The outdoor griddle is a hot commodity in the outdoor cooking space, and it's time to determine who makes the best outdoor flat top griddle. We recently put 8 different brands to the test.
Why Trust Our Review
We have personally used every outdoor griddle mentioned in this article. Not only have we used each one, but we also used each one side-by-side so that we could best compare similar qualities. Don't just take my word for it. The evidence is in the pictures and video.
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This article was not written by AI; it was written by real humans who have actually used these products.
We have run each outdoor gas griddle through the same series of tests and will let the data speak for itself.
Though the flat top griddles themselves were supplied to us for free for this video and article, none of the manufacturers have paid to be involved or "win" this review.
We are affiliates, however, and will earn a small commission if you purchase any of these gas griddles using our link. That is one of the ways we are able to continue doing what we do, so we do appreciate your support in that way.
Our Quick Picks
Winners
Product Information
BEST FLAT TOP GRILL
Traeger Flatrock
- Huge side shelves provide ample prep space
- Recessed griddle top protects the burners from wind
- Baffles between burners create 3 separate heat zones
BEST USER EXPERIENCE
Weber Slate
- Tons of prep and storage space
- Griddle surface comes pre-seasoned and ready to use.
- Cooks evenly from front to back and side to side.
BEST GRIDDLE COMBO
Grilla Grills Primate
- The Primate is a full gas griddle and a full gas grill in one box
- All 304 stainless steel construction
- The recessed griddle surface protects the burners from being affected by wind
BEST BUDGET GRIDDLE
Camp Chef Gridiron
- 634 square inches of cooking area
- Even cooking from front to back
- Very affordable and reasonable price
BEST BUILT IN GRIDDLE
Le Griddle "The Ranch Hand"
- 304 stainless steel construction
- Stainless steel griddle surface will never rust
- The cast iron plate welded under the griddle provides even cooking throughout
- Get a free gift with purchase using code: BBQLAB
How We Tested For The Best Outdoor Griddles
Testing for Hot Spots and Cold Spots
Time to temperature, BTU's, heat zones and more are all fine and good, but here's a test designed to check the evenness of the flat top griddle heat.
We set each grill to 350 degrees as measured by our Thermoworks IR gun, then covered the entire griddle surface with slices of bread. We set the Big and Loud timer to 5 minutes and sat back to smell the toast.
At the 5-minute mark, here's how the toast on each flat top griddle looked. The most even cooking of the 8 models came from the Traeger, Weber and the Camp Chef.
If I was going to call a winner, I’d say that the Traeger had the most even cooking across all slices followed by the Weber Slate, which came close to the Traeger, but had some spotty coverage, but great color.
The Gridiron I would place in third, solely because the right hand 3 slices came up quite pale while the rest of the flat top griddle looked almost perfect.
The two that I would place at the bottom would be the Blackstone with a very dark center and almost white edges and the Pit Boss with a super dark streak straight down the middle.
Wind Test
We're based in the Midwest, and it's rare that we're cooking without wind as a part of the equation. It's been annoying to me that some outdoor griddles have a hard time functioning in the wind, so we wanted to test these 8 griddles with an artificial wind test to see how they fared.
We picked up a fan that we could set to the perfect height on the left side of the gas griddle and set it to medium-low speed. We heated the flat top griddle to 400 degrees in the middle and let the bacon cook until it was ready to turn over.
Here's what we saw from each flat top griddle after we turned the bacon.
The Grilla Primate, Traeger Flatrock, Halo Elite 4B and the Weber slate all passed the wind test with flying colors. I would cook in the wind with any of those models. The Grilla Primate had the best bacon cook this year followed by the Traeger Flatrock and the Halo Elite 4B.
The Blackstone struggled to cook the bacon closest to the fan, very similar to the cook we got from the Loco griddle. The Pit Boss was very much affected by the wind. The Camp Chef Gridiron showed us an even gradient from fully cooked at the farthest away to barely cooked closest to the fan.
Cooking Space
I’m sure you noticed there is a wide range of flat top griddle sizes in our comparison, with the largest being 37" and the smallest coming in at 28 inches. You can see the breakdown in griddle sizes here, but basically there’s a group of griddles that range from 28-31 inches, and another group that range between 36-37 inches.
The Weber and Blackstone are also available in larger sizes as well as what you see here.
So what’s the difference in capacity between a 28” and a 37” griddle? Let me show you in pancakes.
Capacity
Melissa made a batch of her homemade buttermilk pancake recipe on each of these griddles to see how many standard size pancakes could fit, as well as if the grease drain impacted the capacity at all. We were able to fit 15- 1/4 cup size pancakes on the Blackstone, Traeger, and Weber.
The larger griddles all comfortably fit 18 pancakes with no trouble at all.
Cooking Height
Cooking height is something to strongly consider if you’re very tall, or more on the petite side. Melissa is 5’2” and I’m 5’11” so what’s comfortable for me probably feels too high for her and vice versa. There's about an 8 inch difference in cooking height between these models, with the Loco having the highest cooking position at 40 inches and the Blackstone with the lowest cooking height at 32 and a half inches high.
Low temperature test
We get a lot of questions about how low of a temperature each flat top griddle can run, so we tested each griddle using the Thermoworks IR Gun and the Pro Surface Thermapen. The Pro Surface Thermapen has a flat swivel tip on the end designed for flat surfaces, and was perfect for this test as long as we stayed under 572 degrees. Once we got over that, I switched to the IR Gun which can handle over 1,000 degrees.
We ran each griddle on low for 15 minutes and even though I felt that 15 minutes was a fair test, in reality, if I'm cooking for a crowd, I want my griddle to continue to run low as long as I'm cooking, so I let the test run all the way to the 30 minute mark, and here's how the numbers changed for each griddle.
The Loco had the lowest consistent temperature of the testing group by almost 100 degrees at 247.5 degrees. At the 30 minute mark, it actually went down about 10 degrees in temperature, so there’s amazing low temperature control with the Loco. The Halo Elite 4B had the highest low temperature at 469 degrees, and at the 30 minute mark, it was 540 degrees.
High Temperature Test
At this point, the griddles were already warmed up, so it seemed logical to run a high temperature test and see how hot these guys would get if I gave them 15 minutes set to full power. The graph above shows the highest average temperature measured across the entire griddle surface for each griddle in the testing group.
The Weber Slate takes the prize for a high temperature of 650 degrees, almost 200 degrees hotter than the high of 480 degrees for the Loco Series II.
Ambient Temperature Test
I also wanted to test the temperatures around the flat top griddle to see how hot it got where we stood as well as how hot it gets on each of the side shelves while cooking. We ran this test alongside the lowest and highest temperature test, so for the first 30 minutes the griddle was set to low, and for the last 15 minutes, it was set as high as it would go.
During our testing, the Loco side shelves were the least affected by the griddle heat, staying under 114° for the entire 45 minutes.
The Camp Chef Gridiron shelves were the most affected, reaching temperatures as high as 200° when set to high.
The Results of Our Flat Top Grill Testing
Best Flat Top Grill: Traeger Flatrock
Griddle Feature | Measurement |
---|---|
Cooking Surface | 594 square inches |
Cooking Height | 37.5" |
Number of Burners | 3-burner 43,500 BTUs |
Warranty | 5 years |
What we like:
What we don't like:
If the Flatrock price is within your budget, you will not be disappointed with this griddle. You won't have to worry about the weather, there's tons of space to set stuff when you're cooking. You can cook in up to 3 different temperature zones. I don't know about you, but it checks all the boxes we're looking for in an outdoor griddle.
Best User Experience: Weber Slate
Griddle Feature | Measurement |
---|---|
Cooking Surface | 540 square inches |
Cooking Height | 36" |
Number of Burners | 3-burner 36,000 BTUs |
Warranty | 5 years |
What we like:
What we don't like:
My favorite thing about the Weber Slate is that the griddle top comes seasoned right out of the box. There’s no coating, so metal utensils are good to go. I really like the bin system underneath providing extra space for storage and the accessory options that can be purchased for the side shelves. I can tell that the people who designed this griddle actually cook on griddles, because the functionality of space was spot on.
Best Griddle Combo: Grilla Grills Primate
Griddle Feature | Measurement |
---|---|
Cooking Surface | 490 square inches |
Cooking Height | 36.5" |
Number of Burners | 4-burner 60,000 BTUs |
Warranty | 4 years |
What we like:
What we don't like:
If you're trying to decide between a gas grill and a griddle because you only have room for one, the answer is quite simply: Grilla Grills Primate. In my opinion most combo grills fall under "Jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none" but the Primate is definitely an exception. Grilla Grills builds high-quality outdoor cooking appliances and in the case of the Primate, you get two for the price of one.
Read our full Grilla Grills Primate review.
Best Budget Griddle: Camp Chef Gridiron
Griddle Feature | Measurement |
---|---|
Cooking Space | 634 square inches |
Cooking Height | 36" |
Number of Burners | 4-burner 48,000 BTUs |
Warranty | 1 year |
What we like:
What we don't like:
The Camp Chef Gridiron really punches above its weight class. It’s currently priced at only $499 with performance to match griddles hundred’s of dollars more. This is definitely a great option to consider if you're looking for something under $500.
Best Built-In Griddle: Le Griddle "The Ranch Hand"
Griddle Feature | Measurement |
---|---|
Cooking Space | 464 square inches |
Fuel | propane or natural gas |
Number of Burners | 2 U-shaped burners 18,000 BTUs |
Warranty | 5 years |
What we like:
What we don't like:
We've been using our Le Griddle 30" gas griddle in our outdoor kitchen for about 3 years now. We use it all the time, probably 4-5 times a week, easily. I have utmost confidence that this griddle will last the long haul out there and when you install appliances in an outdoor kitchen you want products that will last. If you're planning to build an outdoor kitchen, I can't recommend the Le Griddle enough for your built-in griddle.
Be sure to use the code: BBQLAB to get a free gift with purchase
Halo Elite 4B Outdoor Griddle
Griddle Feature | Measurement |
---|---|
Cooking Space | 720 square inches |
Cooking Height | 37.25" |
Number of Burners | 4-burner 48,000 BTUs |
Warranty | 5 years |
What we like:
What we don't like:
Blackstone Omnivore 28"
Griddle Feature | Measurement |
---|---|
Cooking Surface | 524 square inches |
Cooking Height | 32.5" |
Number of Burners | 2-burner 24,000 BTUs |
Warranty | 1 year |
What we like:
What we don't like:
LoCo Cookers 36" Griddle Series II
Griddle Feature | Measurement |
---|---|
Cooking Space | 738 square inches |
Cooking Height | 40" |
Number of Burners | 3-burner 46000 BTUs |
Warranty | 1 year |
What we like:
What we don't like:
Pit Boss Deluxe 5 Burner
Griddle Feature | Measurement |
---|---|
Cooking Space | 750 square inches |
Cooking Height | 34" |
Number of Burners | 5-burner 62,000 BTUs |
Warranty | 2 years |
What we like:
What we don't like:
How To Choose The Best Flat Top Griddle For You
We did a full week of testing 8 griddles and in the process, we were able to conclude what our favorite (or favorites) were from the bunch. The thing is, we don't necessarily use outdoor gas griddles the same way you might. And the things we care about might be different from the things you care about. So you and I might look at the exact same data and reach different conclusions about which flat-top we prefer.
Here are a few questions we recommend asking to help you decide which griddle is right for you.
How much cooking area do I need?
Outdoor gas griddles come in a variety of sizes and it can be difficult to decide what the perfect size might be for you. You don't want to go too big and have a cooking appliance that takes up too much patio space, but you also don't want to go too small, limiting what you can cook on your new griddle.
Before you commit to a particular griddle size, I recommend making a list of 5-10 foods or meals you plan on cooking on your griddle. Does your list consist of mostly single-course foods or do you find that you're wanting to cook full meals?
In our experience, we often run out of space when cooking a full meal on a griddle, so more space is better for us.
What is the heat source for a flat-top grill?
Most flat-top grills on the market are heated by propane or natural gas burners below the griddle surface. These burners can come in all shapes, sizes, and BTUs.
Sometimes the arrangement of burners results in hot spots and cold spots that present challenges when cooking. Other times the arrangement is just right for even cooking front to back and side to side.
When shopping for your next outdoor gas griddle, take a look under the hood to see what the burner situation is.
How is grease managed?
Flat-top cooking often produces grease and food debris that needs a place to go, so manufacturers have designed their griddles to channel grease into some type of removable grease tray. The location of the grease trap varies from griddle to griddle; some in the front, and some in the back. As you compare each grease management system here are some things to consider:
- How much cooking surface is lost to the grease trap and does it look like food might accidentally get lost down that hole while cooking? There's nothing worse than accidentally knocking a shrimp down the grease trap.
- Is the removable grease tray exposed to the elements? If the griddle is left uncovered and it rains, will the grease tray collect rainwater?
- What's the capacity of the grease tray? Will it need to be emptied after every cook?
How will the flat-top grill perform in windy conditions?
Not all outdoor gas griddles perform equally in windy conditions. Many griddles are built with a gap between the griddle surface and the burners below for airflow. These griddles struggle to perform well in windy conditions.
There are some flat-top grills available with a recessed griddle surface, protecting the burners from exposure to the wind. These flat-top griddles perform equally regardless of the wind.
I highly recommend choosing an outdoor griddle that will perform well on a windy day.
How much prep and storage space will I need?
Griddle cooking is typically hot and fast. Emphasis on the fast.
It is important to have all your ducks in a row before you start cooking because you can't generally leave your food on the hot griddle surface and run back inside to grab something. Not only do you need to have all your ingredients and cooking utensils ready, but you also need to have your clean dish or dishes to transfer the cooked food into when it's done cooking.
This is why sufficient shelf space is absolutely critical in my opinion. Unless you want to have to set up a table every time you cook on your griddle, your griddle shelves need to be able to accommodate the tools and ingredients for the job.
Do I need to season my outdoor gas griddle before I use it?
Most carbon steel outdoor griddles will need to be seasoned before use unless clearly labeled "pre-seasoned" in the manual. Stainless steel griddle surfaces do not require seasoning.
The seasoning process will help your griddle develop a non-stick cooking surface as well as help protect your griddle from rust, extending the life of your flat-top grill.
What griddle care and maintenance is required?
Treat your carbon steel griddle surface the same way you would your favorite cast iron pan. Season it with oil (several layers) before first use, don't wash with soap, but instead, use water and an abrasive scrub tool to remove any food debris, and reseason with oil after each use. Failure to reseason your griddle surface after each use may result in rust developing.
Jason Miles
December 31, 2023 5:21 pmgriddle half flat top
Gary Buwalda
January 1, 2024 3:10 pmHappy New Year Dave,
Just wanted to drop a note and say that your Best Flat Top Grill review was amazing. So much information in that. On a side note if you ever want to mention it, I found that Traeger offers a great discount to First Responders.
Thanks and stay safe in 2024!
David Gafford
January 16, 2024 5:53 pmWe didn’t know that; thanks for passing that info on!
Jeff Forbes
January 29, 2024 5:31 pmGreat review! Very in depth and you check those boxes I always look for like ease of assembly, flimsiness etc…
Thanks for saving me a lot of leg work as I can really narrow down my search.
Nigel
February 3, 2024 8:35 pmIncredible review with a lot more information that you typically get. Loved the analysis of heat distribution and the wind test. And using real food for it so you can see exactly what’s going to happen to your cook. Those were really eye-opening and making me think the Traeger is worth the extra money.
TJ
February 27, 2024 2:59 amGreat review. Thank you! One question, do you think you will be able to get your hands on one of Weber’s new “Slate” model griddles? I would love to see how it stacks up to those in this review. Thanks again!
Paul
May 8, 2024 8:19 pmGreat review, thank you! Quick question, did the Blackstone you tested have the Omnivore griddle plate and wind guards? Thanks, again!
Donnie
May 13, 2024 10:13 pmDavid good write up and review. truly do appreciate your articles. I was considering the Traeger Flatrock and the Blackstone 36″ w/air fryer and warming drawer.
I am stuck between those two and not sure what the best way to go is. Like I like the idea of the air fryers but also don’t know will I use them consistently. Possibly but I think they would come second to the actual griddle itself.
would it better just to do the Flatrock as it seems to be the better griddle and just leave the air frying to our counter top model inside? I just don’t know how big of a difference there would be that would be given up if anything between the two or if the air fryer combo actually would sway the choice.
So just wanting to get some insights and recommendations since you have more experience with the griddles than I do.