The 5 Best Outdoor Griddles and Flat Top Grills (2026)

a big outdoor The pan may change the heat sensation. And great flat-top grills can make dinner an event to be proud of. What could be a more satisfying sound than chopped onions and the slap of a spatula on the rib eye for a perfect cheesesteak? A corn tortilla blister cooked in the grease left by hard-fried carne asada? The taste of burgers at a backyard barbeque? The blessed symmetry of a perfectly cooked pancake? All you need is a great griddle to set you up for success.

An outdoor gas griddle is an essential backyard counterpart to the satisfying direct heat of a high-performance charcoal or wood-fired grill—adding all the versatility of your favorite dinnerware to your sunny-day toolkit. I’ve spent months cooking dozens of smashburgers, bacon strips, tacos, and pancakes to find the best outdoor griddle for every type of backyard cook. Now, I find myself using the griddle more than the classic grill.

My top-rated Traeger FlatRock ($1,000) provides the most even and reliable heat of all I’ve tested, and it feels like a Cadillac idling in the yard. Meanwhile, the rust-resistant four-burner 36-inch Weber Slate ($1,049) offers a wide cooking surface, an easy seasoning process, and the best range of features to make a flat-top grill into a true workstation. For those on a budget, my best recommendation is to downsize your Weber. The compact 28-inch Weber Slate is the best value at $798, beating out lower-cost brands whose durability is less assured.

For more outdoor cooking action, check out WIRED’s guides to the best pizza ovens, best smokeless firepits, and best cast iron pans.

UPDATE May 2026: I added the 28-inch Weber Slate, Solo Stove Stainless Griddle, and the 22-inch Weber Slate Portable Griddle. I bumped the Loco 36-inch griddle up to honorable mentions. I also added references and updates on Griddle performance over time and made sure to have updated links and prices.

Overall best griddle

I grew up in Oregon, where Traeger was also born. Even after the company was sold and relocated to Utah, a Traeger grill or smoker in the backyard remains a source of both aspiration and pride for the people who raised me – a sign that you’re living the right way and doing just fine. This sturdy-built three-zone Flatrock tawa offers the same vibrancy.

The constant enemy of flat-top grills is uneven heating, which is a byproduct of the amount of thermal energy it takes to heat thick steel or iron plates. This Traeger, like any flat-top grill I’ve tried, is designed to provide impressively even heat distribution regardless of the thickness of its burners. The secret is three U-shaped burners that essentially double the heat sources under the thermally conductive, thick carbon steel. The FlatRock also provides tight temperature control between zones and sterling wind shielding above and below the burner. In an entire year of cooking, I haven’t had any flameouts. There’s barely even a hot spot, with less than 20 degrees of variation in the main cooking area. That means uniform, easy seasoning on the grill for cooking nice brown pancakes; Burgers that cook evenly over the entire surface; And easy temperature regulation between vegetables, meat, buns, tortillas.

The Flatrock is large, sturdily built, and doesn’t move or wobble. It moves fast with its castors on wheels. If you keep it plugged in, a handy additional feature lets you check the fill status of your propane tank. It doesn’t get extremely hot (less than 600 degrees Fahrenheit), which isn’t ideal if you’re trying to get a super-fast sear on a Smashburger, but the temperature remains beautifully steady for a more respectable sear of fish or steak.