My cast-iron skillet has rust stains. What should I do?
2024-07-23T18:41:08.283Z(Washington Post illustration; iStock)Q: I have a cast-iron skillet that I have been using for a few years. It has brown, rust-colored stains that don’t come off, no matter what I do. I’ve tried kosher salt and a small chain, soap, a power washer. Nothing works. Or is there a way to fix this?A: Yes, you should be able to remove even stubborn rust from your cast-iron skillet.Most nonstick pans have a coating that gradually wears or chips away. Once that happens, which might be in just a few years, there is no way to restore the coating. You need a new pan.But a cast-iron skillet is the same material all the way through, other than a surface coating of what’s called “seasoning” — multiple layers of baked-on oil, which you apply yourself and can reapply later as needed. So you can remove surface crud, whether it’s rust or a bumpy layer of food left from inadequate cleaning after multiple meals, and get down to bare metal. Then you can start over to build up a few layers of oil, which will make the pan close to nonstick. Because a mistreated cast-iron pot can be made good as new, one you get today will last the rest of your life — and be worth passing on to the next generation.Lodge Cast Iron, a fifth-generation family company that’s been making this kind of cookware since 1896, shared some tips for removing the stains:Whichever of these strategies you use, you might still see remnants of orange rust after you’ve scrubbed, rinsed and dried the pan. That sometimes happens when a pan is left hanging for years in a damp place where rust works deep into the metal, Kelly said. But that’s not really a problem. You can just move on to the seasoning steps. The remnants of rust will become embedded in the first layer of oil, but they will be topped by additional layers of oil that are rust-free. “The molecules melt together and form a sea of baked-on oil over the raw pan,” Kelly said.To season the pan:Then maintain the seasoning as you cook meals:Have a problem in your home? Send questions to localliving@washpost.com. Put “How To” in the subject line, tell us where you live and try to include a photo.
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Q: I have a cast-iron skillet that I have been using for a few years. It has brown, rust-colored stains that don’t come off, no matter what I do. I’ve tried kosher salt and a small chain, soap, a power washer. Nothing works. Or is there a way to fix this?
A: Yes, you should be able to remove even stubborn rust from your cast-iron skillet.
Most nonstick pans have a coating that gradually wears or chips away. Once that happens, which might be in just a few years, there is no way to restore the coating. You need a new pan.
But a cast-iron skillet is the same material all the way through, other than a surface coating of what’s called “seasoning” — multiple layers of baked-on oil, which you apply yourself and can reapply later as needed. So you can remove surface crud, whether it’s rust or a bumpy layer of food left from inadequate cleaning after multiple meals, and get down to bare metal. Then you can start over to build up a few layers of oil, which will make the pan close to nonstick. Because a mistreated cast-iron pot can be made good as new, one you get today will last the rest of your life — and be worth passing on to the next generation.
Lodge Cast Iron, a fifth-generation family company that’s been making this kind of cookware since 1896, shared some tips for removing the stains:
Whichever of these strategies you use, you might still see remnants of orange rust after you’ve scrubbed, rinsed and dried the pan. That sometimes happens when a pan is left hanging for years in a damp place where rust works deep into the metal, Kelly said. But that’s not really a problem. You can just move on to the seasoning steps. The remnants of rust will become embedded in the first layer of oil, but they will be topped by additional layers of oil that are rust-free. “The molecules melt together and form a sea of baked-on oil over the raw pan,” Kelly said.
To season the pan:
Then maintain the seasoning as you cook meals:
Have a problem in your home? Send questions to localliving@washpost.com. Put “How To” in the subject line, tell us where you live and try to include a photo.
