How to Season a Carbon Steel Pan in the Oven

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To season a carbon steel pan in the oven, wipe on a very thin layer of neutral oil, bake the pan upside down at 425°F for one hour, then turn the oven off and let it cool inside. The oven method is more even than the stovetop but slower, and it cannot be used on a wooden handle.

When the oven method is the right choice

Use the oven when you want the whole pan seasoned in one pass, including the outside and the underside. The stovetop only heats the base properly.

It is also more even. Heat surrounds the pan rather than radiating from one spot, so you avoid the darker ring over the burner that stovetop seasoning tends to leave.

And it is hands-off. Set it and walk away.

When it is the wrong choice

Wooden handles. This rules the method out entirely. The Armorbear and both YOSUKATA woks have wood.

Smoke. An hour of oil past its smoke point in a closed oven fills a kitchen. Ventilation is not optional.

Time. One hour per round against about ten minutes on the hob.

The method

1. Strip the factory coating if the pan is new. Hot water, dish soap, scouring pad. Matfer pans ship with heavy beeswax that must come off entirely.
2. Heat the oven to 425°F. Some guides say 450 or 500. At 425 you clear the smoke point of every oil we recommend without pushing into scorching.
3. Dry the pan on the hob for a minute.
4. Add about half a teaspoon of neutral oil and spread it over every surface with a paper towel, inside and out.
5. Wipe it back until the pan looks almost dry. No shine, no pooling, no beads. This is where most people go wrong.
6. Place it upside down on the middle rack, foil on the rack below to catch drips.
7. Bake one hour.
8. Turn the oven off and leave the pan inside to cool. Slow cooling lets the layer set without stress.
9. Repeat twice more for a working base.

Why upside down

Gravity. Any oil you failed to wipe back runs off rather than pooling in the base and setting into a sticky patch.

If you wiped properly there is nothing to run. Doing it upside down is insurance against the most common mistake.

Which oil

Grapeseed, canola, sunflower or avocado. All are neutral with smoke points above 400°F, so all polymerise cleanly at 425.

Avoid flaxseed here in particular. Its smoke point sits around 225°F, so at 425 it burns rather than polymerising, and the brittle layer it forms flakes readily. Full comparison in best oil for seasoning carbon steel.

Oven against stovetop

Our preference is the stovetop for speed and control, with one oven round early to cover the outside. The main seasoning guide covers the stovetop method.

Frequently asked questions

Last checked 22 July 2026.