Pit Boss Ultimate Griddles' Ceramic Cook Surface Means Low Maintenance and High Performance

A ceramic cook surface makes this griddle stand out from the crowd

Pit Boss propane griddles have a great feature that was unique at the time I wrote this. Others are sure to follow. Their cooking surface is coated with a ceramic material that makes it almost as slippery as Teflon, but totally safe (Teflon produces harmful gases if it gets too hot; ceramic is inert). Foods release from the Pit Boss surface fairly easily and cleanup is much easier than with most other cooktops.

Most other griddle cooking surfaces are made from rolled steel, carbon steel, or cast iron. A very small number are stainless steel (many professionals think stainless is the best). Foods stick to these metals and cleanup is a pain. Rolled steel, carbon steel, and cast iron surfaces also need to be seasoned with a thin coat of oil when new and after each use to prevent rust and help make them more non-stick, just like you do for cast iron and carbon steel pans.

I’m sorry, but when I am done cooking I don’t want to do the cleanup while the food gets cold. And after dinner I don’t feel like going out in the dark to fire up my griddle again, squirt water on the hot surface, scrape it, wipe it clean, dry it, and then put down a thin layer of oil. The ceramic lets me cook, squirt on some water, and squeegee the gunk into the drain.

After a few uses the ceramic discolors in spots, but that doesn’t seem to impact the slipperiness.

Construction and assembly

Pit Boss supplied me with its 3-Burner Ultimate Lift-Off Griddle to test. The cooking surface has 29 by 18 inches, or 536 square inches, of cooking space. Pit Boss also sells 2, 4, and 5 burner units (the 5 burner is 36 by 18 inches for 647 square inches of cooking space).

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The unit comes in two parts, the cooking unit and the cart. The 76-pound cooking unit lifts off the cart easily and will fit in even the smallest car trunk for beach parties or tailgating. Assembling the cooking unit was a snap. All I had to do was attach four leveling screws to the griddle and place it on the firebox; attach the lid handle with two screws; and attach a support for the lid to the back with three screws. I set the unit on my picnic table, connected the gas tank, and was cooking dinner within 15 minutes. The leveling screws are a nice feature that many griddles lack. Pit Boss offers convenient, disposable aluminum pans for collecting grease.

The cart, however, was another story. It took almost 2 hours to assemble because it required inserting screws into very tight spots. Also, the sheet metal for some parts is thin: the bottom shelf had a bend in it that I managed to straighten with a few good hammer thwacks.

Heat up time

On the Pit Boss Ultimate Lift-Off Griddle, the three stainless steel burners ignite instantly every time, and they produce 36,000 BTU. You just turn the dial to the marked location and press the ignition button which is operated by a battery. There is a gap between the firebox and the cooktop so you can see the flame. It heats rapidly: on a 60°F day, the griddle went from 60 to 500°F in 10 minutes with the lid up. It will heat faster with the lid down, which is recommended for cool or windy days. It heats unevenly at first with a hotspot near the center but after 10 minutes with the lid down the cooktop distributes the heat reasonably well so temp differences are not a problem. I like to cook with a 2-zone setup, two burners on low, medium, or high, and one burner off. In this configuration it was much slower to heat up than when all three burners were on.

Accessories

Because the ceramic can scratch, Pit Boss supplies a hard plastic spatula. I recommend you buy an infrared gun thermometer so you can see what surface temperature you are working with. For example, I find that toasting buttered buns is best at about 250°F, smash burgers are best in the 400°F range, and fish filets need to be cooked hot because they exude a lot of water at low temps. I cook small 4-ounce smash burgers with the lid up, and 6-ounce or larger burgers with the lid down. I also recommend you buy a small dome-lid to place over burgers to speed cheese melting although a baking pan will work fine. You should also consider a large spatula with a sharp edge, a squeegee, and a burger smasher. Here is a plastic Pit Boss Tool Set.https://shoplowes.me/4qADePW

All Pit Boss griddle models have a black powder-coat finish with chrome knobs and handles. The grease trap is easy to remove and I recommend you buy their disposable aluminum liners. There are two folding side shelves with tool hooks, a trash bag holder, paper towel holder, propane tank holder, and bottle opener. There is also a bottom shelf where I store things like small lids for melting cheese and burger smashers. If you don’t want the portability of this Lift-Off model, Pit Boss also offers it in one piece with the cooking unit attached to the cart. Other owners sometimes complain about the ceramic peeling but I had no such problems over more than a year in Chicago weather. I did not use a cover.

Conclusion

A minor nit to pick: I had some problems registering it for warranty on the website. So, I went looking for an email address or phone number. The site had no “contact us“ page. I never found an email address but I did stumble upon a phone number in a place one would not think of looking. When I called, the very helpful woman took care of the registration promptly.

Warranty

2 Year limited warranty

We thank Pit Boss for providing its 3-Burner Ultimate Lift-Off Griddle for this review.