How To Clean A Presto Griddle (Step-By-Step)

Presto are famous for their amazing electric griddles. Breakfast, lunch, dinner – whatever meal you’re cooking up, you can do it easily with a Presto griddle. But what happens after you’ve cooked?

How do you make sure the griddle is properly cared for and maintained so you keep your Presto griddle working perfectly for many more years?

Well, in today’s post I’ll be explaining exactly that. I’ve even managed to find guidance from Presto themselves, detailing exactly how to clean a Presto griddle, so all my advice today will be based on their guidance, so you know that this is the perfect way to clean your griddle!

Ready to get started? Then let’s get to it!

The Initial Presto Griddle Cleaning

Whenever you get any new griddle, it’s good practice to clean it right after taking it out of the box. Some manufacturers will add certain products onto the griddle to keep it looking new in storage.

While it’s not necessarily harmful, I’d still recommend a thorough clean to make sure any cleaning solutions are clear before using them, just because they may affect the way your griddle works or the way your food tastes.

But don’t just take my word for it, Presto also recommends cleaning their griddles before initial use – and it’s really simple:

• Fill your sink up with warm water and a little dish soap
• Wash the surface of the griddle using a soft sponge
• DO NOT allow the electric components and heat control elements to get wet – this will damage the electrics and stop your griddle from working
• Rinse the griddle with water
• Dry thoroughly before storing away

This is the perfect way to prep your Presto griddle for the first use, and below I’ll tell you what Presto recommends for cleaning their griddles after every use to keep it looking like new!

Presto Griddle Cleaning After Daily Use

Thankfully, the way you need to clean your Presto griddle isn’t too different from the initial clean.

The only real difference is that you need to be more aware of food spillages, burned food, and other messes that are made while actually cooking.

But just to make things clearer for you, here’s everything I learned from reading Presto’s care and cleaning advice:

• Fill your sink with warm water and dish soap again
• Keep the electric components and heat control elements away from the water
• Wash the surface using a non-metal cleaning pad
• Avoid using steel wool or other abrasive kitchen cleaners as they can scratch the non-stick surface
• Presto says you can use a little force and additional pressure to remove stubborn burned food etc. if necessary – this ought to be all that’s needed thanks to the non-stick coating on the griddle
• Once clean, simply dry the griddle to prevent rust
• Remove the drip tray and wash in warm soapy water separately to get rid of the grease – dry thoroughly afterwards
• To keep the outside of the griddle looking great, Presto simply recommends wiping spills as they appear to prevent it from sticking, and using warm soapy water only when necessary
• If you do need to wash the outside of the griddle, then make sure it is thoroughly dry too

The entire process should only take a few minutes, so staying on top of your Presto griddle isn’t a problem.

With this griddle specifically, I really recommend cleaning after each use, or else burned food and other stubborn messes will be difficult to remove, especially since you can’t use abrasive cleaning products to help remove messes that are stuck on.

Instead, you can easily prevent this by making the most of the non-stick surface and cleaning the griddle quickly after use to prevent food from becoming really stuck.

With just a quick cleaning process, you can keep your Presto griddle looking great for years to come.

Recommendations For Discoloration

However, with that being said, Presto themselves says that in time the non-stick finish on the griddle will begin to discolor over the heating elements because of the continued intense heating and cooling it goes through every time you use the griddle.

To fix this issue, Presto have put together a helpful guide on how to remove the discoloration to get the griddle back to looking like new again.

I’ve mixed in some of my own advice here too, that very much supports Presto’s, but from my own experience I think it is necessary to share with you to make sure your griddle not only looks great, but works perfectly the next time you use it too.

So, here’s what to do:

• First, purchase a commercial cleaner designed for cleaning surfaces (Presto recommends a product called dip-it destainer, so this, or a product like this, is perfect)
• Cleaners like these are available in grocery and hardware stores
• Make sure the drip tray is in place
• Then preheat the griddle to 225 degrees Fahrenheit
• Combine 1 cup of hot water and 1 tablespoon of the commercial cleaner
• Use rubber gloves, and then dip a soft cleaning pad into the cleaning solution and rub it all over the surface of the griddle
• Keep rubbing and cleaning until the solution is all gone, and the surface is no longer discolored
• Switch off the griddle and allow to cool before cleaning in warm soapy water again, keeping any electric or heating elements out of the water
• Dry the griddle thoroughly
• Presto recommends covering the surface of the griddle in a light coating of cooking oil before using it next, but I would recommend doing this right away once the griddle is dry
• First, preheat the griddle again to a high heat, and then cover with a light coating of oil, using paper towels to spread the oil evenly over the griddle’s surface while wearing heat-resistant gloves
• Once the smoke has stopped, you may want to repeat the process a few more times to season the griddle effectively
• This will just reinforce the non-stick finish on the griddle, making it perfect for use the next time you cook on it

And that’s it. If you ever have discoloration on your Presto griddle, then that’s all the cleaning that is required to get it back to looking the way it should.

Besides the three sections I’ve talked about today, there’s really nothing else you need to know about cleaning Presto griddles, because the advice here covers the first clean, daily cleaning, and cleaning the griddle after discoloration.

Speaking of electric griddles, did you know Blackstone now has the Blackstone E-Series Electric Griddle? Check out my unboxing video review here.

So really all that’s left for me to say is happy griddling!