If there’s one thing I love, it’s a viral product that surprises me. When I saw Kmart had released a sister product to the microwave toastie maker I needed to give it a test run. The new product, drumroll please, is the microwave grill plate.
My first thoughts when I saw the grill? Yeah, right! Could it really live up to the promise of perfectly grilling meat, fish and chicken? I can’t say I had much hope. All I could picture was a light brown, soggy piece of steak, sausage, or a pink-centred, raw fillet of chicken drowning in a puddle of its juices. Yuck! But, I had to admit, before we gave the viral Kmart toastie maker a spin last year, we had little faith and it ended up being a massive hit.
So with that in mind, food editor Sarah Murphy and I put the microwavable grill through its paces. For our first test, we went for something safe: a loaded pizza toastie. Then, of course, we had to turn up the heat, so to speak, by grilling sausages in it. Surely it’d be a light-brown, steamy mess, right?
Keep reading to find out if the Kmart grill was a surprising success or a massive flop.
Test 1: Grilled pizza toastie
The microwave grill is larger than the original microwave toastie maker. So, we decided to try making a pizza toastie to begin. We used larger slices bread and lathered the outside in garlic butter, before adding cheese, pizza sauce, salami, olives and capsicum. The verdict?
Major success. While it was in the microwave (we had it in there for 4 minutes total, but checked it halfway), the first thing we noticed was the smell. It smelled so good! It came out crispy and the cheese oozed, which is the ultimate goal for any toastie TBH.
Sarah’s thoughts on the Kmart grill plate
“I was super impressed by the grill lines we got from only a few minutes in the microwave,” says Sarah.
“The original Kmart toastie maker had specified to turn the maker halfway through cooking time, which seemed to give the best results for this one as well. It’s quite generous in size, maybe about 1.5 times the size of the original toastie maker. We used quite a large-sized bread loaf, and it fit perfectly in there.”
Toastie cooking times
“The grill plates heat up very hot (to give us those lovely lines!), so be extra careful when removing them from the microwave. It may take some trial and error to find the right cooking time for your microwave. Add an extra 30 seconds at a time until you find your perfect timing. If you’re making toasties or things with cheese, resist the urge to overload with too much cheese and if you’ve never used garlic butter on a toastie before, your life is about to change,” says Sarah.
“We used store-bought garlic butter (find it with the other butters), or you could make your own – try this one from our chicken kiev.”
How did the grill clean up?
“The grill plates cleaned up really easily,” says Sarah. “We had some gooey cheese overflow and even after I forgot about it for an hour and went to wash up, it came off really easily.”
While the toastie was a massive hit, that wasn’t a surprise. Now, for the challenging trial…
Test 2: Sausages in the microwave
If Kmart are making bold statements that the product can perfectly grill a piece of meat, I intend to hold them to that. Luckily for me, I had sausages in my fridge just waiting for their moment to shine.
In the instructions, Kmart recommended preheating the grill in the microwave first for 2 minutes before adding the sausages, so I did. If this were to fail, it wouldn’t be because of user error. I placed two sausages on a grill plate, enclosed them with the other, and put it in the microwave for 4 minutes as instructed.
Then came the moment of truth. Would there be a gorgeous dark brown char? Or would it be as I imagined, sitting sadly in a puddle of its tears?
Does a microwave grill work?
Yes, it did work much to my surprise! After preheating the plates, the sausages immediately started sizzling. I think pre-heating is what gave it the slightly darker lines on the sausages, and the 4 minutes is what cooked it through. The colour of the sausages wasn’t as dark as I like – it gave it faint lines and colour, however I’m sure if kept in a little longer, it probably would have gone darker. It was cooked through perfectly and quite juicy.
Is a microwave grill plate better than a grill?
I definitely wouldn’t say it’s better. When cooking sausages or meat in the future, I’ll still reach for my trusty fry pan. You can only cook a few sausages at a time so it wouldn’t be ideal for larger families (or as quick!) But for anyone who is in a hurry, or cooking just for themselves, a microwave grill plate may be the way to go. It does get the job done!
How long do you cook in a Kmart microwave grill?
The cooking time varies depending on what you’re making but we cooked the sausage for 4 minutes, preheating the plates for 2 minutes prior. For the toastie we didn’t preheat the plates and had it in for a total of 4 minutes. However, you might need to do a bit of trial and error to figure out what works best with your microwave.
Can the Kmart microwave grill go in the dishwasher?
Yes, just like the Kmart microwave toastie maker, the grill can go in the dishwasher once you’re finished with it. Just ensure to take it apart properly.
