In parts of the country lucky enough to have seasons, grilling season, for most, reaches its end around the time temperatures brush up against the freezing mark for the first time. To be clear I am that stubborn fool whoāll bundle up a few times between December and April to fire up the grill and think of warmer times as I shiver through grilling some burgers or smoking a whole chicken, but I realize, and have accepted, that I am ridiculous. A much more reasonable person would probably look into buying an indoor grill. I would argue itās not quite the same, but surely, I thought, thereās at least one indoor grill out there that can come close to mimicking the outdoor grilling experienceā¦right?
The answer is: kind of. Setting aside the amount of space they generally take up on the countertop, the issue with indoor electricĀ grills is they simply canāt produce high heat the way an open flame can, so youāll never get that flame-kissed flavor thatās so unmistakable in foods cooked over charcoal and even gas grills. But I realized while testing the grills below, maybe they donāt have to. Maybe if they cook food in a reasonable amount of time and leave some beautiful grills marks, all while rendering the fat in whatever meat Iām grilling and letting it drip away from the meat, thatās the best we can hope for. With that in mind I set out to find the best indoor grillāone that got hot enough to leave visible grill marks, cooked food relatively quickly, and was easy to clean, all while not filling my apartment with smoke. Here are the top picks.
The best indoor grill overall: Zojirushi Electric Indoor Grill
Iām a big fan of Zojirushi, from my rice cooker to my hot water dispenser, so I had high hopes for this grill, given my very positive history with the brand. It did not disappoint. Of the five grills tested, it got the hottest by far. It left distinguishable grill marks on the chicken and even lightly charred the zucchini, despite having a max temperature of 41ĖF, as per the ownerās manual. The nearly 160-square-inch cooking surface was one of the largest cooking areas I tested, leaving plenty of room to grill four chicken thighs and two sliced zucchinis. It is also an open grill (it is not a molded plate like you see with a grill pan), which allows grease to gather on a separate drip pan.
Temperature control is done by a dial, which can be set to low, medium, or high, though I couldnāt envision a scenario where you wouldnāt want to grill on the highest setting. I was especially impressed with how little smoke was produced, given how well it seared the chicken and zucchini. Once the grill was cool, cleanup was a breezeāitās nonstick, so all the little bits of fond from the chicken just wiped away. This unit is hand-wash only, but washing everythingāthe grill, base, and drip trayātook only a couple of minutes. While the flavor of the food wasnāt what you might expect from an outdoor grill, I would say that this was as close as you can expect to get from an indoor grill. And for about $110 at the time of publication, thatās a pretty good deal.
The best multipurpose indoor grill: DeLonghi Livenza All-Day Grill, Griddle, and Waffle Maker
This grill is one heck of a multitasker. As far as grilling went, it performed just about as well as the Zojirushi, grilling up both foods, complete with grill marks on the chicken and some light charring on the zucchini, easily and quickly. This model comes with three sets of interchangeable removable plates, including grill, flat griddle, and waffle plates. There are two grilling modes: One is a full-contact grill, which sandwiches food between the bottom and top cookingĀ plates (use this with griddle platesĀ if you need a panini press); then thereās BBQ Mode, which lets you open it flat into a full grill for maximum grilling surface. The plates are controlled independently, so you can set different temperatures on each one, which is helpful for the extra functions, but again, I couldnāt picture a scenario where you wouldnāt just use the max temperature for grilling.
For cleanup, the grill plates are dishwasher-safe, a pleasant surprise. Once the grill was cool, I just tossed the plates in the dishwasher and wiped the rest of the machine down with a damp cloth. Speaking of the machine, this thing is mighty pretty with its brushed stainless-steel exterior. It looks and feels both sturdy and luxurious. While I wasnāt specifically testing for the other functions, I did whip up a batch of waffles with it and can confirm it does a great job. So if you own neither a waffle iron nor an indoor grill you can have a two-birds situation.
How I tested
I used each grill to cook one pound of skinless, boneless chicken thighs and two sliced zucchinis. The chicken thighs were patted dry with paper towels and seasoned simply with salt and black pepper. The zucchini was also seasoned with salt and pepper.
I set each grill to its max temperature and allowed each to preheat for five minutes before placing food on them. While cooking I took note of how long it took to cook the chicken and veggies through, whether grill marks appeared on the food, and how much smoke was produced. Once cooking was done, I allowed each grill to cool down before cleaning up. Because all the grills have nonstick cooking surfaces, I didnāt expect cleanup to be an issue for any of them, which was the right assumption. Cleanup didnāt end up being a deciding factor, though some of the grills had dishwasher-safe parts, a nice bonus.
What we looked for
If you take good care of your fire an outdoor grill can top 550Ā°, which I wasnāt expecting any of these grills to do. What I did expect was for each one to cook well enough to leave grill marks on the food and for the food to get cooked through in a reasonable amount of time (under 15 minutes).
This is a concern for any indoor space but especially important in my particular situation because I donāt have a fume hood. Fortunately, none of the grills tested produced more smoke than simply searing something on our gas stove, so this didnāt end up being a factor at all.
The beauty of an outdoor grill is that the fire does most of the cleaning for youāall youāve really got to do is scrape off any stuck-on bits with a brush and oil the grates. I expected cleanup would be relatively easy for all of the grills I tested because they all had nonstick gratesāand I was right! Like smoke, this didnāt end up being a factor either.
Other grills I tested
George Foreman Smokeless Indoor Grill: Since the original George Foreman grill came out in the mid-ā90s the brand has diversified its offerings. This grill was almost identical to the Zojirushi except it didnāt get as hot. As a result the food took about 1.5 times as long to cook, which wasnāt unreasonable, but still longer than I would have liked. The grill is dishwasher-safe, a good plus. At the time of publishing, this grill is about half the price of our winning pick, so itās a great deal if you donāt mind waiting much longer for your food.
Hamilton Beach Electric Indoor Searing Grill: This grill took almost twice as long to cook food as our winning pick. There were no visible grill marks on the foodāit was almost as if Iād seared all of it in a pan instead. All of the parts of this grill, except for the base, are dishwasher-safe, so at least cleanup isnāt an issue.
Ninja Foodi 5-in-1 Indoor Grill:This was the most disappointing of the five grills tested. Even though the grill can be set to 500Ė, it took the longest to cook the food, which made me doubt it ever came close to that temperature. The most frustrating part was the grill grate itself. It sits in the base at an angle so that the grease can slide down into the drip tray. The nonstick coating on the grate is also very, very nonstick. Like, extra super nonstick. So when I put the food on the grill and closed the lid for a few minutes to let it cook, I was very surprised to find that the thighs and zucchini slices had all slid down the grill into a messy pile in the drip tray. When I put the food back in place, it immediately started sliding down again, so I had to stand there the entire time, holding the food in place. As a result the cooking time for a few chicken thighs was over 30 minutes. Ninja markets this as offering a number of cooking options things, like air-frying and dehydrating, but I since I was here for the grilling I didnāt test those capabilities. For the price, and given the brandās reputation (I generally like their products!), this was very disappointing.
The takeaway
Nothing can compare to food grilled over an open flame, whether you prefer propane or charcoal grills, but the truth is, even though the best grill is an outdoor grill, not everybody can have one. So while the results from our two winning grills arenāt the same as what youād get outside, they both did a good job of cooking food. That said, neither did anything that couldnāt be achieved by either broiling in the oven or searing in a ripping hot cast-iron pan (or a grill pan). If that grill experience is what youāre really after, I recommend the Zojirushi. But if you need a grill/griddle that can cook up some chicken for one meal and make some cracking good waffles for another (or the same meal, no judgment here), the DeLonghi is the way to go.
