A thick layer heating element (10), in particular for heating a kitchen appliance (100), comprising a planar substrate (24) coated on one of its faces (28) with at least one electrically resistive track (26) which is linked to at least one area of electrical contact, characterized in that it comprises at least one thermal expansion slot (38), said at least one slot (38) defining deformable portions of the heating element, which each comprise a part of the resistive track (26) and which are distributed around said at least one area of electrical contact.