Five Recipes for Building Cast Iron Seasoning

Every time you heat cooking oil or fat in your Field skillet, you help make your pan’s natural non-stick cooking surface stronger and more resilient. Whether you’re a first-time cast iron cook or a seasoned collector, it’s best to break in a new skillet with a few seasoning-friendly dishes. Think of these dishes as a starting point for a lifetime of cast iron cooking.

How Simple Dishes Help Build Cast Iron Seasoning

First things first: pre-heat your skillet. Giving your pan about five minutes to pre-heat on a low to medium burner will help make sure food doesn’t stick to the cooking surface. In the early stages, it’s also a good idea to use a little extra cooking oil or fat, especially if you’re planning to cook fatty proteins.

Seared, sautéed and roasted vegetables are great place to start; veggies won’t stick to your cooking surface like fatty proteins, and are easy to spread out over the entire cooking surface, helping build seasoning evenly. Let’s dig in:

1. Caramelized Onions

Cooking onions is a great way to get a feel for a new skillet: you quickly understand how it retains and distributes heat, while the onions and oil give your pan an easy warm-up for the many meals to come.

Get the recipe: Caramelized Onions.

3. Cornbread

Like roasted vegetables, cornbread is a simple dish that’s perfect for breaking in or sprucing up your skillet. It only takes about a half hour, and will fill up your Field Skillet, providing an even coating of butter for your cooking surface and the walls of the pan. (And it’s extremely satisfying to see cornbread slide right out of a well oiled pan!)

Get the recipe: Field Skillet Cornbread.

If you prefer a savory-style cornbread, try our Bloody Butcher Cornbread with Honey Butter. The red-flecked heirloom cornmeal lends a rich, nutty flavor to an old-fashioned no-flour, no-sugar cornbread baked with bacon fat or lard.

Get the recipe: Bloody Butcher Cornbread with Honey Butter.

5. Skillet-Roasted Chicken with Shallots and Herbs

When you start to see regular non-stick performance form your cooking surface, that means you’re ready to start cooking main-course proteins. Roasting a whole chicken in a cast iron skillet looks and, frankly, feels impressive. It’s a great skill for dinner guests, and it’s great for your pan.

Our simple roasted chicken recipe is a great starting point; from there, it’s choose your own adventure — spend time experimenting with herb and roasted vegetable combinations, spice rubs and brining to discover your signature cast iron dish.

Get the recipe: Whole Skillet-Roasted Chicken with Shallots and Herbs.