Best Portable Griddle for 2026

We have 7 of the best portable griddles in the United States, and we’re putting them through The Barbecue Lab series of tests to crown a winner.

Quick Links to the products mentioned in this post and video:

• Solo Stove Steelfire 22 (Use code: BBQ20LAB26 to save $20)
• Blackstone 22″ Flexfold or Walmart or Amazon or Ace
• Pit Boss Ultimate 23 or Amazon or Walmart or Pit Boss
• Halo Elite 1B or here or Amazon or Lowes
• Weber Slate 22 or Ace or Walmart
• Camp Chef Gridiron Gameday or Walmart or Amazon
• Charbroil 22″ Performer or Amazon or Walmart
• Mr. Heater Fuel Keg
• Propane tank refill kit or Amazon
• Thermoworks weighted surface griddle probe
• Essential Equation Seasoning

Here at The Barbecue Lab, we test the gear you’re thinking about buying so you make great investments with your outdoor cooking dollar. In this article, we’re testing capacity, mobility, high heat, low heat, sear capability and a whole lot more, so if you’re thinking about picking up a portable griddle, you’re in the right place.

SKIP TO THE RESULTS

Disclaimer

First, where did all of these come from? Some we had on hand already at The Lab, some we were sent by the manufacturer, and some we just went out and bought. We’re treating them all the same way, and the test results are simply the results. We show you the tests and you can see the results whether they’re good, bad or ugly.

Testing the Best Flat Top Grills

Let’s meet the contenders. The least expensive of the bunch is the Charbroil 22 inch Performer model, costing only $124. Next up, costing more than twice that amount at $299, we have the Camp Chef Gridiron Gameday. For $50 more, we have the Halo Elite 1B and the Blackstone 22 inch Flexfold, both costing $349. The Weber Slate 22 inch costs $379. The Solo Stove Steelfire 22 inch costs $399, and finally the Pit Boss Ultimate 23 inch lift-off costs anywhere between $407 and $599, depending on where you’re shopping.

And if you want to check out any of these products for yourself, there are links up above. Making a purchase through our links is an easy way to support our channel and it’s you who keep more great testing coming in future videos.

Cooking Space

All of these are portable-size gas griddles, but the cooking spaces range in size by almost 150 square inches.

• The Halo Elite 1 B has the smallest cooking area, offering 284 square inches of hot-rolled steel.
• The next smallest is the Solo Stove Steelfire 22 inch, with a 321.7 square inch oval shaped stainless steel cooktop.
• The Charbroil cold-rolled steel cooking surface measures 350 square inches
• The Weber Slate 22 inch comes in just over that with 352 square inches of “rust-resistant carbon-steel.”
• The Blackstone 22 inch Flexfold has a cooking area of 361 square inches of cold-rolled steel.
• The Pit Boss Ultimate 23 inch has 421 sqare inches of “non-stick armored ceramic” cooking surface.
• And the largest of the group is the Camp Chef Gridiron Gameday, with 425 square inches of cold-rolled steel.

Capacity for Cooking Food

As expected, the greatest capacity can be seen in the Camp Chef Gridiron and the Pit Boss, which easily held 15 pancakes with some space between them.

The Charbroil, Weber Slate, and Blackstone each squeezed in 15 already cooked pancakes, but would have struggled to cook and flip that many in one flight.

Number of Burners

Most of these units are two-burner griddles, but a couple of them have just one burner.

One Burner Griddles

The Solo Stove Steelfire 22-inch has a single 14,000 BTU burner. The Halo Elite 1B also has a single burner, but with a dual-zone system. So it’s one 15,000 BTU burner with the ability to only light the right half and leave the left side off. It’s a cool idea, but we found it to be tricky, especially since the only way you can see what’s lit is through a small peephole on the opposite side from where the knob is.

Two Burner Griddles

The Weber Slate 22-inch has two 8,000 BTU burners, the Blackstone has two 10,000 BTU burners, the Charbroil and Camp Chef Gridiron both have two 12,000 BTU burners, and the Pit Boss has two 13,000 BTU burners.

Low Temperature Control

To understand the low heat control on these gas griddles, we placed the weighted surface griddle probe from Thermoworks in the center of each flat top grill and graphed the temperature on low. We ignited all of the burners on each griddle, turned them as low as they would go, and set a timer for 15 minutes.

The gas griddle with the lowest temperature was Weber Slate 22, with a low of 289.2°. The second lowest after 15 minutes was the Pit Boss with 372.7°, and in third place is the Halo coming in at 435.6°.

The flat top grill with the highest low-temperature was the Camp Chef Gridiron with a low of 496.4 degrees, over 207 degrees hotter than the winner in this category. Here are the graphs of the temperatures for each gas griddle going from cold to low for 15 minutes with all burners ignited and set to low.

Cooking Evenness

I know that not all outdoor gas griddles are created equal, and uneven heating can tell you a lot about each flat top grill.

We ran the bread test at the end of our low-heat test, where our griddles had been set to low for 15 minutes. We placed pieces of bread across the cooking surface, and let it go for 5 minutes.

At the flip, here is how the toast looked on each flat top griddle.

In our opinion, the Halo Elite 1B takes first place with the most even result, followed by the Solo Stove Steelfire 22″ in second place and the Pit Boss in third. The Blackstone griddle rounds out the end in 6th place, and the Charbroil takes 7th due to the significant hot and cold spots.

High Temperature Ability

To understand the top level heat for each flat top grill, we started from a cold griddle surface and cranked all of the burners up as high as they would go, and set a timer for 15 minutes. The hottest outdoor griddle was the Camp Chef Gridiron Gameday, which topped 727.2° at the 15-minute mark. The Charbroil came in just behind that with a top heat of 725.5° and the Blackstone comes in third with a high of 658.8 degrees.

The griddle with the lowest high-heat was the Weber Slate 22, that tapped out at 448.3 degrees. Here’s a graph of how each griddle fared during the high heat test showing starting temperature all the way to the highest heat at the 15 minute mark.

Question of the day

In just a second we’re going to test how these outdoor griddles perform in windy conditions, but first, I want to pass a question off to you. If you’re into camping or tailgating and can only take one portable outdoor cooking appliance with you, what’s it going to be? Flat top griddle? Pellet grill? Charcoal grill? Tell me in the comments below which portable grills would be your priority, and why.

Best Outdoor Griddle for Windy Conditions?

Whenever I use a gas griddle here in the midwest, there’s usually a wind blowing outside, so to test that with each flat top grill we set a fan blowing on high 20 inches from the griddle surface leveled with the center of the fan at griddle level. We measured the wind speed between 6 and 7 miles per hour for this test.

Each gas griddle was set to high for 15 minutes, and at the 15 minute mark, we took temperature readings at the far right, mid-right, center, mid-left, and far left points using the Thermoworks weighted griddle thermometer.

The previous day, we ran the same test without the fan and logged those numbers as well and charted the difference the fan made to the outdoor griddle performance. First place goes to the Blackstone griddle, with an average difference of 84.92° when the wind was blowing. Second place goes to the Weber Slate 22 inch with a difference of 102.44°, and third goes to the Halo Elite 1B with a difference of 117.8°.

The remaining 4 gas griddles seemed much more affected by the wind, with Charbroil coming in 6th place with a difference of 241.82°, and 7th place goes to the Solo Stove Steelfire 22 inch with a difference of 248.54° when wind was a part of the cook.

We found those results to be a bit surprising, since the 30″ version of the Steelfire only saw a 75° dip in temperature in our full-size griddle roundup, but that version was designed with a more recessed griddle top as opposed to this one where the griddle is more elevated.

Flat Top Grill Sear Ability

To test the quality of the sear that each of these outdoor griddles can give us, we ran a smash burger test. Each gas griddle was preheated to 500 degrees as measured by the weighted griddle thermometer, and we let the burgers go for 90 seconds on the first side with a healthy dose of our Essential Equation salt, pepper, garlic seasoning.

At the flip, here’s how the sear looked on each flat top grill.

We rated the sear, and first place goes to the Solo Stove Steelfire 22 inch, with the hardest sear of the group followed by the Blackstone griddle and then the Charbroil for third place. At the bottom of the ranking, we find the sear on the Pit Boss earning it 6th place with the Camp Chef Gridiron Gameday rounding out the testing batch in 7th place.

Considering the fact that the Gridiron tested as our hottest griddle a few minutes ago, it’s probably safe to assume that we could have achieved a better sear if we’d let it get hotter first, but we typically prefer our smash burgers at the 500 point. If you want to see how we reached this conclusion, feel free to head over to our “Overthinker’s guide to the perfect smash burger” where we tested all the different variables that can go into this classic outdoor griddle recipe.

Grease Management System

Location and size of the grease trap is always a concern with griddles, but when you’re working with portable units, capacity of the grease tray is also important.

First, the Charbroil, Camp Chef Gridiron, Pit Boss, and Weber Slate 22 all have their grease trap in the front left corner of the griddle surface.

The Blackstone and Halo both have rear grease traps, neither losing cooking surface to drain grease and food debris. The Halo Elite 1B also has a cool utensil scraper squeegie, which we enjoyed on their larger griddle as well.

The Halo has the largest grease tray capacity, holding about 5 and a half cups of liquid before overflowing, while the Solo Stove Steelfire had the smallest, holding only 1 and 3/4 cups.

Portable Gas Griddle Fuel Options

Since these are all considered “portable” griddles, all but one of them can be fueled by a 1-lb propane canister. The Pit Boss Ultimate is the only one that has to be hooked up to a 20-pound propane tank.

The Halo Elite 1B is unique in that it includes adaptors for using either a 1-lb or a 20-pound tank, offering the most fuel flexibility of them all. There’s even a natural gas conversion kit available if that’s the route you want to go.

Adaptor hoses can be purchased separately to convert the others from 1-lb to 20-pound propane tanks, but I’m not aware that there’s a way to convert the Pit Boss from 20 pound to 1.

We found a solution for refilling propane tanks!

By the way, we went through a ton of the 1-lb Coleman propane tanks throughout our testing, and it wasn’t until almost the end before we finally discovered a great solution for refilling propane.

We just picked up the Mr. Heater Fuel Keg refill kit and a couple of the Fuel Keg bottles. You hook it up to your 20 pound propane tank and in 60-90 seconds, you’ve got a full 1-lb canister. It’s a bigger up-front cost to go this route, but a huge savings and less waste in the long run. I don’t know, maybe I’m late to the game discovering this, but wanted to pass that along for anyone who might find that helpful. You’ll find those links at the top and bottom of this article.

What’s the Best Outdoor Griddle for Portability?

While these are all considered “portable” griddles, the effort it takes to move them around does vary some. We worked together to test the portability of each, working together as a team, and then David took a stab at lifting them by himself.

There were really only two that he would have felt comfortable moving by himself, and those were the Charbroil and the Solo Stove Steelfire, both weighing under 40 pounds with a small enough footprint to really get his arms around.

Now the Blackstone includes the Flexfold stand with wheels, so it can be moved around with one person, but it took both of us to figure out how to fold and unfold it and would definitely take 2 people to lift it up into the bed of the truck. The others work best with 2 people because of the size and weight.

Can You Cook With the Lid Down?

Before I share my final thoughts, I know that many of you want to know if you can cook with the lid down on these models. We’re going to address that on our social channels in a video later this week, so make sure you’ve added us on Instagram, TikTok or Facebook, and we’ll do a walkthrough and show you which ones it will work on.

Our Final Thoughts on Portable Flat Top Grills

To summarize everything we’ve covered so far, I’ll share my final thoughts on each griddle.

Char-Broil Performer 22-inch

Camp Chef Gridiron Gameday

Blackstone 22″ Flexfold

Halo Elite 1B

Weber Slate 22

Solo Stove Steelfire 22-inch

Pit Boss Ultimate 23″ Lift-Off Griddle

Which Portable Flat Top Grill is Right for You?

So those are my thoughts on each one, but I know you like when I pick a winner, so here goes:

Best Griddle For Home and Away

If you’re looking for one griddle to use at home and on the go, the Pit Boss Ultimate 23″ Lift-Off is the best solution, in my opinion. Having a cart model on the patio, but take the top with you in the RV is exactly what this model was designed for, so this is a great dual-purpose griddle. The cart even has some nice additional features like a paper towel holder, side shelves with tool hooks, a bottle opener, and a trash bag holder.

Best Griddle For Tailgating

If I wanted a griddle for tailgating, I would choose the Solo Stove Steelfire 22-inch. It’s lightweight and easy enough to move independently, and I just love the removable stainless steel top.

Best Take-Anywhere Griddle

If you’re looking for a truly portable, take anywhere griddle, I’d choose the Blackstone 22-inch Flexfold. The Flexfold stand takes a little practice to understand how to use it, but they’ve made a griddle that can actually be moved a distance by one person.

Best Outdoor Griddle for Apartment Balconies

Maybe you’re not as interested in the portability as much as the size, and you’re looking for a good solution for apartment balconies. I would choose the Halo Elite 1B. It includes some of the little details that just set it ahead of the others, and I think it would be a great choice for a small space like that.

But, maybe you disagree, and you can let me know down in the comments which one would win for you.

If you’re thinking about making a purchase of any of the flat top grills or items from this article, you can click the links down below to support our channel. When you use our links, we’ll earn a small affiliate commission from the manufacturers, and it’s you who keep the testing going.

Quick Links to the products mentioned in this post and video:

• Solo Stove Steelfire 22 (Use code: BBQ20LAB26 to save $20)
• Blackstone 22″ Flexfold or Walmart or Amazon or Ace
• Pit Boss Ultimate 23 or Amazon or Walmart or Pit Boss
• Halo Elite 1B or here or Amazon or Lowes
• Weber Slate 22 or Ace or Walmart
• Camp Chef Gridiron Gameday or Walmart or Amazon
• Charbroil 22″ Performer or Amazon or Walmart
• Mr. Heater Fuel Keg
• Propane tank refill kit or Amazon
• Thermoworks weighted surface griddle probe
• Essential Equation Seasoning