A cast iron insert for the infrared side burner
Some Napoleon gas grills have a separate infrared burner next to the main grill, which Napoleon calls the SIZZLE ZONE. It is built for strong heat from below, for steaks with a crust. Prawns, courgette strips or a fried egg have little business on its grate, as small pieces fall through.
This is where the plate with the article number 56081 comes in. Napoleon calls it “Enamelled cast iron griddle plate for SIZZLE ZONE®” and explicitly assigns it to the small SIZZLE ZONE. According to the manufacturer’s text it turns the side burner into a flat griddle plate, intended for seafood, vegetables and a hearty breakfast. The same number appears in the Amazon catalogue as model and part number, so it is also clear which of the two sizes you get there.
On Amazon the plate costs approx. €50 (Amazon page on 21.10.2026: €49.95). Amazon itself did not offer it that day; the price is the cheapest new price from a marketplace seller. Napoleon states a recommended retail price of €49.95 for Germany, so the price matches it.
In our grill accessories category it is one of the few parts that fit only a single brand. If you do not have a Napoleon with an infrared side burner, you can do nothing with it, and if you do have one, you still need to check carefully which one it is.
Dimensions, weight and what the product photo shows
Napoleon gives the cooking surface as 22.9 cm wide and 26.9 cm long, and on the US site as 9 by 10.6 inches. Arithmetically that is a good 600 square centimetres. In our assessment the flat cooking area will not be that large: the Amazon catalogue lists exactly the same values as item size, namely 26.9 x 22.9 x 1.4 cm. That suggests the plate is measured here from edge to edge, including rim and channel.
The product image fits this. The black plate has a slightly raised rim all round, and on one side a channel runs parallel to the edge. It stands on a silver metal stand with open sides and the NAPOLEON lettering on the front.
On height the catalogue contradicts itself. The size field says 1.4 cm, the item dimensions say 0.23 inches, which converts to approx. 0.6 cm. The stand in the photo is visibly taller than both values. How thick the cast iron is cannot be read reliably from any of these figures, and the image does not show how the stand sits on the burner either.
The weight comes only from the Amazon catalogue: 8.82 lb, approx. 4.0 kg. Whether the stand is included in the weight is not clear from the entry. For a surface of this size that is a lot of iron, and this very mass is the reason cast iron is used for such a plate at all. The catalogue lists black as the colour and one piece as the pack content.
In detail: what a cast iron plate changes over an infrared zone
An infrared burner works differently from the tube burners in the main grill. The gas burns on a porous ceramic surface (in its warranty terms Napoleon speaks of the ceramic infrared side burner), the ceramic glows and gives off most of its energy upwards as thermal radiation. A steak on the grate above is mainly irradiated, and very directly. That is why a crust forms there quickly. And that is why the zone is actually too coarse for delicate food.
With the cast iron plate on top, the path of the heat changes. The radiation now hits the underside of the plate, the iron heats up and conducts the heat upwards. Prawns or vegetable strips cook on the top surface by contact, as in a pan. Dripping juices no longer fall into the burner; they stay on top and run towards the channel.
Cast iron conducts heat moderately well, at about 50 W/(m·K) roughly three times as well as stainless steel and clearly worse than aluminium. Its real strength is storage. A heavy plate barely cools down when cold food lands on it, and over time it evens out hot spots above the burner. Napoleon attributes exactly this to the plate, “excellent heat retention and distribution”. We know of no measured values for this, but the statement is plausible for such a heavy piece on such a small surface.
The downside is preheating. A lot of mass needs time until it is evenly heated through to the surface, in our assessment clearly longer than the open infrared grate needs to glow up. For breakfast that means: put the plate on first, switch the burner on, and only then prepare the bacon and eggs. The rim in the photo helps with a fried egg, because the egg white does not run straight over the edge.
Enamel is a thin layer of glass that is fused onto the iron at high temperature. It protects the cast iron from rust and spares you the seasoning that untreated cast iron needs. The Lodge pan from our table further down is pre-seasoned at the factory for this reason. Glass is brittle, however, and for enamelled cast iron the general rule is: hard knocks and rapid temperature changes can crack the layer or make it chip.
Which Napoleon grills fit? Three sources, three lists
According to Napoleon Germany the plate fits grills of the Rogue XT and Legend series, provided they have an infrared side burner. For Freestyle and PHANTOM models the fit information comes only from the Amazon listing. Checking your grill’s model number before buying saves you a return.
First the German manufacturer page. It says literally “Fits Rogue XT and Legend grills with infrared side burners” and attaches no specific model numbers. The US page for the same plate lists something quite different under “Compatible With”, the Built-in 700 Series Single Infrared Burner in four versions: BIB10IRNMK, BIB10IRNSS, BIB10IRPMK and BIB10IRPSS. These built-in modules do not appear on the German page.
The Amazon text in turn names three Freestyle variants with Sizzle Zone: FREESTYLE F365 SIB (F365DSIBPGT-DE), FREESTYLE F425 DSIB (F425SIBPGT-DE) and the PHANTOM version Freestyle 425 (F425DSIBPK-DE-PHM). Added to that is the same sentence on Rogue XT and Legend as at the manufacturer. Striking: the abbreviations do not match up cleanly. For the F365 the name says SIB and the code DSIB, for the F425 it is exactly the other way round. Whether this is a typo in the listing or two versions are meant cannot be settled from the outside.
For you this means: the Freestyle and PHANTOM approval comes from the sales text, not from Napoleon. The pages of the Freestyle Pro grills also link only the grill’s assembly instructions and do not mention the 56081 at all. The plate is therefore not automatically unsuitable there. We would still have the fit confirmed, with the model number from the rating plate, at a Napoleon dealer or by customer service.
If your grill has the large SIZZLE ZONE, this plate is the wrong one. There is a larger sibling for it; the differences are in the FAQ.
Drainage channels and the matter of flare-ups
Napoleon describes the channels in two places with different emphasis. In one they direct “any liquids that arise away from the food” and keep the cleaning effort small. In another they “effectively” catch excess liquid, which according to the manufacturer prevents flare-ups.
The logic behind it holds. Flare-ups on a grill usually arise when fat drips into the flame or onto a glowing surface, evaporates there and ignites. A closed plate over the infrared burner keeps the fat on top at first. As long as the channel takes up what runs off, nothing arrives below.
How much it takes up is open. In the photo it looks like a narrow depression along one edge; no collecting container or outlet is visible. Our assessment: for prawns, vegetables or a few fried eggs that is plenty, but with a whole pack of breakfast bacon the channel fills faster. If it overflows, the fat goes over the edge, and then it ends up in the burner or next to it after all. With fatty food we would dab it off in between with kitchen paper held in the grill tongs.
As a general rule: never put out burning fat with water, instead close the lid and turn the gas off. How a grease fire starts and what helps in an emergency is explained in our guide preventing grease fires.
Cleaning and care after grilling
Napoleon writes that the porcelain-coated surface is easy to clean and, thanks to the construction, extremely durable. The US site goes further and promises that the surface will last a lifetime. We found no operating or care instructions for the plate on either the German or the US product page.
What follows is therefore not an instruction from Napoleon, but what generally applies to enamelled cast iron. Let the plate cool on the grill before you take it off. Cold water on hot enamel is the classic route to hairline cracks. Baked-on residue comes off most easily if you soak the lukewarm plate in warm water; after that a plastic scraper or a wooden spatula is more likely to spare the glass layer than metal.
We would not use hard wire brushes, of the kind sold for grill grates, on the enamel.
What the manufacturer does not state
Here is a collected list of what is missing on the manufacturer pages: a weight (there is only the Amazon value), the material thickness and the rim height, the scope of delivery including the question of the stand, a temperature limit for the enamel, heating time and recommended burner setting, approval for other heat sources such as the main grate, hob, oven or induction, a care guide covering dishwasher, oiling and cleaning agents, safety notes for use on the infrared burner, a warranty specifically for this plate, the country of manufacture, the year of market launch, specific model numbers for Rogue XT and Legend, and the capacity of the channels.
The most serious gap for everyday use is the missing temperature limit. An infrared burner on full power is one of the hottest heat sources on a gas grill. Until there is a written statement, we would therefore preheat the plate on a medium setting and not leave it standing empty and for long at full power.
Three alternatives to the Napoleon plate
| Model | The difference | Price | Our rating | Choose this one if |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Napoleon griddle plate for Sizzle Zone (this one) | enamelled cast iron, only for the small SIZZLE ZONE | approx. €50 | 8.1 | you have a Napoleon with a matching infrared side burner |
| Arebos Plancha griddle plate 40 × 30 cm | stainless steel plancha to place on the main grate, not tied to a model | approx. €57 | 8.3 | you want to cook on a plancha on the main grate for more people |
| COGRICHBF Plancha griddle plate 40×30 | stainless steel plate with spatula, not tied to any grill | approx. €49.39 | 8.2 | you want to spend a similar amount but have no infrared side burner |
| Lodge L8SK3 cast iron frying pan Ø 26 cm | pre-seasoned, non-enamelled cast iron with handle | approx. €39.95 | 8.8 | you also want to use cast iron in the kitchen |
The prices are guide values from our price boxes (Napoleon: marketplace sellers on Amazon, 21.10.2026) and often fluctuate for accessories in this price range. The rating is our editorial assessment based on the manufacturer’s data.
The Arebos Plancha griddle plate stands at approx. €57, the COGRICHBF plate at approx. €49, the Napoleon plate at approx. €50. The Lodge pan costs approx. €40 and is the only one of the four that is not a plate but a pan with a handle.
The real difference lies in space. The two planchas occupy the main grate, while the Napoleon plate sits on the side burner.
Who the plate is worth it for, and when another fits better
Everything depends on your grill. If Rogue XT or Legend is on the rating plate and it has an infrared side burner, that is exactly the combination Napoleon approves in Germany. Then we would take the plate. For Freestyle and PHANTOM, what is said above about the fit applies: plausible, but only after asking.
In our assessment the strongest reason for the plate is the division of labour. Steaks or sausages lie on the main grill, while mushrooms, onions or prawns cook on the side burner at the same time, without losing any grate area. A drop-in plate on the main grate takes up exactly that area. How to prepare vegetables so that they neither burn nor stay raw is covered in our guide grilling vegetables.
For a large group it is too small. For six or eight people, burgers, fried eggs and bacon all at once need a plancha the size of the grate, and then the Arebos plate from the table is closer.
If you do not have a Napoleon or have one without an infrared side burner, the Napoleon plate is the wrong choice for you, even if the price tempts. Then you take a universal plancha such as the COGRICHBF or, if you want to take the cast iron to the hob and the campfire too, the Lodge pan.
The 56081 is also wrong for anyone who owns a Rogue SE, PRO or Prestige. According to Napoleon these grills have the large zone, and the 56082 is made for them.
