If you’ve ever been into a greasy spoon diner and seen the cook flipping burgers and frying eggs on a huge, flat cooking surface, you’ve seen a griddle in action.
But not all griddles are restaurant-sized cooking machines. There are a variety of griddle styles available for home cooks, whether you’re looking for a large, dedicated freestanding griddle for your outdoor kitchen or you want something small and portable you can use indoors or outdoors.
Sometimes a flat cooking surface is just what a recipe calls for, but full-sized griddles aren’t always the right choice for backyard chefs—they don’t impart that classic smokey BBQ flavor that we all know and love, and not all of us have space for multiple appliances in our backyard. So if you’re hunting for that perfect outdoor cooking machine and you’ve narrowed your choices down to flat-top griddle vs gas grill, which one should you pick?
Here’s the good news: you don’t have to choose one or the other! Stovetop griddles or griddle toppers are easily portable and are perfect for putting on your gas grill’s cooking grates, giving you the best of both worlds—a flat cooking surface and that classic grill taste.
We wrote this guide for anyone who’s debating between a flat-top griddle vs. a gas grill, as well as those who are curious about griddling in general. We’ll cover all the hottest points in the grill vs. griddle debate, including:
- The difference between a griddle and a grill
- Types of griddles and griddle materials
- Pros and cons of flat top griddles vs. gas grills
- Grill vs. griddle: which is best for you?
- What is a griddle used for?
Let’s get griddling.
