Best Flat Top Griddles

The Blackstone 36-inch is the best-selling outdoor flat-top griddle in America, a 4-burner propane cooking station with a huge rolled-steel cooktop. It's the go-to for smash burgers, breakfast, hibachi, and big-batch cooking.

The Blackstone 28-inch is the compact 2-burner version of America's favorite outdoor griddle, offering the same flat-top cooking in a smaller footprint suited to smaller patios and families. It's a top-selling entry griddle.

The Weber Slate 36 is Weber's flagship flat-top griddle, pairing a pre-seasoned rust-resistant carbon steel cooktop with four independent burners, a built-in digital cooktop thermometer, and the storage and side tables that made it an instant Blackstone rival.

The Slate 30 is Weber's answer to the mid-size Blackstone, and its whole pitch is lower maintenance: the carbon-steel cooktop is case-hardened and pre-seasoned at the factory, and owners consistently report it shrugs off the surface rust that plagues bare-steel Blackstones left outside. Reviewers and owners also praise how evenly it heats edge to edge — three burners under 540 sq in with far fewer cold corners than the 4-burner Blackstone 36 — and the front-corner grease trap is easier to manage than rear-scrape systems. The build is classic Weber: heavy, rigid cart, good casters, and a 5-year warranty versus Blackstone's 1 year. The honest trade-offs: at $649 it costs roughly twice as much as a Blackstone 28 with similar cooking area, the digital temp display is reserved for the $799 premium trim, rust resistance is explicitly excluded from the cooktop warranty, and you still need to season and oil it like any griddle. If you griddle weekly and hate rust babysitting, the Slate is worth the premium; occasional smash-burger cooks will get 90% of the experience from a Blackstone for half the price.

The 22-inch tabletop is the best-selling portable griddle in America and the default answer whenever the question comes up about camping, tailgating, or balcony setups. Two independently controlled H-burners give you a real two-zone flat top - eggs and pancakes on low, smash burgers screaming hot on the other side - and 361 sq in is legitimately enough to feed six to eight people, which no portable grate grill this size can match. It screws onto a 1 lb propane canister and hits searing temps fast, though owners recommend the 20 lb tank adapter hose because it burns through the little green bottles quickly. Honest downsides: like every bare-steel Blackstone the cooktop rusts if stored damp, so seasoning and a cover are mandatory; the burners struggle in wind without a shield; the low-end simmer is touchy; and at 32 lbs it's luggable, not light. Quality control complaints (warped tops, sticky regulators) show up in reviews at a low but real rate, and the warranty is only a year. For the price of a nice dinner out, though, nothing else cooks this much food this portably.

Iron Forged is Blackstone's 2025-26 rebuild of the classic 28-inch cart griddle, and this is the hooded two-burner version. The change that matters is the Omnivore griddle plate — a ridged-underside plate that spreads burner heat more evenly than the flat plate on the Original 28 the catalog already lists, which is the single most common complaint about older Blackstones. It also adds a side-shelf accessory rail and a hood the Original 28 at $227 does not have.

The four-zone 36-inch Iron Forged, Blackstone's current volume flagship and the direct successor to the Original 36 already in the catalog at $297. Same 768 sq in plate area, but with the Omnivore heat-spreading plate, a hood, an extendable side shelf and the rail accessory system. Against the Culinary 36 at $1,099 it gives up the cabinet base, the pull-out tank drawer and the stainless trim.

A 28-inch hooded griddle with two drawers built into the cart base: one live 4-quart air fryer on its own 13,000 BTU burner, one 4-quart warming drawer. The griddle itself is the standard two-zone 34,000 BTU 28-inch plate. The whole point is that fries, wings and tots come off the same propane tank as the burgers instead of going inside to an oven.

Blackstone's top non-built-in griddle: 768 sq in and 60,000 BTU across four zones, on an enclosed cabinet with a pull-out propane tank drawer rather than an open cart. It adds a patented heat-control baffle under the plate, a rear grease system, dual side shelves with a magnetic tool strip and a cutting-board pass-through for scraps. Functionally the same cooking surface as the $549 Iron Forged 36 — the money goes into the base, the baffle and the fit.

Blackstone's 1,500 W plug-in griddle, with an LCD dial-set temperature readout and a ceramic-titanium non-stick plate instead of the bare carbon steel the propane models use. It runs on a standard 120 V household outlet and has a rotate-and-remove glass hood. This is the only Blackstone that works where open flame is not an option.

Blackstone's camping unit: a 12 x 14 inch griddle plate and a separate round side burner in one 25 lb case with a latching hood and a carry handle. Both run off 1 lb canisters or, with an adapter, a bulk tank, and Blackstone's propane chain system lets it daisy-chain fuel to a second unit. The side burner is what separates it from every other tabletop griddle — coffee, beans or sauce goes on the burner while the griddle stays clear.

The tabletop Slate: 352 sq in and 16,000 BTU across two burners, with the same case-hardened, pre-seasoned carbon steel plate as the full-size Slate 30 and 36 the catalog already carries. The plate is the reason this line exists — Weber case-hardens it so it arrives ready to cook and resists the flash rust that defines ordinary griddle steel. It folds to under 10 inches tall with a hard cover.

Traeger's only griddle, and its pitch is insulation rather than raw size. Each of the three zones is physically separated by insulated walls and fed by a U-shaped burner, so a 350°F holding zone can sit beside a 600°F sear zone without bleeding into it — the thing a single open Blackstone plate cannot do. FlameLock construction wraps the burners to block wind, which is the other reason griddles lose temperature.

This is the griddle Camp Chef used to sell as the Flat Top Grill 600 — same 604 sq in and 48,000 BTU across four burners, renamed Gridiron 36 in the 2026 line. Camp Chef's distinguishing move is that the round grill grates lift out of the flat top, so the same unit runs as a griddle or as a conventional grate grill. Camp Chef sells it through dealers rather than direct.

Camp Chef's tailgating griddle: 425 sq in and 24,000 BTU across two burners, with a hinged lid that locks down for transport. The pitch is that it is a real cooking system rather than a tabletop toy — enough surface to feed a group, with a grease system designed around a parking lot rather than a patio. It takes Camp Chef's 16-inch two-burner accessories.

Pit Boss's answer to the two things people dislike about griddles. First, the cooktop is coated in a non-stick armored ceramic that ships ready to cook and resists rust, so there is no seasoning ritual. Second, the 89 lb top lifts off the cart entirely and becomes a tabletop griddle for a campsite. 647 sq in and 46,000 BTU across four burners.

Halo splits each of its two burners into two controllable zones, so a 480 sq in plate runs four temperatures rather than two — the reason the Elite line exists. The cooktop is inset below the surrounding frame to shelter the flame from wind, and a stainless lid lets it cook closed. Halo is now a Worthington Enterprises brand and sells direct from halocooks.com.

Halo's travel griddle: 289 sq in of pre-seasoned cooktop with two independently controlled zones, and a high-temperature silicone lid that folds flat instead of adding a rigid hood to the packing list. It runs on 1 lb canisters out of the box and on a 20 lb tank with Halo's conversion kit. The grease cup locks, which is the detail that separates a griddle that travels from one that merely can be carried.

A full-size outdoor griddle on a cart that runs entirely on 120 V household power — no propane tank at all. It holds a set temperature between 200°F and 600°F with Wi-Fi app control and preheat alerts, which is a level of temperature precision no gas griddle offers, since gas griddles have knobs and no feedback. The cooktop is ordinary seasoned steel, so the cooking surface behaves like a Blackstone.

The Daytona is Nexgrill's direct answer to the 36-inch Blackstone, and it undercuts it while adding a stainless lid as standard rather than as an upcharge. 792 sq in of hot-rolled steel over four stainless burners gives 38,000 BTU, with two side shelves and a lower rack on the cart. Nexgrill sells almost entirely through Home Depot, which is where the street price lives.

Char-Broil's Performance Series 36 is the brand's volume flat-top and its most direct Blackstone 36 competitor, sold on a rolling cart with four independently controlled burners. Char-Broil positions it below its own Deluxe version, which adds a hard cover for $150 more. It is a plain, inexpensive griddle — no lid, no electronics — aimed at buyers who want the cooking surface and nothing else.

A two-burner 22-inch tabletop flat-top, Char-Broil's answer to the Blackstone 22 tabletop that already sits in this catalog at $204. It is the same idea executed cheaper: two independently controlled burners on a rolled steel plate with no cart and no hood, meant to sit on a table or tailgate. Char-Broil also sells a folding-cart version of the same 22-inch plate for $299 if a stand is wanted.

The GD401 splits the difference between a griddle and a grill: half the 606 sq in surface is a flat top, half is a grill grate, over four independently controlled burners totaling 48,000 BTU. The legs fold, so unlike most four-burner flat-tops it packs into a car. Royal Gourmet lists it at $428.99 on its own store, but it sells for roughly $260-300 at Walmart, Lowe's, Home Depot and Tractor Supply, which is the real street price.