GrillGrate provided product for our extensive testing and for the accompanying giveaway. No other compensation was offered or received. Our detailed review and honest opinions are entirely our own, based on real-world usage and observations.
Transform your grilling experience and achieve culinary perfection with GrillGrates, an innovative accessory designed to revolutionize how you cook outdoors. These ingenious interlocking grate panels are engineered to sit directly on top of your existing grill grates, instantly upgrading your BBQ setup. Featuring a distinctive raised rail design, GrillGrates offer a dramatic improvement over standard grill surfaces, fundamentally changing heat distribution and eliminating common grilling frustrations. Say goodbye to unpredictable flare-ups caused by dripping fat and unevenly cooked food. With GrillGrates, you can expect superior heat consistency and an optimized cooking environment, making every barbecue session more enjoyable and producing mouth-watering results.
Unlocking Superior Flavor: How GrillGrates Elevate Your Grilling
At the heart of GrillGrates’ effectiveness lies their unique operational principle, fundamentally altering the way heat interacts with your food. Unlike traditional grilling where open flames directly char the underside of your food, GrillGrates introduce a sophisticated layer of infrared cooking. The design ensures that the flames beneath your grill primarily heat the hard-anodized aluminum panels themselves. These heated panels then radiate an intense, even, and consistent infrared heat directly to your food. This method magnificently magnifies the heat, ensuring that every inch of your cooking surface maintains a uniform temperature, which is crucial for achieving professional-level results.
This innovative design is also a game-changer for common grilling woes, particularly the dreaded flare-ups. In a conventional setup, any fat or juices dripping from your food can fall directly onto the heat source, igniting violent bursts of flame. These sudden surges of fire not only burn and blacken your food but also dry it out, ruining texture and flavor. GrillGrates effectively mitigate this problem. The raised rail design creates valleys where drippings collect, preventing them from reaching the flames. But the genius doesn’t stop there. Instead of burning away, these collected fats and juices sizzle and vaporize within the valleys, transforming into flavorful moisture that infuses back into your food. This process, known as “vaporization,” enhances the taste and keeps your meats exceptionally juicy and tender, delivering an unparalleled depth of flavor.
Putting GrillGrates to the Test: A Real-World Burger Challenge
To truly evaluate the performance of GrillGrates, we embarked on a practical test right in our backyard. For this assessment, we installed the GrillGrates on our Memphis Wood Pellet Grill, a premium setup known for its precise temperature control and smoky flavor. Our chosen dish for this challenge was grass-fed beef burgers, a notoriously delicate protein that cooks faster than conventional beef and demands precision to avoid overcooking. We prepared our patties with a gourmet touch: finely chopped and caramelized sweet Maui onions mixed into seasoned ground beef, ensuring a robust flavor profile. Grilling grass-fed beef presents a distinct challenge because its lean nature means the window for achieving a perfectly cooked, juicy burger is incredibly narrow. This made it an ideal candidate to truly push the GrillGrates and see if they could deliver the even heat and control necessary for perfection.
Effortless Integration: GrillGrates Installation and User Experience
The installation of GrillGrates proved to be remarkably straightforward and user-friendly. The interlocking panels connected seamlessly, creating a stable and uniform cooking surface in mere moments. One of the most significant advantages we observed was that the GrillGrates are designed to sit directly on top of your existing grill grates. This eliminates the need for any complicated removal or modification of your current setup, saving valuable time and effort. When the grilling session was complete, removing the GrillGrates was just as easy—simply lift them off the grill, demonstrating a thoughtful design focused on convenience and practicality for any griller.
A standout feature of the GrillGrates system is the inclusion of a specialized pronged spatula, affectionately known as the “GrateTool.” This unique utensil, resembling a robust fork, is meticulously designed to glide effortlessly between the raised rails of the GrillGrates. This ingenious design allows you to lift and turn food with unparalleled precision and without any scraping. This is particularly crucial when handling delicate items such as flaky fish fillets or tender vegetables, which often stick or fall apart on conventional grates. For our grass-fed burgers, the GrateTool proved indispensable. It allowed for easy lifting, flipping, and maneuvering of the patties, ensuring they remained perfectly intact and beautifully formed throughout the cooking process, without any risk of them crumbling or breaking apart.
During our burger test, we closely observed the cooking process. The fat from the grass-fed beef patties visibly dripped down into the valleys of the GrillGrates, just as advertised. Crucially, not once did we witness a flare-up, which is often a concern with fattier meats. The burgers cooked remarkably fast; we estimated a reduction of approximately 30% in overall cooking time compared to our usual methods. Typically, when grilling burgers, we would sear them at a high temperature and then reduce the heat to cook them through without burning the exterior. Our wood pellet grill operates somewhat differently from standard charcoal or gas grills, relying on a temperature gauge to regulate the amount of wood pellets fed into the chamber. This precise control, combined with the GrillGrates, created an optimal cooking environment.
To quantify the heat performance, we used a laser thermometer to measure the surface temperature directly above the GrillGrates compared to an area without them. The results were compelling: we recorded an impressive 18% increase in temperature on the GrillGrate surface. This significant heat magnification, combined with the even infrared distribution, translated directly into superior results. The grass-fed burgers emerged from the grill exceptionally juicy, perfectly cooked to an even pink throughout, and completely devoid of any burnt spots. The GrillGrates delivered a consistently perfect sear without compromising the internal doneness, truly showcasing their capability.
Beyond Burgers: The Versatility of GrillGrates for Every Dish
While our burger test proved the GrillGrates’ prowess with meats, their benefits extend far beyond. We often grill a variety of vegetables, and a common frustration is the loss of smaller pieces that fall through traditional grill grates into the fire. With the unique design of GrillGrates, this problem is virtually eliminated. The raised rails ensure that even diced vegetables or delicate fish fillets remain securely on the cooking surface. The specialized GrateTool makes it effortless to lift these items off the grill without any bits left behind. This innovation makes grilling diverse ingredients, from asparagus spears to shrimp and even delicate scallops, a stress-free and enjoyable experience.
Another area where GrillGrates shine is in handling marinades, especially those with high sugar content, often used for chicken and pork. On conventional grills, sugary marinades tend to drip, burn, and create charred areas that can impart an unpleasant taste. GrillGrates elegantly circumvent this issue. As marinades drip into the valleys, they don’t burn away but rather sizzle and vaporize. This flavorful vapor circulates around the food, continuously basting it and infusing it with even more delicious essence. The result is perfectly caramelized, tender meat without any of the acrid burnt notes, only enhanced flavor and moistness.
Comprehensive Assessment: The Pros and Cons of GrillGrates
Advantages of Grilling with GrillGrates
The advantages of integrating GrillGrates into your outdoor cooking setup are numerous and profound. First and foremost, they provide **enhanced heat control and unparalleled evenness**. The infrared cooking surface radiates consistent heat across the entire grate, eliminating hot spots and cold zones that plague many conventional grills. This ensures that every part of your food cooks uniformly, from edge to center.
A critical benefit is the **elimination of flare-ups and burnt spots**. By preventing fat and marinades from reaching the flames, GrillGrates safeguard your food from scorching, leading to healthier, more flavorful results without the bitter taste of burnt fat. This feature is particularly impactful for charcoal and gas grill users who frequently battle sudden bursts of flame.
Their **versatility for various foods** is unmatched. Whether you’re grilling delicate fish, small vegetables that would otherwise fall through, or marinated meats, GrillGrates handle them all with ease. The raised rails keep food secure, and the vaporization process significantly enhances flavor by infusing drippings back into your meal.
We observed **faster cooking times**, often reducing total grilling duration by a noticeable margin. The magnified heat of the GrillGrates conducts heat more efficiently, cutting down on waiting time while still achieving perfect doneness.
The **improved flavor profile** is a direct result of the drippings sizzling and vaporizing in the valleys, creating a flavorful steam bath that continually bastes your food. This unique mechanism locks in moisture and amplifies taste, making every bite exceptionally juicy and delicious.
Finally, the **durability and quality construction** of GrillGrates are impressive. Made from hard-anodized aluminum, they are inherently rust-proof and built to withstand the rigors of high-temperature grilling. The fact that they are proudly **Made in the USA** further speaks to their quality and craftsmanship. Their easy installation and the functionality of the GrateTool also contribute significantly to an overall superior user experience.
Considerations and Minor Drawbacks
While the benefits overwhelmingly outweigh any downsides, there are a couple of points to consider with GrillGrates. One observation was regarding the **valley width**. In our opinion, the grates are spaced a little too far apart for extremely delicate or tiny pieces of food. While most delicate fish and vegetables won’t fall entirely into the flames, very small slivers might occasionally slip into the valleys. Retrieving them with the GrateTool is easy, but a slightly narrower gap between the rails might offer even greater peace of mind for exceptionally small ingredients. However, this is a minor point and largely depends on the specific type and size of food being grilled.
The second consideration relates to **cleaning**. While a standard grill brush effectively cleans the raised rails of the GrillGrates, thoroughly scrubbing deep within the valleys to remove charred bits can be a bit more challenging. Achieving a pristine clean in every crevice might require a more specialized brush or a bit more effort. Nevertheless, this is a common characteristic of any cooking surface with grooves or textured designs, and the benefits of flavor enhancement and flare-up prevention often make this minor cleaning effort well worth it.
Configuration, Availability, and Our Final Recommendation
GrillGrates offer remarkable adaptability, available in a diverse array of sizes and shapes to perfectly accommodate virtually any grill on the market. Whether you own a traditional rectangular grill, a round kettle-style BBQ, or specialty grills like the Kamado and Big Green Egg, there’s a GrillGrate configuration designed to fit. The panels are engineered for easy interlocking, allowing for simple installation and removal as your grilling needs evolve. This modular design means you can customize your grilling surface, covering your entire grill or just a portion, depending on your preferences. To explore the full range of options and find the perfect fit for your specific grill, we encourage you to check out all of their sizes and configurations here. Prices for GrillGrates vary depending on the specific setup and size, typically ranging from an accessible $39.99 to over $100 for larger or more complex arrangements, making them an affordable upgrade for most grill enthusiasts.
Having thoroughly tested and experienced the transformative power of GrillGrates, we wholeheartedly and unequivocally recommend them. They represent a truly inexpensive investment that delivers disproportionately significant improvements in the quality and enjoyment of your grilled food. From enhanced flavor and juiciness to effortless control over temperature and the elimination of frustrating flare-ups, GrillGrates elevate every aspect of the grilling process. This innovative accessory is more than just an add-on; it’s an essential tool for anyone serious about achieving superior results and unlocking the full potential of their outdoor cooking.
Enter the GrillGrate Giveaway!
We are excited to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a set of GrillGrates to experience these benefits firsthand! Enter for your chance to win one (1) set of 13.75″ Panels along with the indispensable GrateTool. Don’t miss this opportunity to revolutionize your grilling!