When I made the move from New York City to Los Angeles five years ago, I told myself I’d buy a grill and cook outdoors. I never did, but I still craved that social aspect of grilling. When I started seeing a lot of “smokeless” indoor grills popping up in TikTok and Instagram videos, with people sharing how they do hibachi night at home and use it for family meal prep, I started my hunt for my own so I could center parties around grilling the way I’ve done with hot pot or fondue right at my dining-room table.
I spent months reading reviews, watching videos, and gathering intel to find the most recommended brands and models, then hauled five grills around to friends’ houses to get multiple opinions on smokiness in different kitchen and dining setups. I tested with different foods, levels of oil (to prevent sticking and see if there were flare-ups), and timing to find the best electric indoor grill that is as close to smokeless as possible while still imbuing food with a “grilled” flavor that tastes kissed by flames without contact with any actual fire.
There were some that delivered more on taste than others. You will never get the smokey flavor you get with charcoal or fat dripping from a burger into the open flames of a gas grill, but you can get pretty close with the high, predictably even heat of most of these. I tested five popular models ranging from $60 to $250, and here’s how each fared.
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This grill was on my TikTok page every ten swipes for a few months. I was skeptical of the quality online and even more so when I opened the box. Everything was so lightweight — the grill itself is three pounds, which is one-fifth of the weight of the heaviest models I tested — and felt flimsy. But it was also about half the price of other brands. It includes both a nonstick grill pan (which the brand calls a griddle in the description) and a metal grill grate that could be used together or separately. The grill measures 18 inches long by nine inches wide and four inches tall, about the size of a regular toaster oven, and is big enough to cook for a few people and is easy to store since it’s both light and small.
I first tested vegetables on it. The directions in the manual said to cook those on high, so I cranked the heat — the temperature dial doesn’t have discrete markings — and it got hot enough to start smoking lightly in a few minutes. This was the only style of grill that had three little handled rectangular metal trays that went underneath the grill, either to catch grease or melt cheese like raclette. I opted to put a splash of water in each of the three trays so that if grease dripped in it wouldn’t immediately smoke, a trick I learned from past indoor grilling, and first cooked planks of king oyster mushrooms lightly brushed with neutral canola oil (using the included silicone brush) on the grill grate. With the moisture in the mushrooms it took about 15 minutes and a few flips and additional brushes of oil for them to crisp fully.
The Aoran has metal trays that can be placed underneath for catching grease.
Photo: Alyse Whitney
The grill grates heated unevenly, with more hot spots and dead zones than the other grills I tested. When I tried some marinated pork-shoulder slices on it next, parts of the pork started burning before it was cooked through and I opened a nearby window after a burst of smoke emerged. I switched to the “griddle” plate — the one that’s actually more like a grill pan — and was able to get grill marks on the pork and cook it through in about 20 minutes. I used the included silicone-tipped metal tongs, which were a bit small, to flip the meat. I moved the pork around and flipped it more than I did with other grills to make sure any hot spots were accounted for and to circumvent the uneven cooking. The pork tasted slightly char-grilled but wasn’t as evenly bronzed as I would have liked.
The grill got very hot during cooking, likely because the base of the grill is made of thin metal. The feet at the bottom of it protected the faux-marble countertop I put it on, but I had to let the grill cool for about 30 minutes before cleaning. I wouldn’t recommend using this on a wooden surface as there is a chance it could damage it with heat. Even though it says the nonelectrical parts are dishwasher-safe, I hand-washed them because some reviews stated the plate can get dented, warped, or even rust with use in the dishwasher! Overall, I can’t see this grill lasting more than a year of occasional use, and I think it’s worth paying more for something better.
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I have used a Zojirushi rice cooker for almost a decade and think of the brand’s appliances as well made and dependable. I tested two of its indoor electric grills, the 1,300-watt EB-CC15 (19 inches long by 12 inches wide and three inches tall) and the slightly larger 1,500-watt EB-DLC10. I ended up preferring the less-expensive EB-CC15 because the cooking quality was nearly identical to the more expensive one even though it has lower wattage. Both have titanium- and ceramic-layered nonstick grill plates, a metal drip tray, and range from 176 degrees Fahrenheit to 410 degrees. The EB-CC15 has cool touch handles and a slightly larger cooking area, while the EB-DLC10 has a buffer zone of heat-resistant material around the grill so you’re less likely to accidentally burn yourself. They both weigh a little under eight pounds, right in the middle of the range of the grills I tested.
I tested both grills in my home kitchen with the windows closed and no vent on, using the same ingredients. Both grills heated up quickly and stayed hot from edge to edge with no noticeable hot or cold spots. First, I cooked some planks of zucchini brushed with oil at 400 degrees until they were tender and had nice grill markings on both sides, which took about 15 minutes total. Then I decreased the heat to 375 degrees (the temperature gauge has markings only for low, medium, and high, so this was a guesstimate) and added some tri-tip steaks with no oil, only seasoning. There was a bit of smoke when I cooked the steak on both grills, which quickly dissipated when I opened the window. The steak wasn’t a particularly fatty cut, so there wasn’t much grease drippage, and everything I cooked got beautifully caramelized with grill marks.
Alyse Whitney The Zojirushi EB-CC15 heated up quickly and produced nice grill marks.
Alyse Whitney The Zojirushi EB-CC15 heated up quickly and produced nice grill marks.
Once the grills cooled down, I was astounded by how easy both Zojirushi grills were to clean. I was able to clean the grill plate and drip pan with a sponge and without scrubbing (both parts are also dishwasher-safe). Both grills are relatively flat and easy to store, whether that’s on top of the fridge or tucked into a cabinet with baking dishes and sheet pans that are around the same size. Because these models produced some smoke they didn’t make it to the top spot, but I would recommend both for their median price point and high quality.
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Another TikTok-viral grill, the Ninja has a perforated mesh lid that allegedly helps with ventilation and splatter. The grill and griddle plates, both 14 inches by 15 inches, also have high walls for grease splatter, akin to what you’d see on a large flattop griddle in a restaurant. I tested this at a friend’s house with a bounty of vegetables: zucchini, asparagus, peppers, and mushrooms drizzled with a little olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. The manual recommends cooking vegetables at a higher heat and meat at a medium-high heat (it ranges from 200 to 500 degrees) so I cooked the vegetables first with the vent lid off at 450, and they became tender and got great grill marks after about 15 minutes.
The Ninja has a perforated lid that is meant to help with splatter and ventilation.
Photo: Alyse Whitney
Next I wiped down the grill easily and carefully with a wet paper towel between tongs to get any excess seasoning off, lowered the heat to 375, put on some seasoned chuck steaks, and closed the vent lid. The lid was helpful in controlling smoke while cooking, but as soon as I opened it to flip the steaks smoke billowed out. Not an alarming amount or enough to set off the smoke detector, but enough for me to open a window and close the lid again immediately. Cooking to medium rare took about 20 minutes total, and the steaks had a slightly smoky flavor and lovely char marks.
The large surface area of this grill can handle a lot of food at once, enough to feed a family of four. The 1,450-watt machine provided quick and even heating even after I added new items to the surface. The base of the grill didn’t stay cool when cooking, but also wasn’t in danger of burning my fingers. As with the other models I tested, I let the Ninja cool for about 30 minutes before taking it apart and putting all the nonelectrical parts in the dishwasher, which washed up perfectly with no streaks, damage, or stuck-on food. The Ninja, like the Zojirushi models, weighs about eight pounds and is a little bulky to store because of its height but is a great value for a hardworking, mostly smokeless indoor grill that seems like it is built to last. But because it produced a bit of smoke, it came in a close second. The smoke added a slight hint of barbecue flavor that the winner didn’t, but I prefer not having to worry about opening windows or fanning the smoke detector.
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The only grill that was truly smokeless in my testing was the Breville Sear & Press Grill — and that’s why it was the winner. This is the most expensive model I tested, but it comes with a lot of great features. It can be used as not only a sandwich press: Pushing a lever opens it flat to provide a large, 20-inch-by-12-inch cooking surface. Its standing dimensions when unopened are about 15 inches long by 14 inches wide and nine inches high. The plates on each side reverse independently from grill grate to griddle and can operate at different temperatures at the same time. (You can also purchase waffle plates separately.) The temperature gauge runs from 210 to 450 degrees and includes preset temperature buttons for paninis, burgers, and searing. I used the last to make a killer grilled cheese in minutes with extra-melty cheese and the burger setting for sliders, and both worked perfectly.
The Breville Sear & Press has preset buttons for searing as well as cooking burgers and paninis.
Photo: Alyse Whitney
The Sear & Press was my favorite because of its versatility. Although it weighs in at a whopping 15 pounds, nearly twice as much as many of the other models I tried, it’s worth the extra effort to move because it cooked vegetables, meat, and seafood evenly and quickly without burning or smoking. Everything I cooked, from sliders to jumbo shrimp, got even grill marks and also cooked significantly faster. Grease dripped away easily, too, keeping the cooking process from getting messy, and the removable drip tray, like all the nonelectrical parts, is dishwasher-safe. Even marinated meats (like Korean short ribs) didn’t immediately burn like they did on other grills. Because the grill wasn’t as messy to operate, cleaning it was very quick and easy.
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Dining and Cooking