5 Best Woks of 2026, Lab-Tested and Reviewed
We tested options from Babish, Kenmore, and others, and found some that cooked evenly and were easy to use.
When you shop through retailer links on our site, we may earn affiliate commissions. 100% of the fees we collect are used to support our nonprofit mission. Learn more.
There’s nothing like a quick stir-fry when you want to get dinner on the table in a hurry. Sure, you can stir-fry in a skillet, but a wok is a better choice: With its high sides, a wok can hold more, and you can move the food around faster to keep it from becoming overdone. These pans are designed for tossing and cooking meat and veggies quickly on high heat.
Of course, home ranges and cooktops can’t approach the level of heat you see at your local Chinese restaurant, where the cooks can dial up the temperature much higher than you can at home. But using a wok designed for a residential range can still yield satisfying results.
While restaurants use round-bottom woks set in a ring above a gas burner, most of the woks you’ll find on the market for home use in the U.S. have a flat bottom, an adaptation for a country where a majority of homes have an electric range or cooktop. If you happen to have a gas range, you can use a round-bottomed wok with a ring placed around the burner. Of the 10 woks Consumer Reports tested, three have a round bottom, and the rest have a flat bottom. And—spoiler alert—“they were all fine,” says Bernie Deitrick, the engineer who oversaw the testing, although some performed a bit more impressively than others.
All the woks we tested measure 12 to 14 inches in diameter (the most common size) and are made of carbon steel, a lightweight and highly conductive material. Some have a smooth interior, and others have a hammered one. The smooth ones were easier to clean, but we didn’t see a difference in cooking performance.
Below, in alphabetical order, are the five top-rated woks from our tests. Read on for details on how CR tests woks. (And check out the essential tools that can help you cook authentic Chinese meals.)
The Babish 14-inch carbon steel wok is our top-rated wok. It’s flat-bottomed, smooth, and comes seasoned. Its score for cooking evenness was top-notch, and it received a very good mark for speed of heating. The metal section of its handle is short. It has a metal helper handle, making it easier to lift (with a potholder) when full. Our testers found it easy to clean and use.
The Kaqinu 12.6-inch carbon steel wok is flat-bottomed, has a hammered texture, and is seasoned. In our tests, this budget-friendly wok aced the cooking evenness test, its speed of heating was very good, and we found it easy to use. Cleaning, however, was a bit of a challenge. The metal section of its handle is short. It lacks an extra handle, making it harder to move when full. This wok comes with a wooden lid and a variety of stainless steel utensils.
The Kenmore 14-inch carbon-steel wok is flat-bottomed, smooth, and comes seasoned. Like all the woks we tested, cooking evenness was excellent. But the speed at which it heated water was only so-so. The metal section of its handle is short and less likely to be grabbed by unwary cooks. It has a wooden helper handle, making it easier to lift when full. It was easy to clean, and testers found it very easy to use.
This Souped Up Recipes 12.5-inch carbon-steel wok is flat-bottomed, has a hammered texture, and comes seasoned. Like all the woks here, its cooking evenness score was excellent. It was also very good at heating quickly. And like the others, the metal section of its handle is short. But it lacks a helper handle, which makes it harder to move when full, and it’s a bit harder to clean. It comes with a wooden lid and a stainless steel spatula.
The Wok Shop 14-inch carbon-steel wok is flat-bottomed and smooth, and requires seasoning before use. Its cooking evenness score was top-notch, and its speed-of-heating score was very good. It has a metal helper handle that can get hot, but if you use a potholder, it’s very useful for lifting the wok when it’s full. (The metal section of its main handle is short, so you’re less likely to grab it when you’re cooking.) If this wok isn’t available on Amazon, it can be purchased directly from its San Francisco manufacturer.
How CR Tests Woks
We tested all the woks on a gas range in our range lab. Here’s what contributes to the Overall Score.
Cooking evenness: We stir-fried rice and chicken kung pao, two dishes you might make in a wok, to see whether the food was cooked the same throughout, with no raw or overcooked pieces.
Speed of heating: We filled each wok with water and, using the highest Btu/hr. burner in our lab, timed how long it took for the water to heat.
Handle temperature: All the woks we tested had wooden handles connected to the wok itself by a metal piece. We measured the metal part’s temperature to see whether it was hot to the touch.
Ease of cleaning: We tested how easy it was to remove food residue after stir-frying using just water or water and a stiff brush and/or a nonscratch cleaning pad.
Ease of use: We evaluated the features that make a wok easier to use, whether it came seasoned, for example, or whether it had a second helper handle for easy lifting.
BEST TIME TO BUY:
