Food · Gear Review
Victoria 10-Inch Cast Iron Skillet. A better handle at a Lodge price.
A full review of the 10-inch Victoria: what three test kitchens found, what owners say after months of use, how it compares to the Lodge 10.25-inch, and how to break in a factory seasoning that is good, but not finished.
Typical price
About $25 to $40
Weight
About 5 lb
Cooks for
1 to 2 people
NWS verdict
Buy it for the handle
At a glance: Victoria 10-Inch Cast Iron Skillet
Strengths
- Its long, curved handle gives a steadier grip and an easier lift than a standard skillet handle.
- Two pour spouts make it easy to drain fat or pour a pan sauce.
- It cooks on gas, electric, glass, and induction tops, in the oven, on a grill, or over a campfire.
- It usually sells for about the price of a Lodge 10.25-inch skillet.
Limitations
- The factory seasoning is a starting coat, and America's Test Kitchen saw it wear during testing of the 12-inch.
- The as-cast surface feels rough to some owners, especially in the first weeks.
- The handle gets hot during longer cooking, so a mitt or handle holder belongs nearby.
- Victoria's warranty covers new pans from authorized sellers and excludes rust and seasoning wear.
By Dan Whelan, founder of New World Survival
Researched from government agencies, university extension services, and other published sources. See our sources
The short answer
Is the Victoria 10-inch skillet worth it? For most small households, yes.
The Victoria 10-inch is a good bare cast iron skillet for one or two people, and it usually costs about the same as a Lodge 10.25-inch. Its real advantages are the long, curved handle and the two pour spouts. Its factory seasoning is a starting coat, not a finished one: expect some sticking in the first few weeks, and treat the handle as hot.
If you want the pan with the stronger test record, buy the Lodge 10.25-inch. If a better grip on a hot, heavy pan matters to you, buy the Victoria. Both cook the same meals on the same heat sources. If you are still choosing between brands and sizes, our best cast iron skillet comparison covers five skillets side by side. For bare versus enameled iron and how to choose a size, see our cast iron cookware handbook.
Victoria 10-inch vs. Lodge 10.25-inch
| Victoria 10-inch | Lodge 10.25-inch | |
|---|---|---|
| Cooking surface | About 8 in, listed | 8.4 in, measured by America's Test Kitchen |
| Weight | 4.8 to 5.5 lb, depending on the listing | 5 lb 10 oz, measured |
| Handle | Long, curved main handle plus a small helper loop | Standard main handle plus an assist handle |
| Pour spouts | Two | Two |
| Seasoning | Three layers of flaxseed oil | Vegetable oil |
| Made in | Colombia | United States |
| Test-kitchen record | No lab test of the 10-inch. The 12-inch was rated Recommended by America's Test Kitchen. | Highly Recommended, and the best buy 10-inch skillet, at America's Test Kitchen |
| Typical price | About $25 to $40 | About $25 to $30 |
Sources: Victoria, the Victoria Amazon listing, Lodge, and America's Test Kitchen. Checked October 2026.
Affiliate disclosure: New World Survival earns a small commission on qualifying Amazon purchases at no cost to you. This helps us cover operating costs and keep building new content. We only recommend gear we would put in our own kit. Commission never decides a recommendation.
What it is
A deep, bare iron skillet with a long handle.
The Victoria 10-inch is a bare cast iron skillet made in Colombia by a company that says it has cast cookware in its own factories there since 1939. It arrives pre-seasoned with three layers of non-GMO, kosher-certified flaxseed oil, with no PTFE, PFOA, or other synthetic coating. The cooking surface is textured, as cast, not machined smooth. (Victoria)
Three design choices set it apart from a standard skillet: a long main handle that curves up and away from the burner, a drip-free pour spout on each side, and a deep pan for its size. Victoria lists it for gas, electric, ceramic, and induction cooktops, the oven, the grill, and the campfire.
It is a one- or two-person pan. An 8-inch cooking floor holds a pair of fried eggs or a couple of burgers without crowding. A family of four cooks more comfortably in the 12-inch.
Specifications
The numbers do not all agree
Victoria's product page lists 4.8 pounds and overall dimensions of 16.3 by 11 by 2.8 inches. The Amazon listing graphic shows 5.5 pounds, a 17.3-inch length, and a 2.1-inch depth. HGTV weighed its test pan at 4 pounds 15 ounces. Cast iron varies a little from casting to casting, and listings use different measuring points, so we give a range. Plan on about 5 pounds before food.
The helper handle also changed. Epicurious's 2023 test faulted the 10-inch for having none, calling it a dealbreaker for moving a heavy pan in and out of the oven. (Epicurious, archived copy) The current Amazon listing photo shows a small loop opposite the main handle, and Homes and Gardens' June 2026 review describes one. If you buy used or from older stock, check for it.
Why it works
What the test kitchens found, and where they disagree.
No lab has run controlled tests on the 10-inch alone. Two outlets cooked with the 10-inch, and two tested its 12-inch sibling, which shares the handle, the casting finish, and the flaxseed seasoning. Read together, they agree on the handle and split on the seasoning.
10-inch · Hands-on review
Homes and Gardens
Its kitchen editor cooked with the 10-inch for several weeks. Burgers, pancakes, and fried eggs released cleanly, a sausage hash left residue that scraped off, and the pan improved as seasoning built. The editor found the pour spouts useful for draining fat and noted the handle gets hot. The review made the Victoria its budget pick over the Lodge. (Homes and Gardens)
About 10-inch · Tested
HGTV
HGTV tested each brand at the size closest to 10 inches and named the Victoria its best budget skillet. It seared steak with an evenly browned crust, residue scrubbed off easily, and the long handle and helper handle were easy to grip. Its tester called the interior a bit rough and pebbly and weighed the pan at 4 pounds 15 ounces. (HGTV)
10-inch and 12-inch · Tested
Epicurious
Epicurious made the Victoria 12-inch its best budget skillet and its pick for first-time buyers. Its flaxseed seasoning held up in egg and potato tests and improved with use, and one tester who had cooked with one at home for three years said it grew more nonstick over time. The thin handle stayed cool longer than shorter ones. The 10-inch did not place, mainly because the version tested had no helper handle. (Epicurious, archived copy)
12-inch · Lab tested
America's Test Kitchen
America's Test Kitchen rated the Victoria 12-inch Recommended, a tier below the Lodge skillets. Testers liked the long, rounded handle for lifting a heavy pan, and it browned food well. The nubbly surface started out well seasoned but lost some seasoning during testing, a large patch of cornbread stuck, and more eggs stuck in the final egg round. They expect it to regain seasoning with use. (America's Test Kitchen)
Our read
The handle is the one thing every tester and most owners praise. It is longer and curves up, so your hand sits farther from the heat and tipping the pan to pour takes less effort. That is a real advantage on a pan that weighs five pounds before food.
The seasoning is where reviews differ, and the difference comes down to time. Short tests catch the factory coat at its weakest, when eggs and cornbread can still grab. Longer use, from the three-year Epicurious tester to a nine-month owner report, describes a surface that keeps getting slicker. That matches how all bare cast iron behaves.
We also disagree with one claim you will see repeated: that the Victoria's surface is much smoother than the Lodge's. Victoria itself calls it a textured skin, HGTV and America's Test Kitchen both found it pebbly, and owners who use both brands mostly call the difference small. Buy it for the handle, not for a smooth surface. If smooth from day one is the goal, the polished pans in our skillet comparison deliver it, at several times the price.
What owners actually say
They love the grip. They argue about the first month.
These patterns come from retailer reviews, cooking and camping forums, and long-term owner reports. A theme appears here only when more than one source raises it independently. Amazon pools ratings across Victoria's skillet sizes on one listing, about 12,000 ratings averaging 4.6 stars in October 2026, so we read reviews tagged to the 10-inch wherever we could.
The handle wins people over
It is the most consistent praise across retailer reviews and forums: longer, wider, and easier to hold than a typical skillet handle, with an upswept shape that keeps the hand away from the burner. Some owners, like Epicurious's testers on the 12-inch, found it stays cooler than a typical handle at first. Others warn that it gets very hot during longer cooking. Both are true, so plan for the second.
The first weeks decide the verdict
The low ratings cluster around early sticking, a surface that seems to need re-seasoning after washing, and rust after a wash. Owners who kept cooking in it describe the opposite arc: a grainy surface that turned smoother and shiny black over months, with occasional dry spots fixed by a quick re-season or a batch of pancakes.
Rough or smooth depends on who you ask
Some buyers are disappointed by a bumpy cooking surface, especially if their other pans are vintage or polished. Owners who also have a Lodge often call the Victoria a little smoother and easier to clean, while saying the difference is minor. That split matches the test kitchens: textured, but not unusually so.
Weight divides, size does not
Some owners call it light for cast iron and others call it heavy, the argument every iron pan draws. One petite owner who uses it daily said it is heavy one-handed but manageable. On size there is more agreement: owners who also have a 12-inch tend to reach for the 10-inch for everyday cooking, and camp cooks favor it for short trips.
The one thing to know
The factory seasoning is a starting coat.
"Pre-seasoned" means the pan is protected and ready to cook, not that it is finished. Victoria's own guidance for a new pan is to cook on low to medium-low heat and to hold off on acidic foods, such as tomato sauce, until more seasoning builds. (Victoria) Most of the disappointed reviews come from cooks who started with eggs on a hot, dry pan.
A first month that works:
- Cook fatty foods first: bacon, burgers, sausage, potatoes in oil, cornbread in a well-greased pan.
- Preheat slowly for several minutes, then add the oil, then the food.
- Save eggs, fish, and tomato sauce for after the surface turns darker and slicker.
- After each wash, dry it completely and wipe on a very thin layer of oil.
If something still sticks, our cast iron sticking guide walks through the usual causes and fixes.
How it fails, and what to do then
Almost everything is fixable. One thing is not.
A bare iron skillet has no coating to wear through and no parts to replace. What goes wrong is nearly always care, and nearly all of it comes off in an afternoon.
Rust
Soaking, air drying, the dishwasher, and damp storage cause it. Scour it off with steel wool, wash, dry completely, and oil the whole pan. For heavy rust, Lodge's method is to re-season it upside down in a 450 to 500°F oven for an hour. (Lodge)
Worn or patchy seasoning
Dry or dull patches show up after a pan sits on a hot burner with nothing in it, or after acidic cooking too early. Owners report that a quick oven re-season, or simply a few greasy meals, brings it back. Our cast iron restoration guide covers the full strip and re-season.
A crack
The one failure that ends a pan. Lodge warns that heating iron too fast can cause thermal shock and, in severe cases, break cookware on the stovetop. Preheat slowly with a little oil, and never put a hot pan into cold water. (Lodge) A cracked pan should be replaced, not repaired.
The warranty, as written
Victoria's limited lifetime warranty covers defects and a pan that breaks, cracks, or warps under normal use. It excludes rust, seasoning wear, flaking, and misuse such as overheating, and it applies to the original buyer of a new pan from an authorized seller, with proof of purchase. (Victoria) Keep your receipt, and check that the seller is authorized before counting on it.
What it costs over time
Buy it once. Feed it a few drops of oil.
There are no cartridges, batteries, or coatings to replace. The ownership costs are small and mostly one-time:
- Cooking oil after each wash. A few drops of whatever oil you already cook with; our seasoning oil guide covers what works. Over a year it adds up to well under a single bottle.
- A stiff brush or chainmail scrubber. Bought once, usually about $10 to $20, and good for years.
- A silicone handle holder. About $10. Lodge rates its holder to protect hands up to 500°F for moving a hot pan, but says it is not meant for the oven, direct flame, or for staying on during cooking. (Lodge) Dry oven mitts do the same job.
- A full re-season, now and then. Oven time and a spoonful of oil, only when rust or worn patches call for it.
Cared for, a bare iron skillet outlasts the cook who bought it. The real cost is the habit: dry it, oil it, use it.
Who should skip this
A good pan is not the right pan for everyone.
You cook for three or more
An 8-inch cooking floor crowds a family dinner, and crowded meat steams instead of browning. Choose a 12-inch: the Victoria 12-inch if you want this handle, or the Lodge 12-inch, our pick in the skillet comparison.
You want slick from the first egg
If you will not cook through a break-in month, a polished skillet such as the Field Company No. 10 releases food sooner, at several times the price. Our comparison covers it.
Lifting five pounds is hard
The long handle makes lifting easier, but the pan is still about five pounds empty. An 8-inch skillet, or a lighter carbon steel or nonstick pan, may suit you better for daily use.
Nobody will dry and oil it
A bare skillet left wet will rust. If that habit will not stick in your house, an enameled pan for the kitchen and a nonstick pan for a camp stove are a reasonable outage plan too.
You want the proven default
If you only want the pan with the strongest test-kitchen record at this size, buy the Lodge 10.25-inch. You give up the longer handle and nothing else that matters.
You cook mostly in the oven or over coals
A long handle sticks out of a small oven and gets in the way over a fire ring. Victoria's 10-inch with two loop handles, listed below, fits both better.
Where it fits in your readiness
Hot meals when the range is dark.
A cast iron skillet belongs in the Sustain tier. It does not get a household through the first night, which is what no-cook food is for. It keeps real meals coming through a long outage on whatever heat the household still has, and it pairs with the alternative cooking method on your checklist.
Power outages
With an electric range out, the skillet moves to a gas grill, a charcoal grill, or a fire pit outdoors. The 10-inch fits a two-person meal on a small grill grate or a single camp stove burner.
Winter storms and ice storms
In homes heated by a wood stove, the skillet cooks on the stovetop with the same fire that heats the room. Our wood-stove cooking guide covers the clearances and chimney rules that come first.
Hurricanes
Long outages after a storm make the backyard grill the kitchen for days. A small skillet and a lid turn it into eggs, hash, and pan-fried fish instead of another cold meal.
The rule that comes with it
During a power outage, the CDC says never to use grills or other gasoline, propane, or charcoal burning devices inside your home, garage, or carport, or near doors, windows, or vents, because they produce carbon monoxide. (CDC) Carry the pan out to the fire, never the fire in to the pan.
Alternatives worth knowing
Same idea, different fit.
The proven default
Lodge 10.25-inch Skillet
Made in the USA, about the same price, and rated Highly Recommended by America's Test Kitchen, which found it browned deeply with minor early sticking. A standard handle in place of the Victoria's long one.
Buy on AmazonFor three or more
Victoria 12-inch Skillet
The same handle, spouts, and seasoning on a 10-inch cooking floor. America's Test Kitchen weighed it at 7 pounds 4 3/4 ounces, so it is a two-hand lift when full.
Buy on AmazonFor the oven and the fire
Victoria 10-inch, Double Loop Handles
Victoria's 10-inch round skillet with two short loop handles in place of the long one. It fits a small oven, sits better over a fire ring, and lifts evenly with two mitts. We have not seen independent testing of this version.
Buy on AmazonMaintenance
Wash, dry, a drop of oil.
- Hand wash only. Victoria says not to use the dishwasher, and to dry the pan thoroughly and oil it lightly after each use. (Victoria)
- Warm, soapy water and a stiff brush or scrubbing pad are fine. Lodge's routine starts with exactly that. (Lodge)
- Dry it on a warm burner for a minute, then wipe a very thin layer of oil over the whole pan, inside and out.
- Never soak it or leave it to air dry.
- On a glass or induction top, use a burner close to the pan's size, preheat slowly, and lift the pan rather than sliding it.
- Store it dry, with a paper towel inside if you stack other pans on it.
Questions people ask
Before you heat the pan.
Is Victoria cast iron better than Lodge?
Not better, different. Both are bare, pre-seasoned, as-cast iron at about the same price. Victoria's advantages are the longer curved handle and two pour spouts. Lodge's advantage is its test record: America's Test Kitchen rated the Lodge 10.25-inch Highly Recommended and its best buy 10-inch skillet, and rated the Victoria 12-inch, the only Victoria it tested, Recommended. Owners who use both mostly say the cooking difference is small.
How much does the Victoria 10-inch skillet weigh?
About 5 pounds empty. Victoria's own product page lists 4.8 pounds, the Amazon listing graphic says 5.5 pounds, and HGTV weighed its test pan at 4 pounds 15 ounces. That puts it at or a little under the Lodge 10.25-inch, which America's Test Kitchen weighed at 5 pounds 10 ounces.
Does the Victoria 10-inch skillet have a helper handle?
The current version does. The Amazon listing photo shows a small loop handle opposite the long handle, and Homes and Gardens' 2026 review describes one. Epicurious's 2023 test faulted the 10-inch for having no helper handle, so an older pan, a used one, or old stock may not have it. Check the photo before you buy.
Why does food stick to my new Victoria skillet?
Usually because the factory seasoning is still thin, the pan was not preheated, or there was too little fat. Victoria pre-seasons the pan with flaxseed oil, but it is a starting coat. Preheat slowly on low to medium-low, use enough oil, and cook fatty foods in it often for the first few weeks. Owners who kept at it report the surface getting smoother and slicker.
Does the Victoria skillet handle get hot?
Yes. Epicurious found the long, thin handle on the 12-inch stayed cool longer than shorter handles, but owners report it gets very hot during longer cooking, and any cast iron handle will in the oven or over a fire. Keep dry mitts or a silicone handle holder next to the stove.
Where is Victoria cast iron made?
In Colombia. Victoria says it has made cast iron cookware in its own Colombian factories since 1939, and the 10-inch skillet is cast with the words Made in Colombia on the bottom. Lodge, the usual comparison, casts its skillets in the United States.
Can you use a Victoria skillet on a glass-top or induction stove?
Yes. Victoria lists the skillet for gas, electric, ceramic, and induction cooktops. Preheat slowly, because heating iron too fast can cause thermal shock, use a burner close to the pan's size, and lift the pan rather than sliding it across a glass top.