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BBQ parties are the main highlights of the winter season, but they are often very difficult to pull off, especially in the absence of the right equipment.
Without a grill mat, grilling food becomes extremely time-consuming and unhygienic. So if you want to create endless memories at the upcoming BBQ parties without having to worry about food, then buying a grill mat is the best solution for you.
There are many options in the market, and we are here to pick the best one. Read ahead, and thank us later.
At a Glance: Our Top Picks for Grill Mat
- OUR TOP PICK: Grillaholics Grill Mat
- Kona Best BBQ Grill Mat
- BEST BUDGET OPTION: Aoocan Grill Mat
Comparison Chart of the Best Grill Mats
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What is a Grill Mat and What is it Used For?
Contrary to popular belief, there is a huge difference between traditional grills and grill mats. Traditional grills require you to suspend the food between the grates, and that works well with some foods. However, in the case of tender and soft foods, you need to be a bit more careful, as these foods will fall through the narrow space between the grates.
Grill mats are sheets made of a thin material that can be heated. You place them on top of the regular grate or inside of the oven. You can then place your tender foods on top of them to grill them. The grill mat enables adequate grilling whilst preventing the falling of the food. They can also withstand very high temperatures without getting damaged.
What Should I Look For When Buying a Grill Mat?
Grilling your food the right way can make all the difference at your parties. Therefore, we recommend you to buy the best product in the market. If you are new to this, you probably don’t know what you should look for when buying the product, but don’t worry, we are here to help.
Size Should be Similar to an Oven
Having the right size grill mat is very important, as it will determine the amount of food you can grill at any given time. To pick the right size, it is advised that you first measure the size of your oven and then buy your mat accordingly. Some people pay more for larger mats and then cut them later to fit their ovens, but that’s only a waste of money and does not benefit you in any way.
Grillaholics Grill Mat
Medium Thickness
Medium thickness generally means any grill mat that is 0.25mm thick. This is perfect for optimal heating and even heat distribution on the whole surface. Very thick mats do not get hot enough and often require more time and energy. On the other hand, mats that are too thin heat up instantly and often result in degrading or burning of your food.
Higher Maximum Capacity
Each grilling mat comes with its own temperature capacity, but the really good ones will allow a rating of 500 degrees or higher. This means your grill mat is less likely to burn or get damaged on higher temperature settings. Moreover, it also helps prevent accidents and adds to your safety.
Willy's Top Picks - Best Grill Mats
Here are the three best grill mats:
Review of the Best Grill Mats
By this time, you already know the things to look for in a mat, but where will you find grill mats with the best of these features? The good news is that you won’t have to go through hundreds of products to pick the right one. Here is a list of the best grill mats for you.
Best Overall:
Grillaholics Grill Mat
Pros
Cons
What Recent Buyers Report
With a higher temperature capacity, this product is already making rounds in the market. It comes with a solid construction that sits really well with most recent buyers. The use of PTFE fiberglass helps give stability and strength to the model. This not only makes it last for longer but also ensures that it doesn’t break up during cleaning.
Why it Stands Out to Us
The most noteworthy feature of this amazing product is its lightweight design that makes handling easier. Moreover, the relatively lesser thickness also ensures that the mat conducts heat quickly and thus, saves both your time and energy. Together, the higher temperature capacity and lightweight design ensures the best optimal performance.
Who Will Use This Most
The grill mat is perfect for grilling and cooking soft and delicate foods. It is also dishwasher-safe, hence, it is more convenient for people who do not prefer to clean mats manually. Moreover, the product comes with a relatively higher temperature capacity, thus ensuring no heat damage at very high temperatures.
Bottom Line
Double coating added to the perfect fiberglass construction helps make this product one of the best in the market. Unlike most other mats, this one comes with a complete nonstick feature that ensures your soft and delicate food doesn’t stick to it. It is also completely safe to use inside a dishwasher, thus adding further convenience.
Runner-up:
Kona Best BBQ Grill Mat
Pros
Cons
What Recent Buyers Report
It came and it conquered. These are exactly the words we can use to describe the response of recent buyers towards the Kona Grill Mat. The product is praised for being one of the most reliable products in the market, thanks to its higher warranty. Moreover, the product offers a longer length, thus ensuring its usage with most ovens and grills.
Why it Stands Out to Us
The product stands out to us because of its ease of use. It not only comes with a seven-year warranty, but also ensures that you can clean the product instantly. The company claims that you can use this product 1000 times more than an ordinary mat, and buyers who have used it agree.
Who Will Use This Most
This grill mat is suitable for people who possess large ovens and grills because the relatively longer length of the product can easily fit inside. Not just this, the mat also comes with a higher thickness, which prevents burning and thus, keeps you and your family safe.
Bottom Line
Comfort, convenience, and delicious food are just some of the words associated with these grill mats. They come with amazing nonstick properties that prevent food and the sauces from sticking to the mat. Moreover, the product is known for being one of the longest in the market; hence it can easily fit larger ovens and grills. You and also cut it in half and use it simultaneously.
Best for the Money:
Aoocan Grill Mat
Pros
Cons
What Recent Buyers Report
The company’s motto was always to satisfy its many customers, and we are proud to say that the company has done it with ease. The Aoocan Grill Mat is one of the cheapest products in the market and has garnered huge praise for this commendable feature. It also has a temperature capacity of 500 degrees, which means that it can withstand temperatures easily.
Why it Stands Out to Us
The grill mat has successfully passed both FDA and LFGB tests, but that’s not the only reason it stands out in the market. It comes with higher durability, thanks to its strong fiberglass construction. The material not only adds strength to the product but also ensures easy cleaning. Moreover, the best thing about it is that it doesn’t retain any of the smells from earlier usage.
Who Will Use This Most?
The product is known in the market for its higher diversity. It can be used for all soft and delicate foods, but its usage isn’t limited to soft foods. You can use the grill mat for cooking veggies, shrimp, bacon, and even fish. Moreover, it can also be used to bake pizza and cook eggs. And since its price is relatively less than other models, it is a perfect choice for most consumers.
Bottom Line
Superior performance and cheaper rates, this is certainly an impressive combination and one that fascinates all consumers. The Aoocon grill mat's higher flexibility also helps make cleaning easy. The food and any sauce easily slide off and make cleaning effective. Moreover, the durable construction helps the product last for a longer time.
Best Copper Grill Mat:
YRYM HT Copper Grill Mat
Pros
Cons
What Recent Buyers Report
Recent buyer opinions and reviews are a great way to measure the success of any product, and we were completely blown away by how much buyers like this product. They have repeatedly praised its use of white color, which ensures greater hygiene. Not just this, the product also comes with a thin material, thus ensuring that your food cooks quickly.
Why it Stands Out to Us
The product stands out to us because of its construction material. Paper pulp is heavily used in the construction hence, making it relatively cheaper. Moreover, the product comes with a coating of fiberglass which gives it higher durability and strength. This ensures it can last for a longer time.
Who Will Use This Most
The product is one of the best nonstick mats in the market and perfect for grilling and cooking of many food items. It is also highly recommended by chefs and offers convenience like none other. Not just that, the advanced features of the product enable you to use it for baking foods, such as pizza and chicken. Since it’s completely nonstick, food sauces will not stick to the surface.
Bottom Line
If you are looking to revolutionize your BBQ parties completely, then you definitely need a grill mat with higher temperature capacity, and this one right here is definitely the right one for you. It is also FDA-approved, thus ensuring higher safety for you and your family. So if you are looking to save some cooking time at your parties, make sure to get this product at your earliest.
Best Grill Mat for Composite Deck:
Drymate Gas Grill Mat
Pros
Cons
What Recent Buyers Report
Recent buyers who love hygiene and cleanliness prefer this mat over all others. It comes with soft, absorbent technology that ensures that no food sticks to the material. Moreover, sauces aren’t absorbed, thus preventing the retention of smells after usage. Buyers have also complimented the product for being BPA-free, thus ensuring their safety.
Why it Stands Out to Us
The product stands out to us because it protects the deck or patio from any grease or food stains, but that’s not all. The slip-resistant feature has been a popular one and helps keep the grill mat in position securely. It also provides a much safer environment for your food to cook easily.
Who Will Use This Most
People who like to have their compartments clean will want to get this product instantly. It not only helps in the prevention of grease, but its steady, waterproof backing technology helps prevent liquids from seeping through and damaging any surfaces below.
Bottom Line
If comfort had another name in the food department, it would be a grill mat, and the Drymat grill mat certainly does justice to the claim. It is made with polyester fiber that helps prevent its damage. Moreover, it is considered to be one of the longest ones in the market, thus enabling you to use it with all shapes and sizes of ovens.
Pros and Cons of Grill Mats
Grill mats are the need of the hour, and we have already established their importance, but does that mean they don’t come with their fair share of cons? Of course not. Here are the most prominent pros and cons of grill mats that you need to keep in mind before you make any decision.
Pros
Below are some primary pros:
Perfect for Delicate Food
Traditional grates have large gaps that prevent food from remaining on top, and that is where grill mats come in handy. When the food is delicate and small, these grill mats ensure they don’t fall and that the juicy liquid stays on top.
Higher Convenience and Hygiene
If you are bothered by how much mess the traditional graters make, then rejoice, because grill mats ensure better hygiene and convenience. The cleaning of the mess is pretty simple and does not require much time and energy.
Versatility
This might sound strange, but a grill mat allows you to cook pancakes, fry eggs, and bake pizza on it. A grill mat is fairly inexpensive and lets you do all these things easily.
Provides Nonstick Surface
Unlike other accessories or kitchen pans, grill mats do not stick to the food. They are fairly easy to use and ensure that whatever food you cook, regardless of its consistency, it doesn’t stick.
Cons
On the other hand, mats like these have the following drawbacks.
Can Catch Fire
Although that’s not a common happening, it still needs to be taken into consideration. Grill mats are more likely to catch fires in higher heat settings. So make sure the heat doesn’t exceed the temperature capacity of your mat.
Needs Thorough Cleaning
Since you are putting food directly on the grill mat, it is likely to get dirty very often. And if the mats are not cleaned carefully, they can become a home to certain bacteria.
How to Clean a Grill Mat
Whether or not your grill mat increases hygiene will depend solely on how well and how often you clean it. Its cleaning is not very hard, however, you need to follow some basic steps to ensure that thorough cleaning is done every time.
- If you are using your mat for the first time, it is important that you wash it with warm water and soap twice.
- After every use, you need to take your mat outside, wash it with lukewarm water, and then apply mild soap to it.
- Once you have rubbed it thoroughly with either a cloth or sponge, you need to wash it again, this time with slightly warmer water.
- Then you need to clean it with a dry and clean cloth and check if there are any impurities left.
- You can also place it on the top of a dishwasher, if you have enough room.
- Once it is clean and dry, you can place it back inside the oven.
- Since the grill mats are delicate, they should never be scraped too strongly. Moreover, they shouldn’t be cleaned with any abrasive material like gritty soaps. Doing this will not only damage the non-stick coating but will also reduce the shelf life of your grill mat.
These are all the useful tips you need to follow. For a more thorough review, refer to the video below.
Conclusion
If you have kept reading till now, chances are that you have already made your mind of buying the grill mat, but make sure you don’t fall into cheap marketing tactics and buy the best one. To identify the right product for yourself, measure your oven first, and choose the mat accordingly. Moreover, make sure that the product is well-equipped to grill your food because, at the end of the day, you don’t want to spoil the entire party with badly grilled food, do you?
People Also Ask
We know you guys are very excited to know more about these grill mats, and one proof of this is the plethora of questions you have asked on the internet. To help you out, we will be answering the most popular questions.
What is the Purpose of a Grill Mat?
Grill mats are the perfect alternative to traditional graters. They are made with thin materials that allow you to grill small and delicate food on them easily. These grill mats are also inexpensive and will ensure that the quality and taste of the food are retained.
Can You Use a Grill Mat in the Oven?
Grill mats are one of the most diverse kitchen equipment in the market; hence it is only natural that they can be used with ovens, too. The grill mat can be cut to fit the size of your oven. It won’t only ensure equal distribution of heat but will also ensure that soft, delicate food doesn’t burn away.
Are Copper Mats Dishwasher Safe?
The question cannot be answered in either affirmative or negative simply because there are many mats that are dishwasher safe and many that aren’t. For easy cleaning, one needs to use gentle brushing and a non-gritty soap after each use. Just make sure your mat is completely dry before you place it back inside the oven.
Are Grill Mats Safe to Cook on?
In one word, yes, they are absolutely safe to cook on and are highly recommended. Grill mats come with a specific temperature capacity that indicates the amount of heat they can withstand. Most of them can withstand 300 to 400 degrees; however, some higher quality mats can also withstand temperatures up to 500 degrees.
Can You Cut a Grill Mat?
It is recommended that you first measure your oven and then buy a grill mat that fits accordingly. This will save you time and cost both. However, if you have a larger mat and a smaller oven, then you can absolutely cut the grill mat to fit a smaller grill or oven.
Other Grill-Related Articles
Other Grill Mat Buyer Guides
The links below are buyer guides for the various types of grill mats:
