Do indoor grills use a lot of electricity?

No, indoor grills do not use a lot of electricity in normal use. An electric indoor grill does draw a fair amount of power while it is heating and cooking, since it uses a heating element to get hot, but it only runs for the relatively short time it takes to preheat and grill the food, so the total energy used per meal is modest and the cost is small. In fact, for cooking a modest amount of food, an indoor grill often uses less electricity than heating a large oven, because it heats a small cooking area quickly rather than a big cavity. So while it is not a trivial-draw appliance like a small gadget, its short run time keeps its energy use and running cost reasonable. Our Best Indoor Grills compares five of them.

Power draw versus total energy

It helps to separate how much power an indoor grill draws from how much total energy it uses. An electric grill has a heating element, and heating elements draw a fair amount of power while they are on, so at any moment a grill uses a moderate amount of electricity, more than a small motor-driven gadget. But the figure that matters for your bill is the total energy, which is power multiplied by how long it runs, and a grill runs only for a short cooking session.

Because an indoor grill preheats in a few minutes and then cooks food in a short time, often just minutes for things like steaks, chicken, burgers or paninis, it is only drawing that power briefly, and once hot it cycles the element on and off to hold temperature rather than drawing full power continuously. So the total energy for a meal is modest despite the moderate power draw, which is the key to understanding why an indoor grill does not use a lot of electricity overall: it is a short burst of heating, not a long one.

The cost per meal

In practice, the electricity to cook a meal on an indoor grill is small, because the session is short. You preheat briefly and grill for a few minutes, then switch it off, so the energy used is a short burst of heating, which at normal electricity rates costs only a small amount, a minor fraction of what the food itself costs. Even cooking on a grill regularly adds little to an electricity bill from the grilling itself.

The exact cost depends on the grill’s wattage and your electricity price, and a larger or more powerful grill, or longer cooking, uses more, but the conclusion holds that per meal it is modest. Cooking several items in one session is efficient too, since the grill is already hot. So although an indoor grill is a heating appliance and not a negligible-draw device, its short cooking time keeps the per-meal running cost low enough that most people would not notice it on their bill, which is why it does not count as a heavy electricity user.

How it compares with other appliances

Compared with a full-size oven, an indoor grill is often the more economical choice for cooking a modest amount of food. An oven draws a lot of power and must heat a large cavity, usually with several minutes of preheating before you cook, whereas an indoor grill heats a small cooking surface quickly and cooks food fast, so for a few steaks, burgers or a couple of portions, the grill uses less total energy than firing up the oven, which is a point in its favor rather than against.

Among kitchen appliances generally, an indoor grill sits in the moderate range: it uses more than small appliances like a toaster or a blender, because it heats, but it is in a similar bracket to other short-run heating appliances and well below things that run long or heat large spaces, like ovens over a full cook, dishwashers or tumble dryers. So whether compared with an oven or the wider kitchen, an indoor grill’s electricity use is reasonable, being a quick, small-area heating appliance rather than a big or long-running one.

Using one efficiently

To keep an indoor grill’s energy use low, which it already is, a few habits help. Preheat it only for as long as needed rather than leaving it on, and switch it off as soon as you have finished cooking rather than letting it sit on and hot, since idle heating wastes energy. Cook several items in one session while the grill is already hot rather than heating it up repeatedly, and have your food prepped so you are not running the grill while you get things ready.

Beyond that, there is little to worry about: once switched off, the grill draws no power, and its short cooking times mean even frequent use costs little. Choosing a grill sized for your needs rather than a much larger one than you use also keeps the draw sensible. So the practical takeaway is that indoor grills do not use a lot of electricity, they use a moderate amount while heating but only for short cooking sessions, so the per-meal energy and cost are modest, often less than using a full oven, and simple habits like not leaving it on keep that use at its lowest.

The short answer

No, indoor grills do not use a lot of electricity in normal use. An electric indoor grill draws a fair amount of power while heating, since it uses a heating element, but it only runs for the short time it takes to preheat and grill the food, so the total energy per meal, which is power multiplied by run time, is modest and the cost small, a minor fraction of what the food costs, even with regular use. For cooking a modest amount of food it often uses less electricity than heating a full-size oven, because it heats a small cooking surface quickly rather than a large cavity, and once hot it cycles the element to hold temperature rather than drawing full power continuously. So it is a moderate-draw but short-running appliance, not a heavy electricity user, and switching it off promptly and cooking several items while it is hot keeps its already-low per-meal energy use and cost at their lowest.