The Best Cast-Iron Skillet

The Lodge Chef Collection 12 Inch Cast Iron Skillet did well in all our tests, and impressively it was the lightest of all the inexpensive skillets we tested (though some $80 to $100-plus pans weighed a bit less). While it’s a little shallower than the classic Lodge, this skillet’s slightly sloped sides make it great for searing and roasting. It has a comfortable handle, a good factory seasoning, and like other Lodge skillets it’s still made in the USA.

The Lodge was a solid performer at just about every task. We poured hot oil without dribbles and cooked bacon to a crisp without having to rearrange the strips. Cornbread fell out of the pan with a crunchy golden crust and steak came out evenly and deeply browned. Fried eggs slid out as effortlessly as from a nonstick skillet.

But what really made the Lodge skillet stand out from the competition is its lighter weight combined with its affordable price. At 6½ pounds, it weighs a full 2 pounds less than the traditional 12-inch Lodge skillet and is more comparable in heft to some of the $200 or $300 pans we tested. (If you’re willing to pay more for a slightly lighter pan, Lodge also makes the Blacklock Triple Seasoned Cast-Iron Skillet, but we think the Lodge Chef Collection performed better overall).

The sides of the Lodge Chef Collection skillet are also about a quarter inch lower than the classic Lodge’s, which will decrease steaming when you’re browning burgers, helping you achieve a great sear. Another thing that differentiates this skillet is that the sides of the pan are rounded, so it’s easier to maneuver a spatula for flipping pancakes or for stirring vegetables. The gentle curve doesn’t decrease the cooking surface (which is a generous 10 inches across and big enough to easily fit a large rib eye steak, 6 ounces of bacon, or four large fried eggs) and actually makes it a little more forgiving if you’re trying to squeeze in one more egg.

The small stick handle is placed at a slight angle and is smoother at the spot where it meets the pan, making it more ergonomic than the short, straight handle on the original Lodge. The roomy helper handle on the other side of the skillet is big enough to wrap your fingers underneath with a bulky pot holder. When we were pouring hot oil, our grip on the handle was secure, and we always kept control of the pan.

Like other Lodge pans, the Chef Collection skillet is widely available and very affordable, if slightly higher priced than the brand’s classic models. Lodge skillets are available on multiple websites (including Amazon) as well as through national retail chains, independently owned hardware stores, and cooking stores.

The Chef Collection skillet is shallower than the classic Lodge and holds about 2 cups less. Its capacity could be problematic if you’re braising something like pork chops with vegetables and will make it more difficult to fry chicken without risk of dangerous oil overflow. While you can always braise or deep-fry in a Dutch oven instead, if you’d like to be able to do these things in your skillet, we recommend the original Lodge 12-inch skillet instead.

The lighter weight of the Chef Collection skillet could also be a slight drawback if you were browning a very thick piece of meat like a tomahawk steak, as a heavier pan will hold in more heat and give you better second-side browning. However, we didn’t notice a difference between the Chef Collection and the heavier traditional Lodge when we seared half-inch-thick strip steaks.

Lodge doesn’t have a formal written guarantee or warranty on its classic cast-iron ware. That said, many of us have Lodge skillets at home that range in age from 15 to 20 years old and have never had a problem. The lack of a warranty doesn’t concern us because Lodge cast-iron skillets are very durable, and Lodge has a good reputation for customer service.