PFAS in Woks, the Pan Where Nonstick Makes the Least Sense

Woks produce the widest spread of any cookware category in our database, from 100 out of 100 down to 5. That range exists because manufacturers sell two fundamentally different things under one name. A wok is a high-heat pan, traditionally bare carbon steel that you season. Most of what is sold as a wok now is an aluminum pan with a nonstick coating, and the two do not grade anything alike.

The lowest grades in this category, 5 out of 100, belong to two T-fal woks, a Calphalon Signature wok and a Le Creuset Toughened Nonstick Pro stir-fry pan described with PTFE fluoropolymer coatings. PTFE is the material the whole question is about, and a wok is the pan most likely to be run hot enough to stress it.

Summary comparison table

Product	PFAS grade	Verdict
Le Creuset Essential Non-Stick Ceramic Wok	Good, 70/100	Sol-gel ceramic coating with a brand PFAS-free claim
Our Place Carbon Steel Wok	Excellent, 100/100	Bare carbon steel, no coating, credited with Our Place's brand statement
Calphalon Premier Stainless Steel 13" Wok	Excellent, 75/100	Stainless with no nonstick, no PFAS statement from Calphalon
Calphalon Signature Hard-Anodized Nonstick Wok	Bad, 5/100	Hard-anodized aluminum with a PTFE-based coating
Le Creuset Toughened Nonstick Pro Stir Fry Pan	Bad, 5/100	Toughened Non-stick PRO, PTFE with FEP and PFA as disclosed by Le Creuset
Le Creuset Toughened Non-Stick Stir Fry Pan	Bad, 15/100	Nonstick coating, composition not stated
Our Place Large Always Pan	Good, 70/100	Named ceramic nonstick with a brand PFAS statement
Our Place Always Pro Pan	Good, 70/100	Named ceramic nonstick with a brand PFAS statement
Calphalon Signature Nonstick 12" Flat-Bottom Wok	Bad, 15/100	Nonstick coating, type unspecified
Calphalon Premier Hard-Anodized Nonstick 13" Flat Wok	Bad, 15/100	Hard-anodized aluminum with a nonstick coating
Calphalon Signature Hard-Anodized 12" Everyday Pan	Bad, 15/100	Proprietary coating, not described
Cuisinart Grill Wok Non-Stick	Bad, 15/100	Nonstick coating, composition unspecified
T-Fal Jumbo Wok	Bad, 15/100	Nonstick coated aluminum, coating type not given
T-Fal Essentials Nonstick Jumbo Wok	Bad, 5/100	PTFE nonstick fluoropolymer coating
T-Fal Easy Care Nonstick Wok, 14.25"	Bad, 5/100	Our lowest grade here, PTFE coating on aluminum

How we graded these woks

Every grade in this article is a model-based estimate built from publicly available materials disclosures and brand documentation, not a lab test performed by our team. A high score means lower concern based on reviewed sources, never PFAS-free and never safe. No wok in this category carried published independent lab data. The recorded concerns were thermal stress and coating delamination over time, coating peeling or chipping from wear, and thermal degradation of the coating at high heat. That last one matters more here than in most cookware categories, for reasons below. You can compare any specific wok using our PFAS product finder.

Why heat makes this category different

Stir-frying is done hotter than almost any other domestic cooking. A wok is meant to be preheated until it is close to smoking, and the technique depends on that heat. Every concern our records raised in this category is a heat concern, delamination, peeling, thermal degradation, and they apply to any coating regardless of what it is made from.

That produces an unusual situation. In most cookware categories the coating is a convenience with a chemical question attached. In a wok the coating is also working against the way the pan is supposed to be used. The traditional answer to a wok, bare carbon steel seasoned with oil, is the same answer our data points at.

Bare carbon steel leads

The Our Place Carbon Steel Wok grades 100, the highest in this category. It is bare carbon steel with no coating, which earns our 20 point credit for an uncoated material, and Our Place says the wok is made without PTFE, PFOA and PFAS, which takes off another 10. We have not verified that statement. The wok graded 90 until 17 September 2026, when bare carbon steel, stainless steel and cast iron pans across our cookware categories were given the same uncoated credit.

Three coated woks follow at 70, the Le Creuset Essential Non-Stick Ceramic Wok and two Our Place Always Pans. Each has a named ceramic coating, which adds 10 points to the cookware baseline of 30, and a brand PFAS statement, which takes 10 off. Le Creuset describes its Essential Non-stick Ceramic line as made without PFAS.

An earlier version of this guide had the order reversed, with the Le Creuset ceramic wok at 90, the carbon steel wok at 65 and the two Always Pans at 15. After the 16 and 17 September 2026 corrections, the carbon steel wok carries Our Place's statement, and every ceramic non-stick is graded as a coating instead of getting a safe material credit.

The middle, and one odd entry

The Calphalon Premier Stainless Steel 13" Wok now grades 75. When this guide was first published it graded 35, because our record noted a stain-resistant finish on a stainless pan, and we flagged it here as the least certain entry in the table and said it belonged well above 35 if the note was wrong. We checked, and it was wrong. On 16 September 2026 we found that our grading model had read the word stainless as a stain-resistant finish on 70 products, most of them bare steel, and removed that penalty from all of them. This wok moved from 35 to 55, and on 17 September 2026 to 75, when it was given the same uncoated credit as other bare stainless steel pans. It sits below the carbon steel wok at 100 because Calphalon says nothing about PFAS for it, which adds 15 points, while Our Place makes a statement.

The Bad tier, 5 to 15 out of 100

Ten woks sit at 15 or below, and the brand does not protect you. Le Creuset has its Essential ceramic wok at 5, a Toughened Non-Stick Stir Fry Pan at 15 on a non-stick coating whose chemistry our record does not name, and the Toughened Nonstick Pro Stir Fry Pan at 5. Le Creuset discloses under state law that its Toughened Non-stick PRO line contains PTFE, FEP and PFA, and that pan moved from 15 to 5 on 17 September 2026 when we recorded the disclosure.

The four woks at 5, two from T-fal, the Calphalon Signature Hard-Anodized Nonstick Wok and the Le Creuset Toughened Nonstick Pro Stir Fry Pan, are the only products in this category whose records name PTFE outright. The Calphalon wok graded 20 until 16 September 2026, because its record had skipped the penalty for Calphalon saying nothing about PFAS. There are no pros to highlight from a PFAS grading standpoint. The con is direct, a named fluoropolymer on the pan most likely to be taken to high heat.

What to avoid

• Nonstick woks generally. Ten of the fifteen here grade 15 or below, and a coating is working against how a wok is meant to be used anyway.
• Assuming a premium brand is a reliable default. Le Creuset appears at 70, 15 and 5 depending on the specific line.
• Reading ceramic as automatically better. The ceramic woks here grade 70 because each brand names its coating and makes a PFAS statement. In other cookware categories, ceramic pans with no statement grade 15.
• Overheating any coated pan. Thermal degradation and delamination are the recorded concerns across this category, and stir-frying is exactly the technique that causes them.

If you are looking at the rest of the kitchen, our cast iron skillets guide covers the other traditional uncoated option, our ceramic cookware guide covers ceramic sets, and the cookware category covers the full range.

Our pick

Based on available materials and data, the Our Place Carbon Steel Wok is our pick, at 100 out of 100, the top grade in this category. A bare seasoned carbon steel wok has no coating to degrade, takes the heat stir-frying needs, and is the traditional tool for the job. Part of its grade is Our Place's brand statement, which we have not verified. The Calphalon Premier Stainless Steel 13" Wok at 75 is the uncoated stainless alternative. If you want a coated wok, the Le Creuset Essential Ceramic Wok at 70 is the one, with the caveat that ceramic coatings wear faster than the pan under them. These are estimates built from disclosed materials, not laboratory proof, and no product here is being called PFAS-free or safe by us.

FAQ

Is a nonstick wok a bad idea?

On our data, ten of the fifteen woks graded here carry nonstick coatings with no PFAS-free statement on our record, and all of them sit at 15 out of 100 or below, four of them at 5 with PTFE named. Separately, every concern recorded in this category is heat-related, and stir-frying is high-heat cooking. Those are two different arguments pointing the same way.

Does a coated wok outrank a bare carbon steel one?

Not anymore. The Our Place Carbon Steel Wok grades 100 and the best coated woks grade 70. An earlier version of this guide had the Le Creuset ceramic wok at 90, above the carbon steel wok at 65. Since the 16 and 17 September 2026 corrections, a ceramic non-stick is graded as a coating, and the carbon steel wok carries Our Place's brand statement.

Does seasoning a carbon steel wok involve anything to worry about?

Seasoning is polymerized cooking oil baked onto the metal, and it is not a synthetic coating. Our separate cast iron seasoning category covers the oils and waxes sold for it, where plain oils and named waxes grade well.

Should I be worried about health effects from a lower-graded wok?

Any discussion of PFAS and health in our guides describes association, not proven causation, and grades measure estimated chemical concern based on materials and disclosure, not a medical risk assessment for any individual. If you want to reduce potential exposure in a kitchen, cross-reference products using our PFAS product finder alongside categories like cookware.