5 Foods You Should Be Cooking With a Grill Pan

A grill pan is the most under-appreciated piece of cookware most home cooks own. A really great one—heavy; fire-safe; perforated to let smoke through—can turn your gas or charcoal grill into an all-purpose appliance that can handle delicate fish, chopped vegetables and thinly sliced meats. Here are five foods that are tastier—and dramatically easier—when you cook them on a grill pan rather than directly on the grates.

Table of Contents

• The Hidden Versatility of Your Grill 

• 5 Surprising Foods to Make on a Grill Pan

• Why the HexClad Hybrid BBQ Grill Pan is the Pro's Choice

• Tips for Successful Grill Pan Cooking

The Hidden Versatility of Your Grill

Let’s take your cookout beyond the basics. Most home cooks use the grill in very specific ways—steaks, burgers, chicken thighs, and that’s about it. The assumption that grilling must be limited to the classics leaves a lot of great food on the table. Cooking with a grill pan unlocks a plethora of dishes that don’t work well cooked directly on the grates: ingredients that are too small, too delicate, too sticky or too thin.

A high-quality grill pan is a safety net. It prevents food from falling through the grates or getting too charred while still letting smoke and char through. That’s what most grill pans provide—and the better the pan, the more flavorful the result. You get the smoky flavor, the grill marks and the caramelization, with none of the lost food or stuck-on disasters.

The HexClad Hybrid BBQ Grill Pan lets you have it all: the deep sear of a grill with the effortless release of a nonstick pan. Hybrid construction—stainless-steel peaks paired with nonstick valleys—allows food to brown and then to release easily from the pan, even after a long, hot session. The perforations let the flame through, so you get that delicious open-fire flavor instead of the more muted result of a solid pan. And the pan’s 900°F heat tolerance means you can use it no matter how hot your grill gets. 

5 Surprising Foods to Make on a Grill Pan

1. Delicate Seafood (Shrimp, Scallops and Flaky Fish)

The challenge: Fish, scallops and small shellfish are notorious for sticking to grates or breaking apart when you try to flip them. By the time you've finished a rescue mission on a piece of cod, you've lost half the meal down the grates, and the other half is a mess.

The solution: Use the HexClad Hybrid BBQ Grill Pan to get smoky flavor, a great sear and a neat filet without the hassle. Or, consider shellfish: The HexClad surface ensures scallops develop a deep, golden crust and release perfectly every time. Shrimp pick up grill marks in 90 seconds per side. A whole filet of branzino slides off the pan in one piece. It makes open-fire seafood cooking accessible to all. 

2. High-Heat Seasonal Vegetables

The challenge: Asparagus spears, sliced bell peppers; snap peas; cherry tomatoes—all that lovely warm-weather produce. Most of these vegetables fall through grill grates or burn when they do stay put.

The solution: Toss your veggies in olive oil and seasonings and char them in the HexClad Hybrid BBQ Grill Pan. The perforated design enables that ideal charred-but-not-too-charred finish, and the pan’s entire surface heats evenly so you don't get one corner that's perfect and another that's still raw. Asparagus, peppers, snap peas, mushrooms, halved baby potatoes—nothing’s off limits. 

3. Stone Fruits and Desserts

The challenge: Grilling peaches or pineapples for a summer dessert always sounds like a great idea but often ends in a sugary, sticky disaster. The fruit’s natural sugars caramelize onto the grates and tear half the fruit off when you try to flip it.

The solution: The nonstick properties of the HexClad Hybrid BBQ Grill Pan make grilling fruit a breeze. Peach halves caramelize. Pineapple rings brown and hold their shape. Plums get jammy without falling apart. Brush the fruit with butter and brown sugar before grilling and serve over vanilla ice cream for an insanely delicious dessert that takes 10 minutes from start to finish.

4. Stir-Fry Style Meats

The challenge: Cooking thin strips of marinated steak or chicken—Korean bulgogi; Vietnamese lemongrass beef; fajita strips—is impossible on grill grates. The slices tend to fall through, dry out fast, and the marinade flares up into a fireball.

The solution: Treat your grill pan like a high-heat wok. The HexClad Hybrid BBQ Grill Pan’s 900°F heat tolerance lets you crank the grill up and cook sliced, marinated meats fast and hot, the way you would in a restaurant wok. Flip with tongs, glaze with extra sauce in the last 30 seconds and serve over rice, in lettuce cups or tortillas. The smoky flavor from the open flame takes a simple dinner to the next level. 

5. Wood-Fired Flatbreads and Pizzas

The challenge: Everyone loves a wood-fired pizza, but pizza dough often sags through grates or burns unevenly across direct heat. You end up with a charred pizza "skirt" in some spots and a raw center in others—or worse, dough hanging off the grill bars.

The solution: The HexClad Hybrid BBQ Grill Pan provides a stable, evenly heated surface that crisps the bottom of the dough while still allowing smoke to circulate through the perforations for a wood-fired flavor. Stretch a ball of pizza dough thin, brush with olive oil, place it on the preheated pan, top with sauce, cheese and toppings, close the grill lid, and pull when the bottom is crisp and the cheese is bubbling. It’s as close to a real pizza-oven crust as a backyard grill gets.

Why the HexClad Hybrid BBQ Grill Pan is the Pro's Choice

First of all, 900°F heat resistance. This heavy-duty pan is built for the hot zone. It won't warp or degrade under the intense heat of charcoal or a high-output gas grill—conditions that have ruined plenty of lesser pans.

Then there’s that unique, patented Hybrid design. Laser-etched hexagons protect the nonstick valleys, which means you can use metal grill spatulas and tongs without a second thought. That durability is what makes this a long-term investment rather than a single-season replacement.

The perforations let smoke flavor your food. Unlike a solid skillet, the holes in the HexClad Hybrid BBQ Grill Pan are designed to let the grill's essence permeate the food. Smoke, char and flame still reach what you're cooking. You're not losing the grill experience—in fact, now you can enjoy it with a wider variety of ingredients.

Tips for Successful Grill Pan Cooking

1. Don't crowd the pan. This is actually a golden rule for just about any kind of cooking. For the best browning and caramelization in a grill pan, you need space between pieces of food. Cook in batches if you must. Crowding drops the surface temperature and you end up steaming the food instead of searing it—the same mistake home cooks make in a frying pan.

2. Preheat for the sear. Always place your HexClad Hybrid BBQ Grill Pan on the grill while the grill heats up. The pan should be hot before food touches it. Cold pan, cold food—you'll spend the next 10 minutes waiting for a sear that should have started immediately.

3. Use medium-high heat for many foods. Direct full flame can be too aggressive for delicate fish and vegetables. Set the grill burners to medium-high (or push hot coals to one side and place the pan on the cooler half) so you have more control over the heat level. 

4. The dishwasher finish. The ultimate pro move at the end of the night is to toss the pan in the dishwasher and walk away. Although the best way to care for your pans is to wash them with warm, soapy water, HexClad's dishwasher-safe Hybrid construction is designed for this exact level of low-effort cleanup.

Conclusion

A grill pan isn't a compromise. In fact, it opens up an entirely separate set of recipes to make on the grill you already own. Try seafood on it once and you'll wonder why you spent so many years avoiding fish on the grill. Try fruit, flatbread, thin-sliced steak—each one gets dramatically easier and noticeably better with a grill pan.

FAQs

Does the HexClad Hybrid BBQ Grill Pan work on gas and charcoal?

Yes. It's rated for temperatures up to 900°F, which means it can handle the intense heat of any grill setup—gas, charcoal or wood-fired. Just preheat the pan along with the grill so it's at full temperature when food touches down.

Can I use metal tongs with this pan?

Absolutely. HexClad is famously metal utensil–safe thanks to the laser-etched stainless peaks that protect its ceramic nonstick valleys. Use your favorite grill tongs, spatulas and forks without a second thought.

Will my food still taste like it was grilled?

Yes. The perforated holes in the pan are specifically designed to let smoke and flame pass through, so you get authentic barbecue flavor on whatever you cook. The pan adds a nonstick safety net without compromising the open-fire flavor.

Do I need to season the pan like cast iron?

No seasoning required. Just a quick wash before its first use and you're ready to hit the grill. The unique Hybrid construction doesn't need the polymerized oil layer that traditional cast iron relies on to release food, which means zero break-in period and zero ongoing maintenance.