How to Care for a Cast Iron Dutch Oven

Even if you’ve mastered your cast iron iron skillet cleaning routine, caring for a larger cast iron cooking tool like a Dutch oven can often seem a little intimidating. Should you clean it the same way? How do you make sure it’s completely dry? And does it need to be seasoned in the same way as a skillet? Luckily, caring for a cast iron Dutch oven is actually super simple, and relies on time and use more than anything else—just like our skillets.

How to clean a cast iron Dutch oven

To start, you’ll need the right set of tools. From there, we recommend following The Field Method, our foolproof steps for cast iron care:

Then cook your next meal! The only notable difference when cleaning a Dutch oven is that you might need to dry it a little longer; since it’s a bigger piece of cookware, it may take longer to evaporate all the moisture. Following these steps after each use of your Dutch oven (or any cast iron cookware for that matter), will make cast iron care easy, and also help build up durable, even layers of seasoning.

What not to cook in a cast iron Dutch oven

The first thing you think of cooking in a Dutch oven is probably chili (or maybe that’s just me). But at the same time, we’ve all been told that you can’t cook acidic foods in cast iron. So can you make all the chilis, beef stews and slow simmering braises you want to in your Dutch oven?

In short, yes! The idea that you can’t cook acidic foods in cast iron is a bit of a myth. You will lose a little bit of seasoning when you cook something acidic or super liquidy in your cast iron, but that doesn’t mean you can’t (or shouldn’t) do it. Instead, you simply need to ensure you have enough seasoning built up on the cooking surface first. This will prevent your Dutch oven (or pan) from going back down to bare metal if and when you do lose some seasoning.

You can find our full guide to cooking with acidic foods in cast iron here. With these guidelines in hand, you can pretty much make anything in your Dutch oven. If you have any questions about cast iron care, or just want to show us what you’re making in your No.8 Dutch Oven, feel free to drop us a line at help@fieldcompany.com.