Credit:
Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar
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Credit:
Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar
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Meeting (and in some cases exceeding) our basic expectations for an electric griddle, it has a series of notable special features. Read More
If you’re really not interested in bells and whistles, this Black & Decker scored top marks for a standard flat top griddle. Read More
This thing is a beast to clean and store, and takes up lots of countertop space. It’s difficult to fit in your sink and maneuver. Read More
The griddle actually has raised edges and it’s the only model we tested that comes with a lid—meaning you can steam things too. Read More
While it definitely heats quickly, perhaps that comes at a cost, as the butter burned under our pancakes and eggs. Read More
Have you ever tried preparing pancakes for your family and serving everyone at once without half the stack getting cold? Or attempted to flip a fried egg, only to struggle to fit the spatula around the curved dome of a pan? Or create crispy sizzling bacon without grease puddling at the bottom, bathing your food in fat? Then chances are you haven’t tried making breakfast using an electric griddle.
These flat appliances free up your stovetop (unlike the cast iron versions, which actually sit on top of a stove’s burners), and can be plugged into any wall socket in your kitchen (or wherever you prefer to cook your meal). More importantly, they can quickly and evenly cook up lots of food all at once.
And while they come in a range of prices, most are a great value, like our top picks, the Hamilton Beach 3-in-1 Electric Smokeless Indoor Grill and Griddle (available at Amazon for $78.99) and the Black and Decker Family-Sized Electric Griddle(available at Amazon).
Generous capacity
Easy to clean
Water safe
Too large
Hard to store
Water safe
Consistent heating
Includes lid
Doesn't include fat collector
Too heavy
Awkward to store
Good for large groups
Comes with a warming tray
Heats quickly
Creates too much smoke
Releases odor when heated
Cool touch handles
Lightweight
Roomy
Inconsistent heating
Removable plates
Folding lid
Easy to clean
Doesn't lie flat
Inconsistent heating
My name is Sarah Zorn, and I’ve been a professional food writer and recipe tester for more than 10 years. As much as I love dining out, I especially enjoy recreating restaurant experiences at home, and electric griddles are perfect for that — allowing me to turn my kitchen into a short-order diner, 7 days a week and 24 hours a day.
To find the best griddle, we loaded each electric griddle with three strips of bacon, four average-sized pancakes, and two eggs, to see if all the food would fit without Tetris-style maneuvering or crowding, and how long it took the bacon to get crispy, the pancakes to brown evenly, and the eggs to cook over medium heat.
We analyzed the performance of the units by measuring heating consistency, how straightforward it was to use/read the heating controls, how simple it was to remove food from the surfaces and how easy the griddles were to clean (both the surfaces and fat collectors).
We also assessed how much counter space they used, how seamless they were to store, if they came with any special features or accessories, and how useful those actually were.
After tabulating our first round of scores, we made grilled cheese sandwiches on our three top-testing griddles, seeing how well, quickly, and evenly they melted and browned.
What exactly is an electric griddle anyway? And why should you consider spending money on and devoting kitchen space to one? As opposed to loading your stovetop with all different kinds of pans, you can hook up a griddle wherever you have an electrical outlet.
Their flat, rectangular surface is warmed from below by a built-in heating element that’s powered and regulated by temperature controls, as opposed to significantly smaller (and awkwardly-shaped) pans, which inevitably have cold and hot spots as they’re heated by a single, round, hard to stabilize flame (or electric coil) on a stove.
Electric griddles are great for making your favorite breakfast foods (or other items that benefit from a completely flat cooking surface) at once. They provide even heating, so no matter where you place your food on it, the food can all cook at optimum temperatures.
Plus, griddles offer significantly more cooking area than your average pan, so you won’t need to cook in batches (no one needs to wait for their turn at pancakes!), helping you feed a crowd without any of the meal’s elements sitting around and getting cold.
The surfaces are nonstick (or generally are, watch out for options that aren’t), so you can cook with less grease—in fact, many models have features that allow fat to actually leach away from your food. It also makes them easy to clean, especially if the griddle comes with removable cooking plates—with little to no scrubbing required.
When it comes to buying an electric griddle, size matters. There are smaller, sometimes collapsible models, which are easier to store in tiny kitchens, and perfectly adequate if you don’t often invite lots of people over for brunch. But you’ll probably want to go with a large griddle for families, since they make it easier to cook entire meals at once and allow everyone to eat at the same time.
Either way, make sure you have the storage space to accommodate one; griddles tend to be the size of oversized cutting boards, but are much bulkier and heavier. Also, look for units that include heating controls with an extensive temperature range. Some griddles even come with dual thermostats, so you can select different heats on each side (a higher temp for searing burgers, perhaps, and a lower one for eggs). Other electric griddles offer detachable grill plates as well, so you can mix up your cooking methods by making steak or pancakes.
Cleaning electric griddles are relatively easy—especially those that include drip trays to catch all the grease and extra batter. All you need to do is take a damp piece of paper towel or a kitchen sponge and wipe off bits of food and grease. Wiping the surface while it's still a little warm will make it easier—just be extra careful it's not too hot to touch.
Sarah Zorn
Contributor
Sarah Zorn is a food writer, cookbook author, and product tester for Reviewed, Wirecutter and the Food Network. She regularly contributes to outlets such as Saveur, Esquire, and Civil Eats, and has very much passed her food obsessions down, as her beloved rescue hound, Rowdy, regularly deglazes his kibble bowl.
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