Indoor Electric Grill EB-CC15

When we picked the location to live, it has a big open field behind it and all I could think about were all the cookouts we would have. Then, the forest fires in the Great Smoky Mountains caused our HOA to put in a no open flame grilling rule. I wouldn't say I could live off grilled food but in a way, I could. Having said that, my wife loves steak from a grill but little else. The kids love hamburgers and hot dogs from a grill but little else. My big one is salmon. I'm the only one in our family that eats it so it was kind of frustrating to fire up a large gas grill just to make myself two pieces of salmon 3-4 times a week. I've tried many, we have a Griddler by Cuisinart, two George Foreman "champs" and I recently tried one of the Power Smokeless Grills (review here on Amazon in my review history). The Griddler is nice. It makes really great hot sandwiches (works like a Panini Press). But none of those pressing grills do well with my salmon. I knew I needed one that's more flat and gets hot fast. I finally took the chance on this Zojirushi and here's a brief explanation of my thoughts after a week of having it. This is the best indoor grill I've ever used. There's little to no smoke and I'm pretty sure the design, maybe something some might see as a downside, is why it works so well. Unlike the press type indoor grills, you can't put this one's cooking surface in the dishwasher. That's because the burner is built into the cooking surface. You don't have plates being removed, washed, put back in, snapping into place, trying to make good contact with the burner. It does take away that "ease" of being able to pop the trays out and putting them in the dishwasher but I've used it 4 times now and thanks to other reviews, it's not only the best indoor grill I've used, it's the easiest to clean. This is what you receive with this grill. A cooking surface that makes very good grill marks that has holes in it. The food sits flat on the surface and the grease just drips through. Underneath the cooking surface/burner, there's a metal tray that's the same size as the cooking surface. The excess grease drips down into it. Below the metal tray, a plastic base that if nothing else, helps stabilize everything. You put a sheet of foil in the drip tray, when you finish cooking, you can ball the foil up and throw it away. The only thing to clean is the cooking surface. One end has the receptacle that the thermostat plugs into. You keep that end angled up out of your warm water in a sink, take a brush or cloth and wipe it clean. I'm not kidding, it's that easy. How does it work? I made 2 six ounce salmon pieces (1/2 inch thick) 3 times on it. I turned the dial on the thermostat to high, waited 3 minutes, it was ready. I cooked the salmon on high for 7 minutes, flipped each piece for another 7 minutes, it's done. Grill marks, flakiness, everything exactly like an outdoor grill. I will say you're not going to come from a charcoal or gas grill and say, "This tastes just like food from my gas/charcoal grill". It can't since it's not gas or charcoal but it tastes very good and the food is hot. My original plan was just to use it for my salmon. But the kids, for whatever reason, up and decided they wanted grilled hamburgers. I cooked 6 at a time, 12 total and it took less than 25 minutes to cook all 12. Grill marks, well done in the middle and the kids (possibly the pickiest eaters in the world) loved them. I ate 4. I really can't believe how many times I've seen this grill on Amazon and skipped over it. Even better, it's forty dollars cheaper than I remember it being. I like it so much that I've figured out what I'm buying my brother-in-law for Christmas and might even buy a couple more as presents. I'm the friend/relative that buys you things that aren't exactly exciting but you'll be thanking me for the next year. I gave it 5 stars across the ratings. Easy to assemble is as easy as it can be. Easy to clean was already covered. And durability will take a year or more of use to determine but I see no reason for anything to go wrong. I could see the no-dishwasher part bothering some but when you see how easy it is to clean (excellent non-stick surface), you'll realize it's not that big of a trade off. Very happy with this though the salmon aren't.

This is my 4th Zojirushi appliance. I have the rice cooker, bread machine and electric skillet and couldn't be happier with each of them. So when I decided to buy an indoor grill, I didn't really hesitate to buy this one. And again, I couldn't be happier, I've used this grill just about every day since purchase because it's my favorite way of cooking AND because it's so easy and hassle free to use. Backstory time. I have a built in Jen-Aire in my cook top which I long ago quit using. It smokes badly ( and even flames ) because the grease hits the heating element ( which is not embedded ) It's very difficult and cumbersome to clean since you can't line anything below with foil and the cooking grates are large and heavy. It was just not worth the effort unless I really needed to grill for company and the weather didn't let me outside. I have used this Zojirushi to grill all types of fish, steaks, burgers, chicken, turkey thighs, pork chops and vegetables, and have no complaints. I store it on top my Jenn-Aire and cook with it there where I use the cook top vent system. All my appliances are black so it looks like it belongs there. Funny to see this little $70 product replacing it's big, expensive relative it's sitting on. I've had very few problems with smoke. Only once did it set off the ( highly sensitive)smoke alarm. It was when I filled the grill with skin on chicken. That's it. No other time did I have any significant smoke problem. I agree with some reviewers who mentioned using an inverted disposable aluminum cooking pan as a lid. It speeds things up while allowing you to cook on medium. As for cleaning...it couldn't be easier. I had prepared myself for some elbow grease because I had never used the words "easy" and "cleaning a grill" in the same sentence before. Was I ever surprised! I have spent less than 5 minutes "hands on" time each cleaning. When the grill is finished cooking I place the grill top on a towel on my counter. I place damp paper towels or a wet dish towel over the grill top to soak while we eat. Since I line the drip pan with foil, I remove the foil and throw it away, wiping out the pan with a damp cloth. After dinner, I wipe the grill top with the damp towels at which point everything wipes off easilly. I then take it to the sink holding it at an angle and use a little warm water and soap to finish the job. Dry, reassemble and it's done. The plastic underside usually only needs a minor wipe down, but both it and the drip pan are dishwasher safe. Bottom line...if you like to grill indoors, this Zojirushi is an excellent choice.

Over the years I've purchased so, so many indoor grills, and I didn't like any of them even a little bit. Most indoor grills are "contact" grills with a lid that grills the top of the food while the bottom grills the underside. I could do that in a frying pan by just turning my food. The Zojirushi is a real grill with openings for the grease to drip into a pan. Grill marks are perfect; there really is NO smoke, and the finished project is like food that you cooked outside on the grill....BUT you didn't have to stand outside in the heat swatting bugs and inhaling fumes. It doesn't get any better. Clean up is a breeze. You can wash the grill section with hot, soapy water, but you can NOt immerse it in water....like put it in the sink to soak. A quick wipe down of the bottom section, the heating element, and the cord puts you ready for the next meal. No, I didn't forget to mention the drip pan's clean up. Just line it with foil. Remove the foil and you've got a clean drip pan. GREASE?? Of course there is grease. I don't care what you cook or upon what you cook it, there will be grease. I put my grill on the counter next to my stove. That way I could be preparing food on top of the stove while grilling on the counter next to it. I did put my exhaust fan on to remove cooking odors. The grease clean up was minimal....a little glass cleaner on a paper towel, and I was done. I discovered that an aluminum baking pan as for a cake makes a superb lid. The one I used was an HFA 3940 size. I like thick pork chops on the grill. I grill on high for a couple of minutes on each side. Then I cover with the aluminum pan and lower the temperature on the control and allow the chops to cook 20 minutes on each side. After removing the "lid" I brush with BBQ sauce and recover. Ten more minutes on each side gives me a nice, juicy BBQ-ed chop. The cookbook is nice, but you'll need to experiment a bit as far as times go. Everything you grill needs to start out on high. If I were still young and entertaining as I once did I'd have four to six of these grills positioned around my entertainment area. Each couple could grill their own appetizers or meat adding toppings and marinades as they see fit. Or....I could have four to six different foods cooking with someone in-charge of the grills. This grill is superb, but I recommend it for one or two people only. You could feed up to four people if you crowded the grill and didn't allow much food per person. Who in the world would do that?? Purchase the grill and treat yourself. After using it please write a review so everyone can find out the clever uses and recipes you developed.

UPDATED at end. I've used this grill several times now for chicken. I was concerned when I got it that no reasonably-priced indoor grill would deliver enough continuing heat to cook well. This one does, although there's none to spare. I typically cook two or three boneless chicken breasts (either whole or cut up into tenders.) It does not have enough room for four breasts' worth of tenders, although it would hold four breasts (possibly six if they were smallish.) The heat delivery when the platter is full is adequate to keep things cooking; when the platter is less than full you will want to bring the temp down off of "high" in order to keep from overheating. The paperwork says to not put it in the dishwasher. I've ignored that twice now, and so far so good. You do have to clean off any stuck-on bits off the grill by hand -- the raised lines of the grill keep the valleys between them from getting clean. Maybe it would do better in the top rack but that would take up almost the whole rack. It's a good size, it's sufficient heat, it's convenient as hell and doesn't require you to go out to the outdoor grill in the winter (keeps the heat indoors!) -- not perfect but now part of my standard arsenal. UPDATE 8/16/2014: I use this grill a couple of times a week now. Typically it's for burgers, chicken, or fish. Generally quite satisfied - I would get it again. Generally I have it set on medium-high for chicken or burgers, or medium for fish. When I cook chicken tenders on it I fill the thing up edge to edge and corner to corner; the cooking is surprisingly even across the whole surface: there are no hotspots and only the outermost inch or so shows less browning than the rest. It has two drawbacks that honestly I can't see how they would fix, and would plague any indoor grill: it spatters grease over your cooking area, and it's not the easiest thing to clean. For the former I surround it on the counter with several dishtowels that I can then throw in the wash; for the latter, a toothbrush and hot water do most of the work, and when I've gotten all the chunks off and cleaned out the drip tray all the pieces except the controller go into the dishwasher. Fish is the worst, but still manageable -- I just run the hot water on it for five minutes or so before I attack it with the toothbrush, and everything comes right off. It's clean enough to use at that point but generally I throw it in the dishwasher after that so it won't smell of fish.

I spent hours researching indoor electric grills before deciding to purchase the Zojirush. I wanted something that would get hot enough to really mimic outdoor grilling and the reviewers on Amazon.com seemed to indicate that this one would--and also be easy to clean. I knew it would be small--only enough for three to four people, but that's fine for our small family. But if you want to cook for a crowd, this grill is too small for your needs. Last night I set up the grilling pan--very easy to do just as promised--and put heavy duty tin foil in the drip pan with some water in it to prevent smoke. I also sprayed the grill plate with Canola oil spray and wiped off the excess as the instructions indicated to do. I followed the enclosed instructions to heat the grill for 10 minutes and then placed three New York Strip steaks (all about 3/4 inch high) on the grill. (I did not marinade the steaks--just seasoned with lots of salt and pepper.) I covered the steaks with a grocery store bought aluminum pan with handles to keep the temperature up. Wonderful sizzle and smell immediately! Also, wonderful grill marks. I grilled the steaks (still on high heat) exactly as I would on my outdoor propane grill: 3 minutes on each side, then another 3 minutes on each side for my husband who likes his steak rare; I cooked the other two steaks for an additional 4 minutes for my son and me who like our steaks medium rare. Total cooking time: 12 minutes for rare, 14 minutes for medium rare. (I kept the aluminium pan on top at all times to make sure the grill was really hot.) These were some of the best steaks we've ever had! Our family could not believe that these weren't grilled outdoors--and in fact thought they were juicier than the ones that are grilled outdoors. I am thrilled! I have wanted to grill indoors for most of my married life but had had bad experiences with other grills that didn't get hot enough. This one does and if it grilled New York strip steaks to perfection, then it can grill anything! Tomorrow I'm going to grill chicken breasts, onions, and peppers for chicken fajitas. I can't wait! By the way: clean up was easy, too. I waited till the grill plate was cool, unhooked the electric plug, placed the grill plate diagonally in the sink and rinsed it with warm water, scrubbing it with a brush to get off the bits of meat. I then took out the drip pan, dumped the fat and juices in the sink that were in the tin foil, and then carefully removed the tin foil and threw it in the trash. Easy! I then wiped the handles of the grill and the plastic base with a damp sponge and dried with a paper towel. The grill looked brand new! I am in love with my Zorjirushi grill! This is one of the best buying experiences I've ever had. One last thing: many people wonder about smoke and smell inside their home. This did not smoke at all and I didn't even need to open a window or use our stove vent fan. Did our kitchen smell of steak? Yes and boy was that a good smell!

I have finally found an indoor grill that gets hot enough to make a good steak with! :) FOLLOW-UP: I've now had this for about 6 months and still LOVE IT! What a fantastic grill, and I have tried many before only to give them to someone else or leave them sitting in the cabinet because they suck! I have been making tri-tip roasts on this one and they come out fantastic! They are crunchy outside, with beautiful grilling marks, and red and juicy inside. I could not be happier! By the way, I read the review from someone complaining about smoke. Ok, completely smoke-free is impossible, unless you have a system to suck the air out. Otherwise, anything that grills will cause some smoke. Duh! I actually put mine on the window and the smoke flies right out. FOLLOW-UP AGAIN: Yeah, this is so good I have to keep talking about it. I actually just bought a second one to give to my mother because I talk about it so much she wants to try it. This grill brought back long forgotten emotions to my life. It's like falling in love again! But without someone actually here to bug me. I love it! :) FOLLOW-UP AGAIN AND AGAIN: So I took the second one I bought to my mother, who can always complain about things like no one else I know... While I was visiting, we made a tri-tip roast on it. It came out perfect! But I was too excited and just kept repeating "Isn't this thing just amazing?" Mom never said anything, or if she did I was too excited to pay much attention. The meat was incredible! I come home, and a week later I was talking with my mom on the phone when she said "Oh, by the way, that grill thing is really fantastic!" My jaw dropped! That was all she said, without the usual "but..." You know what I mean, the mother thing of saying "that thing is really fantastic, but it this or that." No, she just wanted to say it is fantastic, she had nothing to complain about! Wow... So, to finish with a nice touch, last weekend my boyfriend was visiting and we made some fish steaks on the grill. I hadn't made fish on it and didn't really know how well it would work. It was perfect! I turned it on MAX and let it pre-heat for about 10 minutes. Then I added the fish and turned it down a bit. I let each side cook for about 3 - 5 minutes, flipped the fish, another 3 minutes, then flipped the pieces again twice more so they would get the pretty crossed marks. The fish was perfect! Enjoy! ___________________ UPDATE: Since someone asked me for the recipe for making the tri-tip roast, I thought I'd add it here for anyone who wants to give it a try! :) - Purchase a tri-tip roast and trim some or all the fat on the top side of it. - Leave it outside the fridge so it's in room temperature right before cooking it. - Once the roast is at room temperature, start the grill, turn it all the way to the highest heat setting, and let it get really hot (about 10 to 20 minutes). - Rub salt and ground black pepper to taste all over the roast. - Rub olive oil all over the meat. Any olive oil will do, but I usually use Star Garlic Olive Oil and it gives the meat a delicious additional flavor. Although regular olive oil doesn't have the same garlicy taste, it is still good. - Let the meat sit on a plate or board with the seasonings and olive oil for about 10 to 15 minutes while the grill finishes getting hot. - Once the grill is really hot, put the roast on it and let it sit for about 5 minutes, then turn it. - Turn it again, making sure you rotate the meat so the grill marks cross, then turn again. It will take about 10 minutes total on each side (5 each time you turn), or longer. I like mine medium-rare, so if you like yours more done, you can add more time. But the outside gets to be nice and crunchy, while the inside is nice and red if you use the directions above. Once you remove the meat from the grill, let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes so the juices settle inside the roast, then slice it as thin as you can. The trip-tip, as the name suggests, has three tips. When slicing, I usually start from the thinnest tip. Good luck, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! :)

This grill is the best just received mine today. I cooked hamburgers and chicken breasts on mine, very little smoke practically none and no smell throughout the house after cooking. Had to keep the windows closed because it's so hot outside. Easy cleanup.

This is a nice, small grill that will easily accommodate the needs of someone who cooks for 1 to 4 people, depending on how large the items being grilled are. I managed to get three nice sized rib eyes on it at one time. I cooked the steaks on hi for the entire cooking time and was rewarded with great looking grill marks on both sides. I set the unit on the stove so I could utilize the vent hood if there was a lot of smoking. Surprisingly there wasn't. Judging from the grill marks, the grill heats evenly, and the nonstick cooking surface is great. The grill plate is sturdy and has a little weight to it. It's not flimsy or cheap looking like some of the other grills available. The unit is more expensive than the others of a comparable size, but I think it is a worthwhile purchase. I have a grill pan that works pretty good, but once the food is turned the bottom of the food sort of steams and the grill marks are not as good. The advantage of this grill is that the grill plate has holes in it that allows the juices from the food to go into the drip pan so you get more of a grilling effect. If the drip pan is lined with foil or if just enough water is placed in it to cover the bottom, clean up is a breeze. The nonstick surface of the grill is easy to clean. I have been using the grill with recipes from Stephen Raichlen's book, Indoor Grilling. I made the chicken paillards with virgin sauce last night and they were really good. I also used the grill on the hi setting to grill the chicken breasts. They cooked really fast and again had really good grill marks on them. I have also made kebabs on the grill but found that works best if a sheet of foil is placed over the top of kebabs so that the top and sides can be exposed to more heat. It's also good to leave a tiny bit of space between the food on the kebabs to ensure even cooking. I think this is a great product, and I recommend it and would purchase it again.

I read about this grill in Consumer Reports (who gave it a good review for moderately priced indoor electric grills), I bought it and was delighted that it worked as described. I cooked several dishes on it including zucchini slices, asparagus spears, T bone steak and hamburger. The grill heated up in 4 minutes ready to cook and the cooking surface seemed to heat up evenly. The zucchini and asparagus were the best I ever tasted, esp the zucchini which is so bland it really needs to be grilled to add flavour - plus the grill marks look good on it too. The hamburger cooked on the grill tasted much better than fried in a pan. It was very, very close to outdoor charcoal grilling. The T bone steak was good,(much better than in a frying pan) but I think T bone is best cooked over charcoal because the surface sears quicker to hold in the juices. I used the grill on top of a glass top stove (turned off of course), so I could take advantage of the range hood fan to vent fumes. This worked very well, especially for the hamburger and the T bone which did smoke some. I was able to cook onions for the hamburger in a small fry pan placed on the grill. This worked well and was a handy way to have fried onions alongside the burgers. Washing the grill is easy, taking it apart for cleaning is simple as is putting it back together. I placed wet paper towels on the grill to soak it for several hours as it cooled before cleaning it. The drip tray is easily cleaned in a dishwasher. I want to use the grill often and plan to build a pull out drawer exclusively for the grill so it does not clutter up my counter top. I'm always delighted when things work exactly as described. I highly recommend this grill especially for people trying to add more vegetables into their diet.

I've owned mine for two years and while I use the outdoor gas grill in the summer, this thing does a credible job on steaks and burgers in the winter. Heat is a little uneven and you have to juggle the food a bit to get it on the hot spots evenly but once you figure that out everything is smooth sailing. Cleanup is a breeze, as one reviewer stated, as long as you do it immediately after it cools down. For the fellow who's asking for a cleaning tool, he could go to any dollar store and buy a $1 plastic bottle brush and that would do an excellent job, though I've never needed one. One final note. I especially like the fact that the heating element is embedded directly inside the grill casting. Other such grills with a separate element may be cheaper to make, but I find those generate way too much smoke and tend to actually ignite the drippings. This thing cooks with virtually no smoke and it seems to be a much safer design.

We love making kababs, and grilled veggies so after much research decided to buy this grill. It is a fantastic grill as far as 'making the food' is concerned. No smoking, nice blackened lines on the grilled food and easy to use. We do baste while we grill so have not noticed any issues with veggies overdrying either. We leave it on high for a few minutes every time we turn it on, to burn off any 'residue' from last use. The issue is with the cleaning of the grill. I read plenty reviews where everyone seems to be raving about how easy it is to clean. I disagree. Sure the surface is very non stick and food residue just glides off, but the dripping does stick and burn on the bottom. And when grilling meats, you dont want the bottom part even mildly coated with oils - bacteria could grow, and the smell is another factor. Since it is a nonstick coating, the only way to clean it requires gently wiping it down with a very soft brush or cloth repeatedly till all of the food residue is gone. Believe me it takes very long. It is on account of this cleanup we dont use it as much as we would like. I wish it came with a tool that would help with the cleanup of the bottom of the grilling plate.

This grill does an excellent job at moving the fat and other juices away from the heating elements thus keeping the generation of smoke to a minimum. It takes a bit of time to reach temperature but once there it maintains the temperature as selected. Nice grill.

Don't get me wrong. The one star is for Zojirushi quality control and warranty service. I'd love to give the item 5 stars in term of usage. Received the item sold by Amazon. Realized there is a chip on the polished finish just under the power socket (see the customer image I uploaded). Contacted Zojirushi and sent the picture by email. The customer service rep was very helpful. But he warned me that their warranty department would refuse to do anything as "it does not affect usage". Regardless he submitted the case. A few hours later, the rep called me back that indeed the warranty department refused to admit it is a defective item as "the customer can still use it". I was told that my only options were either keep it as it is, or send it back to Amazon. Amazon was very nice by offering refund or replacement. Since it was sold out at Amazon at that moment, I decided to keep it. With it is clearly a manufacture defect, I am disappointed with how Zojirushi treating customers. My own google search shows that Zojirushi is pretty poor on warranty service in North America. Just because an item is still usable does not justify Zojirushi to release it with defect, no matter how small the defect is. I was a fan on both Panasonic and Zojirushi appliances equally. Now you know which brand I am leaning to on my next purchase.