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If you’re looking for the best griddle, you probably love pancakes. While any average fan can use a frying pan to make brunch, true flapjack enthusiasts know the delight and power that comes with using a tool specifically designed for short-order cooking. A griddle—electric or stovetop, depending on your preferences—gives you a larger cooking area, a totally flat surface, and better heat control, which means you can easily double your favorite pancake recipe and make bacon for a crowd all at the same time. If mastering the Sunday morning brunch rush is on your to-do list, a griddle is a must-have kitchen tool.
But griddles can do more than just all-in-one breakfast cooking. Smash burgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas, hash browns, meat and veggies for fajitas—if it’s best made on a hot, flat surface, it’s griddle material. Make use of the counter space in your kitchen with an electric model that evenly warms to the temperature of your choosing thanks to an internal heating element, or harness the power of your burners with a classic stovetop version. Either way, once you start cooking with a griddle at home, you’ll find plenty of uses for it among your normal recipe repertoire.
I did the heavy lifting for you in this product review, testing nine highly rated griddles to find the very best in each category. Read on to learn which models came out on top, plus some background about the testing process and the other griddles that didn’t make the cut.
The main benefit of a griddle pan is the large flat cooking surface. This allows for more food to be cooked at once, compared to other pans. This makes the griddle pan especially useful for cooking food that’s to be served in batches – such as pancakes, burgers, flat breads, etc..
The best stovetop griddle: Cuisinart Green Gourmet Double Burner Nonstick Griddle
Made of tri-ply stainless steel with an aluminum core and PFOA-free nonstick finish, the Cuisinart Green Gourmet stovetop griddle is like your favorite nonstick pan, blown up to be the perfect size and shape for short-order cooking. It’s 10×18″, meaning it fits nicely over two standard burners, and it features two oversized stainless-steel handles that stay cool for easy maneuvering. And the shape is downright sensible: No unnecessary flourishes, just a wide, flat rectangle with a high lip to corral drips and grease, plus a built-in spout in one corner for pouring off excess.
My biggest fear with any two-burner stovetop griddle is the dreaded cold spot: the space between the two burners that doesn’t get as hot as the other zones, and therefore is the source of overly pale pancakes and floppy, undercooked bacon. This Cuisinart model’s midsection heated the best of any two-burner griddle I tested; given the proper amount of time to preheat, pancakes placed at the center looked just as good as those from the sides. You really do get the benefit of every square inch of added cooking surface area with this model, which to me is the primary reason to go the griddle route at all.
The best thing I can say about the Cuisinart Green Gourmet griddle is that it’s practical: its shape, size, material, and ability to store (it takes well to being stacked!) are all wildly pragmatic. Does it work on gas, induction, and glass stovetops? It does. Is it oven- and broiler-safe? You bet. Does the truly nonstick surface clean like a dream? Correct. And will it make evenly browned pancakes, crisp stovetop bacon, and perfect fried eggs every time? Absolutely. For under $100, even if you don’t imagine griddling on a weekly basis, it’s a worthwhile piece of cookware to add to your arsenal.
Cuisinart Green Gourmet Double Burner Griddle
The best electric griddle: Zojirushi Gourmet Sizzler Griddle
It was hard to imagine a world where I’d make space in my kitchen for a bulky electric griddle…and then I tried the Zojirushi Gourmet Sizzler. It is absolutely a large appliance: At 12.5×19″, it had the largest cooking surface of any griddle I tested, and with all three pieces (base/heater, cooktop, and lid) clicked into each other, it measured nearly 5″ tall. But it outperformed the other griddles with ease, cooking evenly browned pancakes, perfect eggs over easy, and superlative bacon all at the same time.
The Zojirushi Sizzler has a nonstick ceramic surface with a titanium core and a “diamond cut dimple finish”—a subtle texture on the surface that shows up in your finished pancakes. It heats up rapidly and evenly, in about eight minutes, to any temperature between 300°F and 425°F, or maintains a steady lower temp as part of the “keep warm” setting. The operation light on the Zojirushi stays lit the whole time the machine is on, which is a nice safety feature; on most other electric models, a light turns off to indicate that the griddle is done preheating, which means there is no visible difference between a hot griddle and a griddle that’s been turned off. I also appreciated the very long power cord—rare among the models I tested!—which meant I didn’t have to rearrange my countertops to fit the oversized appliance super close to an outlet.
One of my biggest concerns when testing these electric griddles was how difficult it would be to clean them. I was wary of those that didn’t disassemble into pieces for washing, because tipping something electronic into my sink (even with the power plug removed!) makes me nervous. Thankfully the Zojirushi cooktop comes off completely, so you can wash that by itself. It also includes a lid—which cannot be used to speed up preheating but does help with cooking, like when you want to swiftly set the whites on a sunny-side up egg—and a spatula for easy no-scratch flipping.
The major con, of course, is storage: While the Zojirushi Sizzler is relatively narrow, the three disparate pieces make it more difficult to stow on its side. You’ll need to dedicate some major space for this tool, like a pantry shelf or wide drawer if you have one. I also found myself wishing the temperature dial was a little more exact; lining up the degree markers with the operation light to indicate a temperature selection felt imprecise. But overall, if you regularly cook for a crowd and want to use a large and reliable nonstick cooking surface, the Zojirushi electric griddle is the best model for you.
Zojirushi Gourmet Sizzler Electric Griddle
The Best Stovetop Griddles
FAQ
Are pancakes better on a griddle?
Are griddles worth the money?
What are the disadvantages of a griddle?
Are griddle pans good for pancakes?
Electric pancake griddles have the added benefit of super-even cooking, so you won’t have to worry about tossing a few burnt flapjacks. Griddle pans are a good option if you’re trying to make the most of a small kitchen; they cook using the heat from your stove. Bonus: Many griddle pans are dishwasher safe! Don’t make pancakes often?
Do you need an electric griddle for pancakes?
An electric griddle could be great if you are doing pancakes every day. It’s there and ready to use. An electric griddle normally has a nonstick surface, too, so you can just wipe the surface after you use it. Need an electric griddle? Check out my list of the top electric skillets and griddles. Which Stove?
Are all pancake griddles the same?
All pancake griddles are not the same. A number of factors affect their function, including type, size, material, heat control, and additional features. Keep reading to learn about the most important features of the best pancake griddles. Pancake griddles come in electric, stovetop, and gas models. Each brings distinct advantages.
Can a pancake griddle Save you from standing over the stove?
One kitchen tool that’ll save you from standing over the stove all morning: a pancake griddle. The best pancake griddles have larger surface areas than frying pans, which means you can quickly cook a batch big enough for the whole family. And because griddles are flat, you won’t have any raised edges preventing that perfect pancake flip.