10 Best Foods to Cook on a Griddle
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With a cook surface made of carbon steel, the Flatrock Flat Top Grill combines the heat retention of your favorite cast-iron pan with the quick heating and heat control of stainless steel.
It excels at cooking foods you would normally cook in a sauté pan, wok, skillet, or on an electric griddle (steaks, stir-fry, pancakes), all with the ease and fun of doing it outside. It’s flat, even surface gives foods a superb sear, and there’s no worry that small or thin items like asparagus or shrimp, will fall through the grates.
The Flatrock cooks with gas, so you won’t get the wood-fired flavor you get from a Traeger Pellet Grill, but it doesn't mean it's any less delicious. And because it cooks with the lid open and lacks convection, it’s best for quicker cooking foods, like steaks and chicken breast. (Save the ribs and brisket for your Traeger Pellet Grill.)
Explore our collection of best foods to cook on a griddle now.
10 Griddle Foods We Love to Cook on the Flat Top Grill
Below are some of our favorite kinds of foods to cook on the flat top. For a complete list of all of our delicious and full recipe look here.
Pancakes
Think of your flat top as a gigantic griddle. Naturally pancakes come to mind. Use your favorite batter and cook them over medium heat. Pro tip: Warm up your maple syrup in a small saucepan right on the cooktop.
Bacon—and more bacon
What’s the right amount of bacon to make for breakfast? ALL of it! And with such a large cooktop, you can. Pro tip: Leave the bacon grease behind and use it to fry up some eggs.
Fajitas
With three different cook zones, it’s as if the Flatrock was designed with fajitas in mind. Sear your steak in one zone, saute you veg in another, and toast you tortillas in the third. Or use our new Fajita Rub in either a spicy chicken fajita or a tasty corn and poblano one.
Smashed burgers
The ample griddle space lets you cook a bunch of burgers at once. Simply roll your ground beef into a ball, then use a spatula or, better, the burger press found in our Ulitmate Smashed Burger Kit to smash it thinly. Pro tip: Place a piece of parchment on the burger before smashing to keep the meat from sticking to the press. Want onions in that burger? Place some thinly sliced onion on the hot cooktop in a single layer about the size your bun then smash the meat down on it. Looking for some inspiration? We have a few great ones and counting. Try Tim Hollingsworth's porcini-dusted smashed burger or our Flat Top Smashed Cheeseburger.
Scallops and shrimp
Quick-cooking seafood like shrimp and scallops are perfect for cooking on the flat top. Pro tip: For the best sear, pat the seafood dry before putting it on the hot cooktop. These shrimp tacos from Dive Q burst with fresh lime flavor and cook up in minutes.
Steak, chops, and chicken breast
Whether beef, or tuna or swordfish, steak, with its even thickness is perfectly made for flat top cooking. The same is true for chops, like lamb or pork, and boneless chicken thighs or breast.
Vegetables
The beauty of the flat top if that you can saute all your vegetable side dishes right alongside the main dish.
Eggs
Take it from your local diner, eggs turn out great when cooked on the flat top. With all that space you can scramble a pile of them or fry up a dozen at a time. Omelets, like this one filled with bacon and cheese, are also fun to make on the flat top. They may be a little less round in shape, but they cook fast and you can amke multiples at once.
Stir-fry
The sided cooktop can act as a giant wok. Sear up your meat and vegetables, toss with pre-cooked rice, then scramble an egg into it and you can skip the take out.
Popcorn
You read that right. You can make popcorn on the flat top. Simply add a thick layer of to a portion of the hot cooktop. Add the kernels in a single layer and cover with the cooking dome that comes in our Flat Top Grill Essentials Kit. Carefully move the dome around and soon enough you’ll hear popping.
Flat Top Pork Fried Rice
by Traeger Kitchen
Prep Time
10 Min
Cook Time
8 Min
Serves
4
Forget takeout. Delicious fried rice is easy (and fun!) to make right on your flat top. Day-old refrigerated cooked rice makes the best fried rice because the individual grains have dried out and won’t clump. However, a shortcut would be to buy microwaveable jasmine rice, skip the microwaving and add it to the cooktop straight out of the bag. In our tests, this worked amazingly well. A ham steak works great in the fried rice, but for even more flavor, look for our Char Siu recipe and use that instead.
Ingredients
Seasoning Sauce
| 1/3 Cup | soy sauce |
| 2 Tablespoon | hot water |
| 1 Tablespoon | honey |
| 1 Tablespoon | toasted sesame oil |
| 2 Teaspoon | Shaoxing wine, rice vinegar, or dry sherry |
| 1/2 Teaspoon | freshly ground white pepper |
Rice
| 2 Tablespoon | canola oil or other neutral flavored oil with a high smoke point |
| 4 Tablespoon | unsalted butter, divided |
| 1 Medium | yellow onion, diced |
| 1 Cup | frozen peas and carrots |
| 1 | 12-oz ham steak, diced (about 2 cups) |
| 2 Teaspoon | kosher salt |
| 5 Cup | cooked jasmine rice, preferably day old |
| 2 | large egg, beaten |
| 6 | scallions, sliced on diagonal, whites and greens divided |
| 1/2 Cup | bean sprouts |
1
Make the sauce: In a small bowl, whisk the soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of hot water, honey, sesame oil, Shaoxing wine, and the white pepper, until combined.
2
Heat all 3 zones on the cooktop to medium-high heat for 7 to 8 minutes, then reduce the heat to medium.
3
Drizzle or squirt the oil over the hot cooktop then use a spatula to spread the oil in a thin layer. Add 2 tablespoons of the butter to the left side of the cooktop and spread with the spatula until melted. Add the onion and peas and carrots to the buttered area and cook, stirring and flipping with spatulas, until tender, about 2 minutes. Add the ham (or char siu, if using), and cook, stirring and flipping, until heated through, about 1 minute.
4
Meanwhile, add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter to the right side of the cooktop and spread with the spatula until melted. Add the rice to the buttered area and spread it out in an even layer. Sprinkle the salt and the sauce over the rice and cook, tossing occasionally, until the rice is coated, about 1 minute.
5
Combine the rice with the ham and vegetables and mix, stirring and flipping, until well mixed, about 1 minute.
6
Add the beaten egg to the cooktop near the rice. Use the spatulas to stir and flip until softly scrambled. Then use the spatulas to cut the eggs into small pieces.
7
Add the egg pieces, scallion whites, and the bean sprouts to the rice and mix, stirring and flipping with the spatulas until evenly distributed. Flatten the mixture and the cook undisturbed for 1 minute to cook the sprouts.
8
Transfer to a serving bowl or platter and sprinkle with the scallion greens. Enjoy!
