Best Indoor Electric Grill for Entertaining

Grilling adds a delicious smoky flavor to your food that is almost impossible to replicate any other way. However, the weather doesn’t always cooperate to be nice enough to fire up the grill wherever your cravings strike, and this is where the best indoor electric grill comes in. This will help you capture that classic smoky flavor that comes with grilling out wherever you want. 

The best indoor electric grills have several benefits and drawbacks associated with them, and even the best indoor electric grills have slightly different behavior when you use them. To help you pick out the best indoor electric grill for your preferences and needs, I’ve done the research and looked at dozens of reviews to find the top 10 best indoor electric grills available on the current market. 

If you look below, you’ll see the reviews for each of the top 10 picks that break down important features with benefits and drawbacks for each one. The short buying guide will help you further narrow down your choices quickly and easily. 

Picking out the best indoor electric grill gives you a convenient way to have delicious grilled food all year round, no matter the weather.

1. Cuisinart Griddler Elite

First up on our list of the best indoor electric grill is by Cuisinart. This grill does have an unassuming design with a slightly smaller size, but this makes it perfect for when your kids have sleepovers because it is one of the most flexible and versatile options available. For starters, it doubles as a griddle and a grill. The plates reverse and are non-stick, depending on which side you want to use to cook. The cover easily adjusts to handle thick and thinner foods, and this lets you use it as a top melt, contact grill, full grill, panini press, half griddle/half grill hybrid, and as a full griddle. 

You don’t need any additional equipment to get all of these features.This best indoor electric grill is great for smaller kitchens that don’t have a lot of additional space to store useful kitchen gadgets. You’ll be able to adjust your temperature settings to whatever you like, and it has dual temperature zones that allows you to cook your items perfectly every time you use it. There’s a timer function, and you can get the perfect sear on your food items using the handy sear function. 

Benefits: 

• Non-stick grill plates
• Doubles as a griddle
• Dual temperature zones

Drawbacks:

• Smaller cooking surface
• Non-stick coating chips off
• Can be difficult to clean

2. Ninja Foodi 5-in-1 Indoor Grill

As one of the best indoor electric grills on the market, Ninja’s multifunctional kitchen gadget allows you to cook a host of different foods. Along with being a grill, it allows you to sizzle, sear, and air fry all in one device. Ninja’s cooker circulates 500-degree air before the searing feature kicks in to give you that picture-perfect finish. The high-density grill grate will give you those signature char marks you like to see when you grill out. It’ll give you food that is juicy but tender on the inside while being seared on the outside. 

It has cyclonic grilling technology built in, and you can switch to baking, dehydrating, roasting, and air crisping with the push of a button. Another nice thing with this best indoor electric grill is that it has four controls for the grill that give you precision temperatures. The grates pop out when you finish with them for easy cleaning, and it comes with several accessories that make using and cleaning this tool easy and convenient. 

Benefits:

• Air fries, sizzles, bakes, dehydrates, sears, and more
• Very easy to operates
• Grate pops out to clean

Drawbacks:

• Not a smokeless model
• Doesn’t have a non-stick coating
• Slightly bulkier 

3. Kitchen + Home Stove Top Smokeless Grill

This is a very simple best indoor electric grill from Kitchen and Home. It consists of two parts, and it allows you to quickly and easily mount it onto your portable camping propane burner or your stovetop. If you’re remodeling your kitchen, this is a must-have. This is a smaller grill that is very easy to use and straightforward, but it gives you a very high versatility level for how simple this piece of equipment looks. You get a removable tray to catch any grease that drips from your food to make cleanup a breeze when you finish cooking. It’ll also keep the smoke down. 

The drip pan allows you to add water or marinades to whatever you want to cook on this best electric indoor grill without making a mess. The entire cooking surface features a non-stick Teflon to enable you to pull your food away easily. When you finish cooking, you can pop this grill into the dishwasher to clean it until you’re ready to use it again. It’s versatile enough to use on a variety of different foods too. 

Benefits: 

• Unique stove top design
• Drip pan is very convenient 
• Dishwasher safe

Drawbacks:

• Recommended to hand wash 
• Very small cooking surface 
• Too large to put on back burners 

4. Philips Smoke-less Indoor BBQ Grill

This best indoor electric grill from Philips is easy to use and features a simple and sleek design. You’ll use infrared cooking technology to produce a smokeless cooking experience each time you fire it up. This technology also helps you cook more evenly and quickly than many types of indoor grills, and it won’t dry out your food as it cooks. There is a larger drip tray on the bottom of the grill that slides out to clean between cooking sessions, and it stays cool to ensure the grill doesn’t smoke. 

The nice thing about this best indoor electric grill is that it allows the fat to drip away from your food when you cook it, and this makes your food healthier overall. The pan is dishwasher safe, and you can simply wipe down the cooking surface to clean it. It has a broad base that gives this grill great stability on your counter, and it heats up and stays at 446-degrees to give you an even cooking temperature. 

Benefits: 

• Stays at a consistent temperature 
• Drip pan slides out for easy cleanup
• Smokeless design 

Drawbacks:

• Can be difficult to clean 
• Have to cook thicker cuts longer 
• Glows a bright orange when you turn it on

5. Hamilton Beach Electric Indoor Grill

Invite the neighborhood kids over to play on your new playground set and fire up this best indoor electric grill when it’s time to feed everyone. Made by Hamilton Beach, this is one of the few grills on our list with a lid that helps to seal the heat in. This mimics what you get when you use one of the larger outdoor grills, but it has a nice viewing window that lets you glance at your food as it cooks to make sure it doesn’t get too done. Since it has a window, you don’t have to lift the lid to check your products, and this ensures you get an even cooking temperature. 

When it’s time to clean this best indoor electric grill, you can pop the lid off and wash it separately. The non-stick cooking surface and drip pan are easy to remove and put in the dishwasher. This makes cleanup easy and quick, and the non-stick surface ensures you get picture-perfect food. There are several different styles available to choose from, and it has a simple temperature control on the side. 

Benefits: 

• Has a small window in the cover
• Temperature dial is easy to operate 
• Dishwasher-safe

Drawbacks:

• Teflon can come off easily 
• Plastic body isn’t very durable 
• Temperature trigger light can go out

6. George Foreman Removable Plate Grill

Giving you up to 72-inches of grilling space in spite of the fact that it has a compact body, this best indoor electric grill from George Foreman has a very sturdy build quality. The user-friendly design is another nice point in this grill’s favor, even if you’ve never had one before. You’ll enjoy the removable grill plates that make it very easy to clean, and it has a non-stick cooking surface that is very easy to clean once you finish cooking your steaks, chops, kabobs, or veggies. 

The non-stick surface is the classic Advanced George Tough Nonstick Coating technology. This gives you a very durable and long-lasting surface, even if you use metal tongs to cook with. The plates are dishwasher-safe, and it has a slightly lower cooking surface. You’ll notice that the cooking surface sits at an angle, and this ensures the fat slides away from your food when you cook it before ending up in the removable drip pan. In turn, your food is much healthier. It comes in a sleek black or red coloring. 

Benefits:

• Can heat up very quickly 
• Uses Advanced George Tough Nonstick Coating technology
• 72-inch cooking surface with a compact design

Drawbacks:

• Drip pan is small
• Can leak onto your counter
• Outside gets hot with extended use

7. Breville BGR820XL Smart Grill

Break out your portable pizza oven, fire up this best indoor electric grill, and invite your friends over for a get together. This is an easily-adjustable and flexible grill that folds to make it compact. It allows you to have precision control over your cooking temperatures and cooking times. In turn, you’ll end up with perfectly cooked food that is tender and moist. You can use this grill like a panini press, or you can open it to double your cooking space by laying it flat. There are flat and ridged plates allowing for BBQ-style grilling. 

Both cooking plates are dishwasher-safe, and you can easily remove them to clean them. This best indoor electric grill features a non-stick surface that gives you an easy cleaning process. You can adjust your grill plates to sit at different angles, and this means that the fat will drain away from your food as it cooks to give you a healthier grilling experience. The drip tray catches any drippings to keep your space clean. 

Benefits:

• LED temperature display
• Can double your cooking surface
• Has a timer included

Drawbacks:

• Plates can be difficult to clean 
• Has a short-term warranty 
• Plates can warp over time

8. De’Longhi Perfecto Indoor Grill

This best indoor grill by De’Longhi puts the heating element deep into the actual grill plate. In turn, this means that you get a much more even heat distribution that cooks all of your food at the same temperature. This helps this grill beat out several other indoor grill models, and you get a detachable thermostat element with this device that allows you to have precision temperature control from start to finish. It helps ensure your food doesn’t dry out and get overdone when you cook. 

Another bonus with this best indoor electric grill is the fact that it comes with a high powered sear, and it ranges down to a gentle warming heat that will help keep your food warm without cooking it too much. There is a clear glass lid that helps trap the heat in for faster and more even cooking. The cooking surface has a non-stick coating on it that is easy to wipe clean. However, you can’t remove it since it’s integrated into the grill body. There is a removable drip pan that makes cleanup a little quicker. 

Benefits:

• Glass lid traps heat
• Even heat distribution 
• One-year warranty

Drawbacks:

• Can’t remove the cooking surface to clean it
• Drip can gets full quickly and can overflow 
• Cord is short

9. T-fal OptiGrill Electric Grill

T-fal’s best indoor electric grill is a nicely designed option that has several unique features that make it stand out. This grill can easily simplify your cooking experience while making indoor grilling effortless. It comes in a four and eight-serving design, and you can choose the one that suits your needs. Larger families will appreciate the eight-serving design while single people and couples can use the four-serving one. There are interior sensors on this grill that sense how thick you food items are to help adjust the cooking time on its own. 

You’ll use six preset cooking programs on this best indoor electric grill that allows you to cook seafood, fish, poultry, burgers, pork, sausages, sandwiches, and red meat to perfection. You can set the grill to cook well-done, medium, rare, or defrost your food. The grill will give an audible beep when you reach your chosen cooking setting. You won’t have to worry about cooking times and temperatures as much, and this allows you to focus on your guests and getting the best score in horseshoes. Finally, the plates are set at an angle to drain fat. 

Benefits:

• Has a lifetime warranty attached
• Automatically adjusts the cooking time
• Comes with a defrost button

Drawbacks:

• Automatic cook mode is finicky 
• Can slip around or move 
• Food can slide off the plates

10. Chefman Electric Smokeless Indoor Grill

This is a lightweight best electric indoor grill that resembles the outdoor versions. You get a very large cooking area that allows you to cook a host of items at one time, and this makes it easy to get all of your food on the table at one time. There are zoned temperatures with this grill, and this means it has slightly lower temperatures on the edges of the cooking surface with a higher amount of heat in the middle. This is great for cooking fish or more delicate meat or vegetables. 

Even though this best electric indoor grill says it’s smokeless, it can produce a small amount of smoke when you cook. There is a grease tray attached to this grill to catch any fat drippings, and adding water to it can help reduce the smoke it produces. It’s easy to clean, and it has several safety features built in. For example, it’ll shut off if it starts to overheat, and the handles stay cool when you cook. There is a one-year limited warranty attached to this grill as well. 

Benefits:

• Has an automatic shutoff to prevent overheating
• Drip pan is slightly larger 
• Comes with a larger cook surface

Drawbacks:

• Can produce smoke when you use it
• Can’t remove the tray to clean it
• Takes a while to preheat

Best Indoor Electric Grill Buyer’s Guide 

When you start shopping for your next best indoor grill, what do you want to keep in mind? Maybe you’re going to invite people over to help decorate your apartment, and you want to have a nice meal to thank them. If so, how do you make sure you have the right equipment on hand to make sure you can feed everyone? This is where the buyer’s guide comes in. 

Knowing what to look for when you shop for the best indoor electric grill ensures you get a product that you’ll use all year-round for a variety of foods.

Do You Want a Flat or Folding Grill?

One of the first things you want to decide on when you start shopping for the best electric indoor grill is whether you want a flat or folding model. The folding grills have several important features you want to consider. For example, folding it in half can save your storage space, and this is important if you have a small kitchen. This also reduces your cooking surface, so you won’t be able to cook as much food at one time. 

A flat grill gives you a much larger cooking size, but you can’t use the grill as a panini press so you would have to buy more items. Unless your flat grill has a cover, it’s also difficult to seal the heat in to keep your cooking temperature consistent. But you can cook much more food. 

Decide which one is going to be your pick and this can narrow down your search right from the start. 

Heat Control 

The best indoor electric grills have temperatures that range between 350 and 450-degrees. Others have a fixed heat setting, but most of them allow you to adjust the temperature with a button or a dial to give you precision control. Having the ability to adjust the heat is very useful if you’re trying to cook vegetables or different kinds of meat that need different temperatures. 

If you want to get a good sear on thicker cuts of meat while keeping it tender on the inside, make sure the grill you pick out can reach up to 450-degrees. This is the temperature you need to fully cook the meat without drying it out. 

Getting precision temperature control ensures you don’t accidentally overcook your food and make it tough to eat. 

Indicator Light 

If your grill comes with temperature control or different temperatures, it’ll usually have an indicator light. During the hot summer months, you need anything you can use to keep your room and home cool, and this will help because it’ll ensure the grill doesn’t get too hot. You’ll either get a light that turns colors when you reach the desired temperature, or the grill will have a display with the exact temperature. 

Removable and Non-Stick Grill Plates 

Your grill plates are your cooking surface, and they can be either integrated or removable. If they’re integrated, you can’t remove them from the grill to clean them. Removable ones are usually easier to clean because you can pop them into the dishwasher most of the time to clean. 

Whatever grill you pick should feature a non-stick coating. This non-stick coating is great for when it comes time to clean your best indoor electric grill. It allows your food debris to slide off and into the sink. If it’s not non-stick, it’ll be more difficult and time-consuming to clean. 

Drip Tray 

A drip tray slides under your grill plates at the bottom of your grill and catches any fat or water that runs off of your food. It’s nice if you like to marinate your veggies or meat before you cook it. The drip tray should be easy to remove and clean. It should also be slightly deeper so it doesn’t overflow when you cook larger portions of food. The tray should be durable, and you should be able to put it into the dishwasher. 

The drip tray keeps your cook surface clean while catching any fat that runs off the meat during the cooking process.

Flat or Angled Cook Surface 

Traditional grills have flat cook surfaces, but many companies are starting to come out with angled cooking surfaces. The angled surfaces are nice because they allow a lot of the fat to drain away from whatever you’re cooking. This makes your food healthier overall for you to enjoy. Angled plates are slightly more difficult to cook with at first, but you get used to it. Flat plates are much more traditional, and many people like them. 

Safety Features 

Another big thing you want to look for is the safety features in your best indoor electric grill. This is really important if you have kids over to play games with your kids and they’re going to be around when you cook. Cool touch handles can stop you from getting burned when you touch them, and many grills have an automatic shutoff that stops it from overheating and damaging the internal elements. 

Having the correct grill allows you to make several different food items at one time, and you can cook in the comfort of your home all year round in all weather conditions. 

Bottom Line

Choosing the best indoor electric grill doesn’t have to be stressful. My top 10 reviews make the process easy to compare several high-quality products side by side. Additionally, the buyer’s guide outlines everything you want to keep in mind when you shop to ensure you make the best choice for your needs. Take a few minutes and look at the different products and make your choice. Happy grilling!