A NbC-Fe composite coating can be fabricated by one-step in situ synthesis fairly straightforward. The coating thickness was ~ 60 μm consisted by fairly agglomerated and uniformly sized (~ 200 nm) NbC particulates. Coating nanohardness and elasticity modulus values were 20.69 ± 0.32 GPa and 438.24 ± 3.38 GPa, respectively There is no delamination or peeling during a scratch tester under a progressive load of 0–100 N.