Sometimes we’ll place pots and pans of food back on the stove to reheat because dishes have cooled while we’re chatting. If we’re hosting for the holidays, we’ll set up wire racks with trays of food and gel chafing fuel to keep things warm instead, but we’ve never placed those at the center of the table for fear of causing an injury with the fuel.
Food warming mats are a space-saving, reusable alternative to buffet chafing sets. They’re silicone mats with heating elements at the bottom that can keep food warm for hours without the danger of an open flame. They’re elevated about half an inch from the surface you place them on, so you can feel confident that they won’t damage heat-resistant kitchen surfaces. And they have adjustable temperature settings, and most can be rolled up for storage.
They don’t use much energy, according to our lab tests, with all models clocking in at just 0.1 to 0.3 kWh. Another finding from our testing is that each mat failed to reach the maximum temperature it was claimed to achieve or far surpassed it. (But at least one manufacturer says the temperature settings indicate the internal temperatures of the mat, not its surface temperatures.) If you can look past this, there are a few models that showed consistent temperatures across the whole surface of the mat and kept a dish of mashed potatoes warm for several hours, and they were easy to use and clean.
Sneak peek at our testing: A glass model from Chefman showed temperatures that were more than 100º F higher than the maximum temp the brand claims it can reach. This caused the mashed potatoes in our test to dry out a lot faster. We don’t recommend using this model for that reason, but we found several mats that reached temps much closer to the claimed maximum. Read on to see our Top Pick and other models that were evenly heated and easy to use and clean.
