Whether you are looking for a little something for your patio or if you want a something to take on the road, there are two great portable gas griddle options for you to consider.
Blackstone 17 Inch Portable Flat Top Grill
- MSRP: $99
- Griddle Cooking Area: 268 square inches
- BTUs: 12,000 BTU/hr (44 BTU/hr per square inch of cooking surface)
- Weight: 25 pounds
- Dimensions:Â 17.5 x 18 x 8.5 inches
The Blackstone 17 inch is the smallest of the Blackstone griddles but it shares the same high quality construction as its big brothers. This griddle has a single control valve for an “H” shaped burner that sits under the cooking plate. This burner configuration provides a uniform temperature across most of the griddle surface.
The cooking surface on this griddle is a heavy plate of cold rolled steel. While this is a high quality material it must be seasoned before it becomes non-stick. Also, you will eventually end up dealing with some rust when the seasoning gets compromised or you just screw up and leave it exposed to the elements for too long.
Again, the cooking surface is an excellent, high quality material but it will take some maintenance.
Here is a video that I love showing the Blackstone 17 incher in action. The carrying case in the video is a nice accessory that is sold separately.
The Blackstone 17 inch griddle is a solid product that I do not hesitate to recommend.
Royal Gourmet Three Burner Portable Flat Top Grill
- MSRP: $99
- Griddle Cooking Area: 316 square inches
- BTUs: 27,000 BTU/hr (85 BTU/hr per square inch of cooking surface)
- Weight: 30 pounds
- Dimensions: 25.2 × 18.1 × 9.4 inches
The Royal Gourmet three burner griddle is another great product to consider. There are several fundamental differences between this griddle and the one from Blackstone.
The cooking surface on the Royal Gourmet is porcelain enameled steel. This surface is non-stick out of the box and will not rust as long as the enamel coating remains intact.
The Royal Gourmet has a cooking surface that is 18% larger than the Blackstone and has a much higher heating capacity (total and on a square inch basis).
There are three independent burners on the Royal Gourmet griddle allowing you to establish different temperature zones if desired.
There are not a lot of videos that highlight this griddle but here is the best that I could find. The video shows the unboxing, assembly and initial test cook on this three burner portable table top griddle.
One thing I noticed when I was reading the reviews of this griddle is that it has a design feature that drives some people bonkers. Apparently this griddle is designed to have a little wobble in the cooking surface to help with grease drainage. If a wobbly surface will drive you nuts then you had better stick with the Blackstone.
I can see a lot of folks preferring the Royal Gourmet over the Blackstone based upon the size and the nonstick cooking surface.
Two Griddles to Avoid
Cuisinart Two Burner Griddle
Cuisinart offers a nice two burner griddle that is about the same size as the Blackstone 17 and has a few more BTUs. I don’t like this product for the simple fact that it costs almost $100 more than the Blackstone. If you buy this griddle then you will be paying one heck of a premium just to have the Cuisinart badge slapped onto the front of the product.
No thanks.
Royal Gourmet Two Burner Griddle
As much as I like the three burner griddle from Royal Gourmet the two burner version just confuses me. Why does Royal Gourmet make a small griddle and a smaller griddle??
There is also confusion on the cooking surface for this product. The Royal Gourmet website says the surface has a porcelain enamel coating but it looks nothing like the surface on their three burner griddle. The Amazon listing says the surface is regular steel and this is confirmed by a product review which says the griddle must be seasoned prior to use.
This looks like an okay griddle but I don’t see any compelling reason to buy this instead of the three burner from Royal Gourmet or the 17 incher from Blackstone.
All of these table top gas griddles are designed to be fueled by one pound propane cylinders but have accessory adapters that allow them to be connected to a standard 20 pound propane cylinder.
These small flat top grills are meant for OUTDOOR use only.
If none of these options really floats your boat then take a look at these Tailgater grill griddle combos. They are designed to be portable and pack a little more grilling power.
