How to Season a Pizza Steel (And When You Don't Need To)

Written by the Doppio Living team, home baking enthusiasts who've been firing up pizza in our own wood-fired oven for over 10 years.

You just unboxed a pizza steel and you're wondering, do I actually need to season this thing? If you bought a pre-seasoned pizza steel, you're good to go. If it came raw, you've got a little work ahead of you, but nothing scary. Here's exactly what to do either way.

TL;DR: How to Season a Pizza Steel in 4 Steps

1. Clean the steel. Give it a wash with warm water and a scrub pad. Make sure you dry your pizza steel completely.
2. Apply the thinnest possible layer of oil. Less than a tablespoon of canola or grapeseed oil, spread across the top, bottom, and edges. Then wipe it off with a lint-free shop towel or cotton rag until the steel looks almost dry. Seriously, that tiny invisible film is all you need.
3. Bake at 400 to 450°F for one hour. Middle oven rack, foil on the rack below. Let it cool completely inside the oven with the door closed.
4. Repeat for 2 to 3 coats total. You'll see the surface go from patchy brown to a darker, more even finish with each round.

If your steel came pre-seasoned (like Doppio Living or Baking Steel), skip all of this and start cooking.

Are You Supposed to Season a Pizza Steel?

Whether you are supposed to season a pizza steel really comes down to one thing: did it come pre-seasoned or unseasoned? The difference between a pre-seasoned vs unseasoned pizza steel is simple: one is ready to cook on, the other needs work first.

Pre-seasoned steels (Doppio Living, Baking Steel, NerdChef) are ready to use right out of the box. The manufacturer already baked oil onto the steel before shipping it to you. Go make pizza.

Raw or unseasoned steels (Conductive Cooking/ThermiChef, metal fabricator plates, industrial supplier cuts) need seasoning before you cook on them. Without it, bare carbon steel can start rusting within 24 to 48 hours. That's not a typo.

What Seasoning Does on a Pizza Steel

Seasoning is basically baking a thin layer of oil onto the steel until it bonds to the metal. Carbon steel seasoning works the same way as cast iron: the oil breaks down and hardens into a tough, food-safe coating that keeps air and moisture away from the bare iron. It's the same thing people have been doing with cast iron for generations.

Here's something most guides won't tell you though: on a pizza steel, seasoning is mostly about stopping rust, not creating a non-stick surface. Your dough never actually touches bare metal. It rides on a layer of coarse semolina or cornmeal from the peel, and at 500°F+ the moisture in the dough basically vaporizes on contact, so sticking isn't really the issue. The non-stick part just gets better on its own the more you bake on it.

Can You Trust Factory Pre-Seasoning?

There's a lot of debate online about whether factory pre-seasoning is actually any good. Some people swear it's fine out of the box. Others have had coatings that bubbled and flaked off after a few uses, so they strip it and start fresh every time.

It really depends on the brand and how they do it. A budget steel with a thin, rushed coating designed to survive shipping is very different from a premium steel where the manufacturer uses quality oil and proper curing. Both Baking Steel and Doppio Living (16" x 14.25", A36 carbon steel, $99.97 on Amazon, Made in USA) use organic flaxseed oil for their factory seasoning, and it holds up well.

If you've got a pre-seasoned steel from a reputable brand and you're feeling skeptical, the practical middle ground is this: use it as-is for your first few bakes, and if you want extra peace of mind, add one or two thin coats of canola oil on top of the factory seasoning. It won't hurt anything, and it'll make the coating even more durable. But you don't have to.

How to Properly Season a Pizza Steel

To properly season a pizza steel, you clean the surface, rub on an ultra-thin layer of oil, and bake it in your oven at 400 to 450°F for one hour. Then you do it again, 2 to 3 coats total. That's really it. Whether you need to season a baking steel or a pizza steel, the method is the same. If you've ever seasoned cast iron, you already know the drill.

Step 1: Clean the Steel

Wash it with warm water and a scrub pad to get rid of any dust, packaging gunk, or shipping oil. If you bought a raw, unseasoned steel, pay extra attention here. Most raw steels ship coated in a non-food-grade mineral oil that's only there to prevent rust during shipping and storage. If you don't scrub that off with hot soapy water before your first bake, it'll smoke like crazy and smell awful in your oven. Get it all off.

If you're working with raw steel from a metal supplier, you'll probably need steel wool to remove mill scale or surface rust too.

Once it's clean, don't just towel-dry it and move on. Carbon steel is porous, and towel drying alone leaves tiny amounts of moisture trapped in the surface. Pop the steel into your oven at 200°F for 10 to 15 minutes to evaporate that moisture completely. If you skip this and oil over trapped water, the seasoning won't bond properly and you can get rust forming underneath.

Step 2: Apply a Very Thin Layer of Oil

Put less than a tablespoon of oil on the surface and rub it across the top, bottom, and edges with a lint-free shop towel or tightly woven cotton rag.

Don't use regular paper towels here. The rough surface of the steel will shred them, and those tiny fibers get baked right into your seasoning. Once the oil is spread, grab a clean, dry towel and wipe as much oil off as you possibly can. The steel should look almost dry. That feels wrong, but trust the process.

This is the most important step. If you think you've wiped enough off, grab one more towel and wipe again. Using too much oil is the number one reason people end up with sticky, tacky seasoning.

Step 3: Bake at 400 to 450°F for One Hour

Put the steel on the middle rack with some foil on the rack below to catch any drips. You're going to get smoke, especially during the first round. That's totally normal, it just means the oil is bonding to the metal. Open a window, turn on the vent hood, and maybe warn anyone else in the house. Once the hour's up, turn the oven off and let the steel cool completely inside with the door closed.

Step 4: Repeat for 2 to 3 Coats

Once it's cool, rub on another ultra-thin coat and do it again. Don't worry if the first coat looks patchy brown with lighter spots. That's completely normal. Each of these seasoning layers builds on the last one, and by the third coat, you'll see a noticeably darker, more even surface starting to develop.

What Happens If You Don't Season Steel?

What happens if you don't season steel? It rusts, and fast. We're talking visible rust spots within 24 to 48 hours if there's any moisture around. Cleanup gets rougher too, because baked-on food grabs onto bare metal and doesn't want to let go.

But here's the good news: rust doesn't mean your steel is ruined. Scrub it off with steel wool, wash it, dry it completely, and season it with 2 to 3 coats of oil. You're back in business.

Can I Use Vegetable Oil to Season a Pizza Steel?

Yes, you can use vegetable oil to season a pizza steel, and honestly it's one of the best choices out there. America's Test Kitchen uses it as their go-to. Lodge Cast Iron uses soy-based vegetable oil for all their factory pre-seasoning.

What matters most isn't the smoke point (despite what a lot of guides say). It's the polyunsaturated fat content. More polyunsaturated fat means the oil hardens into a tougher, more durable seasoning layer.

The Most Common Oils People Use to Season a Pizza Steel

• Canola oil: Cheap, reliable, and you probably already have it in your kitchen. Baking Steel's founder personally uses canola for his griddle. Smoke point around 400 to 475°F.
• Grapeseed oil: The emerging expert favorite. About 70% polyunsaturated fat gives it really solid durability. Field Company uses a grapeseed blend for all their factory seasoning. Smoke point around 390 to 420°F.
• Vegetable oil (soybean blend): Basically interchangeable with canola. Costs almost nothing.
• Crisco shortening: The old-school cast iron approach your grandma probably used. Solid at room temperature, which makes it easy to rub on thin. Smoke point around 440 to 490°F.
• Avocado oil (not great for seasoning): Its smoke point (480 to 520°F) is so high that most home ovens can't generate enough heat to fully break it down. You'll often end up with a sticky, incomplete layer.
• Olive oil (not great for seasoning either): It just doesn't harden well enough for a durable seasoning layer. Fine for cooking on a seasoned steel, just not for building the seasoning itself.
• Flaxseed oil (works, but finicky at home): Produces the hardest initial coating of any food oil. Both Baking Steel and Doppio Living use organic flaxseed for factory pre-seasoning. The catch? At home, it can produce brittle seasoning that flakes off, especially under the intense heat cycles a pizza steel goes through. For home touch-ups, canola or grapeseed is the safer bet.

Our pick for home seasoning: Canola or grapeseed. Can't go wrong with either. ThermoWorks has a handy smoke point chart if you want to compare the numbers.

Why Your Pizza Steel Seasoning Looks Different Than Your Cast Iron

If you own cast iron skillets, you've probably spent years building up that beautiful, smooth, dark seasoning. Then you get a pizza steel, season it the same way, and after a few sessions at 500°F+ it looks ashy, degraded, or like the seasoning burned right off. Don't panic. Nothing went wrong. Your pizza steel just lives in a completely different world than your skillet.

The Difference Between Skillet Heat and Pizza Steel Heat

• Cast iron skillet: You sear at high heat for maybe 5 to 10 minutes. The seasoning stays nice and intact.
• Pizza steel: You preheat at 500°F to 550°F (or even higher under the broiler) for an hour or more before you even slide a pizza on there. That kind of sustained heat is way beyond what most seasoning can handle.

Here's the thing: keeping a pristine, glassy, skillet-quality seasoning on a pizza steel just isn't going to happen at those temperatures. And that's totally fine. The high heat combined with the fats that naturally drip from your cheese, olive oil, and dough keeps the surface working great between bakes.

What to Expect

• Your pizza steel is going to look rough, mottled, and uneven compared to your skillet. That's what it's supposed to look like.
• The seasoning will shift in color and texture after high-heat sessions, which is completely normal.
• Once you've used it for a while, it turns practically non-stick on its own. Just from regular baking.

Don't chase a perfect patina on your pizza steel. It's a rugged workhorse, not a delicate pan.

How to Reseason a Pizza Steel

To reseason a pizza steel, just follow the same process as the initial seasoning: ultra-thin coat of oil, bake at 400 to 450°F for one hour. For a quick touch-up, one or two coats does it. If you're dealing with actual rust, go for 2 to 3 coats.

Step 1: Know the Signs It's Time to Reseason

• Food is sticking more than it used to.
• You can see bare metal showing through the dark coating.
• Orange or rust-colored spots have popped up.

For most people who bake regularly, a dedicated re-seasoning once or twice a year is plenty. If you're wondering how often to reseason a pizza steel, that's really the answer: just keep an eye on the signs above and you'll know when it's time.

Step 2: Full Oven Reseason or Quick Stovetop Touch-Up

Full oven reseason: Same steps as initial seasoning. Clean it, thin oil, bake at 400 to 450°F, 1 to 2 coats.

Quick stovetop touch-up (for small spots): Just wipe a tiny amount of oil on the area, set the steel on a gas burner until you see the first wisps of smoke, hold it for a few seconds, and turn off the heat. Takes about five minutes and saves you from smoking up the whole kitchen.

Step 3: Maintain Through Regular Use and Proper Cleaning

Here's a secret that experienced steel owners figured out: most of them never wash their steel with water. They just scrape off the burned semolina and any stuck-on bits with a bench scraper while the steel is still warm, give it a wipe with a dry towel, and put it away. That's it.

How you clean your steel directly affects how long your seasoning lasts. For the full care picture, our complete care guide covers everything.

Start Baking

If your steel came pre-seasoned, stop reading and go make pizza. If it came raw, one afternoon of seasoning and you're set for years.

Need help getting started? Our first-time pizza steel guide walks you through everything from preheating to your first launch. Curious about how steel stacks up against stone? Our steel versus stone comparison has you covered.

FAQs

How many times should you season a pizza steel?

Two to three oven coats if you're starting with a raw steel. If yours came pre-seasoned, you don't need to add any coats before your first bake. After that, the best seasoning comes from just cooking on it regularly, not from running extra oven cycles.

Do you have to season both sides of a pizza steel?

Yep. The bottom sits in the same hot, humid oven as the top. If you leave it unseasoned, it'll rust just as fast.

What should a seasoned pizza steel look like?

Dark brown to black with a slight sheen. It should feel smooth and hard, not sticky or tacky. It's going to look a lot rougher and more uneven than a seasoned cast iron skillet. That's normal for something that lives at 500°F+.

Do you put oil on a pizza steel before every cook?

Nope. Seasoning oil (the stuff you bake onto the metal) is totally different from cooking oil. You don't oil the surface before baking like you would a frying pan. Just launch your pizza onto the hot, dry steel using coarse semolina or cornmeal on your peel.

Skip regular all-purpose flour for this. It burns fast at 550°F and leaves a bitter taste on the bottom of your crust. And if you're thinking about using parchment paper instead, be careful. Most parchment is only rated to about 450°F. At pizza steel temperatures (500°F+), the edges will char, smoke, and can actually catch fire, especially under a broiler.