On the Pros and Cons of Grill Pans

We credit Rachael Ray and other TV cooking hosts for the popularity of the stovetop grill pan. They can "grill" food on camera without having to move the entire production crew outside. Brilliant.

But we're apartment dwellers with no outdoor space, as we know many of you are, and let's be honest. A pan with raised ridges does not a grill make. We're going to give you our own thoughts on the grill pan, below...

We talk a lot about these popular pans (read about them here or here). But essentially what you are getting is a heavy, cast-iron sauté pan that makes lines on your food. You just can't get the same smoky flavor or fire-charred bits that you get on an outdoor grill.

So, here are our pros and cons.

Pros:

The grill marks are nice. Food does look grilled, and the little black dents are satisfyingly crusty.
If you have the model that fits over two burners (which we do), you get a lot of surface area. You can cook many chicken breasts, kabobs, or vegetables in one go.
If your pan is a reversible one that flips over to be a griddle, you can make pancakes. Or a lot of bacon.
The ridges allow fat to flow off the meat, just like it would drip between the grates of a grill, so a burger doesn't sit and boil in its own juices.
Most grill pans are heavy and heat evenly — just like a reliable cast-iron pan.

Cons:

No charcoal, no wood chips, no outdoorsy flavor.
Often, we find the double burner style pan fits awkwardly over our gas stove grates and the middle can become a cool(er) zone.
If you are going to cook a lot of meat over pretty high heat, there's likely going to be a lot of smoke in a small kitchen.
Just like in a regular sauté pan, it's hard to cook some meats thoroughly before the outside is dry or burned. Transferring to the oven is an option if your grill pan is small enough, but you can't put a top on like you can close the cover of a grill.
Our biggest complaint: We find they are a pain to clean and cumbersome to store.

OK, those are our thoughts. We know we're missing some points, so let us know what you think. And don't forget: If you have questions about grilling, send them to us!

(Image: Flickr member kallen1974, licensed under Creative Commons)

Comments (22)

I have a smaller lodge square grill pan, and I love it. It was great for rib eye steaks.

Another "pro" to add: when you cook meat on it, fat will drain through through the so-called grates.

Unfortunately, I do not use it as often since becoming a vegetarian.

I've also found the supply of large grill pans, like the one pictured above, is scarce if you have an induction cooktop like I do. I've been shopping around for a long while and haven't found one that works well.

I have a flat top electric stove and don't feel that these would work very well on it - am I mistaken???

I have to say that the surface area Pro is almost enough on its own for me. I just don't ever cook a meal for 1 or 2 people, preferring to invite 5-6 people and have a good time with the prep and cooking.

Being able to create that much space in my small kitchen would be a godsend.

Unless we're talking about cooking for a crowd, I just don't see what a grill pan would give me that my cheap little George Foreman grill doesn't. I'm sure for some people a grill pan is easier to store in a tiny kitchen, but in my particular tiny kitchen it's easier to find a space for the Foreman.

Ikea has a couple of choices for grill pans that are square-ish and small not that huge and are perfect for dinner for two. I 've used mine on electric stove successfully!

@ Joy R., I have a 9" square grill pan that works fine on my ceramic flat top. I just have to be careful not to shuffle it around and scratch the oven, and I watch it to make sure it doesn't kick off too much smoke (an ongoing challenge with a lot of cooking techniques in my little condo, though).

I have a square le creuset grill pan that i got for free when I ordered a 7 quart dutch oven (nice right!!?!). I tend to use it only for grilling vegetables like corn or squash, because I find that cooking meat or fish on it produces way too much smoke/smell that lingers. It's also a pain to clean. I made the mistake of putting it on my electric stove with the burner on high, and the enamel melted and stuck to the burner until it cooled off enough for me to remove it! I wasn't expecting that....maybe should've though.

We have a double burner griddle/grill pan that I do like, but agree they are a pain to clean mostly since they are so heavy. Nice to have an indoor grilling option and I do think the griddle side makes great pancakes.

JoyR ours is used on a flat top and is fine, I agree you may need to be careful about sliding it around, but ours hasn't ever scratched the surface.

My stove has a grill/griddle option... I keep the griddle set up all the time which I love. I've never used the grill because the smoke, days long stink in spite of a supper sucker vent and clean up would drive me crazy. I'd think the ever famous george forman grill would work as well with less mess.

I, too, have a George Foreman grill - I was given the GF Next Grilleration as a housewarming gift from my partner's parents several years ago. HOWEVER, I find that a simple grill pan from Lodge ($20, if that?) worked much better. In my opin, there's nothing like cooking on solid cast iron.

I have a grill just like the one in the photo. It worked fine on my old electric stove and my last apartment's gas stove... but my new apartment's gas stove is a nightmare. The flames come up the sides and it doesn't really work at all, it feels like it's going to set the whole kitchen on fire. I can't figure out what the difference is from the old stove or how to fix it. Any ideas?

I have a double-burner reversible cast iron grill/griddle exactly like the one in the photo above. No matter how well I season and oil the grill side, meat *always* sticks to it. I have totally given up on using that side and always go for the flat side, no matter what I am making.

i have a foreman grill so i have never felt the need to purchase another grill pan. i love using my foreman grill for chicken breast or some veggies, but it really isn't a substitute for a real bbq...

http://threadtrace.wordpress.com

I love my grill pan but hate the smoke and the boyfriend (aka "dishwasher") seriously hates the cleanup. We let it soak overnight and can still never get it clean. I've tried the "salt on the bottom" trick and it didn't work.

Does anyone have any better way to clean these?

I recommend the All-Clad non-stick double-burner. It is great and the cleanup is easy!

mine is calphalon - kitchen essentials i think? big and round. easy to clean. back in college i had a cheap teflon one that worked great for a few months and then all the teflon came off and the whole thing turned a weird color blue one day. grill pans need to be able to take a beating so teflon seems like a bad idea (i try to avoid it now anyway).

i do love the one i have now, though, and i regularly use it for chicken and lots of veggies. zucchini spears are awesome grilled on one, and this one cleans up really well! it has some sort of nonstick coating or anodizing, i can't remember now - but it hasn't flaked at all with pretty heavy use.

Mine is the same as the one pictured above, and I have to say I absolutely love the griddle side. Pancakes, burgers, crab cakes, eggs.. whatever the task, when well-seasoned these bad boys can't be beaten.

On the flip side, I decided early on that the 'grill marks' and novelty of cooking indoors on a ridged surface don't nearly compensate for the cleaning, storage, and seasoning problems that come along with using this thing in place of an outdoor grill. Not to mention, I am convinced that there's no amount of cast iron in the world that can replace the effects of direct flame on meat.

I have one from Le Crouset. My mother gave it to me a few years ago and I've probably used it twice. I am just not so sure what to do with it. It's not a grill. It doesn't have a lid, and it's fairly flat, so I'd expect it to splatter all over the place if I used it for meat. And since I can't cover it I can't imagine I'd get evenly cooked chicken breasts.

Do you have advice on how to cook with it? Should I just play around with it? Since i live in an apartment, this would be the only way I'd grill, but it just doesn't feel the same.

I used my grill pan yesterday to cook leeks and asparagus which I sprinkled with lime juice, salt pepper and a drop of olive oil for an irresistible snack.

The problem came when I picked up the pan to clean it and found that it had created a huge mess on the stove. I'm assuming the brown stains on my white stove top were from the oil that I used to season the pan but I'm not sure.

Has this happened to anyone else? How can I prevent it in the future?

We use ours constantly, to grill veggies, make panini (with foil wrapped brick on top), grill chicken, etc. It is a pain to clean and we really can't use the reversible griddle side anymore, since the grill side just never gets clean enough, but that's OK - it keeps our bacon consumption down. I would LOVE to know a good way to clean these things.

I've never understood, do I turn both burners on or just one? If the recipe calls for med-high heat do I turn both burners on low because together they'll make the pan med-high temperature?