Nothing beats the comforts of cooking outside for a house party on your good old Blackstone griddle. However, on hotter days, and colder days, the Blackstone griddle might heat up differently.
How hot a Blackstone griddle would get may depend on several factors. This in turn also determines how much you can cook and how long it would take.
How hot does a Blackstone griddle get?
On average, a Blackstone griddle would reach a temperature of 640 degrees when put on high. It would take about 8 to 9 minutes to reach such a temperature. Blackstone griddle gets hotter on its heat zones while it takes longer for the edges to become hot even on colder days.
Temperature and time setting of different sizes of Blackstones are given below –
Blackstone 17″ griddle:
It takes the Blackstone 17-inch griddle about 8 minutes on average to reach a temperature of about 640 degrees. In this griddle, you would be able to cook up 12 eggs and 9 pancakes at one go.
Blackstone 22″ griddle:
With a heating power of about 24,000 BTUs, the 22-inch griddle is similar to the 17 inch one, and takes about 20 to 30 seconds more to reach about the same temperature due to its size.
Blackstone 36″ griddle:
The 36-inch Blackstone griddle has a generous size and takes about 9 minutes to reach a temperature of about 500 degrees. On high, it would take close to 8 minutes for each griddle
How long does it take to heat a Blackstone griddle?
You cannot expect your Blackstone griddle to heat up instantly. For people who are not used to cooking on a Blackstone griddle, you would not be aware of how long particular dishes need to be on the griddle to be truly cooked.
Each dish would vary in cooking times, in stoves, oven, or even griddle cookware. Not knowing how long your Blackstone griddle will take to heat up can result in uncooked or burnt food, there is no in-between.
On average, a Blackstone griddle could take about 8 or 9 minutes to reach the maximum temperature. There are, however, several factors that would determine the total time a Blackstone griddle takes to heat up to a good temperature.
One of the factors is what series or brand of griddle you are using. For a few, namely E series Blackstone griddles might take longer than 8 or 9 minutes at times.
Other than that, if the weather is too cold outside where you have put the griddle, it is obvious that it would require more than the average time for the griddle to become effectively hot. How big your cooking surface is will also determine how fast the heat is being distributed.
You may also have to remember that when you are doing a barbeque outside your house in the chilly winters, the griddle will use a lot more propane gas. As a result, you can expect the griddle to take longer and the food to cook slower.
Why is my Blackstone griddle not getting hot?
There are a number of reasons why your Blackstone griddle is not getting hot. Here are a few possibilities:
Installation issue:
You did not install or assemble the Blackstone griddle properly. Most of the time people who are new to these griddles and have gotten themselves a new one, often have the same complaint.
Solution:
The first and most logical solution to this is to read all the instructions properly.
If you have doubts about whether you have done it right, get help from someone who has to assemble a Blackstone griddle before. You can also buy one of those that come completely assembled from the manufactures.
Tank issue:
Propane gas is the fuel that is controlled to heat the griddle, and if anything is wrong with the tank, you’d know immediately.
Hence, another common reason why a Blackstone griddle fails to reach the appropriate temperature is when there is something wrong with the propane tank.
When a Blackstone griddle is bought, the tank is always turned off and users often forget to turn the tank on. More often, the tank being empty is a direct reason for your Blackstone griddle not getting as hot as it needs to be.
Solution:
The first obvious act to solve this is turning on the handle of the griddle. The trick is to take the handle towards the on mark gradually. Do not turn it on too quickly. Next, if you notice that the tank is turned on, you would want to check the tank.
So, how do you find if the tank is empty or how much gas is filled in the tank? The simplest way to see if the tank is empty pr full is to measure the weight of the tank using a scale. If the tank weighs about 16 or 17 lbs., your tanks are empty.
The propane tank, when filled will weigh about 20 lbs.
Ignition problem:
If your Blackstone griddle is not getting hot, the ignition might be out of order.
Solution:
As you know, the battery is used in the ignition, often the main problem is when the battery is drained. You can check the battery and change it at regular intervals.
Other times ignition problems occur mainly because there are faults in the way the ignition has been installed. To check if all is good with the ignition, you can use a lighter and the burner to see if you can light up the griddle manually.
How to make my Blackstone griddle hotter?
There are a way tricks and ways you can use to make your Blackstone griddle hotter. Here is what you need to do:
Suitable weather:
The first step is to make sure you are cooking on your griddle, in suitable weather. This means that you don’t want to choose a day when it is too windy or too cold. Using the griddle in hot weather makes assists your griddle temperature without effort.
Wind guards:
For the next step, you may want to use wind guards.
When you surround your Blackstone griddle with wind guards, not only does it protect the equipment from unnecessary winds, it also makes sure the dusty air is out of the food. The heat would be more focused and in turn,
Modification:
Last but not the least, make some modifications. You can change the burners if you need to or have the ignition and griddle installed again with the help of a professional.
Which side of Blackstone is hotter?
As you may be aware the Blackstone griddle has a steel cooking surface under which you would find certain heat zones. This means that carts parts and sides of the Blackstone are hotter than other pans.
So, the zones or sides which are placed such that they are just above the gas tubes from which the flames are directed, those zones are naturally and mostly geographically hotter than other sides.
The parts of the Blackstone griddle which are least heated are the corners of the equipment. Since the gas tube is placed about the middle, it is likely that those sides of the Blackstone griddle heat up fairly faster and to higher temperatures as well.
Knowing which side of the Blackstone gets hotter is important so you can place certain food on particular sides depending on the heating speed and temperature.
While more experienced cooks go with the flow, others may use an infrared temperature machine to know which side gets most hot.
Can you heat a pan on a Blackstone griddle?
It is certainly possible to use a pan on top of a Blackstone griddle in a way to indirectly heat the pan. This is because the griddle can reach a temperature of about 500 to 600 degrees.
This only means that the griddle surface is hot enough to transfer heat to the pan on top. However, you would have to make sure the pan or pot you are using on top of the Blackstone griddle is not too heavy or not too big.
How hot to season Blackstone griddle?
At first, you have to clean the Blackstone griddle with soap water. Make sure it’s thoroughly cleaned, followed by a session of complete drying.
For the next step, you would want to preheat the Blackstone griddle until its color changes to dark hues. Then, for seasoning, you have to add a generous coating of oil on the griddle surface.
Next, turn on the heat and let the seasoning work on the surface for about 30 minutes or until smoke seems to appear.
Final thoughts
How hot a griddle would get precisely depends on factors like what series of griddle you are using and what is the size of the griddle cooking surface. Ideally, the maximum temperature can be about 650 degrees, which could take about 8 to 9 minutes to reach.