Pit Boss vs Blackstone Griddle: Steel, Ceramic and Fold and Go

Choose Pit Boss if

• You want a published BTU rating and a thick 4.7 mm top on the Pit Boss Deluxe Fold & Go 4-Burner Griddle.
• You haul the griddle to tailgates or a camp and want a frame that folds.
• You want a non-stick ceramic top with no seasoning, which only the Pit Boss Ultimate 4-Burner Lift-Off Griddle offers here.
• You prefer a grease trap you can reach from the front.

Choose Blackstone if

• You want grease routed to the back, away from your feet and the cook.
• You want a full hood that stays on the cart, as on the Blackstone 36 in. Original Griddle with Built-in Hood.
• You want the biggest range of accessories, covers and replacement parts.
• You want the lowest-cost 36 inch griddle: the Blackstone 36 in. 4-Burner Griddle Cooking Station.

It is easier at the start and harder to repair later. The Pit Boss Ultimate 4-Burner Lift-Off Griddle uses what Pit Boss calls an armored ceramic non-stick surface, so eggs release on the first cook and there is no seasoning routine. That suits beginners and anyone who griddles a few times a season and does not want to oil a top after every use.

The trade-off is that a coating is a finish, not a material you can renew. Follow Pit Boss's guidance on utensils and cleaning, because any coated surface can be worn by aggressive metal scraping, and a worn coating cannot be re-seasoned back to new. A bare steel top on a Blackstone or the Deluxe Fold & Go can be scraped hard, stripped of rust and re-seasoned indefinitely. If you plan to keep a griddle for many years and cook on it weekly, steel is the lower-risk choice. Our griddle seasoning guide shows how little work that routine really is.

Rear grease management, used on the Blackstone 36 in. Original Griddle with Built-in Hood, keeps the grease cup away from where you stand, and you scrape debris away from yourself. The downside is that you have to reach around the back to empty it, which matters when the griddle sits close to a railing. A front trap, used on both Pit Boss griddles, is easy to see and empty but sits close to your legs, so check it before it fills and never let hot grease drip onto a deck. Put a Cuisinart 65 x 36 in. Non-Slip Grill Mat under either one on wood or composite.

The Pit Boss models are built for it. The Pit Boss Deluxe Fold & Go 4-Burner Griddle folds its frame for the truck bed, and the Pit Boss Ultimate 4-Burner Lift-Off Griddle lifts the cooktop off the cart to run as a tabletop. The Blackstone 36 rolls on casters but is really a patio appliance. If portability is the main goal, a true tabletop costs far less: the Blackstone 22 in. Original Tabletop Griddle with Hood ($219.99) and Blackstone 17 in. Tabletop Propane Griddle ($159.99) both fit in a trunk. See best tabletop griddles for more.

The Pit Boss Deluxe Fold & Go 4-Burner Griddle lists 62,000 BTU. Propane holds 21,548 BTU per pound, so with every burner on high it burns about 2.9 lb per hour, roughly $2.40 of propane, and empties a 20 lb tank in just under 7 hours. The Pit Boss Ultimate 4-Burner Lift-Off Griddle lists 46,000 BTU: about 2.1 lb and $1.75 per hour on high, or about 9.4 hours per tank. A typical 30 minute cook at medium on two or three burners uses a fraction of that, well under a dollar. Blackstone does not publish BTU for the hooded 36, so weigh your tank to compare. The propane tank runtime calculator handles other ratings.