Favorite Oils for Seasoning Cast Iron

What season is it? It’s always the season to season your cast iron every time- every trip!

If you’re using cast iron and I hope you are because it is the best thing to cook out of in the entire world, but you need to season your iron after every use. It will last and make cooking in it a whole lot easier.

There are a lot of oils to use to season cast iron, but today I’m sharing with you my favorites.

• Olive oil. I hear some of you out there hollering, “Olive oil has a low smoke point!”  I’m a slow and go man, I’m gradually heating and seasoning. I don’t get my iron so hot it’s smoking to season it. I’m a slow and go man. What’s so good about olive oil is too is that it’s readily available nearly everywhere. I bet most of you get some sitting right there in your cabinet.Olive oil is particularly good for Dutch ovens. Usually folks aren’t using their ovens as much as skillets and some seasoning can become rancid. Olive oil won’t do that because it’s like the old timers used to say to me, “Olive oil will keep that cast iron sweet.”
• Flaxseed oil. Flaxseed bonds really well to cast iron and it’s a great option if you’re trying to build a good base layer of seasoning after restoring cast iron or on new cast iron. I’ll give it a few times of seasoning with flaxseed and then go back to re-seasoning with olive oil. You can also buy flaxseed caplets in the vitamin aisle for a less expensive method and 1-2 capsules usually will season your cast, depending on the size.

In my mother’s time, everyone seasoned with hog lard or bacon grease. It sure adds good flavor but if you’re using lard or bacon grease make sure you clean your cast well after every use and you’re using your cast at least once a day, otherwise that lard can become rancid quickly. I don’t recommend seasoning Dutch ovens with lard or bacon grease.  The reason is because skillets generally get used more and don’t have a lid.

Want to learn how we season new cast and our free cast iron smoothing guide- click HERE

For more tips on seasoning, how to season and how to season the outside of cast check out our video: