Flat top grill? Or Stand-Alone Griddle? Some choices are tough. Every busy restaurant or diner has flat-top grills to churn out batch after batch of amazing food. It’s not unusual to be jealous of those flat-top grills if you’ve got a passion for a barbeque.
But buying a stand-alone griddle may not be efficient if you don’t have enough space. If so, you may have wondered, can you put a flat top on a grill?
Answer: Yes, you can put a flat top on a grill. Several manufacturers produce flat-top griddles that come in different sizes. You need to choose a size and just put it on top of the existing grill to enjoy the best of both worlds of grill and griddle.
But these are not all the know-how for you to use a flat top griddle on a grill. You have to be specific about the type and size of the flat top you want for your grill.
You might also be curious to know how you can cook on a flat top and what type of dishes you can prepare using it. I will address all your burning curiosities up ahead.
Cooking On a Flat Top Over a Grill
Using a griddle plate over a part of your grill opens up a wide versatility for your cooking. You can take advantage of the best of both worlds by using a griddle plate on a part of your grill.
Using the griddle plate opens up endless possibilities for your cooking and brings mouthwatering foods to your table.
You don’t have to choose between grill and griddle. Instead, you can choose to grill a burger patty or English muffin on the grill grates while frying an egg or pancake on the griddle at the same time.
You can griddle the patties or sausage for beautiful crispy edges as well. Throwing some wood in will get you the deep smoky flavor as an extra. Steelmade USA makes some great “Made in America” Griddle tops for your grill, check them out here.
You also have several options for your griddle plates. You can choose to buy cast iron, cast aluminum, modern alloy griddle plates, or others according to your choice. Griddle plates let you have a huge space for cooking.
It will turn the whole grill into a frying pan. So when you’re cooking for a large group, this method will be extremely helpful.
The only problem that you may face with cooking in this method is that the gas grill is designed to cook with the lid shut (but this is doable with most grills). You have to have all the burners on high along with the sear burner.
So achieving the perfect temperature can be a bit hard. But overall, the griddle plate is a fun and efficient method of cooking that brings mouthwatering and tasty food easily to your plate.
What Can You Cook On a Flat Top?
When you’re using a flat-top griddle on your grill, you can use it as both a griddle and grill. So the possibilities for what you can cook on it are endless. You can cook up a whole breakfast buffet consisting of – hash browns, sausages, bacon, omelets, pancakes, and more.
You can also make a burger, seafood, vegetables, beef, chicken, tortillas, and whatever you’d want.
Since you also get the grates, you can cook fatty and marinated meats on the other side. The fat and marinade will be easy to get rid of with the spaces between the grates.
If you like the smoky taste and mark of grills on your proteins, it won’t be a problem to get them. With a dedicated flat top grill, this would not be possible.
Tips On Using A Flat Top on A Grill
Dedicated flat-top grills can be easily seen at a busy diner or a restaurant. While they are the perfect choice for anyone that’s running a diner or a restaurant, it’s not the best one for using at home.
The dedicated ones are large, expensive, and need a powerful venting system. So buying one might not be resourceful for everyone.
But if you’ve recently gotten hooked on these beautiful flat-top grills, you don’t essentially have to buy the large, expensive ones.
Many manufacturers have started making these griddle accessories that give you almost the same experience as a flat-top grill. You can just buy a flat top griddle and toss it on top of any grill that you have.
How To Select A Flat Top For Your Grill
This griddle accessory for your grill opens up unlimited versatility for your cooking. But before you get to cooking on your flat top, you should remember a few basics. They are:
Choosing The Right Griddle Size
You will find flat top griddles made by a variety of manufactures and in many sizes. So before you buy one, make sure to get your desired size. If you have a large grill surface, you can get a griddle that will let you have a griddle space as well as a grilling space.
But for a small grill surface, a full-size griddle would be the best choice. Even if you have a kettle-style charcoal grill, don’t fret. You will surely find round griddles just the right size to fit it in the market as well.
Cooking Zones
Having different cooking zones like- hot and cool zones is a great idea for cooking on a flat top. This way you can use the whole space of your flat-top and move food around as you cook them. You can make one side of your grill hotter to create a hot zone.
Adding more coal on one side for a charcoal grill and having one burner high for a multi-burner gas grill will easily let you create different cooking zones.
Dealing With Excess Grease
When you’re using flat-top griddles, you can’t avoid the excess grease. Disposing of the grease properly is extremely important as it can fall into the open flame of the grill.
This can cause grease fires and flare-ups that anyone would want to avoid. So having a proper way to drain these away is a must. You can get the flat tops with drain holes that will easily let you drain the grease into your grill’s grease trap. You can also look for griddle plates with a lip to contain all the oil and juices.
Proper Tools For a Flat Top On A Griddle:
When you’re using a flat-top griddle for your grill, it’s not unusual for them to move around. These moments tend to happen a lot and you will want to get the griddle back into place quickly.
So keeping an oven mitt or something to grab the hot griddle nearby at all times is a good idea. You will also need a well-sized handy spatula for all your actions on the griddle. Check out our guide here to the needed accessories to great griddle cooking.
Conclusion
For a restaurant or a diner, getting a flat-top grill is the perfect grill for processing or frying food. But for someone with limited space at home and a tight budget, buying a flat-top grill can prove to be extremely inefficient. In that case, buying a flat top separately and throwing it on your grill when needed is the best option.
I hope this article was able to do away with any confusion you had on whether or not can you put a flat top on a grill. Make sure you follow my tips on using it before actually doing it. Some of those tips are essential to make your flat top add on to properly work. Thanks for reading. And until next time, farewell.
