Short Answer: For a small rust spot, a chainmail scrubber (on Amazon) and a little soap should do the trick. If you need something more aggressive then you can soak your pan in 50/50 mix of water and vinegar for about 30 minutes. Bar Keepers Fried is reserved only for the worst cases of rust.
If you’re here, then it happened, you see rust on your pan. Don’t panic, it happens to everyone at least once if you’ve ever owned a carbon steel or cast iron for a while. Sometimes they get neglected and it’s a little bit too humid, and the pan rusts.
Don’t worry it’s quite easy to fix, especially if you catch it early, and you’re gonna have back a rust free pan or wok. If your case of rust is really bad then don’t worry either, I have a solution for that too.
First of all I need you to assess how badly rusted is your pan, with 1 being “just a little spot of rust” and 10 being “this pan is basically covered in rust”. From there you’ll be able to choose how much of an aggressive approach you have to use.
Why Does Carbon Steel Rust?
Carbon steel cookware is made out of 99% iron and 1% carbon. I know, unusual that we call them “carbon steel” pans when they’re only 1% carbon. But anyway, that iron in contact with oxygen and a little bit of water from the ambient humidity will react with the surface of the pan and create red iron oxide, AKA rust.
This is one of the main reasons they need to be seasoned, not only to create a non-stick like surface, but also to protect them from rust.
How To Clean The Rust Off Your Carbon Steel Pan
If you’ve noticed a rust spot on your carbon steel pan, most of the time it should be easy. So here are some ways to clean off the rust from your pan.
1) Using a chainmail scrubber (the one I use on Amazon) works wonderfully for small rust spots. I once had a circular rust spot, about 4 inches wide on my frying pan. It happened to me only once and all I had to do was scrub it with the chainmail and it went away in just a few minutes of light-medium scrubbing.
2) Soak your pan in a plastic bin with a mix of 50/50 water and vinegar for about 30 minutes. This is for those of you that want to be less involved or don’t have the time.
After a nice soak in that solution, your pan should be ready and you’ll see lots of pieces of rust floating around the water. all you have to do is bring it to the sink and remove the rest of the rust. It should come off pretty easily.
3) Steel wool, baking soda and vinegar. If you need something done a bit quicker than sprinkle your pan with some baking soda and a little bit of vinegar to create kind of a paste.
Use that paste and cover the whole pan with it. After a little scrubbing you should see the rust coming off. After that you can just wash it thoroughly.
4) This is only for the worst situations where everything else isn’t working for you. Or you’re very impatient. Bar Keepers Friend. This method will definitely get the rust off fast, however you should remember but remember that this will remove your seasoning.
This is why I only recommend this if your pan is really badly rusted all over, because at that point it won’t matter if the seasoning comes off, you’re gonna probably remove it anyway with all that rust.
First of all, I recommend that you wear gloves. Then all you have to do is to make a paste with the powder with a little bit of water and scrub the pan fairly hard to get that all that rust off. It shouldn’t take that long to start seeing bare metal again.
Preventing Your Carbon Steel Pan From Rusting Again
Ok so if you got all the rust off your pan, first of all, congratulations! You’re rust free. But how do you protect your pan, so that this doesn’t happen again? Here’s a few tips.
No Dishwasher
Never, ever put it in the dishwasher, that’s a sure fire way of getting it nice and rusty. Hand wash it only with a chainmail scrubber or the rough side of a sponge and a little soap. I know it’s not really convenient, but I believe you’re gonna be thankful you’ve taken good care of your carbon steel pan. Also it takes a lot less than you think, just a few minutes and it’s nice and clean.
Reseason Your Pan
After you’ve cleaned off all the rust from your pan, it’s time to reseason it to protect it and make it non-stick. When reseasoning your pan, please make sure it’s completely dry, if any water gets trapped it will cause more rusting again and you’ll have to start over once more.
So as soon as you’ve finished cleaning it, please put it for at least a minute on your stovetop on medium heat to evaporate any remaining water that might be trapped somewhere. After that you can reseason your pan like always.
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
Can You Wash Carbon Steel With Soap?
Yes you can wash carbon steel with soap. Modern soap doesn’t contain Lye which is what old soaps contained. Lye will remove your seasoning, but since now it’s not used anymore in everyday soaps, you’re free to use it. But check just in case.
Does Carbon Steel Rust Easily?
If the surface of the pan remains unprotected and without any barrier from oxygen and moisture, then yes it will rust quite easily. But if your pan has a nice seasoning, it shouldn’t rust at all.
The only time it happened to me, is when I stacked a wet pan on top of my carbon steel pan and left it there for a few days. All I had to do was scrub it with a chainmail scrubber and it was gone in a few minutes.