When you think of a wok, you might imagine a large, dark bowl engulfed in flames—and while that’s not wrong by any means, it’s far from a complete picture of this efficient cookware. Woks aren’t used widely in Western cuisine, but they’re highly versatile, with many styles and shapes to fit your cooking style. Here are some factors to consider as you set out to buy a wok of your own.
Traditional round vs. flat bottom woks
Traditional woks. These have a round bottom and sloped sides that flare out dramatically. The curved bottom and flared sides are key for tossing, catching, and tumbling ingredients, and make it a flexible tool for boiling soups, stir frying, braising, steaming, or deep frying.
The tapered bowl-shaped bottom is the hottest part and also creates a small area for liquids to concentrate. As you cook, ingredients will pass through this area and get coated in sauce or fat before they toss up again. Alternatively, this area is where water bubbles away while a steamer basket hovers above. The sloped sides are a bit cooler and you can use them to hold food off to the side while you use the hot center to add new ingredients.
The round-bottomed wok does need a bit of help though. The pan will roll off to one side if you let go of the handle, so this type of wok needs to be used in tandem with a wok ring. The wok ring is a metal support that will stabilize the wok over the heat source while still allowing you to turn it freely. This type of wok is best if you plan to cook over an open flame outside, or over a gas burning stove inside. It’s also the best pan for meals that cook quickly, like stir fries, because the uninterrupted curved shape allows for constant motion. You can toss and shovel the ingredients quickly over the high heat.
Flat bottomed woks. These still have wide-angled sides and a tapered bottom, but instead of a continuous curve, the bottom flattens into a five- or six-inch diameter circle. (Avoid wok pans that have a flat bottom any wider than that.) This shape gives you the benefit of being able to fling ingredients off the sides and also set the wok flat on the stove so you can tend to other things. You do lose a bit of the tossing and scooping ease that a curved bottom gives you, but that might make no difference to you depending on what you’re cooking.
This type of wok can be used on any stove top but it’s a must for flat, electric or induction stove tops since it needs to make direct contact with the heat source to work. It’s also a good choice if you steam a lot of food—just make sure to buy one with a tight-fitting lid.
Carbon steel, stainless, cast iron, and nonstick woks
There are a few competing materials out there, specifically carbon steel, stainless steel, nonstick, and cast iron. One of the unique flavors you can get from wok cooking is that charred, smoky-scorch called wok hei. It’s a combination of caramelized ingredients tinged with smoking oil. It’s delicious, and you can achieve this with high heat and the right wok material.
Carbon steel woks tick all the boxes for a useful wok: lightweight, thin, durable, and heat responsive. Carbon steel is by and large the most favored among chefs and the best part is they’re cheap, about $50 or less. The downside is that this type of wok does require seasoning before using. (To do that, follow the manufacturer’s instructions, or you can check out this video.) While you might get some sticking in the beginning, it only gets better from there.
Nonstick woks, unfortunately, are not conducive to wok hei, or even quick browning for that matter. Beyond that, nonstick coatings can degrade at high temperatures which can result in fumes, or nonstick coatings flaking off into your food. It’s not unusual for woks to reach temperatures of about 750°F, and the surface material of nonsticks can degrade at temperatures exceeding 500°F. However, the nonstick wok is great for beginners learning to get familiar with the particular shape of a wok, deep frying, and gentler cooking methods like braising or steaming.
Cast iron is an excellent material for high temperatures, has high heat retention, and even heat distribution. It is, however, heavy as hell, and with stir frying, heat retention isn’t always what you want. Some cast iron woks are thinner to offset the downsides but they can be brittle as a trade-off. If you don’t plan on using a wok for tossing and tumbling ingredients, cast iron can be a good option.
Stainless steel woks are probably the most deeply hated of the woks, industry-wide. (At least nonstick has a place among beginner cooks.) The trouble is that wok-style cooking doesn’t vibe with stainless’ best qualities. Stainless steel takes a while to heat up, meats sear best on it when left alone, and the metal is heavy. Wok-style cooking requires quick heat adjustments, a hot center and cooler edges, a material where proteins can tumble and fry in a touch-and-go manner, and something light enough to lift and move. Stainless steel is a great material for cookware—just not woks.
Wok handle styles
The handles you choose are primarily decided by your cooking style and what you imagine you’ll be cooking in your wok. There are usually three handle varieties or combinations: one long handle, one long handle and one short on the opposite side, or two short handles on opposing sides.
Buy a wok with a long handle if you plan on stir frying. This kind of handle gives you a longer lever for bigger moves. It’s best for shaking and tossing ingredients and cooking over high heat or flames, so you can have a bit more distance between you and the inferno.
Short handles give you a better grip for lifting and pouring. If you’re going to be braising, steaming, or deep frying, then you might opt for the short handles. If you’re not sure yet, then I suggest buying the kind with one long handle and one short handle to give yourself options.
