It has a large grilling area of 285 square inches, and it delivers up to 20,000 BTUs when connected to a 16.4-ounce propane cylinder . You’ll want to decide on a fuel type and think about where exactly you will be toting the grill before making your purchase. Despite being light and very portable, the Venture features a heavy-duty cast iron grilling surface that cooks evenly and sears well. In fact, I rarely turned this one up past medium, because it gets plenty hot on low. Conversely, don’t plan on cooking slow and low with this; it’s a “sear things and be done” sort of grill. Kenyon City Grill ($695) If you don’t have a yard but want something a bit closer to grilling than the George Foreman above, then the Kenyon City Grill is a great option.
Like the Q 1200, the Traveler has a single gas burner and cooks over cast-iron grates. This means it can’t be used with indirect heat, but the lowest heat setting was low enough to cook our chicken drumsticks to golden-brown perfection. With its 22-inch diameter and 360-square inches of cooking surface, the Grill Ultimate Bundle is as large as a full-sized charcoal grill. Although it’s more expensive than most charcoal grills, we were extremely happy with the Solo Stove Grill’s performance on both direct and indirect heat cooking.
This means you don’t have to obsessively babysit your barbecued chicken to prevent excessive charring. Porcelain-coated cast-iron cooking grates are best at searing foods. Though cast iron adds an extra 5 to 10 pounds to the total weight of a grill, we think the flavorful dark crust on burgers and steaks makes it worthwhile. We also prefer an open grate design that allows ambient heat from the firebox to brown the areas in between the grill marks. We found that stainless steel solid grates with small perforations don’t let enough ambient heat through to brown the food properly.
It was the small features that made the Weber Jumbo Joe stand out from the competition. Most of the charcoal grills we tested had no problem cooking delicious, smoke-infused burgers and chicken drumsticks, but the quantity of food they could handle was minimal. The Jumbo Joe, with its 240-square-inch cooking surface, allowed us to cook in quantities that rival a full-sized grill.
Most pellet grills use a deflector plate to produce indirect heat, allowing your food to cook evenly. AS3000 has a deflector plate, however, the plate has a sliding door built into it to allow direct access to grill’s flames if you want to sear items like burgers and steaks. Unfortunately, when closed, the sliding door allows more heat to pass weber charcoal grill through it than the rest of the deflector plate does. This had us moving chicken drumsticks around the AS3000’s cooking surface to ensure that they all cooked evenly. This Weber grill is a mini version of the brand’s well-loved charcoal kettle. Testers appreciated the solid but portable build and how quickly they were able to set it up.
They’re built with #8 high polished 304, 18-8 stainless steel, which is ideal for resisting the extra corrosion brought on by saltwater exposure. This Cuisinart grill features a 5,500-BTU burner, a twist-start electric ignition, and a temperature gauge. The grate gives you 145 square inches of cooking space, accommodating four to six people at once. What makes this grill special is that the telescoping VersaStand holds the grill at ideal cooking height, yet shrinks down for easy transport and storage. Our tester did find the grill was a bit wobbly at its full height, but it put great sear marks on a variety of food with minimal sticking. This propane grill has a 280-square-inch porcelain-enameled, cast-iron cooking grate and delivers 12,000 BTUs of heat per hour when connected to a 14.1-ounce or 16.4-ounce liquid propane cylinder.
Charcoal is a fine alternative but the charcoal is heavier and messier than a small propane tank and charcoal generally takes longer to light. Small electric grills are also an option and while they sound great, remember you might not always have access to power, especially if you’re camping or spending a day in the park. Plus, you won’t get any of that flame-grilled goodness since there’s no, well, flame. This weber genesis 2 sleek portable gas grill from Weber is superior in almost every category and was a fairly clear winner as the best portable grill overall. It’s easy to assemble, with just a few parts, and once completed feels solid and sturdy, even when given a few vigorous shakes. The igniter works well and, once lit, the grill got hot, reaching its advertised 500 degrees Fahrenheit after just 15 minutes with the lid closed.
They’re commonly constructed from thin porcelainized steel with thin wire-rod grilling grates. Charcoal grills’ simple construction is what makes them budget friendly. A great portable grill offers consistent heat, minimal flare-ups, a generous cooking area, and an easily totable design. Aside from being compact for easy transport, a portable grill should be a functional home grill for folks with small outdoor spaces. Grills that evenly distribute the heat across the entire grate cook food more consistently. Extreme hotspots and flare-ups cause patchy charring and require you to babysit your dinner.
We’ve also noted some models we’re interested in for our next round of testing in 2022. Good Housekeeping participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions portable bbq on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. With a body made from two powder-coated sheets of carbon steel, it turns from a closed form to a grill in seconds.
If you’re solely interested in cooking, lump charcoal would be a faster way to get to grilling over a bed of coals. Setting the grill bridge about four inches up worked nicely for us, with our burgers right over the coals. Chicken on the bone needs to be set a little higher to be sure it cooks evenly. With the Takibi, once the cooking is done, remove the grill bridge, throw on some more wood, and you’ve already got your campfire going. The Lodge Cast Iron Sportsman’s Grill L410 is a longtime favorite of Wirecutter senior staff writer Lesley Stockton for its intense heat.