What can you cook on a griddle? What is the griddle great at cooking and what should you avoid cooking on a griddle?
Is it the same as what you would cook on a grill, or is a griddle different? Let’s solve all those answers now!
What can you cook on a griddle? Well, with griddle cooking there are some foods, such as pancakes, that you can cook on a griddle but not a grill. Some foods also cook better on griddles than on grills or anything else.
The even heat distribution makes a griddle the best choice for cooking many foods.
However, a griddle cannot cook everything. Some foods should not be cooked on griddles or are hard to cook right on a griddle.
You can cook anything from steaks to pancakes, but a griddle isn’t the right choice for some foods. Honestly, there are a TON of griddle recipes online for a reason.
What To Cook On A Griddle
Steak
While some people don’t think you should cook steak on a griddle , I find it delicious and recommend it.
If you have a good Blackstone griddle or some other high-quality griddle that will heat your food evenly, cooking steak should work.
While you do have to monitor the steak’s internal temperature often on a griddle, this is not a reason not to cook it. A griddle can cook the best-tasting steak you have ever had.
A griddle cooks your food evenly – this is not always true for grills, which are more likely to have hot and cold spots.
Fried Rice
Fried rice cooked on a griddle also tastes great. If you have never tried cooking an Asian fried rice dish before, it is easy to make it.
Start with a good choice of rice – don’t buy the first bag of rice you see in the store; it is better to be choosy. I prefer to use Jasmine rice for fried rice dishes.
Cook your rice the day before you fry it on the griddle, as that saves time.
Use the griddle for cooking carrots, onions, peas, and garlic. Whisk an egg, cook it on the griddle, and then remove it.
Add cooked but cold rice to the vegetables and fry it until it looks done. Add the scrambled egg to the mix at the end. Fried rice cooked on a griddle is one of my favorite foods.
Bacon
A griddle is without question the best way to cook bacon. Not only will it cook tastier bacon than anything else, but it is easy to clean.
A frying pan is a hassle to clean after you cook bacon on it; a griddle is much easier.
Pancakes
A griddle lets you make mouth-watering pancakes fast. It can take a long time to cook enough pancakes for several people; a griddle can speed things up.
The large surface area lets you make big stacks of pancakes quickly, and the strong but even heat makes them delicious.
If you want to make fantastic pancakes that stand out and are not merely tasty, you could try cake mix pancakes. Top them with confetti and sprinkles.
Chicken
Chicken is great food any time of the year. You can use a griddle for cooking chicken breasts, drumsticks, chicken strips, or small pieces of chicken for salads.
I prefer to cook chicken with olive oil because it is tastier and healthier than vegetable oils.
You can use a griddle to make all sorts of tasty and filling chicken dishes.
You may be able to use the griddle for cooking both the chicken and all of the other ingredients. Here are some chicken things you can cook on a griddle:
- Chicken quesadillas
- Chicken fajitas
- Chicken wings
- Chicken breasts
- BBQ chicken
- Chicken tenders
Make sure you cook the chicken thoroughly, as undercooked chicken can be more dangerous than undercooked beef.
Chicken tenders are my favorite chicken dish to cook with my griddle. You only need a simple recipe – chicken tenders, olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Experiment if you want, but I find chicken tenders delicious with only those few ingredients.
First, season your tenders. Rub the salt, pepper, and garlic powder into them as much as possible.
Then, heat up the griddle and put some olive oil on it. You don’t need a huge amount of oil – olive oil can make things tastier, but only in small quantities.
A lot of olive oil can spoil the flavor, so only use enough to prevent the chicken from sticking.
After that, you usually only need to cook the tenders for five minutes on each side.
Use a thermometer to check the temperature in the middle first before you serve, as sometimes it can still be raw in the middle when you don’t expect it to be.
Philly Cheese Steak
Anyone who has tried a good Philly cheese steak sandwich before wants to try it again.
These delicious steak, cheese, peppers, and onions sandwiches are also reasonably easy to make and do not require a long list of ingredients.
You need hot dog buns rather than bread for these sandwiches. Make sure your hot dog buns are larger than usual, as these are supposed to be big, filling sandwiches.
I don’t use exactly the same ingredients each time, but what I often use is:
- Roast beef
- Provolone cheese
- Large hot dog buns
- One sliced onion
- One sliced green pepper
- A small amount of finely chopped garlic
- Salt and pepper
You might chop up other vegetables besides that pepper and onion, or you might add sauces, but only these ingredients plus cooking oil makes a great tasting sandwich.
Heat your outdoor griddle up and toast the buns. Cook the pepper and onion first, then add the salt and garlic.
Don’t start cooking the meat until you have cooked or mostly cooked the vegetables. Add the cheese towards the end. Put the cheese both on top of the meat and on top of the vegetables.
After you cook everything until the pepper/onions are caramelized and the meat is cooked all the way through, make your sandwiches and enjoy.
Some people add ketchup, mustard, or marinara sauce. However, good Philly cheese steak sandwiches have so much flavor that they are often better without ketchup or any other sauces.
French Toast
A griddle is just as good for cooking breakfast as it is for cooking dinner. You can cook better bacon, eggs, breakfast sausages, and french toast on a griddle than you can on a simple frying pan.
You can cook french toast for many different people with a large griddle. You may be able to fit 8, 12, or even more pieces of bread on the griddle at once.
You might already have all of the ingredients you need to cook french toast at home already. All you need is bread, milk, eggs, butter, and possibly a bit of salt.
Butter is a tastier thing to cook french toast in than olive oil or any other cooking oil. Make sure you use thick slices of bread.
Make sure you cook each piece of french toast as long as every other one. If some are on the griddle for too long, they won’t turn out well.
Get all of your french toast ready in advance and put it all on the griddle at the same time. French toast cooks fast, so don’t overcook it. Two minutes on each side is enough.
While I like regular eggs and milk french toast very much, some people try to improve on the usual recipe. Y
ou can try dipping the bread in batter and not only in milk and eggs. To make the batter, mix flour with your milk and eggs.
Real maple syrup tastes a lot better than fake maple syrup, not just a little better. Always get real maple syrup if you can find it. Serve your french toast with fruit and berries.
What to Not Cook on a Griddle
While the griddle is extremely versatile and cook most of any food items, there a few areas you want to avoid cooking when it comes to your griddles limitations.
Most Desserts
While breakfast pastries like pancakes and french toast cook very well on a griddle, many or most desserts don’t work.
Cooking desserts on a griddle can be a disaster. Even if it works, it is a hassle to do it right without ruining your food.
Try cooking or baking your desserts separately indoors, even if you cook the rest of your food on an outdoor griddle.
While you might learn a way to cook a certain dessert properly on a griddle, it is usually not a good idea to do this. Try it at your own risk.
Sausages, Hot Dogs, and Links
Here’s the deal (and I can already hear you yelling at me), yes you can cook these omn a griddle, but in my opinion they just roll around too much and its a bit annoying to rotate them properly.
Hot dogs and sausages are round and can roll around on a griddle. A grill can hold sausages in place much better than a flat griddle can.
You might also use a skillet or a saucepan for cooking sausages outdoors. Grills cook the best-tasting sausages. If you don’t want to buy both a griddle and a grill, you can cook excellent sausages in a saucepan.
Garlic, Peppers, and Spicy Cheese
If you cook garlic and peppers on a griddle, the taste of the garlic and peppers may end up in the next thing you cook.
Sometimes this won’t ruin the taste, or might even improve it, but it depends on what you are cooking.
Personally, I love garlic so it doesn’t stop me, however some people wont like it. Just remove them from your life (kidding, kind of).
If you are going to cook anything sweet on a griddle, don’t cook anything spicy on it beforehand. Some other foods have a smell and taste that can get into the next thing you cook.
So, what do you cook on a griddle?
