Staub Square Griddle Review

Here is one final draft I found from last April. Clearly I was shopping a lot, cooking a lot and writing a lot of reviews last year when we were all stuck at home for so long!

While I'm posting cookware reviews, I wanted to post about the griddle I recently purchased. My husband and I never registered for one for our wedding. We have a Lodge Cast Iron Double Burner Reversible Grill/Griddle that I found at Home Goods a few years ago for $20 or so but I don't like using raw cast iron and it's big and cumbersome to use, not to mention a pain to clean.

A few times over the last few years I've started looking online for a griddle and reading reviews and could never find what wanted. My mom has an old Farberware stainless steel electric griddle which still works great but everything made now is non-stick, which I can't stand. Most of them also get pretty bad reviews and say they don't last long. I also didn't really want another standalone appliance, so I wasn't convinced we needed an electric griddle. I didn't want a non-stick griddle that could be used on the stove either, which seem to be another popular option.

During the coronavirus stay-at-home order, I decided I wanted to start making pancakes regularly so I started my search once again, and it included the same griddles I was looking at only a few months prior: Presto electric griddles, Le Creuset extra-large double burner griddle, and Staub square griddle which is exclusively sold at Williams-Sonoma (clearly my favorite store!). I almost ordered a Presto griddle a few times, but did not like the textured surface on them, and again kept thinking about the many negative reviews I read. I didn't want to be buying a new griddle every few years and wasting money. I would have loved the Le Creuset griddle if it were a little bit wider and came in different colors, but it didn't seem like it would fit two normal size pancakes side-by-side once I learned how big the actual cooking surface was. The Staub square griddle intrigued me, but seemed a bit small at 12x12". It could fit 4 pancakes but would that be big enough years down the road?

After contemplating for a while, I decided to go for the Staub. I have never purchased any Staub products before and never paid much attention to them in the store, so going off of the photos online I chose the "La Mer" color which is a very pretty dark teal. I placed my order and used a $50 gift card and was refunded 15% back for the military discount. Williams-Sonoma usually only gives this discount on in-store purchases but their customer service was wonderful and applied the discount to my order since all stores were closed.

Staub Square Griddle in La Mer

The griddle arrived and looked beautiful. I loved the color and couldn't wait to use it. On my husband's next day off I made pancakes. Blueberry pancakes are my favorite but we didn't have any fresh or frozen blueberries, so my 2-year-old son Anthony suggested strawberry pancakes, which I had never had. I cut the strawberries really small and thought my kid was a genius - they were delicious! I also made my husband banana pancakes that morning which he enjoyed.

I had a few mishaps with my first pancake making experience. I used the front right burner which is a "power burner" on our stove and it didn't seem to distribute the heat well. I initially put too much batter on which made the pancakes difficult to flip, and the bottom portion of the pan wasn't cooking as well as the top portion so a few of my pancakes didn't turn out well. I switched to the long middle burner and that helped. The downside is that by using that burner, I can't make anything else on the stove at the same time. I have not tried the front left burner but that one might work as well. My second pancake making experience was also a bit of a dud, because I foolishly started putting batter on the griddle before it was hot enough. I had better luck with the rest of the pancakes after that first round.

The only other thing I've used this griddle for is grilled cheese. I honestly don't plan to use it for much other than pancakes since we have cast iron skillets which we use for eggs, bacon, sausage, grilled cheese, etc. I wanted this primarily for pancakes and I think it will serve me well for that purpose if I remember to use it on the long middle burner, oil it well, use medium-low heat, and wait for it to fully warm up before putting the batter on! Only time will tell if this griddle was a good purchase or not. It certainly looks nice and I know that it will last longer than any non-stick or electric griddle would have.

First time making pancakes

Second time making pancakes

Like Le Creuset, Staub pieces come in a variety of colors, and some are exclusive to certain stores. I keep this griddle stored in a cabinet with all of my baking pans and it's not something anyone will see most of the time, so even though I like the color I chose, color was a bit less important to me with this product. I considered purchasing the Staub Fry Pan as well, which would remain on our stovetop, but ended up purchasing a similar one made by Le Creuset mostly because I prefer the loop helper handle on Le Creuset's and I also like their color options more.

Staub colors available at Williams-Sonoma

June 2021 Edit: in March I ended up purchasing the Presto Cool-Touch Electric Griddle as well. My sister has this same one and after seeing it one night when she and my dad were making a bunch of Reuben sandwiches, I decided that for only $27 it would be good to have a larger griddle to make pancakes faster. I still like the Staub square griddle but it was taking too long to make a batch of pancakes by only being able to easily fit 3 on at a time with enough room to flip them. I honestly have not used the square griddle much since getting our Le Creuset skillets (which we use all the time), so maybe I will end up selling it. Right now we have both griddle options though to use when needed.