On a gas stove, you have the most choice: every wok here works on it, and you can also season a bare wok yourself. For a flat induction plate, our store recommends a wok with a non-stick coating and a flat bottom, so it doesn't slide while you stir and scoop.
Can you wok at home like at the takeout?
If you set a wok at home on high heat, pieces of meat often simmer in their own juices while you wanted to brown them quickly. In a restaurant, the wok is on a burner designed for woks, with much more power than the largest burner of a home stove. With an induction plate, you also won't reach that power.
Stir-frying works well at home, and a wok with a non-stick coating is a great pan for that. Steaming and frying also work in a wok, as our article on cooking with a wok describes.
If you cook on a regular gas stove and don't have a wok yet, a large frying pan is often the better stir-fry pan according to our pan expert. Even for our quick spicy shrimp wok with lime, a large frying pan suffices, even though the recipe has 'wok' in its name. Our comparison of wok and sauté pan also places the frying pan alongside.
Does the bottom of the wok fit your cooking zone?
A 32 cm wok can measure only 13.5 cm at the bottom, about the width of a saucer. For these six woks, the bottom is listed on the product page:
A larger wok is not automatically wider at the bottom: the SCANPAN of 24 cm stands wider on your plate than the two SCANPAN woks of 32 cm. Narrow at the bottom and sloping upwards: that's how a wok is built. A wok whose bottom is not mentioned will only touch your plate with part of the size in its name. If a large wok doesn't work on the largest zone of your induction plate, try it on a zone that is closer to the size of its bottom.
For the correct setting on induction and the choice between your zones, you can refer to our advice for a wok on induction.
What type of wok fits the maintenance you want to do?
Of the loose woks currently available, 4 have no non-stick coating, and 3 of them you season yourself.
When does a wok with a non-stick coating suit you?
If you stir-fry during the week for the family and want to be quick with the dishes, then a wok with a coating suits you. In such a wok, rice and noodles hardly stick. Most woks with a coating have the dishwasher symbol on the product page, although every turn in the machine costs the coating some of its lifespan.
If the rice does stick after a few years, then the coating is gone and you replace the wok. Choose a wok spatula made of wood or plastic for a ceramic coating, as you will be scraping over the bottom while stir-frying. If PFAS is a consideration in your choice, there is a separate overview of woks without PFAS.
With the Sola Wokpan Stonehenge ø 28 cm, you choose a wok with a ceramic coating, and at 1.18 kg empty, it's also light. Its product page does show a dishwasher symbol, but no oven symbol.
Sola Wokpan Stonehenge ø 28 cm
What does a bare steel or cast iron wok require from you?
The work starts even before you cook in such a wok for the first time:
When seasoning a wok, you heat oil in the wok on a gas burner until it burns and forms a layer; open the windows while doing this.
Keep sweet and sour dishes and those with a lot of lime or tomato out of the wok, as acid eats away at that layer.
Keep it out of the dishwasher and use little dish soap when washing, as otherwise that layer will disappear again.
After washing, put it back on the heat for a moment, as a wok that goes into the cupboard wet will quickly develop rust spots.
A steel wok without a coating is especially suitable for those who have a burner at home that is stronger than that of a regular stove. On such a burner, you shake the Blackwell Wokpan Carbon Staal ø 30 cm back and forth by its long handle. If you prefer cast iron, choose the Blackwell Wokpan / Wadjan Gietijzer ø 32 cm, which can also be used on the barbecue and in the oven.
Blackwell Wokpan Carbon Staal ø 30 cm
Blackwell Wokpan / Wadjan Gietijzer ø 32 cm
Both belong to the affordable woks in this overview. If you keep up that work and don't drop such a bare wok, it will be the last one you buy.
Which wok without a coating can you use right away?
You can stir-fry immediately in the Beka Wokpan Maestro ø 30 cm, a stainless steel wok without a non-stick coating. Its product page mentions a flat bottom that stands firmly on your plate and also shows the dishwasher symbol. When stir-frying in stainless steel without a coating, you will need a bit more oil in the pan than with a wok with a coating. On a flat induction plate, our advice remains a wok with a coating.
Beka Wokpan Maestro ø 30 cm
How big and how heavy can your wok be?
Choose a wok that fits your entire stir-fry dish, as what doesn't fit will need to be cooked in two rounds. Since the bottom hardly grows, the extra space of a large wok is mainly higher up, along the wall where you push the cooked pieces against.
At the handles, you can see how to lift a wok:
A long handle: you lift and shake the wok with one hand, and this is easiest with a light wok weighing 0.9 to 1.5 kg empty.
Two ears: the cast iron Blackwell of 32 cm already weighs 2.5 kg empty, so you lift it with two hands off the heat.
A handle with a counter handle: with the Beka Wokpan Energy R with counter handle ø 30 cm, you lift a full wok with your other hand on the other side.
Beka Wokpan Energy R met tegengreep ø 30 cm
The largest wok here is the Blackwell Wokpan / Wadjan Gietijzer ø 36 cm, with a capacity of 6.5 liters and 2.7 kg empty. It requires the same work as the cast iron wok of 32 cm: seasoning it yourself and washing it without a dishwasher.
Blackwell Wokpan / Wadjan Gietijzer ø 36 cm
Wok pan with lid: when do you need it?
With a lid on the wok, you let vegetables cook for a few more minutes after stir-frying. Here, you get two separate woks with a lid included. They are the Sola Wokpan Ceramic Deluxe ø 30 cm and the Beka Wokpan with glass lid Pro Induc ø 28 cm. Both have a ceramic coating, but only the Beka is allowed in the oven according to its product page.
Sola Wokpan Ceramic Deluxe ø 30 cm
Beka Wokpan met glazen deksel Pro Induc ø 28 cm
When is a set with a wok the smarter choice?
A set with a wok is the smarter choice if your frying pan is also 'used up'. What is next to the wok varies by set:
Sola Pannenset Stonehenge 2-Delig met wokpan
Cookinglife Pannenset Revolt 3-delig
Blackwell Pannenset Gietijzer 3-Delig
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