Blackstone griddles have become increasingly popular because they allow you to make mouth-watering breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. To elevate your griddle cooking to the next level, you need to have the right tools and accessories. From spatulas to scrapers, there are countless tools and accessories you can use with your Blackstone griddle.
We put together this must-have list of 15 griddle accessories to help you cook like a pro and get the most out of your griddle cooking experience. Whether you’re a seasoned griddle veteran or just became a new Blackstone griddle owner, these accessories will transform your griddle cooking game. Here are the 15 most helpful tools to enhance your Blackstone griddle cooking experience.
Table of Contents
1. Dual Spatulas
Spatulas are essential when using your griddle and are your primary cooking tool. Without them, it’s like being in a rowboat without your oars. Why two spatulas? Think of them as an extension of your hands.
Cooking with one is like cooking with one hand tied behind your back. If you’ve ever eaten at a teppanyaki restaurant like Benihana, you may have noticed the chef cooking with two spatulas to work his magic.
Cooking with two gives you more control and allows you to manipulate the food on the cooking surface more easily and efficiently. You can flip, fold, toss and chop your food as you’re cooking with ease.
If you’re looking for a set of spatulas, check out our list of best griddle spatulas for some great options. If you love making delicious smash burgers, then we’ve got you covered there, too, with our list of best spatulas for smash burgers.
2. Scraper
If dual spatulas are your most important griddle tool, the scraper would be the second most important. Griddle-cooked food is delicious, but it’s going to leave behind excess grease and food on the cooktop. Even with a well-seasoned flat top, some food will stick to the surface and need to be removed.
The scraper is the perfect tool for cleaning your flat top grill as your cooking and especially afterward. Spatulas can do this too but are not as sturdy as a scraper and don’t do as good a job.
Spatulas are also more prone to bending or breaking, so avoid using them for scraping when possible. You’ll need to clean your griddle top each time you cook on it, so the scraper will be a tool you’ll be using very often.
If you want to see the best options out there, take a look at our top 5 flat top grill scrapers.
3. Heat Resistant Gloves
As you can imagine, the griddle surface will be piping hot and will have hot grease on it while cooking. Many people have gotten very badly burned while cooking because they didn’t follow the necessary safety precautions.
This can be avoided by investing in a pair of heat-resistant gloves. This will allow you to work your magic on the griddle without fear of serious injury. If you accidentally touch the surface of the cooktop or get splattered by boiling grease, you’ll be protected.
In addition to general protection, they also make cleaning your griddle much easier. You can use tongs and paper towels to wipe down your cooktop to clean it and avoid burns, but if you are using heat-resistant gloves, you can skip the tongs and do it much faster and more efficiently.
The glove will allow you to use your hand to safely wipe down the entire surface, giving you great control.
4. Infrared Thermometer
Knowing the temperature of your griddle is extremely important. Different foods should be cooked at different temperatures, and you can potentially ruin a dish if you’re cooking it at too high or too low a heat.
You may be able to adjust the temperature to high, medium, or low, but you won’t really know what the actual temperature is on the cooktop surface without a thermometer.
Infrared thermometers are the perfect tool because they give you an instant reading of the temperature wherever you aim at the cooktop.
They also allow you to do this safely because you can be pointing it at the surface from a safe distance. You can confirm whether the griddle has reached the appropriate temperature, still needs time to heat up, or is too hot.
Knowing this information, you can adjust the heat accordingly. Don’t burn your pancakes or eggs because you were cooking at too high a temperature.
Our two favorite options are the Cuisinart CSG-625 Infrared Thermometer and Etekcity’s Infrared Thermometer based on price and overall quality.
5. Squeeze Bottles
When you’re cooking on your flat top grill, you will be working with oil and water. You’ll typically be using these during the cooking process as well as during the post-cook cleanup.
Having squeeze bottles allows you to quickly apply each of these to the griddle cooktop and with greater control over how much is applied and where.
You don’t want to pour too much oil or water because it could ruin the food or possibly damage the griddle’s cooktop.
Another good feature is for applying sauces to your food. Similarly, you want to apply the right amount of sauce exactly where you want it with the oil and water.
Having the liquids you are cooking within convenient squeeze bottles will make your life much easier when operating your flat top grill. Our favorite option is the OXO Good Grips Chef’s Squeeze Bottle Set.
6: Griddle Press
One of the great advantages of a griddle is press foods and getting a nice even crust across the entire food surface. You can use the press to ensure maximum surface contact between your food and the hot cooktop.
Some foods have a tendency to curl up off the griddle’s cooktop (looking at your bacon.) By resting the griddle press on top, you can prevent this and keep your food flush against the cooktop.
Another way to use the griddle press is to preheat it on the flat top and then place it on top of your food. This will allow you to cook the food from both the top and the bottom at the same time.
This is a great option for bacon, sausages, panini sandwiches, and especially smash burgers. They come in different shapes and sizes so you can see which style you prefer. If you want suggestions, check out our top 5 griddle presses. If you are looking for a burger press specifically for making smash burgers, see our best smash burger press list.
7: Basting Cover
Basting covers can be a useful tool to have on hand for many foods. These stainless steel domes can be placed on top of foods for a variety of benefits.
Many people like to use them when melting cheese onto burgers or other foods. Thick slices of cheese may not melt fast enough on their own.
You may end up overcooking the bottom of your burger or chicken before the cheese has had a chance to melt fully.
To avoid this, after you lay sliced or shredded cheese onto your food, cover it with the basting cover, and the heat and steam collecting underneath will melt the cheese much quicker.
Just because you’re cooking on a griddle doesn’t mean you can’t have steamed vegetables. Flat top grills are great for sautéing veggies, but you can also steam them with a basting cover!
Place veggies like broccoli florets or green beans on your griddle, squirt water on them and then cover with the basting cover. The water will evaporate and steam cook the vegetables allowing you to have a healthy side without the extra oil.
8: Pancake Batter Dispenser
If you love to whip up big batches of pancakes on your griddle, then a pancake batter dispenser might be the tool for you.
These dispensers are an easy way to get your pancakes going fast. All you need to do is fill the dispenser with pancake batter, and then using the handle, you can efficiently squirt the batter on. Some models even have a built-in whisk so that you can make the batter right in the dispenser!
The pancake dispenser allows you to get consistent-sized pancakes cooking on your griddle without some of the mess and dripping that comes along with spooning the batter on. Also, you can make them as small or large as you want to depend on how long you hold open the batter dispenser.
Some people prefer one large pancake and others like a bunch of small silver dollar pancakes. If you’re looking to have some fun, you can easily make pancakes in different shapes quite easily. My kids love when I make pancakes in fun shapes or pancake letters of their initials.
I have the Blackstone dispenser that came in their breakfast kit, including egg rings and a griddle press, but there are tons of great options.
9: Egg Rings
Looking for an egg that’s uniformly shaped and fits perfectly inside an English muffin? Then egg rings are what you’re looking for.
These versatile rings are perfect for making eggs but can also be used when making hash browns, crab cakes, and more—anything you want to keep in a neat mold.
They come in various sizes and different materials—these all over their own advantages and disadvantages. If you love egg sandwiches like the Egg McMuffin and want to make them on your outdoor gas griddle, then these are a must-have.
For more details on egg rings and our favorite options, check out our best egg rings for griddles.
10: Butter Wheel
A butter wheel is a special tool you may not be aware of. They quickly and evenly add a butter coating to bread and buns before putting them on the griddle. This helps you get a crisp, toasty texture on the bread with an amazing buttery taste.
One of these is perfect for cooking batches of hamburgers, grilled cheese, or griddle sandwiches. Anything you want to apply a nice coat of butter to before cooking can be rolled along with this butter wheel.
You place butter inside the device and place it right on your griddle top. The heat melts the butter, and you can quickly and evenly apply the butter by rubbing the bread across the wheel.
Waiting for butter to soften and spreading it on each piece of bread with a knife is time-consuming. If you have melted butter ready on a convenient rolling tool that coats the bread fast and evenly, it will save you lots of time and do a better job.
If you find yourself buttering bread regularly while using your griddle, then I definitely recommend picking one of these up. I’m a fan of the Cuisinart CBW-201 Butter Wheel, but there are other good options available as well.
11: Dredge Seasoning Shakers
Whether it’s salt, pepper, or other seasonings you want to apply to your food while cooking, shakers make seasoning your food quick and easy.
These are especially helpful if you have a large flat top grill like the Blackstone 28, Blackstone 36, or larger Camp Chef models.
If you’re cooking up a large batch of burgers, these make it easy to quickly and evenly season them as you’re cooking. You can even use them to apply things like cinnamon or powdered sugar if you’re making something like French toast.
It’s helpful to have dedicated seasoning shakers so you’re not borrowing the salt and pepper shakers from your kitchen table. You can keep these with the rest of your griddle tools and accessories, so you have everything you need.
12: Basting Brushes
Basting brushes are a great way to apply sauces, mustard, butter, and oil to your food while you’re cooking. Often, the food will need one or more of these liquids applied as your cooking, and these brushes are the ideal tool to do so.
Basting brushes also allow you to apply sauces compared to spooning them evenly. Some perfect times to use these are applying things like garlic butter, BBQ sauce, or teriyaki sauce. Any time you need to apply a liquid to your food while cooking, these are the tool you’ll want on hand.
They come in different sizes and materials, but I always recommend ones made with longer handles made entirely out of silicone. Long handles are safer as they keep your hands further from the hot griddle cooktop, so you’re less likely to get burned. Silicone brushes are very heat resistant, so they won’t melt or burn and dishwasher safe, making cleanup a snap.
They come in in a few different varieties and are sold individually or in larger packs of 2 or more. They are pretty inexpensive, so these are a great tool to add.
13: Griddle Mat
You may have found that as you’re cooking, especially extra greasy things like bacon or smash burgers, that oil and grease splatter quite a bit. These drops of grease tend to land on the ground around your griddle, which can stain your patio or deck.
The solution to this is a grill/griddle mat. These mats are specifically designed to protect the floor around your griddle so that any food or grease landing around it is caught by the mat rather than your floor.
These mats are designed to protect the area around your flat top grill and can be cleaned easily as needed. If you keep your griddle on a surface you want to protect, then this is what you’re looking for.
I use the Cuisinart CGMT-300 Mat, but there are some other good offerings as well. Just make sure to get one large enough to accommodate the size of griddle you have.
14: Lighting
This one may not be the most obvious accessory, but many times, the sun is down while you’re cooking, and you need sufficient lighting to whip up dinner. This is especially the case during the winter months when the sun goes down earlier.
You have several options when it comes to lighting your griddle. There are headlamps, grill lamps, and standalone lights.
Headlamps are a simple way to have light aimed at your griddle as you cook. They are handy because they not only keep your hands free but provide light wherever you are looking. I use one of these and find it provides sufficient lighting while cooking.
If you don’t want a lamp attached to your head, there are grill lamps you can place around the griddle. It probably goes without saying but don’t place them on the actual cooktop, but on the lid (if you have one) or the shelves next to the cooktop. These are a good alternative to the headlamp.
If you want some serious lighting and don’t mind spending more, you can go with a standalone work light. These LED lights are great for lighting up the whole cooktop and surrounding area. Additionally, you can use them for various other things when not in use at your griddle, so there’s added utility to these.
You won’t always find yourself cooking in the dark, but if you do have to deal with this from time to time, you’ll be glad you have a proper tool to get the job done.
15: Apron
Griddling cooking can be a dirty job. Lots of oil and grease sizzling and popping on the cooktop surface. You may not think much of it until one of your favorite pairs of pants or shirts gets a grease stain on it.
I’ve had to throw out my fair share of clothes because I got grease stains on them I couldn’t get out. Having a proper apron can save you money by protecting your clothes from stains you may not get out.
There are many affordable options out there that will allow you to cook without the worry of ruining your outfit.
If you purchase an apron like our favorite from Hudson Durable Goods, it’ll come with pockets allowing you to keep things handy, whether that’s griddle tools or even just your cell phone.
If you don’t have an apron, I suggest not waiting as long as I did, and you go ahead and pick one up.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to doing any task, having the right tools at your disposal is very important Adding these 15 griddle accessories into your cooking routine will not only enhance and simplify your cooking experience but also take your meals to the next level.
These accessories help you achieve better results while cooking with your griddle and can also help you keep your Blackstone griddle clean and in good condition too.
Read more expert griddle accessory reviews on Griddle Sizzle now!