Flat bottom cast iron woks work very well on induction stoves. I can get it to wokking temperatures in minutes, which would take practically forever on any reasonably sized gas stove.
Flat bottom wok doesn’t really work. You lose the heat going up the sides. I bought one of those butane table top burners just for wok use. Induction is great for everything else.
There are quite a few induction stoves made specifically for dome bottom woks. They heat up incredibly fast, and can be lifted up out of the field and used pretty much exactly like a gas stove.
If you’re willing to use a cast iron wok, Lodge makes one with a flat bottom on the outside but curved on the inside. You have to make some major technique concessions, but it will work on induction, and if you use a butane torch while flipping food you can almost get a wok hei going.
This has sort of been my experience with induction beyond woks too, it often requires technique and equipment concessions. Great for boiling water and sautéing though. The tops also have durability/longevity issues when compared to gas and that isn’t usually acknowledged.
Induction doesn’t require you have perfectly flat pans/whatever. Your “induction ready” pots/pans were probably just really bad, like maybe aluminum (yikes) with some kind of induction-compatible insert? You want to use pure cast iron anyways.
Everything your gas burner can do, a proper induction range can do better. Mine has a dedicated 240V 60A line and can boil water faster than anything but a restaurant-grade gas line (which isn’t even an option in most neighborhoods).
I don’t use woks at all, but I can’t see why one wouldn’t work.
You would need to get a special flat bottom
Wok designed for induction. I believe there are also some induction woks that come with a special plate or ring you place them on to make them work and still have a curved bottom, I have no experience of them.
That’s cool! I have an induction stove (it’s fantastic) but no woks. I’ll probably just end up getting a flat bottom one myself but it’s really cool that those curved induction burners exist (just googled it) - I’d never heard of them until now.
You can use a wok, it just isn't quite as good as gas because woks tend to have a smallish flat bottom, and with induction only that bottom part is getting heated. With gas the bottom part gets heated but the flames also heat up the sides of the wok.
You can get woks with wider bases for induction cooktops. I haven't tried one, but I think it could fix the issue.
I suppose if you have one of those round made-for-wok induction hobs. the flat ones just don't heat the sides of a wok and you can't even use a round bottom work. far from "excellent".
Gas stoves are great, but gas or heating coil aren't the only choices any more. Induction works really well for everything that's not a wok.
edit: sorry, on all compatible cookware that's not a wok. That can be somewhat of a sticking point, but it's workable.
The issue isn't that woks aren't compatible with induction stoves. I have a flat-bottomed wok that works with induction, but only the bottom heats up. I don't know how you would create an adaptor that would sit on the stove and somehow pull the heat up to the sides of the wok for even cooking.
Induction ovens are more efficient than an resistive heating element and can transfer a lot of heat into the pan. Just as much as a flame or even more. The difficulty with woks is that flat induction cooktops are only compatible with flat-bottomed cookware. You need a flat-bottomed wok, or a special concave cooktop made just for woks.
I use my wok with induction stovetops and it seems to work fine. I didn’t intentionally buy it for induction, so I was pleased to see it worked anyway.
Not every way. Flat bottomed woks suck. Gas is much better for a wok, and a wok is a considerably better tool than most westerners realize.
Induction also is easily breakable. That's why you don't see them in commercial kitchens much.
Also I have several large cheap Aluminum stock pots that I love and would have to replace. Try finding a five gallon induction capable stock pot at your local restaurant supply store.
I've been looking into replacing my terrible electric range with one that has induction burners. One consideration I saw when looking at comparisons was that electric and induction really require a flat bottom pan. If your pan is curved, you need gas to evenly heat it. So when it comes to something like a wok, you need gas. To eliminate gas is to eliminate the wok as a means of cooking.
I have a wide bottom induction wok and it's fine, but you don't get the advantage of having the sides heat up as well. So I find it easier to just use a cast iron or carbon steel pan.
I got a flat bottom wok that I am happy stir frying on my induction cooktop. The flat bottom gets rippin hot and the sides only warm. Have to work within that smaller hot zone but I prefer the wok to skillet for containing the mess.
It's true that most induction cooktops/ranges aren't great for woks, but in principle the induction surface doesn't have to be flat -- it can be a concave shape to match the wok.
In fact these exist -- if you search for "induction wok burners" you can see some pictures. (I only recently became aware of this after watching this video of a chef who uses induction cooking in a small kitchen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooNzRrHA9VY)
Perhaps in the future there will be cooktops that include a wok depression on the surface, similar to how some gas stoves today include a built-in wok ring.
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