Thinking about getting somebody in my family a wok for a holiday gift. But we have an electric stove, the kind with a glass top where the heating elements are below. I need help to decide whether pairing a wok and an electric stove makes any sense.
We have an electric stove and use a flat-bottomed wok all the time.
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I think everyone needs a stir fry pan of some sort, ie a wok, but the stove conditions are not optimal.
Suggestions…get a carbon steel flat bottom wok. I recommend the Yosukata woks, or a MadeIn wok. I won’t claim to be a know all, but I have more woks than I can admit including 2 beloved Cen Brothers woks.
It may be worth your time to go through the Wok Shop’s website, as well as to read this nice little review from Serious Eats. https://www.seriouseats.com/best-woks-5218113?utm_medium=con&displayPrice=no&utm_source=googlepaid&utm_medium=con&utm_content=CjwKCAiA3L_JBhAlEiwAlcWO51vOdhNw9ixNxS51_YrdpvPhxoabv2VIjc_848WKV4_VjbEHV1eBQBoCpo8QAvD_BwE&utm_campaign=commerce-dd-Woks_SeriousEats_Combined_CommSEM_DSA&utm_term=flat%20bottomed%20woks&kw=paidnoads&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=18425688425&gbraid=0AAAAACeazfCxBwtxMVSHGR8Lds_Npo4Pt&gclid=CjwKCAiA3L_JBhAlEiwAlcWO51vOdhNw9ixNxS51_YrdpvPhxoabv2VIjc_848WKV4_VjbEHV1eBQBoCpo8QAvD_BwE
Wok seasoning and care isn’t rocket science, treat it like cast iron…season it and don’t use soap on it, use it like you stole it.
You won’t get “wok hei” from an electric cooktop, ,but you should be able to turn out some decent stir fries.
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I mentioned this on another thread yesterday, but on a regular powered home stove, and especially an electric one, I’d skew to a large skillet over a wok, which gives a much larger floor space to get as hot as possible for some char and so you don’t have to batch cook in small quantities for a similar result.
I have a pretty strong gas stove, and I still skew to a skillet more often than my wok for stir-fries and noodles, though I love my flat-bottomed carbon steel wok.
There are some lovely carbon steel skillets / fry pans these days at various price points, which I would consider equivalent to my wok, just with a lot more floor space for heat to touch food.
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A second on flat bottom wok. Also I have a standard ceramic top electric stove and I can get the wok to 500f, higher i don’t care if the smoke detectors goes off. Still not hot enough to get everything to cook all at once, so I do things in stages…which isn’t the same. If you want wok hei, some people use a butane kitchen torch to get fire on the food while cooking. That’s a bit too much heat for home cooking for me. My mom also used a cast iron skillet, a Wagner chicken fryer on a electric coil stove. No wok hei but she’d give some stuff a little char when the pan was super hot at the start.
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It only makes sense based on the cook and how they will use the wok.
Does the recipient cook wok style?
Woks were developed based on cooking styles, the equipment has evolved to adapt to technology, i.e., dung, wood, petroleum fuel. Pan materials, ingredients.
There are pans and recipes adapted to current technology.
What do you think he wants to cook.
We do a lot of stir fries. In a 12” nonstick pan.
Same here…
I got this one at Goodwill. It did require a little bit of cleaning up, but does a GREAT job!!
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That looks almost identical to ours, which I got at a huge Viet market in Philly for cheap.
Although I apparently did a shit job at seasoning, bc stuff still sticks 
Kind of scary at first, but have you tried taking the cap off of the gas burner? You’ll need to light it with a grill lighter or similar (could use a match, but I wouldn’t personally want to get that close). It will create a nice jet of fire. Really does the trick. That, plus a blowtorch on top, which you can read about here and you can get pretty close to restaurant levels of char as long as you don’t overcrowd the wok.
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Nope, not doing that
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I’ve been using this induction wok burner with pretty good results with round bottom carbon steel woks:
https://www.amazon.com/Nuwave-Induction-Controls-Authentic-Included/dp/B077GL6BJY
I don’t have gas hookups. It’s not as quick to heat and not as even as the portable butane unit I have, but it’s more convenient and doesn’t have to burn anything.
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Sounds exciting. I more excitement in my kitchen!
Does home insurance cover accidental fire caused by purposeful misuse of an appliance in a quest to make perfect dry-fried string beans? On second thought…don’t tell me.
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No, it’s considered an intentional act. Enjoy the beans tho
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Temptation I do not need. You really like it?
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Hi @Sasha ! On my smoothtop electric stove, I would also skew to the suggestion of @Saregama and go for a large skillet over a wok.
My stove burners simply don’t deliver the heat control or consistency that would make a wok useful for me. I had a carbon steel wok in the days when I had a gas stove, so I know my particular electric stove isn’t well-suited to a wok shaped pan. You know the ins and outs of your stovetop’s performance better than any of us, of course!
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A flat bottom wok may be your only option here. Electric stove tops with the coils on top are passable with wok cooking if you have the right shape of your wok, but the glass stove tops really are even worse. Some of the big brand cookware shops do make special flat bottom woks those for those who want one, and it will also still provide a good vessel that you can steam, and stew out of, in addition to trying to get the heat needed for a good stir-fry.
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Might depend on the model. Our burner & our wok gets prettttty hot pretty fast, and I’ve made great stir-fries in it.
No, I will never (nor have I ever) achieve(d) wok hei at home — that would require torches à la @a_m, and I ain’t doing that.
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Yeah, I use my wee torch for other things. I’m not gonna set off the building’s fire alarms or sprinklers for wok hei- only time I want the FD here is when the EMTs come to save my life (which they have❤️).
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