We Seared Pounds of Chicken, Salmon, and Vegetables To Find the Best Grill Pans

Our Top Pick

Scanpan 10.5-Inch Professional Grill Pan

$120 at Amazon Orig. $160 $120 at Sur La Table

We love this option from Scanpan because it's durable and efficient. Weighing around 4 pounds, it's made with a cast aluminum construction and a nonstick coating free of PFOA and PFOS. Unlike most nonstick cookware, the brand's nonstick coating is safe for metal utensils. The square pan has narrower, closer-together grill ridges than most of the other pans we've seen. Because of this, it sears and caramelizes more of the surface of the food that's cooking, densely striping it with grill marks and imparting more of that delicious seared flavor.

The pan heats relatively quickly and uniformly with no hot or cool spots, and the stainless steel handle stays cool and is comfortable to grip. This pan can be used on most types of cooktops, except for induction, and is oven-safe to 500°F, so the whole pan can be transferred to a hot oven to finish cooking thicker cuts of meat. At 10.5 inches, the pan is just the right size for four or five hamburgers or a few steaks. It can be a little challenging to clean between the grill ridges, but fortunately, the pan is dishwasher safe.

The Details: 10.5-inch diameter; 8.25-inch handle; 3.8 pounds; oven safe up to 500°F

Best Budget

Cuisinel Preseasoned Cast Iron Grill Pan

Orig. $55 $45 at Amazon $56 at Macy's

A great option for smaller households, the Cuisinel 10.5-inch cast iron grill pan is just big enough to grill a couple of chicken breasts or four small hamburgers. It is well designed, with high, squared grill ridges that extend almost to the edge of the pan so the entire cooking surface is usable. It also has pour spouts on either side to pour off grease.

Even though it's inexpensive, this pan comes with a couple of bonuses: A glass lid with a stay-cool silicone handle, a scraper tool that fits perfectly between the ridges to scrape off burnt-on bits, and a silicone sleeve for the pan's handle. The lid is great for helping thicker foods cook through. The sleeve makes it more comfortable to hold the handle, but it doesn't do much to make it cooler; it still gets too hot to touch without an oven mitt.

This grill is a good size for smaller burners; it heats fairly quickly for cast iron and maintains an even, uniform temperature. Despite being pre-seasoned, food will stick the first few times—the company advises cooking something very fatty or using lots of oil at first—until the naturally nonstick patina builds up. As with all cast iron, hand washing is required, and it should also be dried immediately and coated with oil to maintain the seasoning.

The Details: 10.5-inch diameter; 5.5-inch handle; 4 pounds

Best Nonstick

Anolon 11" Nonstick Square Griddle Pan

$50 at Amazon Orig. $50 $40 at Target View on Walmart

Some nonstick grill pans do not achieve those coveted grill marks, but if Instagram-worthy seared stripes are your goal, the Anolon Advanced 11-inch Square Grill Pan will not disappoint. It heats quickly and uniformly, and the rounded ridges, which are a little higher than some of the other pans we tested, sear perfect lines into eggplant and zucchini and cook everything uniformly. Even better, there were no noticeable hot spots or cool spots.

The pan is deeper than other grill pans—almost two inches deep—which cuts down on splattering when you're grilling fatty foods like steaks or hamburgers. It also has pour spouts on either side. The handle, which has a silicone insert, is comfortable to grip and stays cool to the touch. This pan is made of hard-anodized aluminum with a durable, chip- and scratch-resistant nonstick coating. The food we cooked released from the pan easily with no issues whatsoever, and it was easy to clean as well, which is a boon since it's not dishwasher safe. The grill pan is a good size for holding four to five burgers or small chicken breasts; the ridges extend almost to the edge of the pan, making the whole cooking surface usable. The pan is oven-safe up to 400°F and can be used on gas, electric, and glass or ceramic cooktops.

The Details: 11-inch diameter; 2.5 pounds; oven safe up to 400°F

Best Cast Iron

Finex Cast Iron Double-Handle Grill Pan

$280 at Amazon $280 at Walmart $280 at Williams-Sonoma

Finex is a small, Portland, Oregon-based cookware company. Think of it as a fancier version of its more famous sister brand, Lodge Cast Iron, which acquired the brand in 2019. This pan is beautifully designed, with an octagonal shape that maximizes the cooking surface, a sturdy design (it weighs over 12 pounds!), and beautiful coiled stainless handles that are designed to cool off quickly. The ridges are thicker and deeper than most other grill pans, which closely replicate an actual grill.

Because of its heft, the pan takes a while to heat up, but when it does, it can achieve screaming-hot temperatures perfect for searing a steak and will retain that heat uniformly for quite some time. Even with its pre-seasoning and a little additional oil, food stuck a little to the ridges during tests, but with some coaxing, it released without tearing. The heat dispersed nicely with no hot spots, and the design of the ridges yielded impressively browned grill marks. The handles do get hot, but cool off more quickly than the pan itself. Like any cast iron cookware, the seasoning on this pan needs to be maintained, and it'll get better and better with repeated use as the patina builds up. Taken care of properly, this pan is likely to become an heirloom and a great alternative to firing up the outdoor grill.

The Details: 12.25-inch diameter; 12 pounds, 5 ounces; oven safe up to 500°F

Best Square

Staub Cast Iron Grill Pan

$150 at Amazon $150 at Williams-Sonoma $150 at Wayfair

French cast iron cookware company Staub wins out for a great square grill pan. The pan measures 12 inches, though the cooking surface is closer to 10 inches since the tall sides of the pan flare out. The design makes it easy to maneuver a spatula to flip burgers or grilled eggplant. The enamel-coated cast iron cooking surface has a smoother surface than some of the other cast iron pans, so the food releases a little better, even the first time the pan is used. The smoother finish also makes it a little easier to clean than other cast iron, and the enamel coating makes it less finicky to clean.

It heats moderately quickly, and the heat distributes well even if the pan is much wider than the burner; the far edges are a little cooler but not so much that food cooks unevenly. The matching grill press, which is sold separately but also made of enamel-coated cast iron with ridges of its own, is a great complement to this pan. You can use the press to cook food from both sides at once, perfect for paninis or smash burgers. The exterior of this pan is colorful enamel, with a handful of rich, dark colors available from which to choose.

The Details: 12-inch diameter; 10.79 pounds; oven safe up to 500°F

Best Round

GreenPan Chatham Ceramic Nonstick Round Grill Pan

$55 at Amazon $55 at Walmart $55 at Wayfair

The GreenPan Chatham 11-inch Round Grill Pan is a good option for those who want the convenience of nonstick but without the worry of chemical coating. GreenPan uses a durable ceramic-based nonstick coating that's free of PFAS, PFOA, lead, and cadmium.

With this pan, food does not stick at all, even when you're using very little oil. However, it doesn't achieve the same distinct grill marks as some of the other pans we tested, and it seemed to cook hotter in some parts of the pan than in others. It's also better suited for smaller portions of food since the grill ridges only cover about nine inches in diameter, which is enough room for four small burgers or two chicken breasts. Despite its nonstick coating, the pan can be aggravating to clean: the light grey surface, although attractive, shows every little speck of residue, and it's hard to clean the crevices on either side of the high ridges.

The Details: 11-inch diameter; 7.8-inch handle; 2.97 pounds; oven safe up to 600°F

Best Double Burner

All-Clad Nonstick Grande Grill Cookware

$100 at Amazon $100 at Sur La Table $100 at Wayfair

Even for kitchens with oversized cooktops, the All-Clad HA1 Nonstick Double Burner Grill is generously sized to fit securely over two burners. It heats quickly and uniformly, even in the no-man's-land between the burners. The ridges are rounded and not too high, so they produce evenly browned lines and cook the food quickly since the food is closer in contact with the cooking surface. Pour spouts in two corners make it easy to pour off excess fat or drippings.

The HA1 line is one of All-Clad's entry-level lines; it is made of heavy-gauge hard anodized aluminum with a PFOA-free nonstick coating. The coating works great to release food easily and makes for quicker cleanup, especially since a sponge can glide easily over the rounded ridges with no crevices for food to hide. It's also dishwasher safe, although it might not fit in smaller dishwashers.

The fact that the whole thing can go into the oven (up to 500°F) is a bonus, especially when you need to finish cooking thicker cuts such as steaks or chops. Loop handles with flat grips are easy to carry, although they tend to get hot, so oven mitts are a must. One drawback: This pan, measuring 13 by 20 inches, is a bit awkward to store since the handles extend a full two inches above the pan. But, with a pan this size, you could probably cook up eight or more burgers at a time—perfect for your next get-together.

The Details: 13 x 20 inches; 5 pounds, 13 ounces; oven safe up to 500°F

Best Reversible

Lodge Chef Collection Cast Iron Reversible Griddle/Grill

Orig. $75 $60 at Amazon $60 at Wayfair $70 at Williams-Sonoma

This reversible grill and griddle is a real workhorse. It can be used on virtually any type of cooking surface: gas, electric, and induction burners; outdoor grills; and even campfires. The grill side features thick, squared ridges to replicate the grates on an outdoor grill, and a channel along one side for oil or juices to collect; the griddle side is smooth but also has a channel for oil. The handles are designed to be flush with the cooking surface, making this pan convenient to store stacked or on its side.

For cast iron, we found this pan heated relatively quickly and did a great job at maintaining its temperature. Delicate food like salmon stuck a bit to the grill ridges, even with oil. However, with repeated use, a natural nonstick patina will eventually build up and help food release more quickly. There were a few hot spots, particularly where the heat of the burner was most concentrated, but for the most part, food was browned evenly and cooked uniformly. The oven-safe attribute of this grill is a bonus, especially for thicker foods that need a little more cooking time.

This grill would be great for making grilled pizza—you could transfer the whole pan to the oven afterward to melt the cheese. Just be prepared to put in the work it takes to maintain cast iron: The grill ridges are challenging to clean, especially when bits of food stick to them, and the pan needs to be dried immediately and treated with a light coating of oil to maintain its seasoning.

The Details: 16.5 x 10 inches; 10 pounds, 9 ounces; oven safe up to 550°F