The Best Grill Presses

The smooth, well-proportioned surface of this cast-iron press seared single steaks, salmon fillets, and burgers to perfection. Because it’s a tad heavier than other models, it flattened our grilled cheese sandwiches more than we would have preferred, but otherwise its performance was excellent. And while slightly slippery, its tall coated steel handle stayed surprisingly cool, at least for short stints on the stove. Arriving preseasoned, this press needed no maintenance, though you’ll have to wash and dry it by hand to prevent rust.

Buy at Amazon

 With a good weight and ample surface area, this restaurant-supply press did a great job of flattening and browning all foods. We loved the press’s tall handle with its grippy, stay-cool silicone sheath; both features helped keep hands cool and safe as we used it. Because it’s made from stainless steel, its cooking surface can be a touch slippery; we found it occasionally slid off the rounded tops of salmon fillets. But that stainless steel also means it requires no maintenance and is easy to clean—just remove the silicone handle sheath and throw it in the dishwasher.

Buy at Amazon

This cast-iron grill press has just the right weight and surface area, so it did an excellent job of searing and browning every kind of food we tested. Just a few small issues: Its surface is covered in bumps the size of sesame seeds, which imprinted themselves onto the food when the press was preheated and made cleanup a bit of a challenge. Its tall wood handle stayed fairly cool and was easy to grip, but it was rough-textured, sending a splinter into a user’s hand. And like all cast-iron presses, it has to be hand-washed and hand-dried carefully to prevent rust.

Buy at Amazon

This good-size, nicely weighted cast-iron press was great at searing and browning foods of all types. Its ridged surface required a tiny bit more work to clean and left grill marks on food when we preheated it—not a deal breaker, but we preferred presses that delivered an even edge-to-edge sear. Its lacquered wood handle was easy to grip and stayed cool but split on one side during testing, possibly because it absorbed water and swelled. Like all cast-iron presses, it must be washed and dried by hand to prevent rust.

Buy at Amazon

Handsome but surprisingly expensive, this press had a good weight to it, allowing us to get the perfect sear on all the foods we made. Its tall handle kept our hands a safe distance from the heat, and we liked that its leather sheath helped protect our hands too. (We were less pleased that the sheath got spattered with repeat use and had to be removed whenever we wanted to clean the press itself.) Its stainless-steel surface has a tiny bit more texture to it, so it sits on food a little more securely than smoother stainless models. It’s just a little smaller than we prefer, and like other stainless-steel models, you can’t effectively preheat it in order to sear foods from their top sides.

Large but lightweight, this press is primarily intended for smashing burgers. It did this task reasonably well, though because it’s so light, we had to use a bit more force to really smash the meat into a thin patty. It was also a little too light to help us sear steaks, and its flat stainless-steel surface was a tiny bit slippery, occasionally making it hard to balance on top of irregularly shaped foods. But we had great success when we used it to make delicate grilled cheese and pan-seared salmon, and the plastic handle kept our hands a reasonable distance from the heat.

Buy at WebstaurantStore

Although it was on the lighter side, this smooth-surfaced, dishwasher-safe model still did a great job of pressing and searing single pieces of food at a time. And testers loved the handle, which was quite tall and came with a silicone sheath that was easy to grip and kept our hands cool. But this model was a touch big, which made it awkward to balance on single pieces of irregularly shaped food and harder to check on food as it cooked. Because it was made of stainless steel, the press surface was slippery and couldn’t effectively be preheated in order to sear food from above.

Buy at Amazon

This large cast-iron grill press really shone when we used its significant weight to smash burgers and sear thick steaks. We also liked that we could preheat it, a trick that let us brown food on both sides simultaneously. It was too heavy to press grilled cheese without squashing it and a little too large to balance easily on an irregularly shaped salmon fillet. Its cast-iron handle was a little shorter and got a little hotter than higher-ranked models. Still, if you smash a lot of burgers, it’s a good option.

Buy at Amazon

One of the lightest presses we tested, this model worked best when holding down softer foods such as grilled cheese sandwiches and salmon, providing a gentle touch while still allowing for good browning. But we had to use a lot of force in order to smash burgers with it, and it wasn’t as good at holding down thick steaks for searing. And while its handle was large and tall enough to keep our hands high above the cooktop, it’s made from wood, so the unit can’t be put in the dishwasher for cleaning.

Buy at Amazon

With the largest surface area of all the presses, this cast-iron model was a bit awkward to balance on single pieces of irregularly shaped food, and it obscured our view of the food as it cooked. Still, it preheated well and did a good job of searing the food once it was situated. Ridges on its surface required a little extra work to clean and imprinted grill marks onto food when it was preheated. Testers liked its tall wood handle, which was grippy and stayed relatively cool during use. Like all cast-iron models, it must be hand-washed and hand-dried.

The darling of many professional chefs, this innovative press can be used alone or in multiples stacked on top of each other. It comes in several weights; we tested the 13-oz version. Made from stainless steel, it’s easy to clean, and we liked the fact that it has large slots cut into its surface; these allowed steam to escape from below the food more easily, improving browning. On its own, however, the press was a bit small and light—great for making grilled cheese sandwiches and panini but not providing enough coverage when used on a large steak and allowing a salmon fillet to buckle on the hot skillet. (You can solve these problems by buying an additional press or set, but costs mount quickly, considering the price of a single unit. But our biggest quibble? Its tiny, low handle was hard to grip, except with tongs; our hands and pot holders got dangerously close to the cooking surface.

Weighing more than 4 pounds, this smooth-surfaced press preheated nicely and did a great job of searing steaks and smashing burgers into crisp patties, but it was too heavy to cook salmon or sandwiches without flattening them more than we liked. Because of its size, it was also a little harder to balance on irregularly shaped pieces of food and made it more difficult to see underneath during cooking. Its galvanized steel handle was a bit slippery but kept our hands relatively cool. Like other cast-iron presses, it must be hand-washed and hand-dried.

This well-proportioned cast-iron press preheated nicely and did a good job of searing and browning single pieces of food. Its ridged surface required a little extra detailing to excavate bread crumbs and bits of burger when cleaning. And like all cast-iron presses, it must also be washed and dried by hand. Our biggest gripe? Its tall handle is made entirely of cast iron and gets almost as hot as the cooking surface during use.