If you’ve decided you want a portable charcoal grill, there is nothing like the Nomad—it’s expensive but worth it. Not only is it easy to pack and carry, it excelled at every cooking task I gave it. If you prefer a portable propane grill, Weber’s Traveler combines the quality Weber grills are generally known for with a smart design that is ready to take on the road. In a world where the Nomad didn’t exist, the Oklahoma Joe’s Rambler would be the top charcoal choice here. This grill feels like Oklahoma Joe’s just hit one of their full-size grills with a shrink ray.
The Weber Smokey Joe is a staple at park cookouts and on camping trips and that’s for good reason. Youwillneed a proper hitch to attach it, however, and I’d suggest taking a short test drive to ensure it’s properly installed. And worth noting you’ll also want two small propane tanks to get the whole grill lit. There’s also an adapter sold separately to rig it up to a full-sized tank if you prefer.
Finally, we assessed the grill’s portability by physically carrying each grill to our vehicle and attempting to place it in the trunk. The Cuisinart uses a kettle style that’s notably shallower than other kettle-style grills. On the plus side, the shallow kettle required just 12 briquettes to heat the entire 14-inch cooking surface. The Green Mountain Grills Davy Crockett Pellet Grill differentiates itself from standard portable grills with its ability to smoke as well as barbecue, making it the most versatile grill we tested. Like its little brother, the Jumbo Joe heats evenly and can reach temperatures well above what’s needed for searing.
Grilling with wood pellets has become quite popular, and smaller portable pellet grills are now available. Some might argue that pellet grills offer the best flavor, and they also have easy temperature adjustments. However, pellet grills are often much more expensive than charcoal, propane, or electric grills. Plus, some models are modular, meaning setup could be time-consuming and complicated. The three main types of fuel sources for grilling are wood pellets, propane gas, and charcoal briquettes.
Because it needs to be emptied while completely open, it was hard to lift when attempting to dump the ash into a bin. On its website Nomad suggests using a shop vac to get all the spent charcoal out. I have no doubt that that would do the trick, but if you’re off on an adventure weber charcoal grill an hour from an electrical outlet, a shop vac might not be practical. That said, I’m hard pressed to imagine a better camping grill than this. The Nomad does cost more than anything else I tested, but it was unparalleled both in how it cooked and how easy it was to move.
The Cuisinart gas grill is definitely lighter and a bit more portable than the Weber. It also feels slightly less sturdy while grilling, but is not flimsy by any means. At just over $100, it is the best portable grill on a budget — especially if you don’t plan to use it more than a handful of times per summer. The Cuisinart portable grill also runs on any small weber genesis 2 propane tank you can find at camping or hardware stores. This grill is for serious tailgaters and is specifically designed to ride on the back of a car attached to a hitch. The monster Forge 15 has 355 square inches of cooking space so you can feed the whole gang and two powerful 7,500-BTU burners will make sure your steaks, dogs and sausages get a proper seer.
In addition to performance, we test ease of use and score each grills on the types of features they have like shelves, storage space, amount of wheels, etc. We also ensured our winning portable grills could be transported easily by one person. Like most of Weber’s grills, the Q1200 has a disposable drip tray below the grill, which makes clean-up much easier than some portable grills with drip trays that need to be washed out periodically.