On this page, you will find out how many watts an electric grill draws.
I love the convenience of being able to grill at the flick of a switch. Don’t get me wrong, lighting charcoal to cook with real fire is fabulous on a sunny day but it takes a while. Simply being able to plug in and heat up in minutes to cook a juicy steak is pretty darn great too. The only things to consider are the electricity it requires, including the expense, and power requirements when trying to run it off-grid on a camping trip.
Below we will discuss and test electric grill wattage, explain how to work it out for yourself, and calculate the total electricity required.
How Many Watts is an Electric Grill?
The average electric grill uses between 1200 – 1700 watts.
The exact number depends on the size and model of your electric grill. For example, a small countertop unit uses about 1300W while a large standalone setup draws 1600W or more.
The reason for this difference is down to size. The simple fact is that the bigger the grill the more power it consumes. This is because it will use a bigger heating element to cook on a large surface area.
How to Find Out Your Electric Grill Wattage
There’s 3 ways you can work out the wattage of an electric grill.
- Check Product Specification
The quickest way is to look at the electric grill’s specification. The watts (W) is usually written on a sticker on the base of the appliance. If not, you can check the user manual or the manufacturer’s website for technical details.
- Use a Wattmeter
A wattmeter is brilliant for getting a live wattage reading and tracking total energy usage of any appliance. You can simply plug it into your electric grill to get instant information.
I used one to test my electric grill which gave a live reading of 1337W.
- Wattage Formula or Calculator
If you know the amperage and voltage of your electric grill you can use this to find the running watts. Simply use the formula Amps x Volts = Watts. Or you can head over to the ‘Watt Calculator’ to work this out.
Electric Grill Wattage Examples
Let’s take a look at specific examples of how many watts an electric grill draws. Below is a collection of modern electric grills with their listed power ratings.
| Electric Grill Model | Power Rating (Watts) |
| Elite Gourmet Table Top | 1400 |
| Cuisinart CEG-980 Outdoor Electric Grill | 1500 |
| Homewell Electric BBQ Grill | 1600 |
| CUSIMAX Raclette Grill Electric | 1500 |
| Techwood Outdoor E-Grill | 1600 |
| Techwood Indoor Smokeless | 1500 |
As you can see, the power ratings vary between different electric grills. So you should take the time to check your own appliance.
How Much Electricity Does An Electric Grill Use?
You can use electric grill wattage to work out how much electricity it uses. Plus this can be useful in understanding how much it costs to run your electric grill.
A watt (W) is a measurement of power at a single point in time. A watt-hour is the total amount of electricity used in an hour. For example, an electric grill drawing 1500W would use 1500Wh when running for an hour.
Happily, electricity bills are recorded in kilowatt-hours (kWh). A kilowatt is 1000 watts. So a 1500W electric grill running for 1 hour uses 1.5kWh.
In reality, you probably use an electric grill for 1 hour a week. This means an electric grill uses about 1500Wh or 1.5kWh electricity a week. That’s 6.5kWh a month and 78kWh a year.
That’s a rough electricity cost of $0.22 a week or $11 a year to cook on your e-grill for 1 hour a week.
Using an Electric Grill Off-Grid
If you’re planning to use your electric grill in an off-grid situation like a power outage, camping, RV, boat, or semi-truck the information above is important. It enables you to pick the correct power equipment and know how long you can run.
You can either use a power inverter, portable power station, or generator to produce AC electricity.
To make sure everything runs smoothly you should check two things on this equipment – wattage capacity and total energy capacity.
Your power source, like an inverter, should have a wattage capacity of at least 20% more than your electric grill. This ensures it will be able to deliver enough power as they are never 100% efficient. To cook on your e-grill, you will need at least 2000W of power capacity for reliable results.
Secondly, you need to ensure your energy source, like a battery, has enough energy to run the electric grill for the required amount of time. As we already know, it will use about 1500Wh electricity to use for an hour. This is the equivalent of 125Ah on a 12V battery.
How Many Watts Does An Electric Grill Use Summary
I hope you now know how many watts an electric grill uses.
The power consumption of an electric grill is quite high. But you won’t be using it all day every day so this reduces the overall electricity costs. If you just plan to use it once or twice a week then it won’t cost much. If you plan to use it off-grid, like camping, then ensure you have an inverter or power station that can deliver at least 2000W to ensure it can keep up while cooking.
