on cast iron pans, since they are partially porous and can get damaged.
At NBC Select, we work with experts who have specialized knowledge and authority based on relevant training and/or experience. We also take steps to ensure all expert advice and recommendations are made independently and without undisclosed financial conflicts of interest.
I’m commerce editor at NBC Select, where I write about reviews and roundups for cookware, cleaning products and other home and kitchen topics. I spoke with a professional cast iron restorer for this story.
Catch up on NBC Select’s in-depth coverage of personal finance, tech and tools, wellness and more, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok to stay up to date.
