Electric grills from the likes of George Foreman, Tefal and Ninja Foodi are popular because they're a quick, convenient and healthy way to cook food and an excellent alternative to pan-frying. But they can vary widely in terms of price, ranging from £25 up to £285.
In November 2021 we put nine of the most popular electric grills in the UK to the test to see which comes out on top. Some gave us perfectly cooked food with attractive grill lines, but others cooked unevenly, squashed the vegetables and squeezed all of the juice out of our steaks and halloumi.
See our full results below to find out which cooked the best food, were the easiest to use and had the most useful and effective features, as well as what to look out for if you're buying a new electric grill, plus the best way to clean your electric grill without damaging it.
Pricing and availability last checked: 7 March 2022.
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The best electric grills
Only logged-in Which? members can view the electric grills test results below.
If you're not yet a member, you'll see an alphabetically ordered list of the electric grills we tested. Join Which? now to get instant access to our test scores and Best Buy recommendations below.
Cheapest price: £115 at Amazon, AO.com, also available at Cuisinart, John Lewis
Size and weight: 20 x 37 x 33cm (HxWxD); 4.7kg
Removable cooking plates: Yes
Temperature control: Yes
Approx. heat-up time: 5-6 mins
Other key features: Floating hinge, timer, opens flat for grilling on both plates, detachable cooking plates, recipe book, griddle pan plates, and cleaning scraper included
Cuisinart's electric grill has a classic timer on the front that dings when it's finished, which could be handy if you're keen to cook your food to set times or you get easily distracted.
Find out if this is a useful feature and how well this expensive electric grill cooks a variety of different foods.
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Cheapest price: £59 at Amazon, AO.com, Argos, also available at George Foreman
Size and weight: 11.8 x 36.5 x 32.4cm (HxWxD); 4.13kg
Removable cooking plates: Yes
Temperature control: No
Approx. heat-up time: 5-6 mins
Other key features: Floating hinge, detachable cooking plates, vertical storage, cable tidy, recipes included
If you're put off other George Foreman grills by the lack of detachable plates, this option is worth a look.
However, it's much bulkier than the other George Foreman grill we tested, so it might be less convenient overall if you're short of storage space. It's also a little bit more expensive.
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Cheapest price: £36.33 at Amazon, Argos, also available at Asda, George Foreman, Littlewoods, Robert Dyas, Tesco, Very
Size and weight: 7.6 x 33.5 x 28cm (HxWxD); 1.31kg
Removable cooking plates: No
Temperature control: No
Approx. heat-up time: 2 mins
Other key features: Floating hinge, vertical storage, cable tidy, recipes included
As well as being one of the household names in home grilling, George Foreman grills are also cheaper than most of their big-brand rivals.
Our tests reveal if it's worth spending more, or if you can get everything you need from an electric grill such as this cheap George Foreman.
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Cheapest price: £129.99, at Lakeland (out of stock)
Size and weight: 17.5 x 33.5 x 32cm (HxWxD); 6.8kg
Removable cooking plates: Yes
Temperature control: Yes
Approx. heat-up time: 2-3 mins
Other key features: Floating hinge, timer, opens flat for grilling on both plates, vertical storage, cable tidy, recipes included
If total control over your grilling is what you're after, the digital timer and intricate temperature settings of this pricey Lakeland Grill could appeal to you.
We judged how helpful these controls are for the cooking experience, and whether they result in perfectly grilled food.
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Cheapest price: £149.99 at Amazon, also available at AO.com, Argos, Currys, John Lewis, Littlewoods, Ninja, Very
Size and weight: 23.5 x 35.6 x 45cm (HxWxD); 8.1kg
Removable cooking plates: Yes
Temperature control: Yes
Approx. heat-up time: 7 mins
Other key features: Air fryer, dehydrator, baker, roaster, timer, removable cooking plates, recipes included, bristle brush/scraper combo
The Ninja Foodi AG301UK comes at a premium but has plenty of extra strings to its bow, so if you're keen on air frying, roasting or even dehydrating your food, it could be worth snapping up.
We cooked a steak, halloumi and sliced courgette with it to see how it compares to the other grills we tested.
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Cheapest price: £299.95 at Amazon, also available at AO.com (out of stock), Currys, Sage
Size and weight: 17 x 39.2 x 36.7cm (HxWxD); 8.6kg
Removable cooking plates: Yes
Temperature control: Yes
Approx. heat-up time: 4 mins
Other key features: Floating hinge, timer, opens flat for grilling on both plates, vertical storage, cable tidy, handle lock, recipes and temperature probe included
Sage's grill is by far the most expensive of those we tested, costing more than 10 times the price of the cheapest.
Our results reveal if we think it's 10 times as good, so you can be sure you're making the right investment.
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Cheapest price: £26 at Asda, also available at Amazon, Currys
Size and weight: 8.9 x 26.7 x 22.7cm (HxWxD); 1.8kg
Removable cooking plates: No
Temperature control: No
Approx. heat-up time: 2-3 mins
Other key features: Floating hinge, cleaning scraper included
The Salter EK2009 is the smallest and lightest of the electric grills we tested, so it could be a good option for a small kitchen or a campervan. It's also very cheap.
We judged how easy it is to use and how well it cooks food to see if it's a more worthwhile purchase than a bigger, more expensive grill.
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Cheapest price: £108 at Amazon, AO.com, also available at Argos, Currys
Size and weight: 16.5 x 36 x 37cm (HxWxD); 5kg
Removable cooking plates: Yes
Temperature control: Yes
Approx. heat-up time: 4-5 mins
Other key features: Floating hinge, automatic timer, recipes included, set programs for different meats
When cooking steaks with the Tefal GC713D40, a light on the handle changes colour to let you know if your steak is rare, medium rare, medium or well done.
We used this feature when cooking with this mid-priced electric grill to find out if it'll help you to cook steaks just the way you like.
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Cheapest price: £29 at Amazon, AO.com (out of stock)
Size and weight: 9.8 x 29.7 x 26.5cm (HxWxD); 2kg
Removable cooking plates: No
Temperature control: No
Approx. heat-up time: 2-3 mins
Other key features: Floating hinge, vertical storage, cable tidy, handle lock, recipes included, cleaning scraper
The Tower T27009 is cheap and it has a speedy heat-up time of around two to three minutes, but speed isn't everything.
We factored in other important factors such as ease of use and evenness of cooking in our overall assessment of it.
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What we learnt testing electric grills
Keen to see our test results of other small kitchen appliances? Check out our reviews of toastie makers, waffle makers and rice cookers.
What's the best way to clean an electric grill?
You'll need hot soapy water, a sponge and a cloth to clean your grill plates.
Use the best cleaning tools for the job with our washing-up liquid reviews.
How we tested electric grills
In our search for the best electric grills, we bought a selection of bestselling electric grills from leading UK retailers and put them though a string of tests to see which are worth buying.
We cooked a mixture of steaks, grilled vegetables and halloumi with each electric grill, and assessed each one on a series of key factors such as storage and ease of use.
Here's how we assessed each electric grill we tested:
Top electric grills need to be made of high-quality materials and be stable, with non-slip designs that are as comfortable and reliable as possible.
Each grill was inspected and judged for its build quality, and those with uncomfortable edges, loose parts or fiddly buttons were penalised. Those that are thoughtfully made, clearly labelled and easy to store were praised.
We timed how quickly each electric grill heated up before it was ready to use, how intuitive the buttons, dials and other controls are to navigate, and how convenient the cooking experience is overall.
Simplicity was not considered a bad thing, and grills with lots of features were only praised for them if they worked effectively and didn't needlessly overcomplicate the cooking process.
We cooked a medium rare steak with slices of courgette and halloumi with each grill we tested, following the cooking times in the instructions where present.
Evenness of cooking was what we were looking for in particular, so we praised grills that had left defined grill lines from one side of the food to the other, and that didn't leave spots noticeably over or undercooked.
After cooking we thoroughly cleaned each electric grill following the instructions and considered how straightforward the task was.
We looked out for grill plates that were difficult to clean, little spots on the grill that are difficult to reach, and any damage or stained spots we noticed after we were finished cleaning.
Interested in other cooking equipment we've tested? See our results of non-stick frying pans and griddle pans.