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The Breville Smart Grill’s Element IQ technology bridges the gap between indoor and outdoor at an unrivaled new level. Heat sensors embedded in the grill plates compensate for the temperature drop when cold food is placed onto the pre-heated surface. The sensors then detect this heat drop and compensate by injecting heat for rapid recover back to the desired cooking temperatures. The 1800-watt embedded heating design ensures maximum heat into the plates for faster cooking and reduced pre-heating time. This creates a BBQ-quality sear and sizzle. The flat bottom plate is suitable for eggs and pancakes while the top plate is ribbed to sear meats. Plate positions are interchangeable and can be extended into an opened, flat ‘BBQ Mode.’

The Breville BGR820XL Smart Grill uses Element IQ technology and an embedded element heating system to sear meat on your countertop that tastes just as good as meat seared on the barbecue (closeup on right).

Why the Breville Smart Grill?

Every Breville product begins with a simple moment of brilliance. The Breville Smart Grill began with the simple fact that searing meat requires continuous high heat. What kind of machine cooks as well as a barbecue, but cleans fast like a frypan? The answer is the Breville Smart Grill, which allows you to sear meat indoors at a high consistent temperature without making a mess. It uses Element IQ technology and an 1800W heating system to electronically detect heat loss and provide rapid heat recovery.

Maintaining High Heat for Better Cooking

Countertop grills experience a drop in temperature when the cold meat or ingredients are introduced to the pre-heated surface. Even if they start off at the right temperature, most countertop grills can’t recover from this heat loss, heating up again slowly. This means less efficient cooking and tougher meat. The BGR820XL uses a smart technology called Element IQ to detect the drop in temperature and inject more heat for a rapid recovery back to the desired cooking temperatures.

Also, embedded elements in its grill plates help the grill maintain intense heat and recover from heat loss. The elements are cast into the plates themselves, which means that most of the heat generated by the elements is transferred to the plates instead of being lost (see below). That means less time to pre-heat and also rapid temperature recovery.

Other Features: Easy cleaning and Versatility

In addition to Element IQ and embedded plates, the Breville BGR820XL Smart Grill has numerous features: the top plate has six different adjustable heights that can be used for large sandwiches, small sliders, open-faced melts, or anything inbetween; the plates are removable for easier cleaning and can be interchanged depending on your needs (so the ribbed plate is either on the bottom or the top). The plates are nonstick plates made from cast aluminum coated with titanium infused Quantanium, for oil-free cooking and easy clean up. The housing is stainless steel, with die-cast arms.

The base can be tilted at an angle to drain, or lay perfectly flat for eggs, pancakes, and paninis. You can use it closed and use it to grill like a Panini press, or open it 180 degrees into barbecue mode, in which fat is drained from both plates into the drip tray. There are three different temperature settings (low, Panini, and sear, ranging from 320F to 450F), temperature and time control dials, and a countdown timer and sound alert.

Exposed Heating Elements vs. the BGR820XL’s Embedded Heating Elements

Exposed Heating Elements, typical of many grills

Embedded Heating Elements, like on the BGR820XL Smart Grill

Exposed Heating Elements: Heat loss

Many plates have exposed heating elements, where the grill plate sits directly on top of the heating element. Exposed elements lose much of the heat that they generate, instead of transferring the heat to the plate. This means the grill requires more time to heat up and more time to recover from heat loss, which extends cooking time and yields tougher meats.

Embedded Heating Elements: Heat transfer

The BGR820XL has grill plates with integrated heating elements, where the elements are embedded in the plates themselves. Rather than losing much of the heat that they generate, the heat is transferred directly to the plate. This means the grill requires less time to heat up and less time to recover from heat loss, which decreases cooking time, increases searing temperatures, and yields tenderer meats.

Two modes for two different cooking styles

Panini Mode

Barbecue Mode

Panini Mode

In Panini mode, use the top and bottom plates to press Paninis or grill ingredients on two sides at once. The height of the top plate from the bottom is adjustable, allowing you to press both large sandwiches and small sliders. There is a ribbed plate and a flat plate, and both plates are removable and interchangeable so you can choose the plate that suits your cooking style and clean the plates more easily.

Barbecue Mode

In barbecue mode, open the grill plates 180 degrees so the Smart Grill lies flat, and use it to grill and sear meats and vegetables. This doubles your cooking area, and also presents the option of grilling on both the flat plate and the ribbed plate. Additional ribbed plates and flat plates are available for purchase on Amazon if you’d prefer to have a uniform cooking surface in barbecue mode.

Temperature Control and Timing

The backlit LCD screen is blue when the grill is not hot

The backlit LCD screen is orange when the grill is pre-heating or cooking

Timer Control Dial

(Located on the left side of the Smart Grill front) You can set the timer for your preferred cooking time, and the Smart Grill will alert you when time is up.

Temperature Control Dial

(Located on the right side of the Smart Grill front) You can set the Breville Smart Grill in three different temperature settings: low, Panini, and sear, which range from temperatures of 320F to 450F. If you’d prefer to view the temperature in Celsius, flip the temperature conversion button.

Element IQ auto-adjustment

Element IQ detects the drop in temperature when you introduce cold ingredients to the pre-heated surface and automatically injects more heat to bring the Smart Grill back up to temperature and compensate for heat-loss.

The MegaChef reversible indoor grill and griddle with removable glass lid is designed with a non-stick coating so that you can easily prepare delicious and appetizing meals with less oil than traditional cooking methods. MegaChef understands that no matter the weather outside, friends and family should always be welcome to enjoy juicy grilled meats and vegetables.   Rain or shine, this grill will be your ticket to those perfect grill lines everyone loves to see. The versatility of a reversible cooking surface means you can grill your meats and veggies, flip the grills cooking surface over and use it as a griddle for eggs, pancakes and much, much more.   The non stick surface also means that your clean up is a breeze. Simply and easily wipe down any remaining foods with a moist dish cloth and you’re done. This grill is designed to be light weight and easily portable. You can easily take this reversible grill to your next vacation or getaway.   The removable, adjustable temperature control accurately sets cooking temperature to achieve desired results when cooking a variety of foods. This grill offers a 15″ by 11″ cooking surface on both sides of the cooking surface panel.   Which means you are getting both a 15″ griddle and a 15″ grill all in one. A removable glass lid is included for your safety and convenience.   You can easily attache and remove the lid as needed to accommodate any cooking style you choose. The lid also features a closing latch to ensure it is not opened accidental and is securely held in place. Once fully opened and secured in the slots where the lid is attached to the grill, it will remain in a secure upright position to avoid the possibility of closing. Lightweight and easily portable: Weighing in under 6 pounds means this unit can be taken along to any trip. So long as you have a place to set this grill on and a three prong plug which can be used for electricity you’ll be able to enjoy fresh grilled delicious foods.