Why I Season A Stainless Steel Pan Part 2
I love cooking on stainless steel pans, but it took some practice and some tips and tricks to get the hang of using these wonderful pans.
A few months ago, I posted a video and post about Buying and Cooking Tips For Stainless Steel Pans.
In this video I showed you how to preheat your pan and then I added some coconut oil followed by adding my egg mixture and demonstrated how to cook your eggs in a stainless steel pan without having them stick all over the pan.
When A Video Becomes Popular
This video became quite popular and I started to get quite a few tips (good and bad ones), but one stood out to me!
One person commented that you can season a stainless steel pan to create a naturally occurring non stick skillet in less then 5 minutes. This individual also stated that I wouldn’t need to use oils/butters to cook my eggs in, and that the pan would no longer stick.
What? For real? So you know me, I got one of my stainless steel pans out and proceeded with the instructions. I was amazed!
Such little effort and he was right, my pan no longer sticks!! I promise you, after watching this video, you too will be seasoning your stainless steel pans!
A Step By Step Approach To Season A Stainless Steel Pan
Here are the simple steps to create a naturally occurring non stick stainless steel pan!
- On medium to medium high heat, heat your pan for 2-3 minutes.
- Melt a little coconut oil or other high heat oil in your pan and swirl the oil around to evenly coat the pan. Allow the oil to smoke (don’t worry, we will be tossing this oil out)! Once the oil has smoked, turn off your burner and remove pan from heat source and allow to cool completely. You know your pan is seasoned and ready if you can see your mirror reflection of yourself in the pan (more details are in the video about this).
- Once the pan has cooled, pour out the oil and wipe the pan out with a paper towel. You now have a seasoned nonstick stainless steel pan.
- I am going to give you an example on how to cook an omelette in your seasoned pan. Simply preheat your pan on medium low heat for 2 minutes. Pour your egg mixture into your pan with no oil at all! Add desired ingredients (cheese, meat, veggies). Allow the eggs to cook for several minutes without disturbing. After a few minutes, flip you eggs and allow to cook another minute or two. Your eggs will slip right out of the pan, no sticking! (You can view this in the video as well). There is no need to ever wash the pan with soap, just wipe out with a paper towel as nothing will stick in the pan, cleanup takes about 10 seconds. This method is very similar to seasoning your cast iron skillet or wok. As long as you don’t use soap on your pan, your pan will remain nonstick. If you are using higher heat, you might need to add a little bit of oil.
That is it! So easy and no mess! Give it a try, you will be amazed!
Stainless Steel Pans That I Recommend
One last thing, not all stainless steel pans are created equal! Quality is really important when buying stainless steel pans.
I personally have this entire collection of stainless steel pans from All-Clad and absolutely love them! Think of it as an investment. These pans will last you a lifetime!
- If you are looking to try out a piece of all-clad, I highly recommend starting with this one! All-Clad Stainless 10-Inch Fry Pan
- If you are looking to buy a whole set, this is a great option: All-Clad Stainless Steel 3-Ply Bonded 10-Piece Cookware Set
✰ One last thing…there is an incredible sale going on over at Amazon right now! Get 43% OFF an entire set of 10-piece cookware set! Get the details here! (please note sale can end at any time…I do not have control of Amazons sales). ✰
How To Season A Stainless Steel Pan Video
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@hallecottis It’s actually an electric stove, does that change anything?
@Steve725 Really shouldn’t make a difference Steve. Just make sure you get the pan good and hot and then add the oil.
So, after seasoning how do you wash the pan? Do you have to treat it like a wok where you barely wipe it down with a damp cloth or can you wash it with soap and water? Never really dealt with seasoned dishes before….
@domdem You treat it like a seasoned pan, so no you do not wash it with soap and water. If you wash it with soap and water then you have to re season the pan. Just wipe it out with a paper towel and you are good to go.
What about bacteria on the pan’s surface? Surely you can’t not clean it ever?
No worries about bacteria on the surface you preheat it every time you use it so no bacteria on it, when you add food.
LOVE this…. I did this and couldnt believe it worked, Ive alway steered away from stainless pans because everything sticks but now I’m a hugh fan, I can’t wait to get more
I really wish you would use water to demonstrate how hot your pan is. Touching the side and not being burnt seems somewhat subjective, and also dependent on if you are using gas (as the flame will lick the sides of the pan)
Ok, I’ve been testing this out for a few days, and I think the “no oil whatsoever” is a little misleading..
In your video you oil the pan, and then wipe it out. I tried this, and it worked: my eggs didn’t stick! But after using it to cook a few other things, and cleaning it will just hot water and a paper towel (no soap) the oil in the pan seems ‘used up’. I just had an egg stick so bad it was almost comical.
I think when you are wiping the oil out of your pan, you’re kinda just smearing it around. I would say that overall, your technique for seasoning the pan is spot on. But you can’t just ignore it from then on out and never use oil again.
The only thing I’ve done different is using hot water (not boiling) when cleaning, and never soaking for more than a few minutes. I’ll use less water and more regular oil and report back in a while. It’s too embarrassing when the neighborhood ‘chef’ can’t cook an egg!!
@Bobagain thanks for the feedback bob! I also have found that if my food sticks to the pan, the pan most likely wasn’t hot enough. I will try the experiment tomorrow with my eggs and NO butter/oil and make sure my pan is hot enough and I will see if it sticks or not and report back. Keep us posted!
As promised today I washed my seasoned pan with hot water and there was absolutely no oil whatsoever. I preheated the pan over medium heat (gas range) for about 4-5 minutes so it was quite hot. When I put the eggs in the pan (with oil I get a sizzle) I heard a quick sizzle noise that quickly disappeared. I then cooked the eggs while constantly moving the egg liquid around (scrambled eggs) so that the egg wouldn’t overcook. In less the 30 seconds my eggs were done and did NOT stick to the pan. Now was it as clean as the oiled pan, NO, but I still could wipe it out with a paper towel. The key…your pan has to be hot enough so it won’t stick. Oh and one more thing to note..the eggs taste a whole lot better with a bit of oil in them 🙂
hallecottis
I need to know about cake pans. Mine are sticking sooo bad does the same apply to them . Would you let them get hot before pouring the batter in??
DebWalker hallecottis are you greasing the pans and dusting with flour? That will help tremendously. If you are still having issues, line the bottom with unbleached parchment paper. I have a SS Lasagna pan and it does not stick at all and I do not need to heat it at all. Is your cake pan real stainless steel? Does a magnet stick to it?
hallecottis DebWalker
Thanks so much for responding…Ok I actually I have two different pans, both stick and on one the magnet does stick to it and on the other very expensive pan the magnet does not stick to it…I always grease the pans (usually w/Pam) but I have tried shortening, oil, and butter w/the sprinkle of flour and it does not make any difference. Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated
DebWalker hallecottis I would try the parchment paper then. We also put ours in the freezer for half hour before taking the cake out and that helps. You could try preheating the pans but I am afraid the bottom will get to brown to quickly. Try the parchment paper.
I did an article on stainless steel pans…this might help a bit.
https://wholelifestylenutrition.com/videos/buying-and-cooking-tips-for-stainless-steel-pans/
Well, I’ve been at it for a couple weeks now. Here are my findings:
It does not matter if your pan is “seasoned”! I mean, assuming that a deep scrub with soap and Barkeepers Friend removes the seasoning, which I do regularly. If you follow these steps, you’ll be A-OK.
The most important step is PROPER PREHEATING (of pan and egg!). Your pan is hot enough when a drop of water rolls around without evaporating (mercury ball/Leidenfrost effect). This link provides some helpful tips and a good video http://www.houseboateats.com/2009/12/on-properly-heating-your-pan.html A thoroughly heated pan will allow the water to roll up the sides as well.
But, any super high temp will float some water while also burning your oil and destroying your eggs. You want the lower end of the spectrum. What I do is ignore the preheating pan for a few minutes. Come back, add a drop of water which will float, REMOVE THE PAN FROM THE HEAT until the water begins sticking/evaporating, and then return it to the heat for a moment. It might seem complicated, but it will guarantee you have the perfect temperature. One final note: if your pan is nicely “seasoned”, the oil will come out of the pours and you will NOT see this effect.
Now is the time to add oil. I use the smallest amount of coconut combined with the smallest amount of butter, although either by itself may work fine. I believe the water content of the butter might help the non-stick action. Let the oil heat for 20-30 seconds. A lot of people say “hot pan, cold oil, food wont stick!” well, the oil may go in cold, but it needs to warm up.
Drop in your room temperature eggs (scrambled or whole), and let them set-up before mixing or don’t! If you follow these steps, they will not stick. Any excuse to add a little water may also help. I mix a spoonful of water in with my scrambies, and add a spoonful under the lid for perfectly steamed sunny-side up.
Bobagain, I’m confused, is this for an already pre-seasoned pan or a non-seasoned pan?
It is a non-seasoned pan to start.
Hi Halle,
Thank you for your absolutely great tip.
I have a stainless steel crepe pan I thought was pretty much useless. I just could not make crepes that stay in one piece on that pan.
So, I have been using it for other purposes and have not been very careful with it. The pan already had quite a few light scratches from using steel utensils.
Anyway, I wanted to give your tip a try.
And this morning I made a batch of perfect, very thin crepes.
And best part is that I used butter only before the first crepe. After that I did not have to add butter at all for the rest. The crepes did not to stick to the pan at all.
Next time I will test making crepes with no added butter at all.
For me crepes has always been the only food I can not make on stainless steel pans. But not anymore thanks to your great tip and excellent instructions.
Thanks for the information. I was struggling with my new stainless steel pan especially with hash browns potatoes. One word of advice. Even though washing with soap will unseason (if there is such a word) a pan or pot, You always should wash the outside of the pans with some type of soap if you care about how your pans look. Any oil or greasy residue left on the outside of the pan will cause discoloration the next time you use the pan. I just take a sponge and put a little bit of dishwashing detergent on it a wipe the outside of the pan and rinse, trying to avoid letting the soap suds get inside the pan.
Great tip. It works very well. The one thing I did incorrectly was heat the pan too much on a electric stove. When I added a “bit” of safflower oil, poof, fire.
In the video you say to use high heat and get the pan hot. Maybe that should be explained. Otherwise bravo. Thx.
Thanks for the feedback. I did put a comment in the video that says it is important to not get the pan to hot and to test with a little splash of water is also a good idea to make sure the pan isn’t to hot.
I have recently bought 18/10 stainless steel pots and pans. I watched the video and followed the instructions as well as read the entire blog. I have a cpl questions. 1) can the pots be seasoned? 2) they didn’t come ou right and I’m chalking it up to inexperience. When I redo the seasoning steps, do I start all over by washing with soap? 3) how long do I let the pans smoke before I pull em off the heat?
As soon as the oil smokes pull off immediately and allow to completely cool. As long as you don’t use soap to clean the pans, you do not need to re-season the pan.
I’ve been doing this for the last few days and have a nice layer of non stick oil built up on my pan. I cooked a steak today, and it didn’t stick at all. However, the layer is starting to turn dark brown because I am just cleaning with warm water. Do I continue to build this layer up like you would on cast iron, or do I wash it clean after each use back to shiny?
When it becomes brown, usually the pan is a bit to hot. I would wash it and reason it and reduce the temperature a bit the next time you use it.
I don’t know why, I tried all above and eggs still stick badly to my two layer camping SS+ Aluminum frying pan. Only thing that worked and worked well was pulling oil in cold pan, putting in egg then turning flame on low. Egg sails out of pan now??? and saves gas 🙂
I see I cannot edit post ha, “pulling oil” should have been putting oil. Tried cold method for both real egg and egg substitute, used both Coconut and Canola, neither stuck.