One of the things I enjoy most about cooking on a Blackstone is figuring out how to make the griddle do more than the obvious. Burgers, bacon, breakfast, and cheesesteaks are easy choices, but over the years I have also used mine to make beer-battered fish, coconut shrimp, chicken tenders, egg rolls, and other foods that normally belong in a deep fryer.

The trick is simple: I do not deep-fry directly on the griddle. I put a sturdy pan of oil on top of the griddle and use the Blackstone as the heat source.

It sounds almost too simple, but it has become one of my favorite ways to expand what I can cook outside.

Why Fry on the Blackstone?

The biggest advantage for me is that the entire meal can stay outside.

If I am making fish tacos, for example, I can have the fish frying in a pan while tortillas warm on another section of the griddle. If I am making egg rolls, I can cook the filling on the flat top first, roll everything up, and then use the same griddle to heat the frying oil.

That means I am not running back and forth between an indoor stove and the Blackstone.

It also keeps one of the messier cooking methods outdoors. Deep frying is delicious, but the smell of hot oil tends to hang around a kitchen much longer than I would like. Doing it outside solves that problem pretty quickly.

How I Set It Up

I use a sturdy metal pan that can safely handle frying temperatures and place it directly on the griddle surface. I add enough oil for the food I am cooking, then gradually bring the oil up to temperature.

For most of the foods I make, I am aiming for around 350°F.

This is one place where I do not like guessing. I use a thermometer to monitor the oil because the griddle temperature and the oil temperature are not the same thing. The steel underneath may be considerably hotter than the oil inside the pan.

Once the oil reaches the temperature I want, I adjust the burner as needed to keep it reasonably steady.

Adding cold food will naturally bring the temperature down, so I avoid stuffing too much into the pan at once. Smaller batches usually fry better anyway because the food has room and the oil can recover between batches.

Captain Crunch Chicken Tenders

One of the more ridiculous—and fun—things I have fried this way is Captain Crunch chicken tenders.

I marinated chicken tenders in buttermilk, crushed the cereal for the breading, and then fried the chicken in oil heated to about 350°F right on the Blackstone. I served them with waffles, because once you have committed to Captain Crunch chicken, there is really no reason to suddenly become restrained.

The cereal gave the chicken an extra-crunchy coating with a little sweetness that worked surprisingly well with the savory chicken.

More importantly, the frying setup let me do the whole recipe outside while still having the rest of the griddle available.

Beer-Battered Fish Works Great Too

Beer-battered fish is another recipe where this technique makes a lot of sense.

A wet batter really needs hot oil to create that crispy exterior. Trying to accomplish the same thing directly on the flat top would produce something completely different.

Instead, I can fry the fish properly in the pan while using the open griddle space to toast buns or warm tortillas.

That is one of the things I like most about this method. The Blackstone is not becoming only a fryer. It is still a griddle at the same time.

Coconut Shrimp and Tacos

I have also used the same setup for coconut shrimp.

The shrimp can fry in the pan while tortillas and other taco components are handled beside it. Once everything is ready, crispy coconut shrimp can go straight into tacos with slaw and sauce.

That kind of cook really demonstrates the advantage of having multiple things happening on one cooking surface. The fried component gets the texture it needs without sacrificing all of the other things the Blackstone does well.

Big Mac Egg Rolls

Big Mac-inspired egg rolls are another good example.

I can cook the ground beef and onions on the griddle, add cheese and pickles to the filling, roll everything in egg roll wrappers, and then fry the finished egg rolls in the pan of oil.

Meanwhile, homemade Mac-style sauce is ready for dipping.

That is an entire recipe that starts with traditional griddle cooking and ends with deep frying, all without leaving the Blackstone.

A Few Things Matter for Safety

Any time you are cooking with a pan full of hot oil, you need to treat it differently from normal griddle cooking.

The pan needs to sit securely on a level cooking surface, and I make sure the griddle itself is level before I begin. I also leave myself plenty of room around the pan so I am not constantly reaching across hot oil.

I never add water to hot oil, and I am careful that wet ingredients are not dripping before they go into the fryer. Water and hot oil are a bad combination.

I also keep the pan from becoming overly full. You need room for the oil level to rise when food is added.

And if oil ever catches fire, do not use water. Turn off the heat if it is safe to do so, cover the pan with a metal lid if possible, and use an extinguisher rated for cooking-oil or grease fires if needed.

Most of this is simply treating the setup with the same respect you would give a deep fryer or a pot of oil on the stove.

Do Not Pour Oil Directly on the Griddle

This should probably go without saying, but I am going to say it anyway.

Deep frying in a pan sitting on the griddle is very different from pouring a pool of oil directly onto the Blackstone surface.

The pan contains the oil, gives you depth for frying, and makes it possible to control the process safely.

The flat top itself is still doing what it does best: providing the heat.

The Best Part Is the Flexibility

I do not deep-fry food every time I use the Blackstone, but I like knowing that I can.

It gives me another technique to pull from when I am thinking through a recipe. Instead of deciding that something cannot be made outside because it needs a fryer, I can simply incorporate a pan into the cook.

That opens up a lot of possibilities.

Fish sandwiches.

Coconut shrimp tacos.

Chicken and waffles.

Egg rolls.

Fried appetizers.

And probably several things I have not thought of yet.

Final Thoughts

A Blackstone does not have to be limited to food that can sit directly on the steel.

Sometimes the most useful thing about that big cooking surface is that it can support another cooking method.

Put a sturdy pan of oil on the griddle, monitor the temperature carefully, keep the setup safe, and suddenly you have a fryer sitting beside your traditional flat-top cooking area.

It is a simple trick, but it has allowed me to make some of the most interesting recipes I have cooked on the Blackstone.

And I will take almost any excuse to keep the deep-frying smell outside.