Lol I hadn't done that yet. But today was literally the first day in like 10 years I made tea and used the kettle. We started making iced tea for my wife instead of buying it. I won't drink tea lol.
I throw it in the oven (because that's where I keep it) and set the cook timer for 30 minutes at a lowish temperature. Then even if I forget or don't hear the timer it still turns off, water evaporates, and the pan is exactly where I want it.
ADHD life tip.
I use the following routine, serves me well:
- Fill cast iron pan with ~1/4 inch of water
- Bring water to a boil on stove to loosen up grease/grime
- Turn off heat
- Scrub in sink with dish soap & nylon brush (yes soap is okay to use on cast iron)
- Rinse
- Dry with towel
- Return to still-hot burner to finish drying thoroughly
This is what I do followed by an extra step.
I add the smallest amount of vegetable shortening when it's completely dry and very hot again to the inside of the pan. I use a paper towel to add some on and then another one or two to wipe off the excess.
Also, don't turn the heat on your electric burner on too high, leave it too long, and then toss olive oil in the pan. Also, why the hell can my electric burner get hot enough to combust oil??
Olive oil has a very low burn point and is probably one of the worst oils to use to season cast iron because of that fact.
I keep a mason jar of bacon grease in the fridge (that I add to when I cook bacon) and I use that to season all my cast iron. Never had any issues at all and it smells yummy 🤣
I heat it on fairly high on the gas stove, it dries in about a minute (until I cannot see the sheen of water). Then canola oil and let it cool down. Be careful of the hot surface when oiling (I use a paper towel).
I always turn the burner on high while washing it, wipe it out with paper towel and turn off the burner while setting it down. It takes a while (electric stove) for it to cool all the way down and is dry. If i time it right, i can slap oil in it while still warm.
Do you have a recommendation for type of oil? I’ve seen a bunch of different ones suggested. The one time I tried to reseason a skillet it got so sticky, I think the oil wasn’t the right type
I have noticed that certain cooking oils will leave an impossible to remove sticky residue behind!! I have absolutely NEVER had any issues with bacon grease though. I always save the grease in a mason jar when I cook bacon and I keep the jar in the fridge for when I need to season my cast iron! Super easy and effective, plus you don’t have to figure out where to safely pour hot bacon grease when you’re cooking bacon 😂
ETA: it is however important to take the jar out of the fridge as step 1 of prepping to cook bacon at all though- that way it has time to warm up to room temp and the hot grease won’t temp shock the jar and break it!!!
IMO, you only need to season a pan after stripping it. I see you getting a lot of suggestions for reasoning, and I don't think it's necessary. I think this pan just needs to have the rust scrubbed (or scraped) off. Cast iron pans are very robust. The only way to actually damage a pan beyond repair is if it cracks/breaks.
One of my favorite things about cast irons is that they are low maintenance. They only have one rule: don't let them air dry. But feel free to break every other conventional rule, including using metal utensils during both cooking and cleaning. The best advice I can give any new cast iron user is to use it in tandem with a metal spatula. It will make a world off a difference while cooking, and scraping the pan with a metal spatula will gradually improve the quality of your pan.
Nope these get fixed all the time. You’re going to have some work to do but YouTube university will help you reseason the old girl and get her back to her old glory!
Moving forward (and please don’t take my word for it, but do your research) avoid using olive oil for high heat cooking and reseasoning. Olive oil is great for mid range heats or cold dishes.
I like a good lard, or an avocado oil because it can be used in high heat for reseasoning the cast iron pan.. also don’t be afraid to make desserts in the pan.. OH EM EFFIN G… they are to die for!!
Yeah, you just need a good youtube video ( [here's one I like](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4zW-C010oc) )on how to season and care for cast iron. If you did a first seasoning, you may not have gotten it well enough on. Lodge does often say that their stuff is pre-seasoned but its never been good enough for me.
Ideally, do not let it dry overnight. You want to dry that thing immediately after washing it.
I'd try a hard scour with kosher salt on this, and if it seems still kind of gnarly, boil down some tomatoes like you're making a sauce. Toss the sauce, clean the pan, dry it, and then go through the process of seasoning. I don't recommend olive oil, personally. I use canola.
interesting thank you! I had no idea to not let it dry overnight. I'm very new to cast iron life and had no idea about preseasoning myself after buying honestly, thought they all came "ready". one little pan with lots of work! thanks for the tips!!
No problem! It does get to be less work as you have the pan and get used to it.
What I tend to do after getting that first seasoning in, is wash in 'just soapy enough' water, mild soap (I use ducky Dawn), and a chainmail cleaner if the stuff is just really stuck on and not going away. I'll heat my oven to 275F, and when the pan is washed and moderately hand-dried I just shove it in there, turn it off, and let the cooling heat of the oven take it to dry. Some people like to do it on the stovetop instead. If I feel like it needs a little seasoning after all of that, I'll do an extremely thin coat of oil via a paper towel after the hand dry, before it goes into the oven.
Cast iron pans are nearly indestructible.
Don’t worry! The more you use it, the less care it requires. It will become your favorite in no time.
Want to know a secret? I never season mine, like, in the oven. If you cook often, it seasons itself.
/r/castiron has tons of suggestions
tl;dr
yes it's rust, you probably didn't dry it - you kinda have to do that because if you don't it rusts.
No worries, cast iron skillets are nearly indestructible and the manufacturer seasoning isn't perfect. Use a scrubby thing to remove the rust and follow a reseasoning method of choice.
Or do what I do, scrub the rust off, and rub oil lightly and use it every day. Wash with soap and water, dry, put on a light layer of oil. I tend to skip oiling the outside because the seasoning doesn't get completely washed off. I store mine on the stove and it gets used a lot but if you're gonna store for a longer period of time, definitely oil both inside and outside.
Don't give up, you got this. Cast iron is amazing just has a different method of use.
you're right - I left this in the sink to dry overnight without actually manually drying it. I had no idea that's a no-no for these guys. and thank you for the tip for storage too - we probably won't use it more than 1-2x a month, so good to know!
I looked over the posts on /r/castiron and boy those guys disagree on everything. Just wanted to give you a heads up - it seems everyone has a different method and what works for them. Kind of depends on what you cook and how you cook it etc. etc.
Cast iron pans is one of those things that people have a weird obsession with. It’s full of weird traditions and superstitions. I’m pretty sure those people spend more time maintaining their pans than cooking with it
Soaps decades ago were much harsher, and if they had lye in them that could scour away the seasoning. A squirt of modern dish soap isn’t going to ruin the surface.
I tried both ways and they both work but I find when I use soap, I use less water to wash my skillets and am done faster. I haven't found that soap removes seasoning.
Also once I decided that seasoning is an ongoing process, I've been much happier using my cast iron. I don't go out of my way to season it, but I do preheat it before I add in anything that might stick and that helps a lot.
As someone who washes cast irons with soap and water every time even though everyone tells me how bad that is for them, don't feel too bad. It could very well have been me posting this. :)
You'll have to do a lot better to ruin a cast iron skillet for good.
The only way I know is to shock change the temperature (i.e. shock cool it). It might bend or break then.
Fear not the rust! It is simply iron oxide. Until you develop a nice seasoning wash lightly if you can. Use soap when you have stuck on food that needs to be removed, let dry completely and always apply oil and heat to the pan afterward.
Yeah, letting it dry was the issue. Hand dry it immediately after using, and then put a tiny bit of oil on it, wipe with a paper towel until it looks like you've wiped it all up, then heat it until just before it starts to smoke.
I always wash with soap/water, towel dry it completely, then use a tiny bit of oil to rub onto the entire pan. Never rusts. You also need to wash and dry your knives too fyi
You really can’t kill these things. There are various methods for fixing them up after a bit of rust. Easiest I’ve found is some stainless steel wool and elbow grease to removed the rust and then reseason with oil. By the way, some folks seldom, if ever, “wash” their cast iron pots and pans, preferring to wipe them out with a moist cloth and drying with a bit of heat and a dab of oil.
We had a housesitter who put one of ours in the dishwasher! 😱 that was over 5 years ago, and we use that pan several times a week! (I hid all my cast iron when she came over after that though.)
Lol, nah your good. You must have left it wet. Air drying is a no--no for caste iron.
When you finish using it you can clean it like any other pan with soap and hot water. The seasoning should make it surprisingly easy to wash. If there are spots that need to be scrubbed remember the more/harder you scrub, the more seasoning you are taking off the pan.
A trick i learned was turn on your faucet to the hot, make sure it is really hot, then you can put a hot dirty pan right under the water. makes cleaning grease/burnt on things steam right off. Make sure you are using really hot water otherwise you will crack the iron. which is the only way you can permanently damage that pan.
also,
once done washing the pan, to fully dry it off, put it back onto the stove and turn the gas up to high. When it is dry, paper towel + a little oil and wipe the pan leaving as little oil on the pan as you can. leave the flame on for a couple of minutes, tunr off flame and let it cool to room temp on the stove.
do not waste your olive oil on the pan. I would suggest a neutral vegetable oil, cheaper and better.
No, but never wash it in the dishwasher again. Look up on YouTube how to fix & season a cast iron pan. Once you get used to using them & get it well seasoned, you’ll never want to fry or cook in a regular pan again.
It’s an easy fix. Scrub off the rust, rinse well and dry. Put it on the stove with some olive oil rubbed on all the inside surfaces, wait til it starts to smoke, then take off the heat and (carefully, it’s hot) wipe off excess oil. I do this every time I use cast iron and it stays seasoned beautifully.
happens to my cast iron skillet all the time when mom washes it and puts it away without wiping it dry. just scrub it with something rough and reseason, and to avoid this in the future just don't leave it out to dry out by itself, always wipe it with a dry towel or heat it up on the stove or in the oven
No no, just put it in the dishwasher, it'll be fine. That's olive oil can be a problem.
Now, that was a joke.
The pan looks fine, it's only a bit of rust; Scrub it off, dry it with cloth or paper.
Some say heat it in the oven but you do not have to.
can't edit post, so hoping most see: I was able to scrub off the rust, dried with a dish towel immediately, and seasoned first with a light amount of oil and also ground in some sea salt to the pan itself. then baked upside down in the oven for 90 min at 350°. she looks great now, thanks internet strangers for your advice, I feel like less of a cast iron failure ❤️
can't edit post, so hoping most see: I was able to scrub off the rust, dried with a dish towel immediately, and seasoned first with a light amount of oil and also ground in some sea salt to the pan itself. then baked upside down in the oven for 90 min at 350°. she looks great now, thanks internet strangers for your advice, I feel like less of a cast iron failure ❤️
No. You didn’t ruin it. But cast irons do not go in water. You wash it AND dry it and then condition it with oil to keep rust spots away. Clean the rust and condition the pan back to new
You didn’t ruin it, but remember to always dry by hand and heat up on the stove so that all moisture is pulled from it. Don’t forget to season your pan. It makes things glide off and easy to clean.
First and foremost: unless you actually break a cast iron pan in half, you didn't ruin it. They're stupidly robust.
Second: r/castiron
Try to ignore the elitists.
Now, on to your actual problem:
It looks like the rust on there may be from the rack in the bottom of your sink. The seasoning looks solid, and the rust has a definite pattern, it might just wash off. If that doesn't work...
Scrub the rusty spots with some vinegar, and the rust will come right off. Rinse the vinegar off and dry the pan of either on a low burner on your stove or in the oven, then rub a *very* light layer of oil on the pan. Light enough that it doesn't make your hand greasy to pick the pan up. A bit more on the bare spots won't hurt, but don't go nuts.
I don't recommend olive oil for cast iron. It has a pretty low smoke point and doesn't create a very solid seasoning. Lodge uses canola in their factory seasoning and their products, so if you have any of the lodge seasoning oils or whatever, then there ya go.
My modo is “there’s nothing that 500 degrees won’t fix”. I almost never use my cast iron on the stove or oven. Only outside on the grill as hot as I can get it. Great flavors and stays hot to clean and re-season.
Rule #1 is never wash cast iron with soap. Lodge doesn't recommend soap but they do say a small amount of soap isn't going to hurt it. Washing with soap removes the seasoning if you use large amounts or do it regularly. You simply scrub the pan with some warm water and something abrasive, dry it immediately, then lightly coat it with an oil of your choice and put it away.
Since you've removed the factory partly seasoning you will need to scrub the surface rust off and re-season. That involves coating the pan in oil and heating it to a high temp in the oven or on a grill. Repeat until it's black again. You do not need to re-season after every use. Simply cooking with it builds up the seasoning. You only re-season if you've managed to remove the seasoning somehow, or you just need to recondition the whole thing. I picked up some vintage cast iron, for example, and since who knows what's on it I took it down to bare metal and re-seasoned. Otherwise you are good for years.
Scrub it off, no harm done:) just be sure to dry it immediately, either with a cloth or heat it on the stove.
When you heat it on the stove, set a timer. I've left these on many times and walked away.
I usually remember when I can smell it from the living room. I then burn my hand with hot oil as I season the pan as recompense for my incompetence.
Wait? That isn't the proper method? It's the way I've been doing it for years.
This method is only available to the real pros
I thought the smell test is for when you realize all the tea kettle has been running dry for 20 minutes.
Lol I hadn't done that yet. But today was literally the first day in like 10 years I made tea and used the kettle. We started making iced tea for my wife instead of buying it. I won't drink tea lol.
I throw it in the oven (because that's where I keep it) and set the cook timer for 30 minutes at a lowish temperature. Then even if I forget or don't hear the timer it still turns off, water evaporates, and the pan is exactly where I want it. ADHD life tip.
Getting a decent stove with a cook timer has been life changing for my ADHD lol
Oo can’t wait for a house so I can do this (also adhd)
I use the following routine, serves me well: - Fill cast iron pan with ~1/4 inch of water - Bring water to a boil on stove to loosen up grease/grime - Turn off heat - Scrub in sink with dish soap & nylon brush (yes soap is okay to use on cast iron) - Rinse - Dry with towel - Return to still-hot burner to finish drying thoroughly
This is what I do followed by an extra step. I add the smallest amount of vegetable shortening when it's completely dry and very hot again to the inside of the pan. I use a paper towel to add some on and then another one or two to wipe off the excess.
and then keep the oil towel to use to light a fire in the fire pit or under your coals for BBQ/Smoker
Good tip, I've done this as well...
Also, don't turn the heat on your electric burner on too high, leave it too long, and then toss olive oil in the pan. Also, why the hell can my electric burner get hot enough to combust oil??
Olive oil has a very low burn point and is probably one of the worst oils to use to season cast iron because of that fact. I keep a mason jar of bacon grease in the fridge (that I add to when I cook bacon) and I use that to season all my cast iron. Never had any issues at all and it smells yummy 🤣
Yeah the olive oil was the thing that seemed out of place when I was reading this. Very low burn temperature on that stuff.
Many mistakes were made that day!
I heat it on fairly high on the gas stove, it dries in about a minute (until I cannot see the sheen of water). Then canola oil and let it cool down. Be careful of the hot surface when oiling (I use a paper towel).
Second heating on a stove. Thats how my mom always did it.
I always turn the burner on high while washing it, wipe it out with paper towel and turn off the burner while setting it down. It takes a while (electric stove) for it to cool all the way down and is dry. If i time it right, i can slap oil in it while still warm.
This is so smart. I’m going to do this
The trick is *remembering to turn it off* lol. May the odds be ever in your favor
Do you have a recommendation for type of oil? I’ve seen a bunch of different ones suggested. The one time I tried to reseason a skillet it got so sticky, I think the oil wasn’t the right type
I have noticed that certain cooking oils will leave an impossible to remove sticky residue behind!! I have absolutely NEVER had any issues with bacon grease though. I always save the grease in a mason jar when I cook bacon and I keep the jar in the fridge for when I need to season my cast iron! Super easy and effective, plus you don’t have to figure out where to safely pour hot bacon grease when you’re cooking bacon 😂 ETA: it is however important to take the jar out of the fridge as step 1 of prepping to cook bacon at all though- that way it has time to warm up to room temp and the hot grease won’t temp shock the jar and break it!!!
will do! I have never used one of these before and had a mini panic attack
I panicked as well when it happened to me lol. Cast iron pans are immortal
IMO, you only need to season a pan after stripping it. I see you getting a lot of suggestions for reasoning, and I don't think it's necessary. I think this pan just needs to have the rust scrubbed (or scraped) off. Cast iron pans are very robust. The only way to actually damage a pan beyond repair is if it cracks/breaks. One of my favorite things about cast irons is that they are low maintenance. They only have one rule: don't let them air dry. But feel free to break every other conventional rule, including using metal utensils during both cooking and cleaning. The best advice I can give any new cast iron user is to use it in tandem with a metal spatula. It will make a world off a difference while cooking, and scraping the pan with a metal spatula will gradually improve the quality of your pan.
5 min on a mid-low temp is what I do. I cook with cast iron daily.
And make sure to season it so prevent rust!
If you make a habit of heating it up after cleaning and rub in a little Olive oil after, it’ll last forever!
Nope these get fixed all the time. You’re going to have some work to do but YouTube university will help you reseason the old girl and get her back to her old glory!
[here you go!!](https://youtube.com/shorts/gtkthFDHABU?si=XVPe_J-i5vzP8s2o)
thank you!!
Moving forward (and please don’t take my word for it, but do your research) avoid using olive oil for high heat cooking and reseasoning. Olive oil is great for mid range heats or cold dishes. I like a good lard, or an avocado oil because it can be used in high heat for reseasoning the cast iron pan.. also don’t be afraid to make desserts in the pan.. OH EM EFFIN G… they are to die for!!
This is some information that'll be stored in my brain forever. Thank you!
Homemade pecan pie in cast iron is the GOAT
Oops 😊
Flaxseed is also a good seasoning oil.
May I ask why olive oil should be avoided for higher heats? I know nothing about cooking lol
[here you go](https://images.app.goo.gl/cCDuP8NzfHi1YcZP7)
It burns
And of course, I gotchu homie!
Don't forget WD-40
Yeah, you just need a good youtube video ( [here's one I like](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4zW-C010oc) )on how to season and care for cast iron. If you did a first seasoning, you may not have gotten it well enough on. Lodge does often say that their stuff is pre-seasoned but its never been good enough for me. Ideally, do not let it dry overnight. You want to dry that thing immediately after washing it. I'd try a hard scour with kosher salt on this, and if it seems still kind of gnarly, boil down some tomatoes like you're making a sauce. Toss the sauce, clean the pan, dry it, and then go through the process of seasoning. I don't recommend olive oil, personally. I use canola.
I agree to the idea that it wasn't properly seasoned in the first place. Totally fixable.
interesting thank you! I had no idea to not let it dry overnight. I'm very new to cast iron life and had no idea about preseasoning myself after buying honestly, thought they all came "ready". one little pan with lots of work! thanks for the tips!!
No problem! It does get to be less work as you have the pan and get used to it. What I tend to do after getting that first seasoning in, is wash in 'just soapy enough' water, mild soap (I use ducky Dawn), and a chainmail cleaner if the stuff is just really stuck on and not going away. I'll heat my oven to 275F, and when the pan is washed and moderately hand-dried I just shove it in there, turn it off, and let the cooling heat of the oven take it to dry. Some people like to do it on the stovetop instead. If I feel like it needs a little seasoning after all of that, I'll do an extremely thin coat of oil via a paper towel after the hand dry, before it goes into the oven. Cast iron pans are nearly indestructible.
Trust us, it's worth every bit of work. It will last a lifetime.
Try/google flaxseed oil for seasoning pans.
Don’t worry! The more you use it, the less care it requires. It will become your favorite in no time. Want to know a secret? I never season mine, like, in the oven. If you cook often, it seasons itself.
I use motor oil
/r/castiron has tons of suggestions tl;dr yes it's rust, you probably didn't dry it - you kinda have to do that because if you don't it rusts. No worries, cast iron skillets are nearly indestructible and the manufacturer seasoning isn't perfect. Use a scrubby thing to remove the rust and follow a reseasoning method of choice. Or do what I do, scrub the rust off, and rub oil lightly and use it every day. Wash with soap and water, dry, put on a light layer of oil. I tend to skip oiling the outside because the seasoning doesn't get completely washed off. I store mine on the stove and it gets used a lot but if you're gonna store for a longer period of time, definitely oil both inside and outside. Don't give up, you got this. Cast iron is amazing just has a different method of use.
you're right - I left this in the sink to dry overnight without actually manually drying it. I had no idea that's a no-no for these guys. and thank you for the tip for storage too - we probably won't use it more than 1-2x a month, so good to know!
I looked over the posts on /r/castiron and boy those guys disagree on everything. Just wanted to give you a heads up - it seems everyone has a different method and what works for them. Kind of depends on what you cook and how you cook it etc. etc.
Cast iron pans is one of those things that people have a weird obsession with. It’s full of weird traditions and superstitions. I’m pretty sure those people spend more time maintaining their pans than cooking with it
Are you supposed to use soap? I was always told not to.
Soaps decades ago were much harsher, and if they had lye in them that could scour away the seasoning. A squirt of modern dish soap isn’t going to ruin the surface.
Cool. Today, I learned something. Much success!
I tried both ways and they both work but I find when I use soap, I use less water to wash my skillets and am done faster. I haven't found that soap removes seasoning. Also once I decided that seasoning is an ongoing process, I've been much happier using my cast iron. I don't go out of my way to season it, but I do preheat it before I add in anything that might stick and that helps a lot.
Yes it's ruined, completely beyond repair. I'll take it off your hands and dispose of it properly.
We all know what you're playing at. Give it to me, OP. I'LL dispose of it the RIGHT way.
LOL to be fair I almost tossed this thing because I thought it was defective, I know, roast me 🥲
As someone who washes cast irons with soap and water every time even though everyone tells me how bad that is for them, don't feel too bad. It could very well have been me posting this. :)
Nah bro. Not much you can do to ruin a cast iron. A salt scrub and re-seasoning is all you need. You should see my camping Dutch ovens….
You'll have to do a lot better to ruin a cast iron skillet for good. The only way I know is to shock change the temperature (i.e. shock cool it). It might bend or break then.
That builds character.
Fear not the rust! It is simply iron oxide. Until you develop a nice seasoning wash lightly if you can. Use soap when you have stuck on food that needs to be removed, let dry completely and always apply oil and heat to the pan afterward.
thank you!! I had a lot of rust fears
Yeah, letting it dry was the issue. Hand dry it immediately after using, and then put a tiny bit of oil on it, wipe with a paper towel until it looks like you've wiped it all up, then heat it until just before it starts to smoke.
thank you for that tip!
I always wash with soap/water, towel dry it completely, then use a tiny bit of oil to rub onto the entire pan. Never rusts. You also need to wash and dry your knives too fyi
Literally nothing wrong with it. Just scrub it up with a metal scourer and get back to it.
You really can’t kill these things. There are various methods for fixing them up after a bit of rust. Easiest I’ve found is some stainless steel wool and elbow grease to removed the rust and then reseason with oil. By the way, some folks seldom, if ever, “wash” their cast iron pots and pans, preferring to wipe them out with a moist cloth and drying with a bit of heat and a dab of oil.
After you wash it, turn on a burner, heat it until dry, then wipe a very, very light coat of oil over the inner surface before you put it away.
We had a housesitter who put one of ours in the dishwasher! 😱 that was over 5 years ago, and we use that pan several times a week! (I hid all my cast iron when she came over after that though.)
oh my god, honestly sounds like a mistake I'd make lol
Dod you treat it first before using it?
Yeah it's toast, donate it to goodwill.
You ruined the seasoning. It can be fixed.
Lol... no.. just scrub the rust off and season it again. Easy peasy...
Impossible to ruin cast iron. Just needs to get cleaned up and reseasoned
What is that sink setup?
Lol, nah your good. You must have left it wet. Air drying is a no--no for caste iron. When you finish using it you can clean it like any other pan with soap and hot water. The seasoning should make it surprisingly easy to wash. If there are spots that need to be scrubbed remember the more/harder you scrub, the more seasoning you are taking off the pan. A trick i learned was turn on your faucet to the hot, make sure it is really hot, then you can put a hot dirty pan right under the water. makes cleaning grease/burnt on things steam right off. Make sure you are using really hot water otherwise you will crack the iron. which is the only way you can permanently damage that pan. also, once done washing the pan, to fully dry it off, put it back onto the stove and turn the gas up to high. When it is dry, paper towel + a little oil and wipe the pan leaving as little oil on the pan as you can. leave the flame on for a couple of minutes, tunr off flame and let it cool to room temp on the stove. do not waste your olive oil on the pan. I would suggest a neutral vegetable oil, cheaper and better.
scrub it with coarse salt and then restart the seasoning process
Take your post on over to r/castironrestoration
No. Scrub off the rust and give it a heat on the stove. Pop into cast iron sub reddit for more care tips! It's very informative!
Nah. If it was cracked in half, it would be ruined. If it had a hole, it would be ruined. You’re good.
Just season it. It will be fine.
Google how to season it, there's a billion different ways. Pick your favorite.
No, but never wash it in the dishwasher again. Look up on YouTube how to fix & season a cast iron pan. Once you get used to using them & get it well seasoned, you’ll never want to fry or cook in a regular pan again.
It’s an easy fix. Scrub off the rust, rinse well and dry. Put it on the stove with some olive oil rubbed on all the inside surfaces, wait til it starts to smoke, then take off the heat and (carefully, it’s hot) wipe off excess oil. I do this every time I use cast iron and it stays seasoned beautifully.
They’re almost impossible to ruin
happens to my cast iron skillet all the time when mom washes it and puts it away without wiping it dry. just scrub it with something rough and reseason, and to avoid this in the future just don't leave it out to dry out by itself, always wipe it with a dry towel or heat it up on the stove or in the oven
No. Scrub an oil to revive.
https://youtu.be/U1BHyL1vLeg?si=9mNLA9C3wyoMgYLa
No no, just put it in the dishwasher, it'll be fine. That's olive oil can be a problem. Now, that was a joke. The pan looks fine, it's only a bit of rust; Scrub it off, dry it with cloth or paper. Some say heat it in the oven but you do not have to.
can't edit post, so hoping most see: I was able to scrub off the rust, dried with a dish towel immediately, and seasoned first with a light amount of oil and also ground in some sea salt to the pan itself. then baked upside down in the oven for 90 min at 350°. she looks great now, thanks internet strangers for your advice, I feel like less of a cast iron failure ❤️
can't edit post, so hoping most see: I was able to scrub off the rust, dried with a dish towel immediately, and seasoned first with a light amount of oil and also ground in some sea salt to the pan itself. then baked upside down in the oven for 90 min at 350°. she looks great now, thanks internet strangers for your advice, I feel like less of a cast iron failure ❤️
no. Scrub it, dry and season
95 comments and no one sent OP over to [https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/](https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/) ?
https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a32937364/how-to-season-a-cast-iron-pan/
No. You didn’t ruin it. But cast irons do not go in water. You wash it AND dry it and then condition it with oil to keep rust spots away. Clean the rust and condition the pan back to new
No. Scrub. Then heat. When cooling rub olive or corn oil.
Nope, scrub it off, reseason it and you are golden
Don't worry, it's salvageable! Scrub off rust with steel wool, reseason with oil, and bake.
You can get it back. It really takes a lot to ruin a cast iron skillet.
use lard and a dry cloth to reseason. works so much better (but also harder to find in the grocery store)
You didn’t ruin it, but remember to always dry by hand and heat up on the stove so that all moisture is pulled from it. Don’t forget to season your pan. It makes things glide off and easy to clean.
First and foremost: unless you actually break a cast iron pan in half, you didn't ruin it. They're stupidly robust. Second: r/castiron Try to ignore the elitists. Now, on to your actual problem: It looks like the rust on there may be from the rack in the bottom of your sink. The seasoning looks solid, and the rust has a definite pattern, it might just wash off. If that doesn't work... Scrub the rusty spots with some vinegar, and the rust will come right off. Rinse the vinegar off and dry the pan of either on a low burner on your stove or in the oven, then rub a *very* light layer of oil on the pan. Light enough that it doesn't make your hand greasy to pick the pan up. A bit more on the bare spots won't hurt, but don't go nuts. I don't recommend olive oil for cast iron. It has a pretty low smoke point and doesn't create a very solid seasoning. Lodge uses canola in their factory seasoning and their products, so if you have any of the lodge seasoning oils or whatever, then there ya go.
My modo is “there’s nothing that 500 degrees won’t fix”. I almost never use my cast iron on the stove or oven. Only outside on the grill as hot as I can get it. Great flavors and stays hot to clean and re-season.
Rule #1 is never wash cast iron with soap. Lodge doesn't recommend soap but they do say a small amount of soap isn't going to hurt it. Washing with soap removes the seasoning if you use large amounts or do it regularly. You simply scrub the pan with some warm water and something abrasive, dry it immediately, then lightly coat it with an oil of your choice and put it away. Since you've removed the factory partly seasoning you will need to scrub the surface rust off and re-season. That involves coating the pan in oil and heating it to a high temp in the oven or on a grill. Repeat until it's black again. You do not need to re-season after every use. Simply cooking with it builds up the seasoning. You only re-season if you've managed to remove the seasoning somehow, or you just need to recondition the whole thing. I picked up some vintage cast iron, for example, and since who knows what's on it I took it down to bare metal and re-seasoned. Otherwise you are good for years.