The 3 Best Electric Skillets of 2023, Tested and Reviewed

Dec 22, 2023

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Electric skillets are underrated. If you live in a dorm, tiny home, RV, or just don't have access to a stove, the best electric skillets are a must for several cooking tasks. In addition to sautéing and pan-frying, a skillet helps you deep fry, brown meats, and cook on a griddle. You can even find recipes for baking cakes and other treats in electric skillets.

Electric frying pans are also nice to have around when the summer heat makes using the stove unbearable, when kitchen space is at a premium during the holidays, or when you want to keep your food warm at a potluck.

I have reviewed kitchen appliances for 5 years. For this guide, I fried 15 pounds of chicken thighs and eight pounds of burgers, and made more than 50 pancakes in six of the best electric skillets. You can find details about how I tested the best electric skillets here.

Best overall: Zojirushi Gourmet d'Expert Electric Skillet - See at AmazonComes with two pans and a steamer, has a user-friendly design, and did the best job of heating evenly in our tests.

Best budget: Dash Family Size Rapid Heat Electric Skillet - See at AmazonNot only costs less than $50, but it heats quickly and has a large capacity.

Best for frying: Presto Electric Foldaway Skillet -See at AmazonAt just a few dollars more than our budget pick, the Presto Electric Foldaway Skillet did an outstanding job of frying chicken and cooking pancakes in our tests, and it folds up for easy storage.

Pros: Heats evenly, comes with two pans and a steamer, easy to clean, a long cord that detaches easily for safety, produces delicious and evenly-cooked fried chicken, burgers, and pancakes, one of the best electric skillets due to its user-friendly controls

Cons: Small cooking surface

Several features set the Zojirushi Gourmet d'Expert Electric Skillet (model EP-RAC50) apart from other skillets we tested. It comes with two pans: a deeper pan for soup-type foods, including hot pots, and a flatter plate for frying and grilling. The set also includes a tempered glass lid and vented steamer.

The setup was intuitive and took about five minutes. The skillet has a long cord that detaches when something pulls on it, which is a great safety feature. And, the Gourmet d'Expert has user-friendly controls. You simply move the slider on the face of the unit to the temperature you want. In contrast, the other models we tested relied on poorly-placed dials.

I was impressed with the even heating of the Zojirushi. While the other models were hotter around the heating element — exhibiting a telltale dark ring in our flour test — the heating element location wasn't as evident with the Gourmet d'Expert as the flour darkened more evenly.

The Zojirushi skillet did a good job of cooking fried chicken, burgers, and pancakes. While it was the slowest to heat oil, it was the fastest to cook the fried chicken in only 25 minutes. The meat was juicy and the skin was as evenly cooked and tasty as it gets. Plus, the skillet produced a great sear on the burgers, and the pancakes cooked evenly and quickly.

Cleanup was a snap. While the pan isn't dishwasher safe, you can remove it from the base to wash it by hand, and grime slid right off thanks to the nonstick coating.

The biggest negative with the Gourmet d'Expert is it's the smallest model we tested. It fit the fewest burgers, pancakes, and chicken thighs.

Pros: Large capacity, fast preheating, produced outstanding burgers, simple design, lightweight, easy to store, one of the best electric skillets for large families

Cons: Heats and cooks unevenly, not dishwasher safe

The Dash Family Size Rapid Heat Electric Skillet (model DRG214RD) is the only skillet under $50 that we recommend. It also has the largest capacity of the units we tested, fitting the most chicken thighs, burgers, and pancakes, making it ideal for families.

The Dash skillet has a basic design and setup. The unit consists of the base with its built-in nonstick pan, a power cord with a dial control that plugs into the back, and a lid with a silicone ring to form a tight seal. Setting it up took about five minutes, and the only assembly was attaching the knob to the lid.

The handles are large and easy to grip (even when greasy), and, as the name suggests, the Dash Rapid Heat Electric Skillet heats quickly. Unfortunately, that speed comes at the expense of even heat distribution. In the flour test, I could clearly see where the ring-shaped heating element was located. The patchy heating led to fast but uneven pancake cooking. And, some of the chicken started to burn in spots, while other pieces were still undercooked. However, the hamburgers were the most forgiving. The Dash skillet produced beautifully-seared burgers that tasted delicious.

Cleaning the skillet was a pain. It's big and isn't dishwasher safe. Fortunately, it has a nonstick surface so debris comes right off, and the unit is lightweight, making it easy to move around and store. In the months since first publishing this guide, I found the Dash skillet was what I reached for most often because of its large capacity and fast cooking.

Pros: Did an outstanding job frying chicken and cooking pancakes, folds up for compact storage, features a pour spout, one of the best electric skillets due to it being easy to clean

Cons: Cooked burgers slowly and unevenly, heats unevenly

Presto is a big name in electric skillets. The company even published the most popular electric skillet cookbook on Amazon, the Eclectic Electric Skillet Cookbook. And, the Presto Electric Foldaway Skillet (model 06857) is one of the best-selling skillets with its unique design that folds up for compact storage, making it ideal for RVs or other tight quarters. Another unique feature is a pour spout on the rim to pour the pan's contents accurately.

The setup of the Presto Foldaway is a little more involved than most skillets since you need to clip the pan into the base, but it was easy to do without instructions, and the process only took five minutes.

The Presto skillet did an excellent job of making chicken and pancakes. The oil preheated in under seven minutes, and the fried chicken reach a safe internal temperature in 26 minutes. The results were delicious. Pancakes took about three minutes and were cooked evenly.

The burgers didn't turn out as good. It took 10 minutes to cook them in the Presto Foldaway — longer than any other model — and they browned unevenly. The flour test more clearly revealed the uneven heating as a ring of darkened flour formed where the heating element was located.

Fortunately, cleaning the Presto Foldaway was easy since the pan detaches from the base. The pan is dishwasher safe, but Presto encourages washing by hand to prolong the life of the nonstick coating. I preferred washing it by hand anyway since the coating kept bits of debris from sticking.

We put each of the best electric skillets in this guide through several objective tests. The most important factors to consider when buying an electric skillet are how evenly it heats and cooks and how easy it is to use and clean.

Ease of use: I set up each unit without referencing the user manual to assess how easy they were to use. Even with some minor assembly, none of the skillets took more than 10 minutes to set up. I also examined the placement and size of the handles, as well as how easy the handles were to grab barehanded when hot and covered with slippery cooking oil. I also looked at special features that improved usability, such as a long power cord, easy storage, or a built-in pour spout.

Even heating: To test how evenly the skillets heated, I sprinkled 1/3 cup flour evenly over the cooking surface of each. Then, I turned the heat on high and closely watched the coloration of the flour. If the skillet heats evenly, all of the flour should darken at the same time. With every unit except our top pick, the flour darkened where the heating element was under the pan.

Speed: I poured two cups of peanut oil into the skillet, cranked the heat, and timed how long it took the oil to reach 350 degrees Fahrenheit as measured with a probe thermometer. Most of the models took five to seven minutes. Our top pick took longer — 8 minutes and 30 seconds.

Cleaning process: I washed each of the electric skillets several times per the manufacturer's instructions and noted how difficult the cleaning process was. For the units that are dishwasher safe, I ran them through the dishwasher at least once. I found washing by hand to be more convenient than machine washing. The skillets hogged significant dishwasher space, and the nonstick surfaces made removing grime with a sponge reasonably easy.

Cooking performance: I put the electric skillets through three cooking tests.

Electric skillets are underrated, versatile appliances that can make a broad range of foods. You can use an electric skillet for cooking all of your breakfast favorites, including crispy bacon, hash browns, eggs, pancakes, French toast, and more. You can use it to toast bread, which I like to do with bacon grease for added flavor.

You can simmer soups, chilis, and chowders in an electric skillet, but you'll want to keep the heat low and stir often to avoid burning. And I've found it's fun to use an electric skillet to cook right on the dining room table. For instance, you can make fondue or have a non-traditional hibachi grilling experience.

You can also use an electric skillet for baking cakes, cookies, and pies, making pizza, and cooking one-pot pasta dishes (like lasagna or spaghetti) and casseroles. Anything you can bake, fry, deep fry, sauté, simmer, boil, steam, or slow cook you can make in an electric skillet. When you purchase one, I recommend picking up some cookbooks as well. The two I use are The Sensational Skillet Cookbook and Electric Skillet Cookbook Complete.

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