8 best griddle pans: Grill meat, fish and vegetables to perfection

Best: Overall

Rating: 9/10

As its name suggests, this pan has been designed with versatility in mind. With two small round handles, deep sides and a heatproof lid that’s safe for the oven up to 180C, it can act as an oven dish and shallow casserole as well as a griddle and frying pan, making it perfect if your kitchen doesn’t have the space to house a pan for every occasion.

Made from anodised cast aluminium, it’s much lighter than some of the other pans we tested. While its modest weight had us question its quality initially, it actually felt plenty hardy, heated up nice and evenly and left lovely charred marks on our veggies. Using the lid also means you can speed up cooking time.

As it doesn’t have long handles, it’s easy to store, and we found its non-stick ridges a doddle to clean, too.

Best: Budget griddle pan

Rating: 8/10

If cupboard space in your kitchen is scarce – or you’re looking for a travel pan to take camping – this pick will be right up your street. The handle folds away so that it’s easy to store, the size is compact (while maintaining enough surface area to cook a couple of decent-sized steaks on) and, as it’s made from aluminium, it’s relatively light, too.

The cooking surface is coated in a double layer of scratch-resistant non-stick material – it’s rough to the touch as opposed to shiny smooth, making it feel hard-wearing.

It heated up well and left lovely chargrill lines on our food when we tested it. While a few flecks of the deeply charred food clung to the deep ridges, the anti-abrasion coating meant we didn’t have to be precious about scrubbing it clean.

With its 25-year guarantee and sub-£15 price tag, this MasterClass number – which is oven-safe up to 160C, by the way – is really decent value.

Best: Affordable cast iron pan

Rating: 8/10

This is a sturdy piece of kit. With an enamelled rust-free surface, it’s a pan that feels like it could take a beating, coming away from a session over a campfire or barbecue unscathed. (That said, it may not fare so well in the dishwasher, which could affect the enamel finish.) The fact that it comes with a 25-year guarantee means that the brand is pretty confident it’ll last the distance, too.

It heated up quickly on our induction hob and its well-defined ridges afforded our food those all-important char marks. We also love that it can go in the oven up to 260C, which will come in handy for finishing off steaks or other cuts of meat.

It’s slightly smaller than some of the other pans we tested which, along with its short handle, means it stored away nicely in our pan drawer without taking up too much space.

Best: Eco-friendly griddle pan

Rating: 7.5/10

This nifty pan is made from reused materials – the body is made from recycled aluminium, while the handle is crafted out of old plastic bags. The manufacturing process is even eco-conscious, giving off 88 per cent fewer CO2 emissions, and we noticed that this principle is carried through to the recyclable and compostable packaging it arrived in, too.

The toxin-free non-stick surface is velvety-smooth to the touch – meaning there’s no call for oil if you’d rather not use it – and it has a flatter surface with shallow ridges. This helps in the washing up department, as you don’t have to get your sponge in between the ribs when cleaning.

Although this one isn’t oven-safe (that plastic handle wouldn’t fare well), it is good to go in the dishwasher, and we think this, along with its great non-stick abilities and eco-credentials, more than make up for that fact.

Best: Long-lasting pan

Rating: 8/10

The deep ridges on this griddle pan imparted some serious grill marks onto our food, giving a great chargrilled flavour. We found having a handle on each side really useful – this is a very weighty pan, so being able to use both hands to lift it makes life much easier. The pouring spouts on each side make draining fat or juices away simple, too.

This pan is happy with any type of heat source – including the oven. And, thanks to the efficiency of the material, you need only turn that temperature dial up to medium to get a screaming hot cooking surface, which saves on energy and helps reduce sticking. Working on an induction or ceramic hob? The underside of the pan is super smooth, so there’s little worry of it leaving scratches.

It’s definitely an investment, but the idea with this pan is that it’ll last a lifetime – which is the precise length of the warranty, by the way – and that it’ll get better with age, thanks to the enamel coating’s ability to build up protective non-stick layers the more you use it.

Best: For efficiency

Rating: 7.5/10

The first thing we noticed about this pan was how swiftly it heated up when we put it to the test – after mere seconds on our induction hob, the surface was ready for cooking on. This efficiency – along with the pan’s even heat distribution – is something the manufacturer puts down to the diamond-polished base.

The non-stick coating worked a treat and seems hardy – we had no charred residue left after cooking on it and were able to wipe the pan clean with no trouble. The ribs are really well defined too, and gave great results on our food.

Suitable for all hob types, this one isn’t oven-safe (else it would have been a solid contender for our best buy), but it does have a very generous cooking area and is super efficient. It’s robust without carrying excess weight, and the ergonomic handle gives good grip, going easy on the hands and wrists.

Best: Non-stick griddle pan

Rating: 8.5/10

The glossy, silky-feeling surface of this pan had us quickly form some rather high hopes concerning its non-stick power. And, sure enough, all the blackened residue left behind from our food was wiped away with zero effort.

Another pan made from cast aluminium, this number is relatively light and easy to handle, although it maintains just enough heft to reassure us of its durability. It’s coated in a non-toxic material called thermalon, which was created by the GreenPan founders. This protects it from short spells of overheating – a killer for non-stick surfaces – and also means that heat is distributed evenly.

We were impressed with this pan – there was no danger of anything getting stuck on the ridges, it heated up evenly and our food came away with a great char.

Best: Low-maintenance griddle pan

Rating: 7.5/10

Any pan that comes with a guarantee for life is going to inspire some confidence, so we were expecting a solid performance from this Circulon. It features the brand’s patented non-stick system which is used across its cookware – we’ve tested it before with great results, and this pan consistently performed well.

The ridges are shallower than most of the other pans we tried, meaning that some of our food was left with less-defined char lines. But the payoff is that there’s less surface area to heat up – perhaps boosting its efficiency – and we found the flatter surface was easier to clean by hand, too.

Although most pans here are technically fine to throw in the dishwasher, hand washing is always recommended to maintain the quality of the non-stick surface. This one, however, calls itself “truly dishwasher safe” and, sure enough, emerged from a long cycle in ours looking good as new.

It’s pretty durable then – even metal utensils shouldn’t ruin its non-stick surface, according to Circulon – and it’s safe for the oven too. Made from aluminium, it’s a lightweight pan that goes easy on those wrists.