How to Season a Wok

If you ever buy a stainless steel wok, you'll want to season it so it will build up a non-stick finish. This only applies to stainless steel woks. If you have a wok with a non-stick finish, do not follow these steps.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Wok
• Vegetable oil
• Paper towels

1. 
   Brand new wok

   Assuming you have a brand new wok, take the wok out of it's box and wash with warm water and soap.

2. Without drying the wok, place it on your stove, turn on your hottest burner to the high setting.

3. When a few minutes have passed, carefully place your hand about an inch over the center of your wok and begin counting 1001, 1002, 1003. If you can count past 1003, the wok isn't hot enough yet. If you can't make it to 1003 it's time to season the wok.

4. Add about a tablespoon of oil to the middle of the wok and swirl it around to coat as much of the wok as possible. Keep the burner on. You'll either want to open a window or turn on the overhead stove vent at this time because it will get smoky.

5. Take a paper towel and fold it up. You'll be using this to spread the oil all over the wok. When you fold up the paper towel, make sure it is thick enough so when it absorbs some of the oil, it doesn't penetrate the towel and burn your hand or fingers. You can now turn off the burner.

6. 
   New wok that has been seasoned 2-3 times

   Use the paper towel from step 5 and gently spread the oil all over the wok. Be careful not to burn yourself with the hot oil. The initial seasoning process has now been completed.

7. After the wok cools off, turn on the burner again to high and re-season about 2-3 more times. The wok is now ready to be used for cooking.

8. 
   A seasoned wok that has been used many times

   By the time the wok is seasoned the third time, it will begin to turn black. This is all right. If you look at a wok in a Chinese restaurant, you'll notice that they are all black.
   
   As you continue to use your wok for cooking, it will blacken more and more.

Tips & Warnings

• Although the wok now has a non-stick coating, you will still want to add oil when stir frying.
• After you are done cooking in your wok, use warm to hot water to rinse the wok. Hopefully, your wok came with a bamboo scrub brush. If it didn't, go buy one online or at your local Asian store. This is the only thing you'll want to use to clean the wok. If you can't get a bamboo brush, you can gently scrub the wok with a nylon pad. Never use anything like steel wool.
• Once your wok is clean, place it back on the stove with the burner on high and season it just once. When the wok is cool, you can remove it from the burner and put it away.
• Don't try to scrub off the black coating that accumulates on the wok. If you do, you'll have to re-season the wok.