Recommendations for a (cheap) non-stick wok?

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rodentraiser

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I'd like to buy my friend a new wok for Christmas. I'd like to keep it under $50 if I could and I know she likes non-stick. Just about every wok review I've checked out on Amazon has people saying the non-sticks always lose their coatings in about a year and scratch easily, so I'm a little concerned about spending a lot of money on something that may be used very long.

Has anyone got any suggestions as to brand?

Oh, and I'm not set on getting it from Amazon - I'm just looking at reviews on there.

Thank you all!:flowers:
 
Did you see the Lodge pro-logic cast iron wok? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00063RXQK/ref=psdc_289834_t3_B000MYI2ZO It's just under $50, though a lid will bump it up to low $70s. Out of 936 reviews, 86% were 5 stars. While not traditionally nonstick, it will get pretty much that way. Craig's been sort of thinking about/looking for a carbon steel wok but I bet he'll go look at this one. Best of all, USA made!
 
I'd like to buy my friend a new wok for Christmas. I'd like to keep it under $50 if I could and I know she likes non-stick. Just about every wok review I've checked out on Amazon has people saying the non-sticks always lose their coatings in about a year and scratch easily, so I'm a little concerned about spending a lot of money on something that may be used very long.

Has anyone got any suggestions as to brand?

Oh, and I'm not set on getting it from Amazon - I'm just looking at reviews on there.

Thank you all!:flowers:
Is non-stick ok for a wok? I know they make them but woks get to a very high temperature - is this a good idea for non-stick? I'm told that burnt non-stick coatings are poisonous.

I have a cheap carbon steel wok which I've had for donkeys' years and nothing sticks to it. It can get a touch of rust now and then if I don't look after it but a Brillo pad and re-seasoning solves that with minimum effort.

The owner of the local chinese take-away place advised me on the purchase and care.
 
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Woks should never be nonstick

They need to get really screaming hot to cook properly

Look at the Wok Shop's website. I bought a pretty cheap steel one from them 25 years ago and it's a dream.
 
Jen's right.

Consider a carbon steel wok that can be seasoned (as you would a cast iron skillet). I've had mine for a very long time as well and it provides non-stick performance because of the seasoning.
 
Jen's right.

Consider a carbon steel wok that can be seasoned (as you would a cast iron skillet). I've had mine for a very long time as well and it provides non-stick performance because of the seasoning.

That is my choice. I have two. Both carbon steel purchased from an Oriental market for under $20 each.

I've never bothered to season them. For one thing, both of mine have wooden handles, which will not tolerate high heat in the oven. But both are virtually non stick from usage of thin coats of oil on high heat.
 
That is my choice. I have two. Both carbon steel purchased from an Oriental market for under $20 each.

I've never bothered to season them. For one thing, both of mine have wooden handles, which will not tolerate high heat in the oven. But both are virtually non stick from usage of thin coats of oil on high heat.

Cooking with oil is seasoning them. Seasoning doesn't have to be a discrete event separate from cooking.
 
if you want to oven season a new wok with a wooden handle you can wrap it several times with aluminum foil and it will protect it from charring. but Andy is right, continuous, correct, use will continue to season the wok. the inside of my carbon wok is black and almost non stick.
 
I have a 14 inch carbon steel wok, w/2 wood handles, a reversible wok rack/ring, aluminum lid (the wok rack is for under the wok, one way for electric stove and the other way for the gas stove). I have mine sitting in the kitchen taking up too much room as I don't use it anymore and I'm cleaning out cabinets to make space for things I do use. It has a little rust, nothing deep, and I would season it on the stove in the past so the wood handles look like oak or some wood, stained and then coated. Anyway, I'm going to sell it for $5 at a rummage sale, some day, or whatever works to get it out of my house. If a wok fairy would visit and steal it, I'd be pretty happy. I used to use it a lot when my kids were growing up and living here.

Seasoning a wok or a big cast iron skillet, if you are using them all the time, becomes better and better as time goes on. It takes little trouble to clean them out, apply some oil, and heat them. If you wok every day, it become second nature.

Now I mostly stir fry in my stainless steel, aluminum layered bottom, 12 inch skillet, as it is just for 2 or 3 people. I also have an electric stainless steel wok, and I love it, mostly though I use it for steaming with a steamer basket in it, or as you might use an electric skillet to brown meat, then add veggies and gravy or sauce of some type. Options options!

As I've gotten older, don't deny it, you are too... :) I like using lighter appliances/pans and I'm cutting back on what I'm keeping and paying more attention to my most usable spaces in the kitchen. Big families become smaller families, small families become bigger families, ah life!
 
Did you see the Lodge pro-logic cast iron wok? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00063RXQK/ref=psdc_289834_t3_B000MYI2ZO It's just under $50, though a lid will bump it up to low $70s. Out of 936 reviews, 86% were 5 stars. While not traditionally nonstick, it will get pretty much that way. Craig's been sort of thinking about/looking for a carbon steel wok but I bet he'll go look at this one. Best of all, USA made!

Yikes Med! That wouldn't be for me as that cast iron wok weighs 14 lbs!!:ohmy:
 
I love my cast iron woks from the wok shop. Light and cook like a dream. Best of all the price is well within your budget.
 
I love my cast iron woks from the wok shop. Light and cook like a dream. Best of all the price is well within your budget.

Which wok shop?


Thank you, everyone!

These are all great suggestions and when I look for one for myself, I think a light cast iron or carbon steel one will be the way to go. But I know my friend just loves her nonstick cookware (I know, I know), so I guess I should probably ask her what she prefers. She may just want a cheap $20 wok that she throws out every year.

Now, how to ask her without giving myself away here? Maybe I can tell her it's something I plan to buy for her birthday in March.
 
Woks should never be nonstick

They need to get really screaming hot to cook properly

This. Absolutely.

Carbon steel is the way to go, and, properly seasoned, will be as non-stick as any Teflon pan, but will last forever.

Go to an Asian grocer. Every one I that I've been to sells them right there in the store.
 
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Yikes Med! That wouldn't be for me as that cast iron wok weighs 14 lbs!!:ohmy:
Than you would not like my Le Crueset Goose roaster...it weighs more than that--I think 15 lb empty. If I were going to buy another wok, I would go with CI. I keep my upper-body in shape lifting my CI pans!:LOL: And transferring my 122 lb Mom from her bed to her wheelchair. If my 85 yr. old Dad can transfer her, I better be able to do it, too.
 
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Yikes Med! That wouldn't be for me as that cast iron wok weighs 14 lbs!!:ohmy:

I love my cast iron woks from the wok shop. Light and cook like a dream. Best of all the price is well within your budget.

Which wok shop?

I think this is the wok shop that PPO is talking about.
WOKSHOP.com: Woks | Cast Iron
From that website:
Traditional cast iron woks deliver superior heat distribution and impart a classic wok "hee" flavor for the perfect stir fry every time. Less than half the weight of western style cast iron pan, these woks provide a light, versatile, and fun-to-use kitchen tool that can last a lifetime. Our traditional woks are paper thin and have been skillfully grey-cast in the southern mountains of China since 1840.

Than you would not like my Le Crueset Goose roaster...it weighs more than that--I think 15 lb empty. If I were going to buy another wok, I would go with CI. I keep my upper-body in shape lifting my CI pans!:LOL: And transferring my 122 lb Mom from her bed to her wheelchair. If my 85 yr. old Dad can transfer her, I better be able to do it, too.

No, your Le Crueset Goose roaster doesn't impress me, but congratulations on your refined upper body shape. We should all strive for such perfection...
:ROFLMAO:
 
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rr, if you get her a non-stick wok, that coating just might be gone before the cookies are. Seriously. I had one briefly. Never again.

Like others, I think your friend can not go wrong with a carbon steel wok. My Mom joined a Cookbook of the Month club just so she could get a free wok - which she promptly gave to me, along with the three Chinese cookbooks, and said "here, learn to use this so you can cook for us". :LOL: That was in 1975. I had to give up that wok when we bought a new, glass-top stove, since it was a wok with a rounded bottom. It really isn't efficient on a glass-top, so I gave the wok to our son. Who is still using it. I swear if I ever get another stove (here or, preferably, back home in OH), it will not have a glass top...and I am reclaiming that wok.



...I keep my upper-body in shape lifting my CI pans!:LOL: And transferring my 122 lb Mom from her bed to her wheelchair. If my 85 yr. old Dad can transfer her, I better be able to do it, too.
I tell people I don't need to exercise with weights, I cook with cast iron! As far as your Dad goes, he's 85, hunts, and curls. He is my hero!
 
If this friend loves non-stick so much, she will not appreciate the steel wok as she wants a non-stock one.
 
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