- 6 hours ago
Fire up your Blackstone because in this video, Nicole is sharing seven crowd-pleasing recipes that prove your griddle can do so much more than burgers and hot dogs. From crispy smashed tacos and cheesy breakfast favorites to juicy steak bites and restaurant-worthy pasta, these recipes are packed with flavor and perfect for weeknight dinners, weekend cookouts, and everything in between.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Did you know your Blackstone can do a whole lot more than smash burgers and stir-fry?
00:03I've got seven unexpected recipes that will put every inch of this griddle to work.
00:07I'm going to ease you into the Blackstone with the number one thing I make on our Blackstone, smash tacos.
00:14These are jalapeno popper chicken smash tacos, not a smash burger.
00:19So I'm going to start by cooking my bacon on the Blackstone, obviously.
00:22And I'm going to cook this until it's extra crispy.
00:24While the bacon cooks, I can prep everything else.
00:26So I've got the ground chicken in here and I'm going to add the jalapenos.
00:30I've taken the ribs and the seeds out of the jalapeno.
00:32So it's really just getting that great flavor.
00:34You're not getting a ton of heat.
00:36To this, I'm also going in with some garlic powder, a little bit of salt, and some cheddar cheese.
00:42I'm going to give that a good mix.
00:43And once the bacon's done, I'll just stir that right in.
00:46For the sauce, I'm going to go in kind of like when you think of jalapeno popper dip.
00:51You've got these elements, a little cream cheese.
00:54I'm going to add in some sour cream.
00:56Listen, the Blackstone, it's not like the grill.
00:59When you think of grilling, you think of just like summertime.
01:03Blackstone is year-round, especially with the fall months coming up.
01:09We love.
01:10We are outside all the time.
01:12And some fresh lime juice.
01:14A little more salt and mix it up.
01:16Get my bacon.
01:17I feel like it cooks faster on this too.
01:20You want it crispy because you're going to chop it up and put it into the taco.
01:24Nobody wants chewy bacon, except my son.
01:28Just let that cool a little bit and chop it up.
01:30A lot of times we'll do the whole prep inside.
01:33We'll go ahead and assemble our tacos.
01:34And then once we come outside, just throw them straight on the Blackstone.
01:37But we're just making an event of it today and doing it all out here.
01:41Can you taste it?
01:42You can already see how good this is going to be.
01:44Yes.
01:44Yes, Nicole.
01:45It's going to be so good.
01:46All right.
01:46So now you just assemble your tacos.
01:48I like using the smallest street taco size.
01:54You can have two, three, four, whatever you're feeling.
01:57We'll just start with six.
01:58So you're going to take your mixture.
02:00I mean, you've seen me make smashed tacos before.
02:02Spread it all the way to the edges in a really thin layer.
02:05The chicken is lean.
02:06There's cheese in here.
02:07You want to make sure your griddle is well-seasoned like a cast iron skillet.
02:13Or you're going to need to use some extra fat in there just so these don't stick and they get
02:18a nice crispy crust.
02:19I'm going to use some of the bacon fat that we have from cooking the bacon.
02:23And that is going to deliver flavor and crutch.
02:26And I'll add on a little more oil just for insurance.
02:29Once you put this down, it does not take long, okay?
02:32Your dinner will be ready in five minutes.
02:34And I feel like I have to give you this disclaimer every time.
02:36This will cook all the way through.
02:38There's no raw chicken in the tortilla.
02:40It's all cooking and it's just giving flavor into the tortilla.
02:43So you can cook, I mean, at least 12 tacos at a time.
02:49Look at that cheesy crust.
02:52Three to four minutes on the first side.
02:54About another minute or so on the second side.
02:56Now, here's how we turn it into the perfect bite.
02:59I like a little more cheese.
03:01Some of our lime sauce.
03:04Lettuce, the good kind.
03:06We're not scared of lettuce anymore.
03:08And some cilantro.
03:10This might be the best thing you eat all week until I make the next thing.
03:23Perfection.
03:24Not spicy.
03:25I mean, I could even put more jalapenos on there.
03:27But you taste everything we put in.
03:29You taste that smoky bacon.
03:30It's salty with the cheese, but then you get that cool crunch, that creamy sauce.
03:35You might have done smashed burgers or smashed tacos already on your Blackstone, but I bet
03:39you haven't had this one.
03:40It's, I mean, we are starting off strong with a 13 out of 10.
03:46Okay, I'm making creamy Cajun tortellini pasta with sausage and shrimp.
03:52This is a first for you and me together.
03:54But I have watched many videos and they all use the tortellini, refrigerated tortellini.
04:00So it's mostly cooked.
04:02Only takes a couple minutes.
04:03And this is an ideal thing to do out here.
04:06Let's start over here and brown my sausage and just kind of render that fat.
04:11Just like in all my one pan meals, you're creating those layers of flavor.
04:15And that's what we're doing by starting with the fatty item.
04:19Just like in the tacos, we started with the bacon and that flavored the rest of our dish.
04:23So we're doing that right here with the sausage.
04:25This is an andouille sausage.
04:26So it's that Cajun sausage.
04:28It's got those Cajun spices in it.
04:30It's not overly spicy, but it does have a little kick.
04:34And it's also developing those flavors throughout the whole dish.
04:37To that, I'm going to add in the trinity, which we love in all our Cajun cooking.
04:43So we've got celery, onion, and peppers.
04:45All those veggies to get good and tender.
04:48Okay, then on the other side, I'm going to add in a little more oil.
04:51Hopefully that's going to keep our pasta from sticking.
04:54And I'm going down with the pasta.
04:55So we're not boiling this pasta, but we do need to steam it.
04:58These griddles, this is one of the accessories for it that you can buy.
05:01It's less than 20 bucks.
05:03Amazon it.
05:04You can do this.
05:05Or if you've got something like an old-fashioned cake plate or the lid to a roasting pan, you
05:11can use that.
05:12You just want something with a handle, you know, to trap the steam and moisture.
05:16So I'm going down with the pasta, coat it with oil, and get it into a pile where the lid
05:22fits on top of it.
05:23And we've got to sneak some water in there to create that moist environment.
05:29But shrimp obviously takes seconds to cook.
05:32So you're going to add that on last.
05:34I'm going to hit it with a little Cajun seasoning.
05:36Now time to bring it all together.
05:39This really does cook the pasta.
05:41One big, one-pot family meal.
05:44Nothing to be intimidated by the Blackstone.
05:46It's really just one big skillet.
05:48The only negative about this situation right here is that it is literally 100 degrees today.
05:53I'm just going to bring those together and create our cream sauce.
05:56I'm just going straight on with some heavy cream.
05:58See how it's bubbling up?
06:00It's already reducing.
06:01If you had this in a skillet, it might take a little longer for that to happen.
06:04But because it's such a wide surface area, it doesn't take that long.
06:09And with some Parmesan cheese, this is going to help create the cream sauce also.
06:13Oh, that's looking good.
06:14See, it's already thickening and coating all of those tortellinis.
06:19Just going to let it hang out for about a minute and really let that cream thicken.
06:26And that's it.
06:27This one is easy.
06:29One finishing touch.
06:30Squeeze of lemon just to kind of brighten up some of that richness and kick.
06:35Oh, I love some of those tortellini taking on some color.
06:39I love that they got a little crust on them with that cheese.
06:43A little fresh touch at the end.
06:45A little more parm and dig in.
06:47Bring my Cajun friend in to taste this one.
06:49She's going to be impressed.
06:55This is an A++.
06:57This is what you're going to make instead of the fried rice.
07:00Get your veggies, get your shrimp, get your chicken or sausage.
07:04Same way, but different.
07:06Natalie, come here.
07:08You got to taste this.
07:09Girl, my Cajun friend.
07:11You won't believe this came off the Blackstone, sister.
07:14What is this?
07:14This looks like a little Cajun hibachi.
07:17Cheers.
07:21Mmm.
07:22Mm-hmm.
07:23Would that pass the Cajun test?
07:25A++.
07:26Plus.
07:27You want to take this?
07:29You want the rest?
07:30Thanks, sir.
07:31Are you getting pumped about using your Blackstone yet?
07:33Have you ever made crispy Parmesan chicken on the Blackstone?
07:37Neither have I.
07:37But we are going to do it, and I'm going to show you two ways to serve it.
07:40Get two shallow dishes.
07:42One for egg.
07:44A little salt and pepper.
07:45Splash of water.
07:46Okay, so I have some beaten egg in one shallow dish in a second.
07:50I'm going to do a combo of breadcrumbs and, of course, Parmesan cheese.
07:54Same people do it with just the grated Parmesan or the shredded.
07:57I'm going to add in a little bit of Italian seasoning and garlic powder.
08:02Then take chicken cutlets.
08:04I'm going to season them first with a little salt and pepper.
08:06They're really thin, so you can just season one side and the egg.
08:11Just a light coating.
08:12I've seen people do flour, egg, and then this.
08:15Whenever my grandmother did Italian cutlets of any kind, she just did egg and the coating.
08:21Okay, so just get these all breaded, and then we'll let the Blackstone work its magic.
08:26Now we just get it hot.
08:28I think you need it pretty hot for this.
08:29It's their cutlets.
08:31They're not going to take long to cook.
08:32You really want to get that crispiness on the outside.
08:34We are going to do a coating of olive oil.
08:36Two ways I'm going to serve this is classic chicken parm style.
08:40We're going to top it with some marinara and mozzarella cheese,
08:44and also a crispy chicken Caesar sandwich.
08:48When you go to lift this up, you're going to want to get a thin spatula
08:53so that you can really scrape under it
08:54because there's a good chance the cheese might stick a little bit.
09:01Just like chicken cutlets in the skillet, they only take about three minutes per side.
09:06The ones for the sandwich are going to be ready to go.
09:09We're just going to take those off, but we're going to finish the chicken parm right here.
09:14On with the marinara straight from the jar, sliced matz.
09:18I'm going to turn the heat all the way down.
09:19Just a splash of water to help create some steam.
09:22I'm not really putting it on the chicken because I don't want to mess with the crispiness.
09:25Just kind of around it, just a couple minutes, and it will be all melted.
09:29For my Caesar sandwiches, I'm going to go ahead and toast the buns on here too.
09:33Look at this.
09:35Voila!
09:36Pretty easy way to make chicken parm.
09:38All right, let's serve up the masterpieces.
09:41Chicken Caesar sandwich.
09:43Definitely a fun one for an easy, quick dinner to do outside.
09:47Get you some bag Caesar salad.
09:49Look at this thing.
09:51Number one and number two.
09:53A little fresh basil.
09:55I mean, I'm impressed by this chicken.
10:01Mmm.
10:02That is delicious.
10:04The chicken definitely has a lot of flavor.
10:06You can taste the parmesan crust coming through, even with the Caesar and sandwich.
10:10It's cooked perfectly.
10:12The chicken is so tender and juicy.
10:14A plus.
10:15Let's try it in the chicken parm version.
10:18Oh my gosh.
10:20That's a cheese pull.
10:24Mmm-hmm.
10:26Mmm.
10:27Mmm-mm-mm.
10:28The parmesan flavor just comes through so hard in the best way possible.
10:33Bet you've never made chicken parm like that before.
10:35I have made pizza on a grill before.
10:38This might be even easier.
10:39So I'm using, of course, store-bought pizza dough.
10:42Get your Blackstone hot.
10:44This happens really fast, but what we are going to do is toast, cook one side of the dough,
10:50flip it, and then top it.
10:52Obviously, this is going to be a little more rustic vibes.
10:54We'll try to get it in as round of a shape as you can.
10:58So you can move it around pretty quickly.
11:00You can see it's already cooking under there.
11:03I love a crispy pizza crust, so I just like to go a little bit longer than what most people
11:08would.
11:09Beautiful.
11:09I always like to just go a little cheese down first.
11:13Pizza sauce.
11:15Obviously, this is more of a concept than a recipe.
11:18You do whatever you like.
11:20Okay, I'm going sausage.
11:22I'm doing like the classic supreme pizza.
11:24This is fun for a party also because you can get smaller balls of dough and let everyone create their
11:31own pizza
11:31because obviously you can cook several at one time.
11:35Pepperoni, red onion, black olives, and more cheese.
11:39Basically, it's done.
11:40You just want the cheese to melt.
11:41So this is a time to lower the heat and just put the lid on it.
11:47You got that steamy environment.
11:52Oh, yeah.
11:53Crispy crust bottom.
11:55That's what I like.
11:56A little finishing touch.
11:57Some crushed red pepper and some fresh basil leaves.
12:01It's a fast one.
12:02Way faster than delivery.
12:04Pizza on the blackstone.
12:06Ta-da.
12:07That's the look like it came out of like the wood-burning oven.
12:12Mmm.
12:14I felt like this would even make Dave Portnoy proud.
12:16The crispness on the bottom, excellent.
12:19You know how sometimes he takes a bite from this part?
12:23That crunch?
12:25Mmm-hmm.
12:26Pizza from start to finish in 10 minutes.
12:29It's a no-brainer.
12:30You're going to want to do this one.
12:33Breakfast on the griddle is a thing because you can make your pancake, sausage, bacon, and eggs all on there
12:40at the same time.
12:41That's the beauty of the blackstone on a weekend morning.
12:44We are making breakfast crunch wraps.
12:47Now, I've done a breakfast crunch wrap casserole before, but never just the little individual cuties.
12:52So I'm going to cook my components individually on the blackstone, bring them all together, wrap them up, and put
12:58them back on it.
12:58Start by crisping the bacon.
13:01I'm also going to cook my little hash brown patties.
13:05This is going to act as the tostada that is normally in the middle of a crunch wrap, regular crunch
13:11wrap.
13:11So we're going to get these good and crispy, and then we just let it work.
13:16I want both of those to get crispy.
13:17That's what's going to take the longest, so you want that to happen, and then we'll scramble our eggs.
13:22All right, bacon's crispy.
13:24This is also going to be part of the crunch layer for the crunch wrap.
13:27I'm going to slide my hash browns over into some of this bacon grease because, you know, when you get
13:33hash browns at McDonald's or whatever, they are deep fried.
13:37So we're going to add a little flavor.
13:39While those finish, just whisk up the egg.
13:42You know when you make breakfast like this, you are dirtying, like, at least three or four pans.
13:48Season.
13:49Okay, let me just go straight down.
13:51I've got to be fast with this.
13:53Bringing me back to my Waffle House days.
13:55Yes, I did work there, but just for a day.
13:58Bacon, eggs, and hash browns.
14:01Oh, yeah, now they're getting crispy.
14:03All right, now we build.
14:05Little cheese on the bottom.
14:07Some of our eggs.
14:08First layer of crunch.
14:10Some crispy bacon.
14:12Next layer of crunch.
14:15Then, you know when the crunch wrap, it has, like, some lettuce.
14:17I feel like I've got to have something green.
14:19I think some fresh, little, crunchy jalapeno in there sounds amazing.
14:24And then some more cheese.
14:25You can get one of the baby tortillas at this point, or you can just tear off a piece of
14:30a bigger one
14:31and set it right there so that it covers the filling, and then you fold over the sides of the
14:37tortilla.
14:37Okay, so you have your little package, and then it's going to go seam side down onto our flat top.
14:45Get out of there.
14:46Get out of there.
14:47Go on, I'm going to give you a jalapeno.
14:49Stop it.
14:51So to cook these in, we can still use some of that bacon fat.
14:53I'm going to add some butter to it also.
14:56Seam side down.
14:58Cute little breakfast package.
15:01Better than a bacon, egg, and cheese.
15:02I can tell you that right now.
15:04Look at those layers in there.
15:08Creamy, crunchy, a little bit of freshness.
15:10If you know me, you know what comes next.
15:15Mmm.
15:17That, my friends, is the breakfast of champions.
15:20We have not had a bad bite of anything yet, and we're not going to start now.
15:24I feel like we've just gone through the week's worth of meals, and we have hit Saturday.
15:29This is just the day to have fun, be indulgent, and we are making grilled cheese sloppy joes.
15:35Not a smash burger, just an alternative.
15:38I'm just going to cook up our ground beef and onion, and then sauce it up.
15:43Now we're going to make our own sloppy joe sauce.
15:45At this point, you could also just throw a can of it on here.
15:48I'm going to start with chili sauce.
15:50This is basically just like kicked-up ketchup.
15:52And I like to add some Worcestershire, a little yellow mustard, some brown sugar, and salt and pepper.
15:58Immediately smells like sloppy toast.
16:00I'm also going to add in a little bit of water just to make it extra saucy,
16:04and just sort of let that simmer for a little bit.
16:06And you're going to use hamburger buns because sloppy joe.
16:10We're going to turn them inside out so that it looks more like a grilled cheese.
16:14That's how somebody do that.
16:16So the inside of the bun is going to be the outside.
16:18I'm going to place it outside down first.
16:21Now you're going to have to act a little bit fast.
16:23We're going to get it on its buttered side down, just like you're making a grilled cheese.
16:26Smash that down a little bit.
16:28Down with a piece of cheese.
16:29Down with some sloppy joe.
16:31My husband loved this because he always has put cheese on his sloppy joe.
16:35Does this not look divine?
16:37Okay, so once you have them built, then you're going to flip like a grilled cheese.
16:43This might be the sloppiest joe I've ever had.
16:46I feel like you know this by now.
16:47I cannot have a sloppy joe without a potato chip.
16:50Napkins on the ready this time.
16:52Take a moment to appreciate it, though.
16:54Have you?
16:55It's like a patty mill meets a sloppy joe.
17:00The only word I can think of.
17:03Ridiculous.
17:04That is insane.
17:05It is so good.
17:07Doing the bun like that, it is buttery, and it just kind of absorbs everything.
17:14Makes for the perfect meat-to-bread ratio.
17:17This is a meal that lives up to its name.
17:19For sure, skip the smash burger and make this next time you hit the gravy.
17:22For my final trick, I'm giving you a fancy dinner.
17:25Garlic, butter, steak bite.
17:27With smashed parmesan potatoes and roasted asparagus.
17:31So, you start with the amount of steak that you need for your family.
17:36And cut it into cubes for bites.
17:39Before I get my steak going, I'm going to get my potatoes going.
17:41So, I have parboiled, or you can just do this in the microwave.
17:45Just put some potatoes in a little bowl of water and pop them in the microwave.
17:49You want them to be pretty soft to where they are smashable.
17:52So, I'm just going to add some oil and my potatoes on.
17:55Just give them a little coat in the oil.
17:58That's what I'm saying.
17:58When the weather is so good in the fall, you just want to sit outside.
18:03Instead of going out for your date night, this is the meal.
18:05Then you're going to smash them.
18:07A lot of people, if you've got this, you've got this to smash your burgers.
18:11We're going to smash our potatoes.
18:13Smash and then leave them alone.
18:15Just like we're making roasted potatoes.
18:17Going to add on just a little more oil.
18:19Some salt and pepper.
18:21And then I'm just going to let them go like that.
18:22Then we'll get our steak going also.
18:24For the steak, salt, pepper, a little garlic powder, and smoked paprika.
18:27And you're going to want to crank the heat up for this.
18:30So that they get browned on the outside.
18:32These are little bites, so you don't want to overcook them.
18:35Nobody wants a well-done steak.
18:36Except my mother.
18:37Just make sure it's all got seasoning on it.
18:40And then I'm just going to get the other side kind of like screaming hot.
18:44Just going to flip my potatoes.
18:46Look at that.
18:48Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo.
18:48Down with a little more oil.
18:50And then I like to sprinkle in a little Parmesan cheese to kind of get a little more crust.
18:56These are basically done.
18:57I'm just going to turn the heat down and let them ride while I fix everything else.
19:03Now down with our steak.
19:04These are not going to take long.
19:06Just about a minute or so.
19:07And then I'm going to go down with my garlic and butter.
19:10Woo!
19:10Look at that good crust.
19:12It's a good blackstone right here.
19:13Now, the butter and the garlic.
19:16Just let that butter melt.
19:18And as it melts, it's going to infuse with the garlic and all the flavors from the steak.
19:23Beautiful.
19:24And you know what goes in the middle?
19:26Our asparagus.
19:27They take almost seconds.
19:28There's so much flavor in the potatoes and in the steak that I'm keeping the asparagus super simple with just
19:34salt and pepper.
19:34Look at those steak bites swimming in that garlic butter.
19:38Going to be eating like kings and queens.
19:40The asparagus do not take long at all.
19:42I like them to be still a little crisp.
19:45Get a little char on them.
19:46Let's plate this fancy dinner, shall we?
19:48Some asparagus.
19:50Those Parmesan crusted smashed potatoes.
19:54Our delicious garlic butter steak bites.
19:57A little more of that garlic butter.
19:59And then some fresh parsley.
20:01There is your special dinner straight from your cradle.
20:08Mm-hmm.
20:10Full of flavor.
20:11You taste the garlic, but surprisingly, it is not overpowering.
20:15Look how juicy, browned.
20:18It's a bite of flavor.
20:19And a crispy bite of potato.
20:23I don't know what it is.
20:25Well, I do know what it is.
20:26This is a giant cast iron skillet, and that gives you the best crust.
20:30So these potatoes that we've made before, but I don't know if they've had this good of a crust on
20:35them.
20:36I mean, both sides, and then the inside stays nice and fluffy.
20:40It's a perfect bite.
20:41This meal is a 10 out of 10.
20:44I don't think I gave one score other than perfect scores all day long.
20:50Promise me you'll make these, and let me know if you need more of a guide to your griddle.
20:54We have just outdone ourselves today.
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