Cast Iron Pan Review: Wal-Mart Ozark Trail vs. Lodge 

I have my grandmothers cast iron pans, probably 100 years old. I clean them with soap and water, it doesn't hurt cast iron. Just make sure your pans are seasoned. Plenty of videos on how to season cast iron. When I first got them, I put them in the oven on self clean. That removed years of stuff and they cleaned up good as new.

After watching a few videos of Dutch oven camp cooking, I decided to give it a try. Nobody local had Lodge in stock, so I bought Walmart. The casting was as rough as shown in the vid. I spent an hour with 80 grit emery cloth smoothing the inside before I ever used it. Cleaned it thoroughly, then put it through a few heat cycles with fresh oil each time. Only actually cooked in it a couple of times so far, worked great. But, next time, I'll just buy the Lodge.

They put the ozark trail skillets on sale at my local Walmart. I purchased the three remaining 7.5” for $3 and the last 10” skillet they had for $7.73. I plan on taking an orbital sander to them to smooth them out. I’ve also heard that soaking it afterwards in white vinegar will help the new seasoning stick.

Good seasoning is key, but temp control while cooking is the most important thing! Low=med/med=high 🍳

If you want good cast iron, find a vintage one 50 to 100 years old. The new stuff is all junk. My 100 year old daily breakfast skillet is smooth as glass and will slide an egg like Teflon...

Buy a small tub big enough for the walmart skillet to be in. Spray the skillet with Easy Off oven cleaner. The one with the yellow cap/top. Put the skillet in a plastic bag and put that in the tub and leave it outside for 2 to 3 hours. Rinse it off, and repeat if necessary. If you want to do it manually, soak the entire skillet in a 50/50 of white vinegar, and water. Let it sit for 4 to 6 hours. Rinse it off. Then make a somewhat watery paste of baking soda and water. Scrub the paste on the skillet all over to remove the old seasoning and rust. Rinse. Then pour kosher salt into/on the skillet. Cut a potato in half and scrub all over. Rinse. Finish with steel wool, SOS. Rinse. Rinse. Rinse. Dry. Rub Crisco shortening all over. Bake in the oven at 350-400 for an hour. Repeat if necessary. Then you'll have a great cast iron skillet. Its work, but its worth it.

If you end up sanding down the ozark pan it will fix it up perfectly. I just recommend going easy on how much you sand it. Dont knock it down to total smooth as glass then your seasoning wont stick. Just even out the high spots, using your lodge as a reference to how it should look and youll be thrilled.

Lodge is the defacto standard, but starting out with a pan at a quarter of the price that serves well for a beginner. My preference is for grapeseed oil as a very high smokepoint oil will keep food from sticking and who cares about the pan if the food is good. I find that the rough points on the pan actually keep the $20 sirloin from burning to a crisp. The one thing to remember is “in your own experience and testing” whatever works for you, is the best. Recently, I bought a six inch, cheap iron (no-name) brand at a grocery store, and cooked a couple of eggs with copious amounts of oil. Not only did they come out fabulous, but the cleanup was very easy with simple scrubbing with a bamboo scraper.

I always look for Griswold pans at garage sales and thrift stores. Mom and Grandma swore by them.

For all you who think the pitting matters, your not seasoning them enough. Use is everything.

I sanded all my cast iron skillets (18 Lodges, two Eastern Europe noname ones and a Ronneby Bruk from Sweden). Simply remove the sharp high spots with 40 to 80 grit sand paper, maybe up to 120 grit but no more. Leave the small pits (they fill with seasoning) and a nice scratch pattern (it helps the seasoning to adhere), no need to overpolish. It makes all the difference in cleaning. No more tearing apart the towels. Sure, you could also simply use it with metal spatulas and clean it with a chainmail scrubber each time. Over the years, that will also get rid of some of the roughness. But sand paper is the quick and easy fix, although being quite a mess.

About 5 months ago I picked up a 6 inch ozark trail on clearance for $1 at Walmart. The sharp roughness of the pain was impressive. I didn’t even attempt to cook on it. It was so bad that it would scratch your skin running your hands across it. I decided to spend an hour resurfacing it. Starting with 60 grit and moving to 120/300/600/800/1000/1200 and got a good polish on the whole thing. Then seasoned it 4 times. I will say it’s now my favorite egg pan. It’s completely non stick. It preforms like my very expensive vintage skillets and because of the price I don’t worry about it. It stays in my kitchen for eggs and goes with me when camping. Knowing what I can do with them with a little work I decided to buy a whole set to leave in my camping gear and I love them now. Very cheap way to get an entire set of cast iron that performs like high end cookware with a little effort up front.

If you have the time, Orbital sander on cooking surface and maybe bottom then re-season, voila!

I’m lucky to have tried several manufacturers. I have Ozark and have had great success with them. They definitely are rough and I just sanded the 6 inch pan smooth and it works perfectly for all foods.

Ok. Lodge is a good, solid choice. For me, the smoother, the better. Just my preference. I do have some rough Chinese pans, and after seasoning a few times, and daily usage for 6 months minimum, they have smoothed out, from what they were, but as far as nonstick like with eggs etc, even rough, no problem. Preheat, right heat, type and amount of fat. Even rough will be nonstick.,eventually less fat is required.

I own/collect quite a few CI skillets. Ive now converted to mostly carbon steel ( I still use a Griswold #9 CI for my cornbread). Buy yourself a carbon steel De buyer approx 11" and you will never use another skillet. Ive broken two CI skillets (both were Griswold). Carbon steel skillets are the same as an anvil or boat anchor, they arent breaking. I own probably 30 skillets now but only use my carbon De Buyer

Did you try power sanding it? I've seen that it helped some people. After seen this I'll stick to paying the extra for Made in U.S.A Lodge. Black Steel or Carbon Steel pans are amazing too.

Why would you compare to different styles of pans?

I will drive 45 minutes till Lodge Plant and ho too their store.

I was going to get some Ozark Trail iron for my wife and daughter so they wouldn't mess up my cast iron. Instead I gave them 4 of my basic or classic Lodge skillets I hardly use anymore. I didn't like the way the Ozark iron felt. I'll just have to help them with the maintenance part of cast iron for a while. They just don't get it yet. I love their cooking but not at the risk to my skillets. 🍳

I have used the used the Ozark cast iron for a few years now. it think its fine as a cast iron. the only things that concerns me that its made in china and the may have cut some corners to make it cheap, and there a black paint coating that strips off. wondering if thats a concern.

If seasoned PROPERLY, soap (Dawn Blue) is no problem for the seasoning. Think how hard it is to remove the seasoning intentionally. I use Dawn on my cast iron after every use with ZERO degradation. I'm more interested in your Coleman Fold-n-Go. I see you have a video review. Watching it next. THANKS!

I bought an Ozark Trail cast iron skillet, too (12"). It's a horrible cast iron skillet. I'll sand the inner bottom surface and see if it makes any difference. But, I'm done with this covid inspired journey of cast iron skillets. I don't even want to use it for camping cause it's too heavy.

Cheap cast iron will cook just as well as expensive cast iron. Just gotta season it right. Also trying to use a sponge for cleaning is silly. Use chain mail, wipe it out, heat it up, oil it and put it away. (And yes, I have a lot of antique pans, and many cheap new pans)

You get what you pay for. You buy cheap you get cheap.

Just invest a little more in an American made Lodge and skip the crappy Chinese pot metal.

go to any flea market and buy a smooth bottom pan for $10. Why ever buy a rough bottom skillet?

American yes! China no. Nuf said.

A better review would compare tow pans of the same size and shape.

If you are going to keep the Chinese pan, you can sand it out like I did to my lodges! Now paper towels don't get ripped and leave itself all over the pan! It doesn't take too long to resurface them,vand if you do the Chinese pan, you may want to do the same to the Lodge! As much as I hate Chinese pans if you sand it smooth, the inside, and leave the Lodge rough, then your Chinese pan will perform better than your Lodge.

What is the name of the Walmart cast iron pan?

It's not even a question that needs asking. On the one hand you've got an affordable, quality, US-made product from a 128-year-old American company. On the other hand you've got a cheap, Chinese-made product from a mega corporation, that does everything it can to make small communities wholly reliant on them... and then pulls up stakes and destroys said communities. There is no comparison. Buy Lodge.

Why does Walmarts say lead, arsenic on the label in fine print. 🤔🤢☠

5 minutes with a mouse sander with 80 grit then reseason.

None of them are worth it. Lodge no longer grinds a high polish finish on the inside bottom. Even beacon sticks. I rather cook on a rock.

American is always better than Chinese! So no, Chinese cast iron isn't worth it, especially when there is very little difference in price!

i was interested in video until i got to "adds iron to diet" and "no soap" get to the 21st century plz

Lodge is rough to compared to high end or vintage cast iron but ozark is more so. I personally say sand the ozark out but some people criticize that. But in my opinion sanding the ozark out makes it better than a baseline lodge