George Foreman Grill—what do I do with it?

[Spirit Feather]

I inherited a George Foreman grill from my grandmother. It is huge, bigger than the ones I have seen in the stores and probably one of the first “generations” on the market. It doesn’t have an instruction booklet or anything. I have absolutely no idea what to do with it!

So, what do you cook on your GF Grill and HOW do you do it?

Thanks!

 

[piratesmate]

Welcome to the DIS! I'm glad you found your way over here to Recipes & Scrapbooks. This is my favorite board - everyone here is so nice!

Hopefully you'll get some advice from some of those who use their grills often - and they ARE out there! (I'm so jealous!) My grill is so small, it only holds 3 hotdogs or 1 grilled cheese sandwich - & that barely fits. So at the moment, I only use mine for things I used to pan fry - like grilled ham & cheese, pork roll, hot dogs . . . . My kids told me that the grilled cheese is better on the Forman & I have to agree.

I inherited mine, also, and the directions said to heat the grill for a minute before putting the things on it. However, I don't often do that. Unfortunately, I seem to have lost the directions now.

d

 

[Spirit Feather]

Grilled Cheese? My grill has a ridged surface. Do you still do grilled cheese on that?

 

[piratesmate]

Yes, mine also has the ridged surface. DS was 18 when I first got it & he said it looked weird. I just told him it was a "Ruffles" brand sandwich. Since I tended to walk away from the stove when making grilled cheese (it took too long to keep me attentive ), at least they weren't too dark any more!

I forgot to mention that I've been heating up grilled chicken or burgers on the Forman, also. I've been re-packing chicken breasts in zip-lock bags right with various marinades. (Someone else's idea here on this board - works great!) Anyway, DD wanted her leftovers warm the other day & using the Forman seemed to bring out the grilled flavor more than just nuking it.

d

PS I've never cooked raw chicken on it because I'm never doing just one piece & that's all mine holds. I know other people do, though.

 

[Keli]

I like to put frozen, raw chicken strips on it (I buy them without batter) It takes a little longer but they cook great and then I cut them up and serve them with different dipping sauces. It's very low cal which my perpetualy dieting dd loves. Marinating the chicken ahead of time is better but I'm usually in a hurry and I can do this in just a few minutes.

 

[disykat]

Our favorite thing on the GF grill is quesadillas. We usually put refried black beans and grated cheese between two tortillas. Rotate them a half turn part way through cooking to make the grill marks look like a grid. I cut them with a pizza cutter.

I like cooking these and also grilled sandwiches on the GF because they don't need any fat on the outside. I figure the cheese inside is plenty of fat for us!

When I'm cooking chicken or something on it (I never follow directions, just look at it to see if it's done - so I can't help you there!) I like to put some vegies on the grill afterwards. It does a really nice job on fresh red peppers, zuchini, etc.

Another good tip (I probably got it here, but I'm not sure) is to put a wet paper towel or two on it while you're having your dinner. Then you can just wipe it clean when you're done. I like to wait until it has cooled just a bit before putting the wet towels in and closing the lid.

 

[bananiem]

So you like spicy foods? And how many are you cooking for? Mine came with a GREAT cookbook and I use my grill all the time. I'd be glad to post some of the recipes for marinades and rubs that came with it if you want. Just let me know!

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

You can do TONS of things with your Forman Grill. I use mine all the time. Grilling veggies (LOVE grilled onions...just slice and throw them on). Burgers, hot dogs, steaks...throw 'em on and grill away. Marinade pork chops and grill for about 8 minutes. YUM!

One warning, it is NOT as easy to clean as it sounds. Easier to get the gunk off when the unit is still HOT and still on. But that means it's easier to burn yourself too.

 

[Pixie Power!]

My George Forman is my new best friend!!

Im trying the Atkins diet so its great for me. Steak, chicken, chops, bacon YUMMY!!

Emma

 

[StilesMom]

We cook chicken on our alot and although the directions say to cook it for 10 minutes, ours seems to only take about 6-7 before the outside of the chicken looks WELL done. In fact, after the 6 minute point, I check it every few seconds or it will burn. Someone told me it was actually the extra juice from the marinade that was burnt. Has anyone else noticed this when using a marinade?

 

[Spirit Feather]

Okay, I took the plunge!

We made bacon on the GFG last night. We had to turn it, which I didn't think we would have to do. I am guessing that since the bacon is so thin, the lid didn't come down low enough to cook it. It sure cut down on splatter mess.

And, it tasted like bacon! We tried nuking it once and it did NOT taste like bacon-lol.

Okay, maybe I can try grilled cheese on the kids for lunch today.

 

[Lanshark]

It makes the best hamburgers and grilled chicken sandwiches.

I also like to marinate chicken in a mixture of soy sauce with assorted seasonings. I then grill the chicken and slice it into thin strips for faitas (sp?). Then I do some peppers and onions separately and we have a great meal.

I also use it for grilling veggies like squash and mushrooms.

 

[piratesmate]

Re: bacon - I used the GFG for the bacon at Christmas and also preferred it to the microwave! You're right about it being too thin, though. (The same thing applies to pork roll.) I found it helped to cook two pieces together - back to back. Then, instead of flipping it I separated it & did the other side. It's probably more work that way, but since mine is so small it helped get it done quicker!

 

[dizneegirl]

I was doing the bacon in a row of single slices at a time & flipping them, but the grill kept making these horrible popping sounds... DH thinks it's because there wasn't enough weight in the grill (who knows?) so last time he cooked it - he put down one row of bacon top to bottom, then another on top of that sideways, then another row on top of that top to bottom again (make sense? like a basket weave almost) with the whole package of bacon. Didn't have to turn the bacon at all, and even the middle row seemed to get crispy-er than doing the one row at a time.

As far as what to use it for... I LOVE doing hamburgers on it. If you like grilled onions or mushrooms on your burger, you can put those on the grill behind the burgers & they come out great! And, if you like your buns toasted, you can throw them on just before your meat is done (or just after on a small grill)... turn them inside out & stick them in. If you close the lid, they get a little smooshed, but they taste great.

I've done sliced potatoes on the grill, they came out yummy too! A little bit of Pam and some seasoned salt...yum! And I've been known to do tater tots as well (though those take a while, but better than turning on the oven for 1 serving! They crisp up pretty nice!)

If you cook pork chops or steaks on it, watch them pretty well... they don't take long, and it's easy to over-cook them.

Brats, hotdogs, sausage all come out pretty good. I think maybe I'll try slicing sausage & grilling it with onions and peppers this week... bet that would turn out good, and much easier than frying it!

We like to keep marinated chicken to throw on too...

 

[hopemax]

I love my Foreman. We have the small one (got it as a Christmas present) but since its only my husband and me it works okay.

I use it for hamburgers, steak, halibut, vegetables, chicken, just made salmon yesterday and am trying quesadillas tomorrow. I learned that I do have to flip steaks, hamburgers & chicken once or twice, otherwise the top will burn. Fish was fine though since the cooking time is short. I want to try prawns on it too.

I love how fast and easy it is, normally it takes 30 minutes to cook my salmon, but last night 4 minutes!

 

[piratesmate]

I learned that I do have to flip steaks, hamburgers & chicken once or twice, otherwise the top will burn.

I knew I needed a new one! On ours, the bottom gets done quicker than the top. That sounds like a good excuse to get a bigger one, right?

d

 

[SplshMtn99]

We cook chicken, steaks, pork chops... & vegetables. We've learned that since it cooks so fast, some foods don't cook all the way thru without burning the outside if the meat is too thick.

We also try to use rubs instead of marinades. We find that the sugars in the marinades contribute to the burning before food cooked all the way thru.

I've also done grilled cheese & bacon.
Remember reading you can do hash browns too.

We love our grill when we don't have time to use the outside grill -- or in the winter too -- or if I'm alone.

 

[MerryPoppins]

Sometimes I cook minute steaks with seasonings. While they are cooking, I combine cooked pasta, tomato, onion, green peppers (really whatever veggies you have on hand that sound good to you). Then, I slice the steaks into thin strips and stir it into the pasta and veggies. My kids LOVE it when I make this. It really is good and it's easy to fix.

 

[bethie]

Sale at your next garage sale! That is what I did with mine. I hated it. Sorry.

 

[crazyforpooh]

I like to cook sword fish, and pork sirlions on mine.