Whether cooking on a Blackstone griddle or an alternate brand of flat top grill, it’s essential to know how to use your griddle tools and accessories correctly.
There are many griddle accessories available, and learning how to use them properly will help your meals come out their very best. We’ll cover how to use 5 of the most common griddle tools.
If you aren’t a griddle owner yet, be sure to check out our griddle buyers guide to help select the ideal griddle for you. For in-depth reviews of some of the most popular models available, be sure to check out our griddle review section.
Griddle Tools and Accessories
Though there are many tools and accessories you may find yourself using on your Blackstone griddle, there are five that you’ll find yourself using virtually every time you cook on your flat top grill. Here are your essential griddle tools and accessories:
- Spatulas
- Scraper
- Basting Cover
- Griddle Press
- Squeeze Bottles
Learning how to utilize them properly will ensure your food comes just how you like it, and your griddle will be well cleaned and maintained, so you don’t encounter issues like rust.
Spatulas
The spatula is the primary griddle tool you’ll be using to cook on your flat top grill. This versatile accessory will allow you to flip, move, mix and chop your foods. Made out of stainless steel, they are fairly large and longer than a typical spatula.
When cooking on a griddle you’ll want to use two spatulas rather than just one. Cooking with two spatulas makes the cooking process much easier. It allows you to manipulate the food on the cooktop much more easily and with greater control.
If you’ve ever seen the chefs cook at a Japanese teppanyaki restaurant like Benihana, you’ve seen them using two spatulas while cooking. It would be very difficult for them to do what they do if using only one spatula instead of two.
Another good reason to use two spatulas is to avoid mixing different foods or flavors. You may want to use one spatula for making cheeseburgers and a separate one not covered in burger grease for cooking vegetables on the other side of the griddle. By using two spatulas, you can keep them both separate with no cross-contamination.
A spatula can help scrape off any extra oil or stuck-on food from the griddle surface when finished cooking. Though spatulas can be used to clean the cooktop, I prefer and recommend a tool specifically for that called a scraper.
If you’re looking to purchase griddle spatulas, check out our best griddle spatulas and best spatula for smash burgers for some great options.
Scraper
A griddle scraper is a tool you’ll use for cleaning your griddle and scraping off excess food and oil. Cleaning the griddle cooktop is the scrapers primary use, but it can also be helpful as a chopper for dicing food into smaller pieces.
When cooking on your griddle, there will be excess oil and food that remains on the cooktop. The scraper is the perfect tool for removing food and oil from the griddle surface between batches of food being cooked or when you are done cooking.
After removing the food you’ve cooked, use your scraper to scrape the remaining food and residue that remains into the griddle’s grease trap. Hold the scraper at a 45-degree angle and scrape the entire surface, removing as much food and oil as possible.
Use room temperature water as you’re scraping to help loosen stuck-on food or residue. Scraping the griddle between batches is a great idea, but always scrape the surface clean when you are done cooking.
As I mentioned earlier, it can help cut foods while cooking. You can chop up vegetables or meats quickly with the scraper tool. It’s more robust than your spatulas, so it will do a better job of dicing up foods. If you need a good-quality scraper, take a look at our top 5 griddle scrapers.
Basting Cover
A basting cover is a stainless steel metal dome perfect for steaming, melting things like cheese, or helping thicker cuts of food cook properly. By placing a basting dome over your food, more heat is retained, which creates an oven cooking effect.
Flat top grills are great for sautéing vegetables, but if you use a basting dome, you can steam them instead. Take your diced vegetables, place them on the cooktop and squirt them with some room temperature water. Next, place the basting dome on top, and the water will steam the veggies.
Similarly, place the slice of cheese on top of the burger patty when cooking burgers and then place the basting dome on top. This will help melt the cheese more quickly, so the burger does not overcook while the cheese melts. This is especially helpful when using thicker cuts of cheese.
If you’re cooking thicker cuts of food like large steak, a basting dome can be used to help them cook internally. Just like when you close the lid on a traditional grill, this will help prevent the outside of the food from being overcooked while the inside is undercooked.
If purchasing a basting dome, I recommend a heat-resistant handle as the metal dome will get quite hot. If you don’t have a basting dome, a stainless steel mixing bowl can be used instead though they’re harder to use because there is no handle.
Griddle Press
Like the basting cover, this accessory gives you some additional options and versatility on the griddle. The griddle press is used to flatten or hold food down while cooking and allows you to cook the top and bottom of food simultaneously.
A griddle press is precisely the tool you’ll need when making a popular griddle favorite known as smash burgers. With a ball of ground beef and a parchment paper sheet, you use the griddle press to “smash” down the meat into a patty on the griddle creating a delicious crust.
For full details on how to make these tasty burgers, see our article on how to make smash burgers on a griddle.
The press is good at holding down foods like bacon that tend to curl up off the griddle surface as they cook. The press keeps the food flat against the griddle and maximizes the food’s surface area touching the metal.
You can also use a griddle press to help cook the top part of foods simultaneously and accelerate cooking times. You can heat the press on the griddle for several minutes and then place it on top of foods, so you’re cooking the top and bottom simultaneously.
This method is excellent for making grilled cheese and panini-style sandwiches or meat like chicken and steak.
The griddle press opens the door to some tasty new dishes and can help you get the crisp texture or crust you’re looking for. Check out our five best griddle presses for some great options.
Squeeze Bottles
Having a few squeeze bottles on hand can make adding cooking oil, water, or sauce to your griddle a breeze and also gives you better control of how much you’re applying. At a minimum, you’ll want to have one containing the cooking oil you’re using and another one containing water.
The oil will help cook the food and prevent it from sticking to the cooktop. Cooking on a dry cooktop will result in stuck-on food cooking onto the griddle, but a thin layer of oil will help prevent that. You’ll be cooking with some cooking oil virtually every time you cook, so that’s why having a bottle of oil ready to go will make things much more manageable.
The water is handy because you may want to steam a particular food or help clean the cooking surface. Squirting some water onto any stuck-on food will help loosen it when scraping clean the griddle. This is also useful to remove any remaining sauce or food residue still lingering on the cooktop surface.
Sauces are another option to put in the squeeze bottles. Teriyaki, lemon pepper, soy, and BBQ sauce are just a few types you might find handy to have ready in a squirt bottle.
While cooking your meats and vegetables, having a squirt bottle will apply your sauce quickly and evenly. If you decide you need a dash extra, it takes just a second to squirt on a bit more.
Another squeeze bottle tip is to fill it with pancake batter. It allows you to precisely squirt the batter onto the griddle to create consistently sized pancakes with no mess quickly.
You can even break out your artistic side and create different shaped pancakes. I like to make my kid’s initials with the pancake batter (which they love.) The squirt bottles make it easy to draw the pancakes in whatever shape you like.
Final Thoughts
These tools represent the main items a seasoned griddle cook typically uses. Of course, there are additional tools and accessories you may find yourself using, like a grill fork, tongs, and knives, among others.
Check out our top seven must-have griddle accessories, and for even more fun tools, look at eight more must-have griddle accessories. If you are obsessed with griddle tools, we’ve got ten more griddle accessory recommendations.
All of the accessories covered above can enhance your griddle experience and help you turn out some fantastic food. Each of these items can be purchased individually; however, you’ll also find some griddle accessory kits for sale that include most of these tools together in one package.
