Are you craving the smoky, grilled flavor of your favorite foods but don’t have access to an outdoor grill? Look no further than indoor grills, also known as smokeless grills. These innovative appliances bring the grilling experience indoors, allowing you to enjoy grilled meals year-round, regardless of the weather or space constraints.
Benefits of Indoor Grills
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Smoke-free grilling: Unlike traditional grills that produce smoke and fumes, indoor grills utilize electric heating elements or infrared technology to eliminate smoke, making them ideal for indoor use.
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Year-round grilling: Indoor grills allow you to grill your favorite foods all year round, regardless of the weather conditions outside.
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Compact and convenient: Indoor grills are typically more compact than outdoor grills, making them suitable for apartments, condos, or homes with limited outdoor space.
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Versatile cooking: Indoor grills can be used for a variety of cooking methods, including grilling, searing, roasting, and even baking.
How Indoor Grills Work
Indoor grills use various technologies to eliminate smoke and fumes:
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Electric heating elements: Electric indoor grills use heating elements to generate heat, which is then transferred to the cooking surface.
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Infrared technology: Infrared indoor grills use infrared heat to cook food, which penetrates the food more deeply, resulting in faster cooking times and reduced smoke production.
Types of Indoor Grills
There are two main types of indoor grills:
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Open grills: Open grills have an open grilling surface, similar to outdoor grills. They allow for direct heat grilling and provide grill marks on your food.
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Contact grills: Contact grills have two heated plates that press down on the food, cooking it from both sides simultaneously. They are ideal for grilling sandwiches, paninis, and other items that require even cooking.
Features to Consider When Choosing an Indoor Grill
When selecting an indoor grill, consider the following features:
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Cooking surface: The cooking surface area determines how much food you can grill at once. Choose a grill with a surface area that meets your cooking needs.
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Temperature control: Look for grills with adjustable temperature settings to accommodate different types of food and cooking methods.
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Drip tray: A drip tray collects excess grease and juices, making cleanup easier.
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Removable plates: Removable plates allow for easy cleaning and maintenance.
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Additional features: Some indoor grills offer additional features such as timers, temperature probes, and preset cooking programs.
Top Indoor Grills
Based on extensive testing and reviews, the following indoor grills are highly recommended:
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Hamilton Beach Electric Indoor Searing Grill: This grill offers a large cooking surface, adjustable temperature settings, and a drip tray for easy cleanup.
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Breville The Smart Grill: This versatile grill combines grilling and griddle functions, providing a wide range of cooking options.
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Presto Cool Touch Electric Indoor Grill: This budget-friendly grill offers a large cooking surface and easy cleanup.
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Hamilton Beach 3-in-1 Grill/Griddle: This grill features interchangeable grill and griddle plates, allowing for multiple cooking methods.
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Ninja Foodi 5-in-1 Indoor Grill: This multi-functional grill offers grilling, air frying, roasting, oven, and dehydrating capabilities.
Tips for Using Indoor Grills
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Preheat the grill: Preheat the grill to the desired temperature before adding food.
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Use the right amount of oil: Brush food lightly with oil to prevent sticking.
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Don’t overcrowd the grill: Overcrowding the grill can prevent food from cooking evenly.
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Flip food regularly: Flip food halfway through the cooking time to ensure even cooking.
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Clean the grill regularly: Clean the grill after each use to prevent grease buildup and ensure optimal performance.
Indoor grills offer a convenient and smoke-free way to enjoy grilled foods indoors. By considering the factors discussed in this guide, you can choose the best indoor grill for your needs and enjoy the delicious flavors of grilled food all year round.
Grills with Extra Tech Were Nice, but Not Necessary
In the end, our favorite grills were the ones that were easy to use and didn’t require a lot of fancy extra features, like a tray full of water to catch smoke and grease or temperature sensors. The ability to change the temperature in five-degree increments might be helpful to some users, but not everyone will probably find that to be the case. Similar to a gas grill, you should ideally only have the heat set to low, medium, or high. This is particularly true for grilling meat, as high heat produces char and grill marks. An audible alert indicating that the machine was preheated was the only additional feature we found especially helpful.
What’s the temperature range of an indoor grill?
The temperature ranges of two of our best indoor grills are 200 to 450°F. Zojirushi is our best indoor grill; it operates at a somewhat lower temperature (176 to 410°F). They can all make delicious indoor grilling meals, though
Best Indoor Grill of 2022 | The 3 Best Indoor Grills Review
FAQ
Is there such a thing as an indoor grill?
What kind of grill can be used indoors?
What is a smokeless indoor grill?
What is an indoor grill?
Indoor grills, also known as smokeless grills, are grills that run on electricity and are designed for indoor use. They do not produce smoke like an outdoor gas, wood or charcoal grill, but they do produce cooking steam and vapors just like you would expect from sautéing in a frying pan.
What are the different types of indoor grills?
Indoor grills have two main designs — open and contact. Open grills are just like any standard outdoor grill. Hot grill grates cook food on one side and typically you need to turn your food over halfway through cooking. Many open grills also have a lid to contain heat and smoke.
Which indoor grills have the best customer reviews?
All of the grills we write about have average customer reviews of at least 4 stars. We considered indoor grills from top brands, such as Breville, Cuisinart, George Foreman, and Ninja, and some lesser known brands that offered similar features at a competitive price.
Are indoor grills smokeless?
While indoor grills are designed to produce significantly less smoke than traditional outdoor grills, it’s not accurate to say they are completely smokeless. However, many modern models do an impressive job of minimizing smoke, making them suitable for indoor cooking without setting off smoke alarms.