Blame it on the smashburger. Also known as the Oklahoma-style burger (even though it seems to have originated in Kentucky or Tennessee, go figure) this style of burger (a ball of ground meat smashed down with a spatula into an irregularly shaped patty, usually on top of a bed of grilled chopped onions) has become wildly popular in recent years, leading to a national chain of the same name and a way of cooking now beloved in many restaurants and at home. Of course, there are many other great uses for a griddle, from pancakes to large quantities of bacon, but I believe it was the humble burger more than anything that led to the incredible surge in popularity of the backyard standalone griddle grill (or flattop). But even if you don’t like burgers (!) there are many good reasons why your next barbecue upgrade should be a griddle.
By that I mean barbecue as an event, as in upgrade for hosting a barbecue in your backyard, or enjoying a barbecue in your back yard, not barbecue as in a type of smoked meat, which requires a smoker (well, there are alternatives but mostly smoking is needed to make barbecue, as in the food group).
Backyard Grills and Cooking Appliances
In the beginning there were charcoal grills like the Weber Kettle. Then a game changing innovation came in the form of backyard gas grills. There are still purists who hate the idea of gas, but they’re flat out wrong. I have been grilling, smoking, doing asado, rodizio, rotisserie, pig roasts and every imaginable form of outdoor cooking for years, and writing about it, and I have more than 15 outdoor cooking appliances on my patio right now, comprising what my wife calls “Grill World.” These include a pizza oven, Argentinean parilla grill, multiple smokers, kamodo cooker, dedicated rotisserie grill, pizza oven and more, and out of all of these, my flagship high-performance dual fuel propane grill gets the most use—because it’s the most convenient, versatile and controllable. If I could have just one grill it would be propane, but fortunately I don’t have to settle, and now I have greatly enhanced Grill World with the recent addition of a griddle, my 2025 season upgrade.
For decades the American backyard typically featured either a charcoal or gas grill, and in those regions where smoking is vital, like the South, Texas and Oklahoma, maybe a wood fired smoker, usually offset. And that was it. But then came the pellet smoker, popularized by Traeger, and as with gas, everything changed. Just as the griddle grill coincided with the rise of smashburgers, the pellet grill timing hit just as smoked meat was peaking and high-quality BBQ restaurants were rolling out to big and small cities across the country, in places where good smoked meat was long unavailable. BBQ become hot, pellet smokers were an easy way for home cooks to get in on the craze, and suddenly pellet smokers were ubiquitous.
So, if you are really into outdoor cooking, you might have a gas grill (or charcoal) and a pellet grill (or wood smoker). If you are really, really into backyard cooking, you might also have some kind of pizza oven. That’s been pretty much it, and I don’t know a lot of folks with more than three devices. But if you are part of the crowd who think it’s a good idea to own multiple outdoor cookers, then it’s time for a griddle. It’s more useful for sure than a pizza oven, and I love pizza.
The Griddle Revolution
The outdoor griddle concept is not new, at least to caterers and those selling food at street fairs, county fairs and outdoor events. If you cook Italian sausage in your backyard, you probably do it on your grill over fire, but if you go to a street fair with an Italian sausage stand or truck, it will almost always be cooked on a flattop griddle. Ditto for restaurants that cook burgers—and smashburgers—along with eggs, pancakes and lots more on a big flattop, even though very few home kitchens have one.
“Prized for their accessibility and versatility—and because they’re so much fun to use—griddles (also known as planchas and flat-tops) are soaring in popularity,” outdoor cooking expert, TV cooking show host and bestselling cookbook author Steven Raichlen told me.
Outdoor griddle cookers were a commercial item and largely unknown to consumers until the Blackstone griddle, an upstart brand, arrived on the scene in 2008. Blackstone made an affordable (you can often find one today for under $200) mass market griddle widely available through major big box retailers and hardware stores, and it took off. Since then, the company has greatly expanded its product line and price point, and many higher end, longer established outdoor cooking companies like Weber and Traeger have gotten into the griddle game, as well as very high priced outdoor kitchen manufacturers and newer popular brands such as Solo Stove.
After doing my research and having owned products from many of these brands, I went with Traeger for my own backyard—and have been extremely happy. Traeger has long been the best-known name in pellet smokers, and brought its quality construction, precision and expertise to the griddle. But first, before talking about what griddle is right for you, let’s talk about why you want a griddle in the first place.
Why Do You Want A Griddle?
No one—literally—knows more about outdoor and live fire cooking of all styles, grilling, roasting, smoking, direct, indirect, yakitori, braai, barbacoa, you name it, then Steven Raichlen. He traveled the world studying the way different cultures do these kinds of cooking as a grad student, then went on to write more than 30 different cookbooks on the subject, including several major NY Times bestsellers that are classics of the genre, including the encyclopedic tomes Planet Barbecue! and BBQ USA, and more recently Project Smoke, Project Fire and the Brisket Chronicles. He personally popularized beer can chicken, now an iconic backyard grilling dish, and has hosted several television shows devoted to outdoor and live fire cooking, including Barbecue University, Primal Grill and Project Smoke. Along the way he won James Berad Awards, Julia Childs Awards, and even won a barbecue cookoff on the original Japanese version of Iron Chef. He is in the BBQ Hall of Fame, created BBQ restaurants for cruise ships, and has had his books translated into at least 17 languages.
Raichlen is on top of everything in the world of outdoor cooking, including trends, and it comes as no surprise that his newest book, just released a few months ago (late April 2025), is Project Griddle: The Versatile Art of Cooking on a Flattop.
Vesrsatile is the key word, because you can do a lot of things with your griddle that you can’t do—or are very difficult to do—on a gas or charcoal grill or smoker—like make fried rice. I use a grill basket to do things like stir fried veggies or scallops on my gas grill, but not since I got the flattop, which is “flat out” better for all these things, and makes it way easier. The old school approach has long been to get a cast iron or carbon steel griddle plate and put it on your grill to make smashburgers, but it won’t have as large a surface area, won’t give you the same kind of multi-zone control, won’t cool down quickly when you lower the heat, and then has to be cooled down until you can safely remove and clean it, which is a pain, because they are really heavy and bulky, and then you have to put it someplace. While fine for burgers, if you try something like noodles or rice or stir fried shrimp, you will almost certainly lose some over the sides, but none of these are problems with a griddle grill. And no matter how good you are with an accessory griddle plate for your gas grill, the standalone style allows you to cook a lot more volume.
Raichlen’s new book has 80 recipes that demonstrate the staggering array of things you can cook on a griddle, and for examples he told me “Cheese. Not a grilled cheese sandwich. But coarsely grated cheese sizzled directly on the griddle.” This results in crispy wafer pancakes of dairy deliciousness. “Noodles, from Japanese yakisoba to Chinese lo mein, noodles taste great cooked on a griddle. Think of the hot metal as a flat wok.” He added backyard grilling oddities such as popcorn and crepes.
Raichlen told me, “I like to think of these griddles as the alter-ego to grills. I now have and use both in my outdoor kitchen. I use mine several times a week. I just love it. And thanks to the advent of the stand-up griddle, you can now cook outdoors a huge repertory of food once possible to prepare only in your kitchen. Griddles, planchas, and teppans will never replace true grills, but they offer many advantages that account for their soaring popularity. Here are eight reasons to love griddles, which I cover in my book:
1. Griddles and planchas are big. You can cook a lot of food on them. You can cook a whole meal on them.
2. Griddles are versatile. You can use them to cook every major food group, from dairy to meat to veggies to sweets.
3. Griddles are easy to clean and maintain. No grill grates to scour or multiple pots and pans to wash and dry. Just scrape the griddle clean, re-oil it, and you’re ready for the next meal.
4. Griddles boost flavor. The close contact of the food with the hot metal triggers the Maillard reaction, with all its flavor-boosting caramelization of animal proteins and plant sugars.
5. Griddles reduce fat. You use a fraction of the oil for griddling that you do for sauteing or deep-frying.
6. Griddles are safe: No open flame or flare-ups—no more explosive ignition or singed arm hair or eyebrows.
7. Griddles are stick-resistant—perfect for cooking delicate or stick-prone foods, like fish fillets, French toast, or eggs over easy—provided that the griddle is properly seasoned.
8. Griddles reduce waste. There are no gaps between the bars of a grill grate, meaning no more shrimp or asparagus stalks sacrificed to the fire.”
And he didn’t even mention smashburgers!
But one benefit I have found with my own backyard griddle that was not on his list was keeping party food warm for a long period of time. We had 30 people over one weekend this summer and served fancy artisan made sausages with onions and peppers. First I cooked the onions and peppers, a large amount, then set them aside in an aluminum foil tray. In the past I would have done that inside at my stove, cleaned another sauté pan and then moved outside. Then I cooked several dozen sausages. Unlike a grill, you don’t have to move them to indirect heat or worry about flare ups. They practically cook themselves. When they were done, I returned the peppers and onions to the griddle, turned the burners down to low, and closed the lid. People could grab a roll and tongs and help themselves to a sandwich whenever they wanted to over the next several hours.
That makes entertaining super easy, without worrying about food overcooking or getting cold. You could also put foil trays or chafing dishes or pots of chili or stew directly on the surface. It is not only extremely versatile for cooking, but for serving and entertaining as well. And no matter how you use it, cleanup is a snap.
You can cook almost anything on a griddle, including steaks, burgers, sausages and especially seafood, which is a snap. If you need some tasty ingredients, a few months ago for Father’s Day I did a gift Guide to the Best Mail Order Meat & Seafood For Backyard Cooking here at Forbes.
Which Griddle is Best For You?
If you are on a tight budget and want to add a griddle at the lowest cost, I’d look at Blackstone, which makes a wide range and has models starting in the $2-300 range which are often discounted (as I wrote this Wal Mart had the “original” standalone model at $197). They also make smaller, cheaper tabletop griddles without the whole cart/stand.
But I’m a big believer in going for heavy duty outdoor products that stand up to repeated use and last a long time, and after much research and experience with their products—and all the rave reviews—I chose Traeger.
Respected culinary website SeriousEats (disclaimer, I have written for them in the past, many years ago, but this does not influence my belief in the high quality of their product reviews) rated the Traeger Flatrock Flat Top Grill as “The Best Splurge” in outdoor griddles in its Best Griddle review roundup, praising the temperature control it gave cooks. Specialist website TheBarbecueLab put eight of the most popular griddle models to the test and the winner was…the Traeger Flatrock. The New York Times’ Wirecutter, one of the most respected gear review sites in the world, chose the Blackstone 28-inch XL Omnivore as its basic best and the Traeger Flatrock as its “Upgrade Pick,” and called it “A luxe option for griddle mavens,” writing that, “Fast heat and exacting temperatures make this griddle great for everything from pancakes to patty melts,” and “It felt downright luxurious to cook on.”
Food & Wine magazine’s griddle roundup picked the Flatrock as “Easiest To Use At Home,” and said, “The Traeger’s grease management system is excellent, with a wide opening for scraping of grease and debris without clogging.” What they don’t mention is that this also makes for very easy cleanup all around.
Many less expensive griddles go with a removable lift-off lid that is more of a metal cover, while the Traeger models all have a heavy duty flip up lid of the style commonly found on gas grills, which I much prefer, especially for large scale entertaining. Other standout features include a recessed top that prevents the burners underneath from being affected by wind, the controls and temperature are precise and intuitive, which is not surprising given Traeger’s expertise in the world of pellet grills where the gold standard is ultra-precise temperatures, and it has internal baffles between each burner to make the heating zones more distinct. It also has two ample side tables for prep and storage and holding plates, an underrated but vital feature when outdoor cooking. The cooktop itself is heavy carbon steel, the same material most great chefs and top restaurants in the world choose as a cooking surface for commercial pots and pans.
It also features impressively heavy duty construction, which you want in a backyard grill of any kind. This is why I don’t usually buy big box store models, with very few exceptions, because cheaper grills generally do not last, and you want something that lasts. Old grills are hard to get rid of and costly to replace. I have several outdoor cooking devices on my patio that are over a decade in heavy use and all of them are in just fine condition, thank you. The old adage is not always true, but with durability of grills it often is—you get what you pay for.
The Traeger Flatrock comes in two sizes, a 2-zone (burner) model 58-inches wide with 468 square inches of cooking surface and a 3-zone model 74-inches and 595, at $800 and $900 respectively with free shipping. For the extra hundred bucks, if you can fit the larger footprint, go for it. Like just about every brand, these run on conventional gas cylinders, even though Traeger is most famous for wood pellets.
But you can also get them at Home Depot and Ace Hardware Stores, many of which offer free assembly and it’s much better than doing it yourself (I speak from experience). My only complaint with the Traeger was the obtuse printed assembly instructions, and instead they suggest a QR code link to an assembly video. But this did not exist, either through scanning the code or visiting the website. On the positive side, for a DIY kit, the screws, bolts, nuts and so on were extremely well and clearly packaged and it came with every wrench and tool you need, which is not the norm. If you are assembling it yourself, it is easier than most grills.
Your Next Barbecue Upgrade Should Be A Griddle
Outdoor magazine Field & Stream reviewed it and concluded that “I tried the Traeger Flatrock griddle—and it made me a better cook. Traeger’s griddle is everything I had hoped it would be, and then some.” The author, already a big fan of griddle cooking and a Blackstone user for years wrote, “a few delicious meals later, I have my conclusion. Is the Flatrock expensive? Yes. But is it worth it? Also, yes.” For pros she listed even cooking, fast heat up time, flavor infusion, ease of use and durability and sturdiness, noting that “the Flatrock is built to last with incredibly high quality materials and construction,” while the only con was price.
But while it gets rated as a splurge and upgrade by many outlets and is certainly pricier than an entry level Blackstone (which also makes models running over $1,300), you can easily spend much more on a griddle—like three to five times as much—if you go with fancy backyard kitchen brands like DCS, Fire Magic, Blaze, Coyote or others. In comparison, the Traeger is a bargain for how well built it is and how well it cooks and should last you for many happy years of cooking, eating and entertaining. But whatever model you go with, your next barbecue upgrade should be a griddle.