Blackstone 22 Tabletop Griddle Honest Review

Let me start with what nobody puts in the listing: the Blackstone 22 tabletop griddle is a breakfast machine that will change how you do Sunday mornings, and it is also a 25.3-pound slab of carbon steel that will teach you things about heat control you did not know you did not know. I am Hank Dorsey, I am 61, and I have cooked outdoors in Lee's Summit, Missouri for most of my adult life. I bought my Blackstone about two years ago, used it on the patio prep table, took it camping, and let my wife Carol cook breakfast on it now and then. This is the honest review, the one that tells you what the listing does not.

If you are looking at the Blackstone 22 tabletop griddle, you have probably already read the part about 361 square inches of cooking space and the two independently controlled H-shaped burners. Those are real. What you have not read is what happens the first time you cook bacon on it, or why the cleanup routine matters more than the cooking routine, or why I would still buy it again even after everything I am about to tell you.

How I've Used It

I have owned the Blackstone 22 tabletop griddle for about two years now. It lives on the fold-out prep table on my covered concrete patio, and it goes camping with us a few times a year. Carol uses it for breakfast sometimes, usually on weekends when the grandkids are over, and I run it for everything else. In that time I have cooked bacon, eggs, pancakes, burgers, hot dogs, sliced potatoes, onions, peppers, and more batches of grilled cheese than I care to count.

The specs say this griddle is 22.44 inches deep, 22.87 inches wide, and 9.8 inches tall, and it weighs 25.3 pounds. That weight number matters more than you think. It is light enough to carry from the patio table to the back of the car, but it is not a one-finger carry. You will use two hands, and you will be glad the handles are where they are.

The cooking surface is 361 square inches, which the listing says is enough for up to 14 burgers, 10 pancakes, or 60 hot dogs. I have not made 60 hot dogs at once, but I have made 10 pancakes and a dozen eggs at the same time, and the surface handled it without me having to wait on a second batch. That is the real test, and it passed.

What Nobody Tells You Before You Buy

Here is the part I wish someone had told me: the Blackstone 22 is not a set-it-and-forget-it grill. It is a cooking surface that demands your attention from the moment you light it to the moment you scrape it clean. The two independently controlled H-shaped burners give you real heat control, but that control means you are the one doing the controlling. There is no auto mode, no dial that does the thinking for you, no sensor that tells you when the surface is ready. You learn to read the heat by holding your hand over the surface and by watching how the oil behaves.

The other thing nobody tells you is that the griddle top is carbon steel, and carbon steel is a relationship. It wants to be seasoned, it wants to be oiled, and it will rust if you ignore it. The listing says the material is carbon steel, and that one word explains most of the maintenance. I have had a couple of rust spots on mine, both times because I put it away damp. Both times I scrubbed them out, re-seasoned, and moved on. It is not hard, but it is not nothing.

And here is the thing about the stainless steel faceplate: it looks sharp in the photos, and it still looks sharp on my patio, but it is not the part of the griddle you will spend your time cleaning. The cooking surface is the part that gets the attention. The faceplate just sits there looking good while you do the real work.

The Heat Control Question

The two H-shaped burners are the heart of this griddle, and they are genuinely good. Having two burners instead of one means you can run one side hot for bacon and the other side cooler for eggs, which is the difference between a good breakfast and a great one. The listing says the burners are independently controlled, and that is not marketing fluff. I have cooked pancakes on the cool side while burgers browned on the hot side, and both came out right.

But here is the honest part: the heat control is on you. The griddle has no thermostat, no sensor, and no auto mode. You turn the burners up, you turn them down, and you learn where the sweet spot is for each food. On mine, that sweet spot for pancakes is just under medium, and for burgers it is a bit above medium. Your griddle may be slightly different, because propane pressure varies and so does the wind on your patio. That is not a flaw in the griddle. That is just how outdoor cooking works.

The H-shaped burners also distribute heat evenly across the 361 square inches, which matters more than I expected. I have cooked on round griddles where the middle gets hot and the edges stay cool. This one does not do that. The heat spreads out, and the whole surface stays usable.

The First Cook

The first time I fired up my Blackstone, I made the mistake a lot of people make. I treated it like a grill and turned both burners to high, then dropped on a pile of bacon. The bacon cooked fast, the surface smoked, and I spent the next ten minutes scraping burnt bits off the carbon steel. That first cook taught me more about this griddle than any video could. You do not need high heat for most things. You need medium heat, a little patience, and a spatula in your hand.

After that first cook, I started doing what I should have done from the beginning. I warmed the griddle on low for a few minutes before adding oil, then let the surface come up to temperature slowly. That simple change fixed most of my early problems. The food stopped sticking, the smoke calmed down, and I started getting the kind of even browning that makes people ask what you did different.

What It Does Well

Breakfast is the obvious answer, and it is the right answer. The Blackstone 22 does bacon, eggs, and pancakes better than any grill I have owned, because the flat top gives you a surface that does not let food fall through the grates. Bacon lays flat, eggs stay put, and pancakes flip without drama. Carol makes breakfast on it some Sunday mornings when the grandkids are over, and she has never once complained about the cleanup, which is the highest praise I can give any cooking equipment.

It is also a genuinely good camping griddle. The compact size and the 25.3-pound weight make it easy to throw in the back of the car, and the two burners run off a standard propane tank. I have used it at campsites where the only other option was a campfire, and I will take the Blackstone every time. The 2024 model has the same basic design I have been using, and the stainless steel faceplate is a nice touch that does not add weight.

And it handles crowds. The 361 square inches of cooking space is enough for a family cookout without you standing at the griddle all afternoon. I have cooked for eight people on this thing and never felt like I was falling behind. The surface does the work, you just have to feed it.

Where It Falls Short

The honest review has to include the cons, so here they are. First, the griddle is not a grill. It will not give you the smoke flavor you get from a kettle or a pellet smoker, because there are no grates and no flames touching the food. If you want that char and that smoke, you need a different tool. I keep my Weber kettle for that, and I use the Blackstone for the flat-top jobs.

Second, the cleanup is real work. The listing does not mention it, but every time you cook on a carbon steel griddle, you are going to scrape it, oil it, and decide whether it needs a full clean or just a wipe. That is ten minutes on a good day and twenty on a bad one. If you are the kind of cook who wants to walk away from the grill the second the food is off, this griddle will annoy you.

Third, the 25.3-pound weight is a lie in the best possible way. It is light enough to move, but heavy enough that you will not want to move it every day. Mine stays on the patio prep table, and that is where it belongs. If you are looking for something you can stash in a cabinet between uses, this is not it.

The listing says 361 square inches and two independently controlled H-shaped burners. What it does not say is that this griddle will make you a better breakfast cook in about three weekends.

The Cleanup Routine That Works

Since I am the one who scrubs the grates, let me give you the routine that has kept my Blackstone 22 in good shape for two years. Right after cooking, while the surface is still warm, scrape it with a metal spatula to get the big stuff off. Then add a little water to the hot surface and let it steam, which lifts the stuck-on bits. Scrape again, wipe it dry, and put a thin coat of oil on the surface while it is still warm. That is the whole routine. It is not complicated, but it is not optional.

I replaced my old wire-bristle brush about a year ago after reading about loose bristles getting into food, and I now use a bristle-free brush for the final wipe. That is a personal choice, not a requirement, but it is the kind of thing you learn after a few years of cooking outdoors.

How It Compares to a Grill

If you are coming from a propane grill like I was, the Blackstone 22 will feel different in ways you have to experience to understand. A grill cooks with radiant heat from below and leaves grill marks. A griddle cooks with direct contact on a flat surface, which means more even browning and less flare-up. The tradeoff is that you lose the open flame. I use my Weber kettle when I want smoke and char, and I use the Blackstone when I want a flat surface that cooks a dozen eggs at once. They are different tools, and my patio has room for both.

The other big difference is heat control. On a grill, you are mostly guessing at the temperature above the grates. On the Blackstone, the heat is right there under the surface, and the two H-shaped burners let you make one side hotter than the other. That kind of control is what makes the griddle so good for breakfast, where eggs and bacon want different temperatures at the same time.

What I'd Tell a Friend

If we were sitting at my kitchen table and you told me you were thinking about the Blackstone 22 tabletop griddle, here is what I would say. Buy it if you cook breakfast for more than two people. Buy it if you camp or tailgate. Buy it if you want a second cooking surface that does not take over your patio. Do not buy it if you want smoke flavor, and do not buy it if you are not willing to spend ten minutes cleaning up after every cook. That is the honest trade.

I would also tell you to ignore most of the videos that show people cooking a whole spread on the first try. Your first cook will be fine, but your fifth cook will be better, and your twentieth will be the one you remember. This griddle rewards patience and practice, which is exactly what I like about it.

Who This Is For

The Blackstone 22 tabletop griddle is for you if you cook breakfast for a family, if you camp or tailgate, or if you want a second cooking surface that does not take over your whole patio. It is for the cook who does not mind spending ten minutes on cleanup because the food is worth it. It is for the person who wants to make 10 pancakes at once without standing over a skillet for an hour.

Who Should Skip It

Skip it if you want smoke flavor, because this griddle will not give it to you. Skip it if you hate cleanup, because there is no way around the scrape-and-oil routine. Skip it if you need something truly portable, because 25.3 pounds is portable in the way a good tool box is portable, not in the way a backpack is. And skip it if you already own a flat-top griddle that you use, because you do not need two.

The Bottom Line

Two years in, I still reach for the Blackstone 22 more than any other cooker I own except my Weber kettle, and that is saying something. It is not perfect. It needs care, it needs cleanup, and it will never give you the smoke flavor of a real grill. But for breakfast, for camping, and for feeding a crowd without breaking a sweat, it is the best tool I have found. I would buy it again, and I would tell you the same thing I told Carol when she asked if we really needed another cooker: yes, we did.