The Best Stovetop Griddles

This griddle heated quickly and evenly, consistently searing burgers and speedily cooking dish after dish with ease. Its 1-inch-tall sides kept grease safely contained, and its large cooking surface easily fit eight pancakes at a time. We also liked its upright, sturdy handles, which allowed for effortless maneuvering. Its nonstick coating easily released fried eggs and always rinsed clean with minimal scrubbing; as with most nonstick cookware, it scratched when we used a metal spatula on it. This griddle is versatile: it’s compatible with induction, electric, and gas cooktops alike.

This basic cast-iron griddle made beautiful, evenly browned pancakes; great fried eggs; and burgers with an especially thick, deep-brown crust. Thick, solidly made, and incredibly durable, it can be used on a stovetop or on a grill or open fire without any risk of damage. And it’s relatively inexpensive, providing excellent value for its price. A few minor quibbles: Its cooking surface is a bit smaller than we prefer, and its handles are also small and cut out of the cooking surface itself, so they’re a little hard to grab. (That flat design does have a useful purpose, though: The griddle is reversible, with a flat griddle side and a ridged grill-pan side.) And with very short walls, fat sometimes spattered over the griddle’s edges when we made smashed burgers, causing flare-ups. Like other cast-iron griddles, it’s quite heavy. It arrives seasoned, but you’ll want to spend a bit more time building up that seasoning to make it perfectly nonstick and wash, dry, and oil it carefully after use to keep rust from forming.

This beautiful, highly durable artisanal cast-iron griddle turned out perfect pancakes and eggs and well-seared, crusty burgers. It comes preseasoned and was pretty much nonstick from the get-go, though you’ll need to maintain that seasoning to ensure it stays that way. We just wish the cooking surface were a bit bigger and that the walls were a touch taller, as grease sometimes overflowed the edges when we were cooking burgers, causing flare-ups. Its handles stuck up from the cooking surface, but they were on the small side so a little trickier for large-handed cooks to grab. Like other cast-iron griddles, it is also quite heavy.

This nonstick hard-anodized aluminum griddle cooked food nicely, though it couldn’t sear burgers quite as well as cast-iron or carbon-steel models. It was durable and easy to clean, and its 1-inch-high walls contained most grease spatters. While it was slightly heavier than most aluminum models, it was still reasonably easy to lift, thanks to large upright handles. And it had plenty of room to cook on, though it would have had more were it not for an inch-wide grease trough that encircled its cooking surface. Pancakes and eggs sometimes overflowed into that trough, becoming misshapen.

This carbon-steel griddle did an excellent job of making pancakes, frying eggs, and searing burgers. It came preseasoned, though you’ll need to keep building up that seasoning to make it perfectly nonstick (and to keep it from rusting). Its thick construction made it durable, resisting warping over different types of fires, but it also made it somewhat heavy. We liked its large offset handles, which were easy to grab. If anything, they were too large, extending 2.5 inches beyond the cooking surface and making the unit too long to fit on some cooktops easily. We had to maneuver the griddle in awkward ways to get it to sit over two burners. We can see this griddle being great over an open fire (a stand is sold separately to facilitate this), but we’d want any griddle to work better on our stovetops first.

This cast-aluminum griddle was durable, easy to clean, and did a good job of cooking food, although burgers cooked on it weren’t quite as crusty as burgers cooked on cast-iron or carbon-steel models. It provided the largest usable cooking surface but was still light enough to lift easily. Our main gripe? The surface itself was pitched at an angle: While this helped grease run toward the trough on the lower side, it also encouraged pancake batter and raw eggs to run toward the trough as well, making for misshapen breakfast foods. And because the griddle was open on one side, flare-ups were slightly more common than they were on walled models.

With a ceramic-based nonstick coating, this hard-anodized aluminum griddle was durable and easy to clean; it cooked food well, though it didn’t brown burgers quite as deeply as other models did. It was lightweight, and its upright metal handles made it easy to lift; its 1-inch-high walls contained most grease. We just wish it were a bit bigger and wider; we could squeeze only six pancakes at a time on it, instead of the eight we managed with most other models.

This ceramic nonstick griddle maintained its slickness throughout testing, easily releasing fried eggs and pancakes and rinsing clean with minimal scrubbing. We liked its 1-inch-high walls, which corralled grease and prevented flare-ups, and we were also impressed by its upright, solidly built handles, which gave our hands enough space for a sturdy grip. It was relatively lightweight—especially in comparison to cast-iron and carbon-steel models—though its stainless-steel baseplate, added to make it induction-compatible, also made it heftier and more unwieldy than our overall winner. Because the baseplate doesn’t cover the entire base and the griddle is already quite wide, this model heated unevenly, so we struggled with hotspots during a few tests. The cooking surface is also pitched slightly upward in the center to allow drippings to flow to the edges; while this design helped manage grease, it also caused raw eggs and pancake batter to land awkwardly and flow unpredictably, occasionally creating misshapen foods. As with most nonstick cookware, this griddle scratched when we used a metal spatula on it.

This carbon-steel griddle was promising: It was lighter, easier to lift, and slightly quicker to heat and cool than the cast-iron models. It cooked pancakes and eggs evenly and put a beautiful crust on burgers. Relatively tall walls kept flare-ups largely at bay. But this griddle was small and narrow, fitting just six pancakes at a time. And while it arrived with some seasoning on it, the seasoning wasn’t complete, causing eggs and burgers to stick slightly; more careful cleaning and maintenance was required as a result. Worse, the griddle warped a tiny bit, making it unsteady on the range afterward, though it didn’t noticeably affect the functionality of the griddle otherwise.

Made from hard-anodized aluminum, this nonstick griddle made good food (even if it couldn’t sear burgers quite as deeply as others), cleaned up easily, and was quick to heat and cool. As a bonus, it came with a small metal spatula. While not quite as roomy as our winner, it was still spacious enough to cook eight pancakes at a time. Slightly lower walls meant that we got a few more grease flare-ups when cooking burgers over high heat; perhaps as a result, the silicone on its handles melted slightly, though the handles remained largely usable otherwise.

This expensive enameled cast-iron griddle had excellent heat retention, ensuring that burgers received a thick, deeply brown crust and that pancakes and eggs cooked evenly. And it was incredibly durable, promising good performance for years to come. We had a few qualms beyond its price, however. It’s heavy, and its enameled surface was a touch rough; burgers and eggs stuck slightly, so the griddle generally required more cleaning. With no walls, even its small grease trough couldn’t contain all the fat that ran off the burgers, causing flare-ups. Finally, the griddle was small and narrow, making even six pancakes a tight fit.