10 Best Portable Grills 2022: Charcoal, Propane, Electric and More

That way you won’t run the risk of the trap overflowing and staining your patio or deck. We enlisted fresh bratwurst links to gauge each grill’s ability to handle a grate full of fatty meat. First, weber charcoal grill the setup was challenging as the legs were difficult to install properly. Next, the heat distribution was very uneven, where a uniform layer of coals still resulted in a hot spot in the center.

The first step for each was to assemble the grill, rating it on the clarity of instructions and how easy it was to accomplish the task. Next, we judged the grills’ portability, such as how easy they were to move and if lids or grates fell off easily. For those with carts, this included how easy or difficult they were to move, pop up, and collapse. portable bbq Then, we rated them on how easy they were to light, add charcoal (if applicable), and how long they took to reach a cooking temperature. That aside, foods cooked fairly evenly and sported aesthetically pleasing grill marks in our tests. And with generally good cooking results, it’s an easy model for someone to get started with gas grilling.

If you are cooking a variety of foods all at once, you might prefer different temperature zones. To test the distribution of heat across a grill, we grilled different food types in different corners of the grill. No thermometer is included, and Weber does not make a storage cover for the Jumbo Joe. If you want to do any indirect-heat cooking, you’ll want to buy the hinged grill grate for $35 so you can feed in fresh fuel without removing the top grill, and the $23 charcoal basket is also useful.

Speaking of grease, it has a slide-out grease trap that’s easy to empty. It also has a built-in thermometer that’s reasonably accurate, but I still suggest getting a separate instant-read thermometer. Portable grills cost anywhere from $50 for a simple Weber charcoal grill all the way up to $500 or more for fancier gas and propane grills with bells and whistles galore.

portable bbq

This is a good resource if you want to find out more about the different types of cooking grate material. I wouldn’t recommend going over 40 pounds if you need one person to be able to carry the grill. The grill is relatively portable with ringed handles that reach all around its egg shape.