Simple Method to Make Your Frying Pan Non Stick & Non Toxic

Hey y'all, In today's instructable I want to show you how to make your stainless steel frying pan non stick. Stainless steel is a non toxic alternative to conventional "non stick pans" but many people lean to using a non stick skillet because it's easy to use. There are all kinds of methods people are using to make a frying pan non stick, but most of them don't work, so I want to show you a simple easy method to make your stainless steel skillet non stick! All you need is some heat and some fat. If you prefer a video tutorial you can watch it here:

Step 1: Ingredients & Tools

Ingredients:

• Egg or any "sticky" cookable item.

Tools:

• Stainless Steel Frying Pan
• Fish Spatula
• Clarified Ghee or your preference of cooking fat, (oil, butter, etc...)

Step 2: Heating Skillet and Ghee

This is simple, first place the skillet on the burner on medium and then add a spoon of your cooking fat. I used clarified ghee and warm up both the skillet and the ghee at the same time. You could heat the skillet up first and then add the ghee, either method works.

Step 3: Bring to Temp

This is the most important step, with ghee you will know it's ready when the ghee begins to steam and is completely translucent and runny. If it's not translucent it will probably still stick.

Step 4: Fry Egg

Go ahead and fry your egg, I flipped the egg and fried it on both sides so to put it thought a more rigorous "stick proof test."

Step 5: Results

After removing the egg, the stainless steel pan does not have anything sticking to it. There are some left over egg in the pan but it wasn't sticking at all. Enjoy your egg!

Remember to bring the ghee to temp that is the critical part.

Step 6: Video Tutorial

If you prefer a video tutorial you can watch it here!

Comments

[timothy.egoroff77]

Awesome, no per-fluoridated surfaces contaminating the food, & no blackening due to poor heat dissipation as occurs in the toxic non-stick pans, the only difference between your and my method is i use butter, now i know a lot of people have been programmed to think butter is bad for you, but even when heated to cooking temperatures, butter is stable.

[FOOD by Lyds]

I agree, I love butter lol It is just a bit heavier also so I try to stay away from it when possible but it is absolutely delicious :-)

[rbowlin7]

by the way lydia
using coconut oil is much better than ghee, I tried it once and it tasted weird. I guess everyone has an opinion, so don’t let them get you down. you did a good

[FOOD by Lyds]

Thanks a lot! I really appreciate that :-) That's an interesting method I haven't heard about it i'll look into the salt method for sure in the future. Thanks again!

[rbowlin7]

hi lydia
thanks for the instructable, I haven’t tried that yet. but I do have a stainless steel pan
and I really hate it, everything sticks to it and it is so hard to clean. even after soaking
I did look online and found an instructable, fill your pan with salt, as high as you don’t want to stick. I usually fill it up to the top. place it on the stove and turn it on to medium low
its kind of like seasoning a cast iron skillet but using salt instead of oil, let it cook for about 1 hour or you can turn it to low, it really works but please don’t use any metal utensils or you could ruin it
thanks
Sgt. B

[jamesc2151]

Not actually a hack as I can do the same thing in a cast iron skillet that has been seasoned well.. Sorry But love the cinnnonamon Rolls

[FOOD by Lyds]

Trying some different things, guess it didn't work out. You live and you learn... Hope you enjoy the cinnamon rolls :-)

[escapist]

Sooo... your brilliant idea here is to cook an egg?

[FOOD by Lyds]

No it's to show how to make a stainless steel pan non stick without a crazy method which was stated in the intro of the instructable and the video :-)

[raphan]

At least you must redefine your title. Unfortunately, I don't think that frying an egg using ghee as fat medium will make a steel or iron pan non stick. Several processus are available to create a non stick pan from an iron device, hélas, none of them is easy or simple.

[FOOD by Lyds]

Why? There is nothing wrong with the title, it's a simple method to make your pan non stick I never claimed it was a permanent solution but a simple "hack" to get through your cooking session and avoid those other processes that are not simple and don't work anyways :-)

[Vierauge]

You should not use a metal spatula. It could make scratches in the pan and that will decrease the "non stick" feature of the stainless metal. I love mine made from Spanish olive wood.
And never heat up without oil or fat. Overheating will be indicated by noise, smoke and smell. If you give fat into an overheated metal skillet it could end in an blast and a fireball (if you use open fire).
Also gee is no good selection for frying an egg, it can get far too high temperatures (aleas you like your ox-eye on a dark crust). Better use butter (don't let it get brown!) or olive oil.

[Prfesser]

I agree that adding fat to a hugely-overheated skillet can be hazardous to your health. OTOH "The Frugal Gourmet", Jeff Smith, gave a tip on TV that I've remembered and used for decades: "Hot pan, cold oil, food won't stick." Just don't heat the pan rocket-hot before adding oil. Works nicely.

[sarge89or]

Let us see you do that with something else like a steak, chicken, cheese, etc. Nonstick with eggs and a fat is not very impressive.

[FOOD by Lyds]

I'm always up for a good challenge :-)

[Kink Jarfold]

Hi, MFK, since I do the coking, honey, and I pay the rent, and Wifey can eat all day long, what are the pros and cons of ceramic cookware? I do my grilled cheese in one and it comes out like I like it. And no stick. But you did get me interested in looking into stainless. So you did your job. KJ

[FOOD by Lyds]

Hi KJ. Ceramic is definitely more non stick which is one of the pro's I don't use it (as much as possible) because as far as I know teflon coated and ceramic pans release toxic fumes when heated depending on the source you read from. Stainless steel and cast iron do not, so I try to stick with those even though its not as convenient but if i'm in a pinch I'll use it.

[FOOD by Lyds]

In essence yes, with a stainless steel pan... but I used ghee which is a healthier non toxic alternative and you gotta bring it up to temp, you know when it steams and becomes translucent it will be non stick with a stainless steel frying pan.

[painfull]

Perhaps you should consider changing the title of your Instructable. People visit Instructables to learn how to do things they may not already know how to do. Most people cook typically 'sticky' foodstuffs with an oil or spray, to achieve exactly what you have shown here. Cooking with ghee doesn't really teach us something we didn't already know. IMHO you have used a misleading title - possibly just to bolster the view hits on your relatively new YouTube channel...?

[FOOD by Lyds]

There's nothing misleading with the title, I show a simple method to make a non stick non toxic frying pan if you use or have the ingredients and tools I listed in the instructable it would work. The idea is to show people you don't need all those fancy methods like baking soda or other crazy things people are doing to make their cookware non stick which I state in the instructable and in the video. Nevertheless, I will add "Simple Method" to the title :-)