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It's time to wok and roll.

For how incredible a wok is, it’s not very high on people’s list when stocking their pots and pans. Especially in the west, the pure bliss of cooking – not set-it-and-forget-it cooking, but active, sweaty, hands-darting-around wok cooking – is not as widely known as it should be.

Sizzle. Toss. Using a wok is dancing with heat and to be light on your feet you need lightweight pans made of thin carbon steel. Add to this the unique shape of the pan (purists will insist on round bottoms) which maximizes searing surface area, and a wok will stir fry better than anything else in the kitchen. And once you master the basics, you’ll begin tossing with enough elbow to ignite the cooking oils, elevating you to the smoky nirvana of wok hei.

Whether you’re cooking fried rice or steamed veggies or popcorn, these are the best woks for pursuing wok hei paradise. But be warned: Like anything worth having, woks require some love and light maintenance after each use. They’ll also typically need to be seasoned before their first use. We asked chef and food writer (and wok lover) J. Kenji López-Alt for his tips on choosing the right wok — plus, the woks we recommend for most people.

Put simply, a wok is a light, easily-maneuverable pan made from a highly reactive metal. Put more simply, a wok cooks fast by searing food hard and allowing you to toss it through steamy air easily. Why is this important? Because nothing will hit your table faster for dinner than a stir-fry made in a wok. Leftover protein? A few veggies? Some dry noodles. You can make delicious stir-fry within 30 minutes, easy. When you're shopping for a wok, Kenji recommends you loook for one that's around 14 inches in diameter — it's large enough to cook for a family of four, but remains nimble enough to keep food in motion. And when it comes to the handle, the longer, the better. What's even better, Kenji says, is when there's a helper handle, or a small handle on the opposite side of the main handle.

Literally translated to "wok energy," the term wok hei is generally used to describe the unique flavor that hot and fast wok cooking imparts on food. One of the most famous books on wok cooking, The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen by Grace Young, defines it as "when a wok breathes energy into a stir-fry, giving foods and unique concentration and aroma." Typically this is achieved by tossing in such a way as to allow the oils of the dish to briefly ignite as they fly through the air. The burnt oil then imparts a smokiness you can't achieve with more western-style cooking. For those without high-powered stoves, this feat is achieved easily with a handheld blow torch.

Carbon steel is the best choice for 99 percent of aspiring wok cooks. The metal's high volumetric heat capacity means it can sear with the best of them while remaining thin enough to stir and toss with ease. No other metal even comes close. Carbon steel’s high volumetric heat capacity means it can sear with the best of them while remaining thin enough to stir and toss with ease. As a bonus, Kenji says, “it’s virtually indestructible. I’ve had the same wok for over 20 years and I cook in it all the time.”

Unfortunately, while we love the ease of non-stick for many types of cooking, non-stick is generally not ideal for a wok. The high temp of wok cooking (if you aren't blasting high heat you're not doing it right!) will cause the nonstick coating to break down and release toxic vapors. Plus, the paltry searing ability of nonstick is such that you'll mostly be steaming your stir-fry rather than creating a crust, which is definitely not what you're going for.

Alongside carbon steel, cast iron is a traditional wok material. For those that want to stir, rather than toss, their stir-fry, cast iron is a viable option. While it's very heavy and not very maneuverable, it has the benefit of being able to store a lot of heat, which can help achieve searing temps for those of us with low-powered home ranges. Note: These types of woks will typically be Cantonese-style in that they have two looped metal handles on either side instead of one long handle.

As you might expect, a round-bottomed wok features a bowl-shaped bottom while the flat-bottomed variety features a flat area of around four to five inches in diameter at the bottom. For electric, induction and gas ranges, Kenji likes to keep his wok bottoms flat. Sure, round bottoms are traditional, but they require a gas range with a wok ring for stability, which “ends up elevating your wok too far above the flame to be effective. In the kitchen, heat dissipates at the inverse square law.”

For those with gas ranges, a round-bottomed wok will require a wok ring to stabilize the wok. I've found that this ring pushes your wok so far off the flames it becomes difficult to achieve the level of heat needed to really get things sizzling. The slight benefit you find in the smoothness of tossing in a round wok isn't a worthwhile trade-off for a stable, flat-bottomed wok that works on all types of ranges. As someone who uses their wok for deep frying (and you should too!), stability isn't something I'll compromise on.

This is the pan that Kenji recommends the most. All the details are perfect. It’s thin carbon steel lends a responsiveness to heat, which allows for quick searing, and a lightness, which makes the motion of stir-fry cooking less of a workout. This maneuverability is vital, because “when you're stir frying food, the most important thing is getting the food moving around and up in the air so that you promote evaporation,” says Kenji, “so the flavor gets more intense.”

For wok-purists, a round bottom is a must. The extra surface area provides maximum food-to-metal contact for ideal searing. And nothing tosses like the uninterrupted curve of this Yosukata. You’ll need to pick up an inexpensive and extremely effective wok ring to rest the wok over the flame. Note: If you have an induction burner, you’ll need to opt for a flat bottom.

To really make the most of your round bottom wok, you’ll want to turn up the heat. This can be achieved with a separate, high BTU wok burner, or by simply removing the cover on the largest burner on your home gas range. Ignite the gas with a match and the flame will be concentrated straight up, ideal for heating the bottom of the wok.

What a cast iron wok lacks in maneuverability, it makes up for in heat retention. For those of you with weaker home ranges (there’s no shame), being able to build up heat in the thick cast before adding ingredients, small batches at a time, will allow you to stir fry very effectively. Plus Lodge products are virtually unbreakable.

For those not looking to deal with the maintenance of a carbon steel wok and instead preferring a pan that you can throw into the dishwasher when you’re done, the Gordon Ramsay-endorsed HexClad wok is an extremely viable nonstick alternative.

The hexagon shaped etchings in the nonstick coating reveal stainless steel, which allows the steel to lend its searing properties without sticking. The coating is also durable enough to withstand metal utensils, which is a huge bonus because our favorite wok utensils have metal tips. And because of aluminum’s thermal conductivity, the tri-ply construction makes it a bit easier to reach the temperatures needed for a proper stir fry.

Material: Stainless Steel with Tri-Ply Construction (Stainless, Aluminum, Stainless)

Wrought iron woks are much more popular in China than they are in the west. The relative expense has a bit to do with this, but the price is a reflection of the process: the worked iron is formed by hand, going through at 36,000 hammer strikes while transforming into a beautiful wok. We generally prefer carbon steel for our woks, but iron is a fantastic alternative for those who prefer it.

Smithey is a brand we love for its beautiful cookware — especially for its cast-iron skillets — and its wok is something you’ll definitely want sitting on your range. Despite its long carbon steel handle, the wok only clocks in at 3.25 pounds, which is in line with the rest of the list. You also have the option to add a personal engraving, make this a perfect wedding gift.

Induction stovetops require a flat bottom wok, and for that reason we love the relatively large bottom of the BK wok. This increased surface area allows for the best exchange of heat to the wok. We also liked the smaller size, because we prefer to cook in small batches on induction stoves. While induction burners get extremely hot, they require constant contact with the wok to distribute heat. Cooking in small batches will allow you to quickly get the wok temperature back after tossing off-heat.

For those who want to plug in their stir fry, the Breville Hot Wok Pro packs 8-quarts of non-stick capabilities into a neat package. While you won’t get the convenience of tossing the wok with one hand and stirring with the other, this wok gets up to an even and controlled 425 degrees, which is great for steaming veggies and searing proteins.

Every kitchen should have a nonstick pan, and these are six to consider for yourself.