Why Your Grill Needs a Griddle

Introduction

Grilling with just a grill grate may feel like the traditional way to cook outdoors, but it comes with serious limitations. The open design of typical grates means delicate, small, or greasy foods like bacon, hash browns, eggs, shredded cheese, onions, rice, and small veggies often fall through—or worse, cause flare-ups that char your food unevenly. These ingredients demand a flat, solid cooking surface, which a standard grill simply doesn’t provide.

This is where the Arteflame insert changes everything. By combining a classic grill grate with a high-quality carbon steel griddle surface, the insert expands your grill's capabilities dramatically. From breakfast staples to stir fries and seared scallops, the Arteflame insert gives your existing Charbroil TRU-Infrared grill a completely new lease on life—making it more versatile, safer, and infinitely more fun to use.

Grate Plus Griddle Advantages

Adding a griddle surface to your Charbroil TRU-Infrared grill via an Arteflame insert opens up endless culinary opportunities that go far beyond steaks and burgers. Here are the key advantages to transforming your grill with a dual-function surface:

1. Expand Your Menu Options

• Griddle Breakfasts: Cook bacon, eggs, pancakes, and hash browns without losing a bite through the grate.
• Asian-Inspired Dishes: Prepare fried rice, gyoza, and yakiniku without a wok.
• Seafood Searing: Delicately grill shrimp, scallops, and fish without sticking or crumbling.
• Vegetable Mastery: Sauté mushrooms, caramelize onions, or grill asparagus with complete control.
• Cheese-Friendly Grilling: Create grilled cheese, quesadillas, or smashburgers with melted cheddar—no drips, no flare ups.

2. Total Heat Control

The griddle heats evenly across the surface, eliminating hot spots and uneven cooking. Unlike grill grates where temperature varies wildly from front to back, the steel griddle distributes heat consistently, allowing precise control and professional-level results across the entire cooking area.

3. Cleaner Cooking Experience

Not only does the griddle prevent food from falling through, but it also reduces grease flare-ups which can ruin meat and leave bitter carbonized flavors. The Arteflame’s design channels greases away from the flame, giving you a cleaner, safer grilling experience that’s easier on both your food and your grill.

4. Simpler Cleanup

Food debris, drippings, and oils collect on the flat surface instead of underneath the grates, making cleanup far easier. Just scrape down the steel, and you’re done. No need to lift grates or deal with moldy residue under the hood.

5. More Social Cooking

Griddles encourage a different style of grilling—interactive, casual, and visually engaging. Whether you’re making sliders or street tacos, friends and family love watching the food cook on a flat-top style surface right in front of them. It turns your backyard into a live kitchen show.

6. Year-Round Versatility

The thick US steel of the Arteflame insert retains heat longer and tolerates colder weather better than standard grates or cast iron. That means you can grill confidently even when temperatures drop, making it a true year-round companion.

7. Perfect For Small Spaces

Live in a condo or townhouse? An Arteflame insert with griddle lets you cook a full meal without using pots and pans indoors. It’s ideal for outdoor cooking on compact spaces where kitchen alternatives are limited.

8. Ideal Complement to TRU-Infrared Technology

The Charbroil TRU-Infrared system is known for reducing flare-ups and enhancing flavor by evenly distributing heat. Pairing this innovation with an Arteflame dual-surface insert amplifies these advantages by adding physical protection from flare-ups and allowing better control over how food interacts with the flame source.

Conclusion

If you’re only using the grill grate on your Charbroil TRU-Infrared grill, you’re missing out on an entire world of culinary creativity. The Arteflame insert isn’t just an accessory—it’s a game-changer. Its dynamic griddle-and-grate combo unlocks the ability to cook nearly anything outdoors, from breakfast to dinner and everything in between.

Crafted entirely in the USA from 100% domestically sourced steel, the Arteflame insert meets the highest food-safety standards—something imported cast iron simply can’t match. Unlike brittle cast iron, which can crack under heat stress or over time, our steel inserts are engineered to last a lifetime of grilling brilliance. Upgrade your Charbroil experience today and rediscover what your grill can truly do with the Arteflame insert.