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You may use a regular skillet on a day to day basis, but you may not know exactly why a cast-iron one is recommended for certain types of cooking. Most people don’t even bother choosing the right tools for their trade – in our case, cooking - which is why their dishes don’t turn out the way they want them to.

Also referred to as cast iron griddles, cast-iron skillets are known as the pans that cook everything and are also much friendlier with new cooks.

On the other hand, cast-iron does a very good job of retaining heat. This aspect makes a cast-iron skillet perfect for browning and searing foods. Naturally, one of the main advantages of such a skillet is that, if you season the ingredients properly, you don’t need any oil to fry certain things – like eggs. 

Now, let’s cut the chatter and move on to the important stuff – namely, six easy recipes that you can cook in a cast-iron skillet!

As mentioned above, a cast-iron pan is amazing in terms of retaining heat and keeping itself super-hot. This is the main reason why pizza cooked in a cast-iron skillet will resemble stone-cooked pizza a lot!

We recommend you to preheat the skillet in an oven, at 450 degrees Fahrenheit, and then add the dough – just the dough, with no toppings or sauce. Let the dough cook for a few minutes so that it firms up and puffs, and then add the toppings, sauce, and so on.

Some people prefer cookies, but those who own a cast-iron skillet usually go for the oversized option of desserts. Once again, due to the skillet retaining heat so well and evenly across the pan, any type of cookie will be baked with no issue. 

When it comes to the oversized chocolate chip cookie, it is recommended that you use dough that has up to three days of sitting before you make it. You can use the usual chocolate chip cookie recipe – the oversized cookie will be done in roughly 35 minutes.

Reportedly, you only need around 15 minutes to prepare everything you need for this dish. On top of that, it can be served straight out of your cast-iron skillet – especially if today’s the day when you want to delight yourself and not any guests.

If you follow the recipe, this dish comes with a lot of health benefits as well. This is because of the cannellini bean, chicken, tomato, spinach, quinoa, and brown rice. The combination delivers vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber to your body.

As with most cast-iron recipes, you can take this one from the oven and straight to the table as well. 

You start by shredding chicken and then combine it with spices and herbs, a roasted hatch chile, and sour cream. Then, everything has to be baked with Monterey Jack cheese and salsa verde, for roughly ten minutes in the oven.

You can also top the enchiladas with diced onion, cilantro, and avocado – for even more flavor.

Obviously, you can’t have a cast-iron skillet and not cook pancakes with it. One of the reasons why skillets are so popular among pancake lovers is that the batter has little to no chance of sticking to the cast-iron.

On top of that, sweetcorn pancakes also need a bit of extra, even heat. They can be served with goat cheese, tomatoes, and even basil. Or, if you want something more special, you can layer the pancakes with lox and sour cream.

Because the cast-iron retains heat so well, a one-pan paella is possible! Moreover, this recipe can be cooked on either a grill or stovetop, making it accessible for any type of chef/cook.

The paella will come out soft on top and quite crispy on the bottom – in short, a perfect paella. 

If you still don’t think that skillets or cast-iron griddles deserve your attention in the kitchen, we beg to differ! This is because they provide you with a better, faster, and healthier way of cooking your favorite dishes.

Cast-iron skillets promote healthy cooking due to their ability to retain heat, which makes the use of sunflower oil and other chemicals we may use in our food not mandatory anymore. 

Just grab your fresh bunch of ingredients, prepare them, and then throw them in your cast-iron skillet!