Uno Casa Cast Iron Skillet Set Review: Hands On Testing

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Uno Casa Cast Iron Skillet Set

Our Rating:

Key Features:

Heavy-duty

Heats Quickly and Cooks Evenly

Includes Silicone Handle Covers

Pre-seasoned


Classic Cast Iron Cookware Built to Last While Costing Less

Uno Casa’s cast iron skillet set is made for true cast iron lovers. This set won’t cost you anywhere near what those products made by other small companies do. But, given how durable and functional they are, you would never guess they carry such a low price tag.

These are heavy-duty pans that bring the heat while cooking evenly and quickly. The set includes a 10-inch skillet and a 12-inch skillet. Each pan has two handles for easy maneuvering and features double pour spouts that make cooking meals a snap.

I love the silicone handle covers that slide over the long handle during cooking—no more reaching for the hot pads every time you need to stir!

The Uno Casa Skillet Set delivers everything you would expect from cast iron cookware except the price tag.

Review Criteria Ratings

Overall Performance4.5/5

Pros

  • Heavy-duty
  • Pre-seasoned
  • Cool-touch silicone handle covers
  • Double handle and double spout design
  • Pan scrapers and care guide included

Cons

  • Not lightweight in any sense of the word
  • The outer finish is too rough for glass stovetops
  • Will rust as fast as other cast iron products

Should You Buy It?

Whether you are new to cast iron or looking to expand your collection, these skillets are absolutely worth a look.

They are well-made, durable enough to survive anything those expensive sets can, and feature some fantastic additional functionality that rivals the competition.

Uno Casa Cookware Overview

stacked Uno Casa cast iron pans

Uno Casa promises quality cookware at a fraction of the price of the competition. With their two-piece skillet set, they absolutely deliver.

This pan set includes a 10-inch and 12-inch skillet. It costs about as much as your standard nonstick two-pan set but offers so much more. 

As with all cast iron cookware, these pans don’t use any chemical coatings. Instead, they come pre-seasoned with oil to create a naturally nonstick surface. Each time you cook with these exceptional pans, you add to that oil coat to increase their performance.

Uno Casa cast iron pans on top of a glass stove

The quality of these pans is apparent in the weight they pack. If you are looking for a pan you can easily manipulate and store, move along. These are cast iron pans in the traditional sense. They are heavy!

But that heaviness, as the company is quick to point out, is a sign of durability. These are pans you can use for decades and pass on through your family.

Uno Casa has been around since 2015. Due to their small, niche-market status, they are not generally a household name. However, they gained plenty of fans with their first product release, a cast iron tortilla press.

The company’s focus is on creating quality cookware at a much more affordable price than similar products. All their products are manufactured in China with quality control conducted by a European company. The company’s headquarters is in San Francisco.

Since releasing their flagship tortilla press, the company has added several other cast iron, enameled cast iron, and stainless steel kitchen utensils and gadgets.

As with most of their other products, their two-pan set offers the experience of true cast iron—durable, no-hassle cooking—for a very affordable price.

These are great pans for beginners and experts. Want to know why? Keep reading to see my full Uno Casa cookware review.

How Uno Casa Cookware Performs

I had a chance to test out Uno Casa Cookware’s cast iron skillet set for myself. If you are a fan of cast iron, there is a lot to love about these pans. Even if you are new to this type of cookware, you are still likely to be impressed.

But our experience with Uno Casa wasn’t perfect. Below, I’ll tell you everything I love about this product and where I was disappointed.

The Cookware

Uno Casa cast iron skillet with handle

These pans have a classic cast iron design with a few extra features that really make them useful.

First, as any cast iron skillet should, both pans feature a long handle for maneuvering and a second, smaller handle on the opposite side. This small handle is key to carrying these hefty pans around. This is a feature you’ll always find on more expensive cast iron but is often overlooked in cheaper products.

Second, each pan comes with a silicone handle cover. 

Because cast iron pans are made from a single cast of highly conductive metal, every part of the pan gets hot when the bottom is exposed to heat. Traditionally, cooking with cast iron meant keeping the potholder at the ready. You’d need it to steady the pan while stirring or adjusting the pan on the stovetop.

Uno Casa cast iron pans on the grill

But with these handy add-ons, you no longer need to worry about accidentally touching a hot handle. The silicon holder stays in place and can handle high heat (up to 400 degrees!).

Both these skillets also feature a pour spout on each side of the pan, which is handy when making sauces and gravy. It also makes removing excess oil or water during cooking super simple.

I did encounter one major negative about how these pans function. While the interior surface has been nicely sanded down to a smooth finish, the exterior was just a touch on the rougher side.

This wasn’t overly noticeable to me, but my glass-top stove certainly suffered because of it.

Cooking with cast iron on a glass-top stove is not generally recommended because the pans are heavy enough to do some real damage if dropped. But if you’re careful, you can typically get away with it.

Using the Uno Casa Cookware with a grill

Unfortunately, the bottoms were just rough enough to leave some hairline scratches on my glass cooktop. They still work great on the barbeque and camping and would be fine for gas stoves. But for those looking to use cast iron on a glass top, I would recommend Uno Casa’s enameled cast iron products only.

The Packaging

packaging of Uno Casa Cookware

My skillet set came packaged in a thick flip-open box. A sheet of cardboard separated the individually bagged pans.

You would have to package cast iron pretty poorly to risk it getting damaged during shipping, so that wasn’t much of a concern. What was nice to see was the plastic bags covering each pan. 

Cast iron rusts very quickly when exposed to water. The bags would have been enough to protect the surfaces from water contact. However, if the package got caught in a rainstorm or passed through an area of high humidity, there is a huge possibility that the pans would arrive a bit rusty. 

I’ve seen a few reviews where people received their pans with rust on them. I’d be willing to bet that a wet box was to blame in these instances. Uno casa could probably avoid some of these issues by using sealed or tied bags.

But, overall, the packaging was adequate.

The package contained:

  • Two skillets.
  • Two silicon handle covers.
  • Two plastic pan scrapers.
  • An info card on care and cleaning.

How Do They Cook?

cooking pancake using the Uno Casa cast iron

Cooking with cast iron isn’t as straightforward as with other materials. Like other cast iron products, the key to satisfaction with the Uno Casa pans is in your preparation.

The pans come pre-seasoned, which means you can start cooking with them right away. I rinsed mine with soap and water, dried them completely, then set them on the stove.

As per the instructions, I let the pans heat up on medium heat before throwing in my ingredients. Letting the pan heat is the key to activating the natural non-stick coating. 

Once I could feel the heat radiating off the surface, I added my ingredients. I had no problem with food sticking even when I accidentally burnt my pancakes – as I said, there is a learning curve with cast iron!

I did find that food wanted to stick to the pan at first, but once that classic cast iron sear had been imparted, I was able to flip my food without issue.

cooking fajita using Uno Casa cast iron pan

This natural sear and non-stick behavior is one reason to love cast iron. The other is how evenly it cooks. 

These pans heated up quickly and uniformly. They helped disperse heat much better than my stainless steel pans. And I was able to cook at a lower temperature than I am used to, without adding much time to the process.

Some users have found their Uno Casa pans slightly convexed in the middle, causing uneven oil distribution. I certainly didn’t have that problem with mine and would assume anyone who receives a pan like that would be able to exchange it for one without a defect.

Overall, the Uno Casa skillets both cooked as well as I would expect from any high-quality cast iron cookware.

How Do They Clean-Up?

pre-clean Uno Casa cast iron

Because the nonstick feature of these pans performed so well, I didn’t have much to clean up. 

Using the included plastic scrape, I was able to remove the leftovers stuck to the bottom. Then I wiped it out with a paper towel and stuck it back in the drawer.

Another one of the many benefits of cast iron!

During my second test cook, I got a little more careless with my timing and ended up burning some pancakes to the bottom.

There still wasn’t much fond left behind, but I wanted to test the cleanability of the pan. I scraped it, then filled it with warm soapy water and quickly wiped it with a dishcloth. That’s all it took to get the pan looking almost as it had before I cooked with it.

Overall, these pans were super simple to clean with both of the typical cast iron cleaning methods. 

Others have reported some rusting with these pans, but that is not at all surprising. Cast iron pans rust easily—even the expensive ones. If you do use water to clean these pans, be sure to dry them thoroughly immediately after. The care instructions even suggest placing the pan back on the stove and warming it until all the water has evaporated.

Alternative Cookware Options

If you are looking for cast iron cookware that performs as it should, you’ve found it with Uno Casa. But if your search is less about the material, there are some other options worth considering.

These forged aluminum pans are highly affordable. They don’t cook as evenly as cast iron but do have nonstick surfaces and are much lighter. 

If you like how well cast iron conducts heat and the balanced cooking it offers but would rather a cookware set you could safely use on your glass top, Legend Cookware’s 5-ply stainless steel copper core cookware is for you. These gorgeous pots and pans feature a highly conductive copper core that transmits heat quickly and evenly. Meanwhile, the outer stainless steel layers make for durable pieces that are easy to use and gentle on your cooktop.

FeaturesUno CasaLegend Cookware 5-Ply Stainless Steel Copper Core
Cooking easeEven, easy nonstick cookingHigh heat conductivity for easy, balanced cooking
MaterialCast ironCopper core with aluminum and stainless steel layers
WeightHeavyMedium
Price$$$$$$

Things to Consider Before Buying

Cast iron cookware is an excellent investment. These pans are a joy to cook with, are naturally nonstick, and, when treated well, will last for generations.

But before you decide to purchase new cast iron cookware, there are a few things to consider.

  • Is natural non-stick necessary for you? Most non-stick pans use questionable chemical coatings. If you want something safe and natural, cast iron is a great choice.
  • Can you handle a hefty pan? Cast iron is HEAVY. It’s perfect for use on the barbeque, campfire, and gas stove but less desirable for glass-top ranges.
  • How do you feel about a bit of patina? These pans are made to collect oil and seasoning with each use and should rarely be scrubbed completely clean. If you prefer your pans perfectly clean after each use, cast iron isn’t the way to go.
  • How much work do you want to put in? Cast iron takes some serious maintenance. These pans need to be seasoned occasionally, always dried completely and stored correctly. If you want less needy cookware, go with stainless steel.

Conclusion

Cast iron cookware is durable, easy to cook with, and produces some seriously fantastic meals. But it can also carry a hefty price tag.

Uno Casa’s cookware proves that you can get all the benefits of cast iron without emptying your wallet. 

Their cast-iron skillet set with silicon covers and double pour spouts offers an unparalleled cooking experience for home cooks and aspiring chefs. And, despite the low price, they are just as durable and cook just as well as more expensive cast iron products.

To learn more about this Uno Casa skillet set and other great cookware, click here.

Do you have any questions relating to this article? Email us at [email protected] or call us on +1 (310) 961-4908

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Author
Sara Seitz is a freelance writer and novelist. She lives with her husband and wildling toddler in Colorado where she spends her days working on their house, gardening, and reconnecting with nature.

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