Are you a fan of grilling? I’ve not had one for years as I had a George Foreman that I used and used until it could be used no more and never got around to replacing it. I’ve now been sent the Tefal Optigrill to test out and was keen to find out how it would perform.
Straight off you can see it’s a quality affair, as the machine is sturdy and stands its ground on the work surface. My first request from the boys was a round of cheese toasties, which was a great way to get acquainted with the controls. Verdict – clear and easy to use, but i’d be doing it a great disservice if I stopped there.
Cool features:
Automatic Sensor Cooking – Adjusts the time and temperature automatically according to the thickness of the food – so it’s not a one size fits all approach which can always be a bit hit and miss when you’re using pre-set functions on other gadgets.
Cooking Level Indicator – the colour of the light lets you know what stage the cooking is at so you get the best result.
6 specific programmes – Burger, Chicken/Poultry, Bacon, Pork/Sausage, Red Meat, Fish/Seafood and then a manual setting to cook things how you want like fruits, vegetables and cheese toasties, as well as an option for cooking food from frozen.
How do you like your steak? You can set it to rare, medium or well-done and never get it wrong again. Steak is expensive so you want to do a good job of cooking it and also make sure that everyone gets their piece of meat cooked exactly how they like it.
Big surface area – You can fit plenty of food on there with a 600cm2 capacity
Removable plates – Makes it easy to clean and they even go safely in the dishwasher with the drip tray – result!
Overall Verdict: It’s sturdy, well designed and attractive enough to leave out on the surface.
What will I use it for? I’m trying to eat more healthily and end up having my dinner after everyone else in the family has eaten because of my new work schedule, so it’s ideal to bring a piece of meat or fish home and pop it in the optigrill while I prepare a healthy salad to have on the side. And for the boys they can get their fill of cheese toasties which is their absolute favourite after-school snack. It’s also brilliant for grilling up sausages and burgers so I don’t have to fire up the oven or cook unhealthily in the frying pan.
Price: It’s not cheap at £129.95, but it’s clearly built to last and if you can make room for it on your work surface you’re bound to use it loads. I think it would make a great gift for a busy family cook.
Where can I buy one? You can pick one up at Lakeland, John Lewis, Argos, Amazon, Tesco and Currys
Discolsure: I have been sent the Tefal Optigrill to review, but all thoughts and opinions are my own and I have not received payment to write this blog post. Find out more about the Tefal Optigrill
I have had fun testing my Optigrill and intend to use it lots.
I think it’s going to be one of those gadgets I use a lot!
I have made quite a few veggie things on mine, but salmon is great on it too.
It’s really versatile.
A great review Kate, I hadn’t actually tried the manual setting yet and was wondering about toasties, so will try these for lunch tomorrow!
Thanks Camilla… can’t beat a toastie!
i have had two of these optigrills after using the first one several times with very good results the options stopped working and went automatically to manual mode each time,I returned it to curries and received a replacement.
I have now found this one is doing the same so i don’t use it anymore…is this a common fault?
That doesn’t sound good, i’d contact their customer service directly to get it sorted.
I returned my “Optigrill”,because the grill quite often did not beep or change light colour even though it did heat food. It was re calibrated and returned. It now works fully.However when I returned the grill in my letter I also remarked even though the plates are removable they are very difficult to keep clean.
Glad it’s working again for you. I just stick the plates in the dishwasher and they come up a treat!
Mine died after a year wouldn’t recommend any tefal product to anyone customer service was poor when I complained they didn’t even get back in touch if think they knew of the poor product for its extremely high price as they say they don’t build them to last and tefal are right up there with the best.