Over the past couple of months, Dave and I have had to get somewhat creative with our cooking methods. We haven’t had a traditional kitchen all summer long, which means I haven’t had a stove all summer long.
Thankfully, we have a large electric griddle that I purchased several years ago in a fabulous Black Friday sale. We used our griddle at least once a week, even before our kitchen renovations. And over the last few months, we’ve used it almost daily. There have even been days when we make breakfast, lunch, and dinner ALL on our griddle!
A few things I love about our griddle:
It’s big — I can make 8-10 pieces of French toast, 8-10 grilled sandwiches, 12 smaller pancakes, a whole pound of bacon, 12 or more chicken breasts, and much more. This means I can easily make a full meal at one time.
It is slightly tilted so any grease and oil drips off into a removable tray — which makes me feel like I’m cooking healthier!
It’s non-stick and really easy to clean. I realize there is some controversy with Teflon, but so far, the non-stick coating has held up extremely well, and even the stickiest messes don’t stick! Plus, I can clean it in about 2 minutes with vinegar water and a soft cloth.
Here are some of my favorite foods from the griddle.
Breakfast:
French toast
Fried and/or scrambled eggs
Omelettes
Egg, Ham, and Cheese sandwiches
Bacon, sausage, or any other breakfast meat
Hash-browns
Lunch / Dinner:
Bacon Lettuce and Tomato Sandwiches
Grilled Cheese
Panini-style sandwiches with any of our favorite meats and cheeses
Grilled Chicken breasts (for lettuce salad, with rice, or to make chicken salad)
Hot dogs or smoked sausages
Hamburgers
Steak (but only if it’s raining and we can’t use our grill)
Fried veggies
Any type of vegetable or chicken stir-fry
Taco meat for taco salad, tacos, burritos, etc
Quesadillas (meat, bean, or cheese)
As you can see, our griddle gets a workout! And although we’ve also been using our toaster oven, grill, slow cookers, and microwave… I honestly don’t think we could have gotten by this Summer without our electric griddle.
Oh, and I’m super excited that our new cooktop has a large cast-iron griddle in the center. I’m hoping it will be as useful as our electric griddle!
Do you have a griddle?
What are your favorite foods to cook on the griddle?
Debbie says
Can you do a post on how you clean your non-stick griddle? I never even thought of using it for many of these foods? We only just use it for pancakes or bacon so we’ll have to take it out more often.
Pam says
Hi i saw a list on lunch/dinner list saying taco meat…. i am wondering how to do that on a griddle.. reason i ask is because my stove is dead and i am heavily depending on griddle, crock pot, toaster oven and microwave. I love tacos… but have no idea on how to make them with those equipment i got. I have no plans on buying stove because i am moving into a new apt soon but any input will be great.
Andrea says
you can easily make taco meat in a slow cooker — no “full kitchen” required!
Bill says
We have found several uses for our griddle but our favorite is English Muffins that I make at least twice a week.
stephanie says
what brand is the griddle?
Stacey says
(“Hi” to the Stacey above! Love how you spell your name! 😉 )
We use ours all the time, too. I love how efficient it is for making large batches of french toast, pancakes, etc. that the kids can just later heat and eat for a quick breakfast (I don’t cook hot breakfast on school mornings!) or snack. The clean up really is quite easy.
Barbara F. says
Are you doing the kitchen reno all by yourselves without help? Mine took two weeks or so with a contractor. I was ready to kill myself by the time it was finished. How you are doing it with an infant really blows me away.
Linda M says
I use ours a lot also. I like to use it for tortilla pizzas, stir fry veggies, chicken, french toast, pancakes, grilled cheese. I need to be more adventuresome and try to use it the way you have…for many more things. My George Foreman is on its last leg…instead of a new one…I think I wil try to just do the things on the griddle instead. Thanks for helping to declutter my kitchen of one more thing:)!
MoneyAfterGrad says
What a great idea. I never would have thought to use it for lunch and dinner items; a stir fry would be great! I don’t own one but definitely going to keep my eye open for a sale on them.
Tammy Skipper (@Tammy_Skipper) says
I love ours too but I have a question, how do you scramble eggs on it? Every time I try they seem to run everywhere before they start to set. I’ve never thought about doing ground meat either (taco meat?) You definitely got creative! I was cooking for a family yesterday and was thinking I’d give up my microwave before I gave up my KitchenAid stand mixer 😉
Andrea says
Well Tammy, it takes skill 🙂 I usually pour a horizontal line of egg “batter” across the middle of the griddle and then work like crazy to keep it from running down into the grease trap. Then, once those eggs are cooked, they form a barrier for me to pour the rest of the eggs against.
Another solution would be to prop the front legs of your griddle up 1/4 inch or so to make the surface completely level… then they won’t run!
Bama Girl says
Hi Andrea! That is so neat that you’ve been able to cook all summer long without a stove! Griddle cooking looks so easy! And the clean up sounds like a breeze! I like that a whole pack of bacon can be cooked at one time instead of in phases! I don’t have an electric griddle, but I would definitely use it for the bacon! It would come in handy when you need an extra eye, as well. Thanks for sharing! Blessings from Bama!
Stacey says
I have one but i dont use it as often as i really should. Its not dishwasher safe soooo… yeah, i am that lazy. Same thing with my electric skillet. It would make things a lot easier if i used them both but i cant get past the whole “having to do the dishes” thing.
Andrea says
Stacey, we just spray our griddle with vinegar water and wipe down with a paper towel — it literally takes 10 seconds!
Kim says
French toast made with challah bread, it’s the best french toast ever and the only bread we use now. We also cooked bacon on it Monday for the first time and it was yummy.