The best wok is a superhero. Hit it with high heat and it stir-fries veggies and proteins with ease, propels steam through a stack of bamboo steamer baskets like it’s nothing, deep-fries, braises, and produces eggs with crispy, lacy edges that cry for a drizzle of soy sauce—and a piece of bread to sop up the golden, briny yolk. (If you know, you know.)
The best woks
Buy the right wok, take care of it, and it will serve you well. But which one to buy? It can be confusing, because there are so many choices that, to the uninitiated, may seem way too similar to parse. Let us save you some churn. Find details on the top picks below and scroll further down for more information on how we tested, which woks didn’t make the cut, and the essential tools to use when wok cooking.
The best wok overall: Yosukata carbon steel 14-inch flat-bottom wok
What gives wok cooking its signature “wok hei” or “guo chi,” the so-called breath of a wok, comes from the magic of carbon steel, searing temperatures, and fast cooking. To achieve that you want a wok that heats quickly, and the Yosukata delivers. It reached 440℉ within 30 seconds and 614℉ in 60 seconds. Made of black carbon steel, this wok has a beautiful handle, and weighs just under four pounds. While it takes a period of time to build a naturally nonstick patina on the surface of any wok, we didn’t have any trouble with sticking when we made fried eggs in this one. Even though it’s a flat-bottomed wok, the gentle slope of the sides and the 5.5-inch center made it feel like a more traditional round-bottomed wok. The rivetless design meant there weren’t any obstructions to the shoveling motion of a wok spatula.
What we didn’t love about the Yosukata carbon steel flat-bottom wok
Of our top picks, this is the most expensive at $60 at the time of writing. It also doesn’t include a lid, but you can buy a matching dome lid for about $40. (You can buy a generic dome lid for half the price.) Also, the angle of the handle may make it awkward for those who are shorter to use.
The best affordable carbon steel wok: Joyce Chen 14-inch carbon steel flat-bottom wok
You can’t go wrong with the Joyce Chen carbon steel wok. It’s a classic and consistently tops “best of” lists. It does what a wok is supposed to do and does it well (just not quite as well as the Yosukata). It passed all our tests, and with respect to its ability to develop a nonstick surface, we made fried rice with no stickiness issues at all. The price, $36 with the dome lid at the time of writing, is a steal. The wok is made from spun steel, which is why it has ridges on the side. Those ridges come in handy, providing friction that allows you to hold ingredients that need a moment away from direct heat.
This wok heats quickly, though not as quickly as the Yosukata: It hit 341℉ after 30 seconds and 517℉ after 60 seconds. It was also the lightest of the well-performing models at just 3 pounds 3 ounces. If you struggle with lifting heavy pans you should be able to handle this one.
What we didn’t love about the Joyce Chen carbon steel flat-bottom wok
If you have a gas stove, the wooden handle will char. Over time, the grip will degrade as a result. But, if you don’t cook over flames, it’s not an issue and this wok, as all carbon steel cookware is, works with an induction cooktop. The spun-steel construction, while helpful for keeping ingredients from sliding down the sides, isn’t as aesthetically pleasing as, say, hand-hammered surfaces.
A good wok for beginners: Souped Up Recipes Carbon Steel Wok
This pre-seasoned wok from YouTube creator Souped Up Recipes is not only a favorite of Bon Appetit food editor Shilpa Uskokovic, it’s also one of the best woks we tested. The hammered, pre-seasoned, carbon steel interior is nonstick right out of the box, so you can start cooking with it the moment it arrives. It has a 12-inch diameter, a detachable wooden handle, and a pour spout for easy maneuvering. This wok reached a temperature of 400℉ after 30 seconds, and 530℉ after 60 seconds, so it heats even faster than the Joyce Chen (but not quite as quickly as our top pick, the Yosukata). Wok cooking can be kind of intimidating, but because this comes as a set with a lid (you can choose either a flat wooden lid or a metal dome lid) and a wok spatula, spending $40 on this bundle is a reasonable introductory investment.
What we didn’t love about the Souped Up Recipes Carbon Steel wok flat-bottom wok
There’s no helper handle, and the wooden handle it comes with needs to be screwed in by hand before you can start cooking. The wooden handle is also a bit flimsy-feeling, but apart from that, we had no complaints.
A splurge-worthy heirloom wok: Smithey 12-inch Hand-Forged Carbon Steel Wok
In general, we don’t recommend spending more than $75 on a wok, but hear us out—this wok will last multiple lifetimes, and it’s absolutely stunning. Those looks are particularly nice to have in a wok. Their size and shape makes them harder to store than a typical frying pan or saucepan, so you may have to let it take up semi-permanent residence on your stovetop, and if you have to see it all the time it may as well look good. The entire thing is hand-forged, and it has an arched carbon steel handle that manages to stay cool to the touch (even when cooking on very high heat) as well as a helper handle. This is a great choice if you have a gas stove, since there’s no wood that can get charred by open flame. The 12-inch diameter is smaller than most others we tested, but it was really nice for making smaller batches of fried rice and stir fries for one or two people. It comes pre-seasoned, and reached 400℉ after 30 seconds, and 550℉ after 60 seconds.
What we didn’t love about the Smithey hand-forged carbon steel wok
At $325, this is an expensive piece of cookware. You don’t need this wok, and it doesn’t wildly outperform the cheaper options. But if you want something that will look gorgeous for generations, this is it.
What kind of wok should you get?
Carbon steel vs. stainless steel vs. cast iron vs. nonstick
Get a carbon steel wok. Just say no to stainless steel, heavy-gauge cast iron, and nonstick. None of these other materials are ideal or even appropriate for proper stir-frying technique. Stainless steel woks are often heavy, food tends to stick to them, and they don’t take on a patina like carbon steel does. Cast iron is even heavier, takes a long time to heat and retains that heat for a long time. That heat retention, which is a plus in cast iron cookware like Dutch ovens, makes cast iron woks less responsive. The nonstick coating on nonstick woks (like the coating on nonstick pans) degrades from high temperatures: You shouldn’t really heat it beyond 400℉, nevermind the 500-600℉ temperatures you want for a fast stir fry. The coating also won’t hold up well to the constant spatula contact of stir-frying.
Look for a wood handle
A wood handle that has a little girth is helpful for safe maneuvering of the wok. It allows you to steady the wok while you actively stir-fry and offers enough balance for lifting, tilting, tossing, or pouring. A wood handle is also less likely to burn your hand. Woks also come with a loop-style helper handle that can be all metal or have a wood grip. If you have a gas stove, the wood grip likely will get charred, so opt for a metal helper handle if you can. (The Wok Shop allows you to choose your wok configuration to include a metal or wood handle.)
You don’t need to spend more than $75
While you can easily drop more than $75 for a wok, you don’t need to. Woks are not cooking tools where a higher price equates to better quality. In fact, you can get a great wok for $40. If you’re paying $100 or more it is likely for a brand name, aesthetics, or because the piece is an exclusive status symbol. If you want that, go for it, but it’s not necessary to pay big bucks to get a good wok.