How to Keep Your Outdoor Griddle From Rusting

WIRED

6 days ago

An outdoor griddle turns your backyard into a short-order kitchen. Here's how to season a griddle, and how to keep it seasoned. Courtesy of Lowe's; Matthew Korfhage
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OK, so you've got a backyard griddle. Congratulations, it's a little like joining a cult—albeit one whose shrine is smashburgers, tacos, and pancakes. (Check out WIRED's guide to the best griddles here.) Each outdoor griddle lover has their own conversion story, one they can't stop telling friends and strangers about.
But especially, the griddle has its own distinct set of rituals—a cycle of seasoning and cleaning and maintenance it's possible to love, but also maybe fear. On Reddit or Facebook, posts from new griddle owners betray earnest anxiety … am I doing it wrong? Why can I not get the even black surface I see on griddle videos?
I've tested and broken in 10 new flat-top grills this summer alone, so I get it. I've made the mistakes. I've tested the solutions. Here's a quick guide to griddle-seasoning and care, and a few pieces of gear that'll help you along the way—with some advice cribbed from pros at the best griddle makers, like Blackstone, Weber, and Traeger. Why Season a Griddle? Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Properly seasoning a griddle, and keeping it seasoned, is the best way to keep your flat-top from rusting—and also to get a smooth surface that'll both transfer heat more evenly and keep food from sticking as much.
The process of seasoning involves heating up unsaturated fats, often high-heat oils like grape-seed oil or canola oil, atop a porous metal like carbon steel or cast iron. Once you reach the smoke point of each oil (more on that later), the liquid fat polymerizes into a hard, nonstick surface that chemically bonds to the surface of the metal and fills in its pores.
This protects the metal from oxidizing, which is good: That's what rust is. It also makes the surface of your griddle smoother and more hydrophobic, meaning it repels water. This means food is less likely to stick. All of these things are what you want, cookingwise. But to get this effect, you'll need a wafer-thin, even coating … not a gummy buildup of lots of oil. Here's what to do. First, Clean Your Griddle With Soap (Probably)
Check your user manual before any initial cleaning. Some griddles, like the Weber Slate Rust Resistant Griddle, come preseasoned with food-grade oils and already have a layer of seasoning. This doesn't mean you don't have to season it again—but it does mean you shouldn't clean off the seasoning and start over.
But most griddles arrive seasoned with shipping oil meant to protect it on its journey to you, but which you don't necessarily want to keep. As a first step, you'll need to scrub your grill with soap and water.
Note that almost every guide from every griddle maker says not to use soap and water to clean your grilltop on an ongoing basis: This is the first, last, and only time you'll likely use soap. But do so this time.
I tend to favor Dawn Powerwash Spray ($5) and a sponge for this, rather than messing around with a bucket.
Just spray lightly, wipe in a circular motion with the sponge across the entire surface of the griddle, then rinse out the sponge and wipe the soap off with water. Dry with a cloth or paper towel, and you're done. How to Season Your Griddle the First Time
OK, so now you've got a clean slate. This is good. That's what you need for polymers to form chemical bonds with the griddle surface. Here are the tools you'll want to season your griddle: An unsaturated (read: plant-based) oil with neutral flavor and a high smoke point above 400 degrees Fahrenheit. This includes grape-seed (my go-to), avocado, or canola oil. Refined olive oil can sometimes work, but avoid extra-virgin, which usually has a lower smoke point. Avoid peanut oil unless you universally like the flavor of peanuts.
A good set of grill tongs, like this excellent pair from Traeger.
Paper towels or preferably blue shop towels that don't throw off as many nubs and fibers.
An infrared thermometer gun.
(Optional) a squeeze bottle for oil.
The process from here is easy, but there's a bit of nuance to getting a good first few layers down, and it'll depend a bit on the evenness of heating on your griddle. Note: Even if your griddle comes preseasoned, you'll probably want to apply a coat or two anyway. The seasoning won't be as hardy as you'd like.
Here are the steps to seasoning a griddle the first time. Heat up your griddle on high at first without applying oil, waiting around 10 minutes or until the color of the griddle starts to darken somewhat. If you've got your thermometer handy, aim for about 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
Fold up a couple of paper towels or shop towels and cinch the square into your grill tongs as a kind of sponge: This will be your spreader, and possibly your grease applicator.
Squeeze a few tablespoons of oil into the shop towel, or onto the griddle directly if you prefer. Spread a wafer-thin layer of oil across the entire surface of the griddle, and up the sides.
Heat until you reach the smoke point of your oil: The griddle will start to smoke. This is good. This your sign the oil is forming polymers. Do this until the griddle stops smoking.
Repeat multiple times, until the coloration of the grill begins to even out and the whole surface appears at least somewhat seasoned. Colorwise, you're aiming for the range between amber and brown-black. Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
That's the baseline, but there are additional tips. Most griddle makers will tell you to just blast your burners on high—but that's a bit of a recipe for quickly burning off oil at the hottest spots of your griddle before the edges have a chance to season. Seasoning cast iron pans in an oven is a much more controlled and even process. But most big backyard griddles have strong hot spots, and temperature can vary by anywhere from 50 to 150 degrees across the cooking surface—with the hottest spots above the burners.
I like to use an infrared thermometer, and I adjust my burner dials to keep my griddle temperature at or below 500 degrees while seasoning. Often this means having a lower temp in the middle burner or burners, but keeping side burners on higher.
When in doubt, your grease towel and tongs are your friend—the towel can be used to even out the thin layer of oil across the surface of the griddle, and replenish oil in hot spots where the oil was burned off before it had the chance to polymerize.
But when in doubt, don't worry if it's not perfectly even: You don't have to get a perfectly even coat on your first seasoning, or your second, or even your third. As you cook, the oil you use to cook will help you keep it seasoned, and you'll develop a bit of an equilibrium. You'll keep reseasoning through the life of the griddle, both as you cook and as needed.
In general, you'll be ready for your first cook after two or three coats of seasoning. Blackstone's reps, and a whole lot of cast-iron folk wisdom going back decades, recommend that your first cook be a whole griddle full of onions, to further even out the seasoning. Some believe that the sulfur content in onions is helpful for polymerization, though I haven't seen the science behind this.
But one thing that is sure is that onions tend to sop up griddle char and excess grease, and I've never regretted having caramelized onions around. One way or the other, cooking with oil, evenly and often, will help keep your grill seasoned.
One quick caveat: Don't try to season your grill with bacon fat. Modern bacon has a number of chemicals that'll interfere with bacon fat's ability to create an even polymer layer on the griddle. How to Clean and Care for Your Griddle
Ok, so now that you've cooked, how do you keep your griddle in good shape without using soap? This is a good question. But the main answer is: scraping, scrubbing, and steam. Here's what you need.
Other people have their own methods, but my preference for cleaning griddles tends to use more steam than elbow grease. Here are a few tips.
Clean when the griddle is hot. The best way to clean is almost always to do so while your griddle is still hot—or at least hotter than around 300 degrees Fahrenheit. When you spritz a bit of water on a hot grill, the steam from the fast-boiling water will help release the food from your already somewhat nonstick seasoning. This is the same process you use to deglaze a pan when cooking on your stove. (Note: Don't use water when the griddle is too cold to steam off the water, unless you plan on also drying your griddle with towels. That's how things rust.)
Start with a scraper. The first step should be to use a metal grill scraper to get any bulky food particles or char off the griddle, pushing particles and liquid into the grease trap.
Follow up with griddle tongs and a towel or rag. From here, spritz more water on the grill, and use folded-up paper towels or shop towels gripped tightly in griddle tongs. (Most griddle tongs can be made to lock firmly onto a rag.) As the steam loosens up particles of fat and food, use the towel or cloth as your scrubber, repeating as many times as necessary until the surface is smooth, pushing all material into the griddle's grease trap.
Apply a new layer of oil. Once the griddle's free of food and char, apply a new thin layer of oil, which will protect the griddle even if you don't plan to add a new layer of seasoning yet by polymerizing the oil. Spread the oil thinly and evenly using griddle tongs and a towel or cloth. Depending on the state of the griddle's seasoning, you may want to apply a new layer of seasoning before the next use. But either way, you should always apply a protective layer of oil after each use, and before storing the griddle. Allow the griddle to cool before closing the lid.
Clean your trap. Finally, remove your grease trap and clean it out with soap and water. (Or, change your grease trap lining if you used disposable aluminum liners.) Also wipe down the exterior of the griddle, if needed.
Store the griddle in a way that won't get moisture on the cook plate. If you're storing your griddle outside, you should get a model with a hood, and get a cover. Moisture is the enemy! Rust is the enemy! If you can wheel your griddle inside a garage or shed between uses, doing so may help your griddle top resist rust—and thus live long and prosperously, without need of replacement.