Have you ever wondered if you can or should cook in a rusty cast iron pan? You may have one and aren’t sure what to do with it, or you might just be curious.
It’s a good question and one I want to answer.
So, let’s get started.
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Can I Cook in a Rusty Cast Iron Pan?
Technically, you can cook in a rusty cast iron pan if the cooking surface is clean and smooth. If you see rough spots or flaking, do not cook in it. That said, cooking in a rusty cast iron pan is not recommended. Instead, you should remove the rust and season the pan before cooking.
1. You Can Cook in a Rusty Cast Iron Pan That is Smooth and Clean
The video below shows you can cook in a rusty cast iron skillet. However, the pan must be clean and smooth, with no visible rough spots or flaking.
If you see rough spots or flaking, you’re more likely to get some rust in your food. And you don’t want to eat rust.
According to the USDA, rust is not food-safe and should not be ingested. When answering the question, Is food in rusted cans safe to eat? they say:
Discard heavily rusted cans. Cans that are heavily rusted can have tiny holes in them, allowing bacteria to enter. When iron combines with oxygen, it forms iron oxide, or rust. Rust forms on the surface of iron and is soft, porous and crumbly. It flakes off as more and more rust forms and eventually the iron crumbles away. Rust is not a food safe material so it should not be ingested. If you see rust on the surface of a utensil such as a cast-iron skillet or knife, remove all the rust before using it.
As the video shows, you can cook in a rusty cast iron pan. But according to the USDA, you shouldn’t.
Ted Mooney, from Finishing.com, says, “The rusting, if allowed to continue, will make your cakes unsightly before it makes them dangerous.”
Scrambled Eggs in a Rusty Cast Iron Skillet
2. You Need Oil to Cook in a Rusty Cast Iron Pan
Although the video wasn’t about whether it’s okay to cook in a rusty cast iron skillet, the fact that he did it tells you it won’t hurt you.
He made the video to show that seasoning cast iron protects the skillet, not make it nonstick. To prove it, he made scrambled eggs in a rusty cast iron skillet using butter.
Many people say that well-seasoned cast iron cookware is naturally nonstick. I will take their word for it because my cast iron cookware has yet to reach that point.
I’ve only been cooking in cast iron for a few years and still use a small amount of bacon grease to cook my eggs. In fact, I always use some type of oil when cooking in cast iron, except when frying bacon.
In some ways, cooking in a clean, smooth, rusty cast iron pan is no different from cooking in my seasoned cast iron pans. Neither is nonstick, and both are, as long as you use oil.
3. Cooking in a Rusty Cast Iron Pan Isn’t Recommended
Now that we’ve established that you can cook in a clean, smooth, rusty cast iron pan, the question is, would you? Or why would you want to?
For the above reasons, cooking in a seasoned cast iron pan is the healthier option. Plus, a rusty cast iron pan is unsightly.
So, if you have a rusty cast iron skillet, don’t get rid of it. With some work, you can restore it to “good as new” condition.
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How My Son-in-Law Restored His Rusty Cast Iron Skillet
When my daughter and son-in-law bought his grandparents’ house, it came with a cast iron skillet. Besides sentimental value, my son-in-law enjoys cooking with cast iron. The problem, though, the skillet was rusty.
Wanting to keep the pan but not cook in it rusty, he decided to restore it. “No cast iron is too rusty to bring back,” said my son-in-law. Here is what he did:
- He took coarse salt and rubbed it in with a “junk” towel multiple times.
- The rust wasn’t completely gone, so he used a fine steel wool scrubber with a small amount of Dawn dish soap. It worked like a charm.
- Once the rust was taken care of, the pan looked kind of white and rough. So, he seasoned it with avocado oil and baked it in the oven at the highest setting for an hour. He did this a total of three times.
After three times of seasoning in the oven, the pan looked brand new.
When I asked him about cooking in a rusty cast iron pan, he said,
Technically, you shouldn’t eat rust, but small amounts won’t hurt you. Sometimes, even heat can make rust go away or help with getting rid of rust. I’d say, after cleaning and seasoning the pan, if you still see a tiny bit of rust, I wouldn’t worry about it.
To prevent your pan from rusting after you’ve restored it, always dry the pan after cleaning and before storing it. Never let it air dry. Moisture is the enemy of cast iron.
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Final Thoughts
Hopefully, you now know you can cook in a rusty cast iron skillet as long as it is clean and smooth. However, if it has rough spots or is flaking, it’s better not to cook in it since rust isn’t food-safe and will make your food unsightly.
Ideally, you will restore the pan instead so it is seasoned and protected from rusting again.
Now that you know, would you cook in a rusty cast iron pan? Or would you restore it?