Best health grills 2024 UK - best George Foreman grill

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These lean machines cook food fast, minus unnecessary fat

This article was updated in January to reflect all the latest prices, deals and stock levels. We also added the newly tested Procook Air Fryer Health Grill.

Forget the basic, budget health grill you used as a student – they’ve come a long way since then. You can now cook nearly anything on one of these nifty gadgets as many models now feature adjustable temperature controls and dedicated cooking settings, meaning you can enjoy an array of tasty dishes without unnecessary fat.

Some grills also open up flat, expanding their repertoire to include items such as pancakes, fried eggs and omelettes as well as standard fare such as burgers, fish and chicken.

One of these grills won’t replace your hob or other kitchen appliances, but if you’re determined to kickstart a new healthy eating routine, it can make a good addition to your worktop. A good model will cook food quickly and drain away fat easily, neatly catching excess in a collection tray. Many – though certainly not all – take up very little counter space and can be easily tidied away when not in use.

A health grill looks a bit like a toastie maker, comprising two heated plates that sandwich food between them, cooking the top and the bottom together. Most are slightly slanted, with ridged plates that allow rendered fat to run off food instead of cooking it in its own grease. This excess is collected in a pot at the front of the grill.

Like a barbecue, health grills leave distinctive char lines on foods that help sear meat and impart flavour. All the models we tested have non-stick plates, so little-to-no fat or oil is needed, making them an all-round healthier option.

If you want to start eating more healthily, yes, buying one of these grills is a great place to start. There’s no need to compromise at mealtimes; it’s more of a case of altering your cooking technique. Even burgers aren’t off the menu, as patties prepared on the grill will expel a considerable amount of fat.

Many of the newer models now include extra features that improve the overall cooking experience. Here's a breakdown of what to look for.

Adjustable temperature controlsOld school health grills could only cook at one temperature, but most newer models have adjustable dials with low, medium and high heat options or digital controls. This allows you to grill food more precisely, which is good for cooking delicate items such as fish, for example, where you want to avoid any dreaded dryness.

Dedicated cooking settingsSome health grills now have settings for specific foods – commonly burgers, chicken, and steak – to help you choose the right temperature.

Removable/dishwasher-safe platesThese make cleaning far less awkward, which is especially handy when you need to scrub burnt-on food, for example. Even better if you can pop them in the dishwasher.

Flat grill optionThis is great for table-top grilling and entertaining. Opening up the grill offers twice the cooking surface too.

Interchangeable platesSome models now offer greater versatility by providing extra plates, such as flat options for griddle-style cooking, or options for waffles and toasties.

Automatic sensorsIn-built sensors in some high-tech health grills will measure your food’s thickness to work out the optimum temperature and length of time needed to cook it properly.

At the GHI, we tested 20 models by cooking up a range of foods you’d normally throw on the grill at home: burgers, chicken and a selection of vegetables. When coming up with an overall score, we consider the following areas.

Cooking

Our experts look for burgers and chicken that are juicy and cooked through. Vegetables should also be cooked through, with well-defined grill marks and a subtle char. If lots of fat has been successfully removed, we check that food is still moist.

Consistency

The grill should offer as much heat at the edges of the plates as it does at the centre. We cut burgers open to see whether they have all been cooked evenly after sitting on different spots of the plate.

Temperature

By taking a temperature reading of the outer casing midway through one test, we can determine whether the grill gets too hot during use. We also record how long each grill takes to heat up – anything over five minutes is a long time to wait.

Score: 89/100

From the original lean, mean grilling machine maker, this straightforward George Foreman grill is designed to be easy to use, and thanks to its removable control panel, easy to clean. The whole machine can be submerged in water or placed in the dishwasher for fuss-free cleaning. It also has a floating hinge to allow for thicker cuts of meat and fish.

This winning health grill ticked all our boxes with its speedy five-minute heat-up time, evenly cooked results and generous grilling space. Our burgers had satisfying char marks and were ready to serve in under seven minutes, while our juicy chicken breasts were fully cooked in 12 minutes. It was delightfully easy to clean and as its wide plates can fit four burgers at a time, it’s a great addition to any family’s kitchen.

There isn’t a timer included so have your stopwatch (read: phone) to hand to keep track of your grill timings. The exterior can get rather warm while it’s in use too, so be sure to only touch the handle.

Score: 87/100

This is a cleverly designed grill with an integrated temperature probe to ensure meat is cooked exactly as you like it. It can also open out flat for a larger grilling surface.

It scored highly across our meat tests, reaching full temperature in around four minutes, and had even coverage across the grilling area.

Our vegetables charred well too, although they did cook slightly unevenly due to the thickness of the grill’s ridges.

Score: 87/100

This is a large, intuitive grill, which offers “Automatic Sensor Cooking”. This means it will adjust the cooking time and temperature to fit the thickness of the food you're grilling. It also has nine different cooking programmes and a frozen food function. However, there's no flat-top mode.

We saw good results when grilling meat and vegetables using the pre-set cooking programmes. Burgers had well-defined grill lines but were slightly dry – and the same goes for chicken. When cooking vegetables using the manual mode, they were flavoursome and had a perfect char. You may just need to switch to the manual mode when grilling meat and chicken to avoid any dryness.

Score: 87/100

This is Tefal’s newest health grill. It has an automatic sensor, a “searing boost” mode for meats and a manual setting – but it can’t open up flat. The plates sit at a steeper angle than other models, so fat runs off very effectively. Tefal claims this is its “most advanced grill ever” and it does come with a lot of functions, including 12 cooking modes and a searing setting. It also shares the same Automatic Sensor Cooking and frozen food function as the Optigrill+ XL above.

Heat-up time varies depending on the cooking programme (just under six minutes for a steak and around four minutes for burgers). There are plenty of veg-specific cooking options, including those for potatoes, peppers, aubergines and tomatoes, and our vegetables were well cooked with nicely defined grill lines. Just note, this is a large piece of kit, so may not be the one for you if you’re short on cupboard space.

Score: 82/100

Featuring 12 cooking programmes and enough space to make six portions, the Procook grill put in a solid performance in our lab tests. It pre-heated in just five minutes and cooked our chicken breasts and beef burgers well, sealing in moisture and flavour. Vegetables were well grilled too, with nice charring on the outside.

The non-stick cooking plates worked like a dream, and the plates and tray are both dishwasher-safe, so cleaning is completely fuss-free. Our testers would have liked some more information on how to use each of the settings effectively – some guesswork was needed to get a better sear on the burgers – and the lack of a handle means you can’t carry it very easily.

Overall, though, it’s a good quality health grill that’s ideal for family dinner times.

Megan is the Good Housekeeping Institute’s homes writer. She loves diving into the latest product releases to find the very best buys on the market. When she’s not writing about the newest gadgets and gizmos for your home and garden, you’ll find her cooking, running and exploring London’s foodie hotspots – or trying to make friends with every dog she passes. Megan has an MA in Magazine Journalism and has previously written for Stylist, Glamour, TimeOut, SquareMeal, and YOU magazine. You can find Megan on Instagram @meganlouisegeall and on X @megan_geall

Blossom is passionate about finding the best home products and appliances for GH readers. As head of the homes testing team, she has led reviews across multiple categories, from pizza ovens, and smart plugs to portable fans and hobs. She enjoys delving into the intricacies of products and refining testing protocols to ensure we’re testing them against their claims. Her aim is to find the top-performing products on the market, to help take the hard work out of housework. Blossom’s most notable accomplishment in the lab has been toasting 528 slices of bread in her quest to find the best toasters money can buy. In her free time, she openly admits to being a music geek and indulges her creative side through crocheting, baking, singing and writing.

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