Best Indoor Grills for Steaks

Our picks for searing steak indoors: Ninja's grill with a built-in thermometer, T-fal's OptiGrill XL, Cuisinart's Elite Griddler, the Ninja Sizzle and a budget Hamilton Beach. Plus how hot an indoor grill really gets and how to keep the smoke down.

By Tyler RamirezUpdated November 9, 2026How we pick products

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A good steak needs high, direct heat. That’s the hard part for an electric grill, because most of them run in the 400°F range, and a steak that cooks too slowly turns gray before it browns. The grills below are the ones that get hot enough to put a real crust on a steak, or that make it easy to stop at the doneness you want.

Before you shop, decide between two styles. Contact grills close on the steak like a panini press and cook both sides at once. They’re fast and even, but the lid can press out juice. Open grills work like a small barbecue: the steak sits on a hot grate, you flip it, and you get deeper grill marks. Some, like the Ninja Foodi and the Cuisinart Griddler, do both.

At a glance

Specs come from each maker's product pages and spec sheets, and from the product listings. T-fal doesn't publish a top temperature for the OptiGrill XL.

1. Ninja IG651 Foodi Smart XL Pro Grill & Griddle: Best overall

Good fit for: People who want steakhouse doneness without guessing, and a grill that does more than steak.

The IG651 is the most complete steak setup here. Its grill grate has its own heating element and gets to 500°F, so the steak sits on hot metal heated from below instead of relying only on hot air. Ninja’s Foodi Smart Thermometer plugs into the base. You choose the protein and one of nine doneness levels, from rare to well done, and the grill tells you when to pull the steak. That takes away the hardest part of cooking a thick steak.

You can cook with the hood down, where a fan circulates hot air for even cooking, or with the hood up for searing with bottom heat only. Ninja says the grate fits about six steaks. The box also has a 12-inch flat-top griddle for smash burgers, pancakes or fajitas, plus a 4-quart crisper basket for air frying. It also roasts, bakes, broils and dehydrates. The grate, griddle and basket are nonstick and go in the dishwasher.

What bugs us: It weighs about 27 pounds and takes up a big piece of counter, so it’s not something you’ll want to lift in and out of a cabinet. Its price moves a lot. Amazon price trackers show it dipping to about $200 on sale and climbing well above that in between, so it pays to watch for a deal.

Skip it if: you only want to grill a couple of steaks a week and don’t need air frying. The Ninja Sizzle costs less and takes less room.

2. T-fal OptiGrill XL GC722D53: Best for hands-off doneness

Good fit for: Busy weeknights, and cooks who tend to overcook steak.

The OptiGrill XL is a contact grill with a trick: it measures how thick the food is when you close the lid, then adjusts the cook to match. Pick the red meat program, and a colored ring on the side moves through rare, medium and well done. When it reaches the color you want, it beeps and you take the steak off. There’s a frozen-food button too, so you can grill a steak straight from the freezer.

It’s the XL version, so it holds six to eight servings, enough for two or three steaks at once. It has nine preset programs in all, for burgers, poultry, fish, sandwiches and more. The plates sit at a slight angle so fat runs into a drip tray, and they lift out for the dishwasher. It’s 1,800 watts and weighs about 11.5 pounds.

What bugs us: It doesn’t open flat, so you can’t use it as an open grill. You also can’t set an exact temperature. You trust the programs and the sensor. A contact grill presses on the steak and won’t give you the deep, crisscross marks of an open grate.

Skip it if: you like to control the heat yourself. The Cuisinart Griddler lets you set each plate’s temperature.

3. Cuisinart Elite Griddler GR-300NAS: Best contact grill and griddle

Good fit for: Cooks who want control and a big surface.

The Elite Griddler has 240 square inches of cooking area and six ways to cook. It can close as a contact grill or panini press, or open flat into a full grill, a full griddle, or half grill and half griddle. A top-melt setting holds the lid just above food to melt cheese. The top and bottom plates have separate temperature controls, and an LCD screen shows the settings and a 60-minute countdown timer.

For steak, the key feature is the sear function, which pushes the plates to 500°F for up to two minutes at a time. Sear the outside on that burst, then let the steak finish at a lower setting. The lid adjusts for thick cuts, the reversible plates are ceramic nonstick and go in the dishwasher, and Cuisinart backs it with a 3-year limited warranty. GR-300NAS is the newer version of the long-running GR-300WSP1.

What bugs us: The 500°F sear is a short burst, not a steady temperature, so you have to time it. It’s a heavy, wide machine, and the base only wipes clean.

Skip it if: you’d rather the grill just tell you when the steak is done. The T-fal and the Ninja Foodi do that.

4. Ninja Sizzle GR101 Indoor Grill & Griddle: Best open grill for small kitchens

Good fit for: Apartments and small households that want real grill marks.

The Sizzle is a 14-inch open grill that heats to 500°F, which is about as hot as countertop grills get. You set the temperature with one dial. A perforated mesh lid sits over the food to catch splatter and help hold down smoke, and Ninja says heat stays even from edge to edge. Swap the grill plate for the flat griddle plate when you want pancakes or smash burgers.

It’s a light machine at about 7.8 pounds, so it’s easy to pull out of a cabinet. Both plates and the lid go in the dishwasher. Ninja says the plates hold about a half dozen burgers, enough for a family of four to six.

What bugs us: There’s no thermometer, timer or doneness program, so pair it with an instant-read thermometer. It’s smaller than the Ninja Foodi and the Cuisinart, so it can fit two or three steaks, not six.

Skip it if: you cook for a crowd. The Cuisinart or the Ninja Foodi give you more room.

5. Hamilton Beach 25361 Searing Grill with Lid Window: Best budget

Good fit for: Trying indoor grilling without spending much.

Hamilton Beach’s searing grill is a simple open grill with a temperature dial that goes up to 450°F. A green light comes on when it’s hot enough to sear. The lid has a glass window, so you can check the steak without lifting it and letting the heat out. A small section on the right side is set up for smaller pieces of food.

The 118-square-inch grate is enough for about two steaks with vegetables beside them. The grill plate has a PFAS-free nonstick coating, and it goes in the dishwasher with the extra-large drip tray and the lid. Hamilton Beach now sells it as model 25361MN.

What bugs us: 450°F is lower than the 500°F picks, so you’ll get a lighter crust on thick steaks. Pat the steak dry and let the grill preheat fully. The grate is also the smallest here.

Skip it if: you mostly cook thick ribeyes or strip steaks and want the deepest sear. Spend more on the Ninja Sizzle.

How we picked

We looked at electric grills you can buy now from Ninja, T-fal, Cuisinart, Hamilton Beach and Breville. We left out the Breville Smart Grill because we couldn’t confirm it in stock new on Amazon when we checked. We compared each maker’s published specs and focused on what matters for steak:

• Heat: how hot the cooking surface gets, and whether it’s heated directly
• Doneness help: a thermometer, a thickness sensor, or nothing
• Style: contact, open, or both
• Size: how many steaks fit at once
• Cleanup: removable, dishwasher-safe plates and drip trays

We haven’t tested these grills ourselves. Read more about how we pick products.

How to get a good sear indoors

• Preheat all the way. Wait for the ready light, then give it a few more minutes. A grill that isn’t fully hot steams the steak instead of browning it.
• Dry the steak. Pat it with paper towels and salt it. Surface water has to boil off before the meat browns.
• Go thinner or reverse sear. Steaks about 1 to 1.5 inches thick work best on electric grills. For thicker cuts, warm them in a low oven first, then finish on the grill.
• Use a thermometer. Pull steak about 5°F before your target. It keeps climbing as it rests. Our meat thermometer guide covers instant-read options.
• Keep the smoke down. Trim thick fat caps, use an oil with a high smoke point (or just oil the steak, not the plate), and empty the drip tray between batches. Run the range hood if the grill sits under it.
• Let it rest. Five minutes on a board lets the juices settle before you slice.

If you want the deepest crust and don’t mind a little smoke, a ripping-hot cast iron skillet on the stove still gets hotter than most electric grills.

Still wondering?

Do indoor grills really not smoke? “Smokeless” means less smoke, not none. Steak fat dripping onto a hot surface will smoke a little. Grills with a cooler drip area, a splatter lid or a fan cut it down a lot.

Is a contact grill or an open grill better for steak? A contact grill cooks faster and more evenly because it heats both sides at once. An open grill gives deeper grill marks and lets you flip and baste. Thinner steaks do well on either. Thick steaks are easier with an open grill and a thermometer.

How hot does an indoor grill need to be for steak? Aim for a surface of at least 450°F. The 500°F grills here brown faster, which helps keep the inside from overcooking.

Can I cook a frozen steak on an indoor grill? Yes. The T-fal has a frozen-food button made for it. On the others, expect it to take longer, and check the center with a thermometer.