When you are close to done, leave the lid closed and shut off the gas. At its highest temperature, this heating element glows red hot and draws 2.2kW of power which is about the same as an average kettle. You can probably find charcoal en route to your destination, but you’ll have to factor in lighting the fire and any tools needed, plus waiting to deal with the cooled ashes after. Propane might take a special trip to the home improvement or camping store to get enough canisters, but it means lighting the grill at the touch of a button and not having to dispose of ashes post-barbecue. Electric grills don’t require you to make space for a heavy bag of charcoal or to have enough fuel on hand, but, depending on your final destination, it might be hard to find a working outlet when it’s time to eat. It’s big enough to roast a chicken, sear a couple of large steaks at a time, or fit about six 12-inch skewers.
We were skeptical, but tests found it stayed within 10 degrees of the set temperature all the way from 250 to 500 degrees, where we were able to get nice char on both burgers and ears of corn. That’s a lot of hype, and I was prepared weber gas grill to be underwhelmed, but the Takibi lives up to the hype and then some. It folds flat, leaving more room in your trunk; the grill top is a grid so small things won’t fall through, and when you’re done cooking it turns into a fire pit.
With its rectangular shape and easy-carry handle, the Cuisinart Venture looks a bit like an insulated cooler, but it does the exact opposite. Its base conceals storage for a propane tank, the wooden top becomes a cutting board/serving tray, and the middle section is the grill itself, with a 9,000-BTU burner and a 154-square-inch nonstick grate. It’s a small grill and doesn’t have a heck of a lot of power, weber gas grill but it’s also extremely compact and easy to carry down to the beach or toss into your backpack. The Big Green Egg is a Kamado-style cooker (Kamado is a Japanese word that roughly means “stove”), which makes it much more than a grill. The ceramic construction retains heat and turns it into a portable oven as well. The MiniMax Big Green Egg is identical to its larger cousin in nearly every way, but smaller.
That flexibility allows you to build different heat zones, which broaden the scope of the foods you can cook on the grill. The grills with the highest scores moved on to our next round of testing. To assess the grill’s nonstick properties, we cooked skin-on center-cut fish filets, a delicate protein. We then cooked strip steaks to assess how each model handled indirect heat grilling and searing at high heat. As with our previous tests, we looked for sticking and flare-ups, as well as how well easily we could regulate the temperature of the grills and clean them after cooking. Most portable grills are designed to be used with small 14- or 16-ounce propane tanks, which simply screw onto the side or bottom of the grill.
There is an add-on cast iron coal bed ($26) that holds charcoal, but I don’t see it as necessary (nice to have perhaps, but not necessary). Of all the charcoal grills I tested, the Weber Jumbo Joe strikes the best balance of affordability, features, and ease of use. Warm weather is still a ways off for many of us, but this is time of year when, like a groundhog, the weber gas grill grill starts to poke out of the snow and show its rusty, neglected self. If you’re in need of a new grill this year, here’s our guide to the very best portable grills. We’ve researched and tested dozens of portable grills to see which can brat the best. We put 23 gas grills through tests that replicate what the average consumer would do after purchasing a grill.
This Weber Q3200 review shows that it is the newer model of the Q320. In this Weber Q3200 review, I will give you all the pros and cons of this Weber gas grill and updated customer reviews. The Spruce Eats commerce writer Jason Horn updated this roundup. He’s been grilling since being put in charge of the hot dogs at a family party when he was probably 7 years old, and he’s been writing professionally about food and drinks for nearly two decades. He lives in Los Angeles, where it’s feasible to grill just about every day of the year. That said, most of the time when I hit the road I grab Weber’s Connect Smart Hub ($100).
In addition to our research, we tested a few top models in our own backyards to help you find the best portable grill. In terms of its cooking performance, the HitchFire runs on two small propane canisters, and it has two burners that can be controlled individually. There’s 335 square inches of cooking space, as well as two spacious fold-out prep tables, and the grill arm can be locked at either 90 or 180 degrees, allowing you to access your trunk or tailgate as you’re cooking. Plus, we found the grill easily reached high temperatures with both burners running, delivering plenty of heat for cooking all types of food, such as steaks, fish, and grilled fruit. We sent various portable grills to the homes of our expert reviewers in addition to testing in our Lab. Our Lab testers grilled, seared, baked, and smoked to thoroughly analyze the features and performance.
Whether it’s the salty sweetness on that lightly charred corn or the rich smoothness of smoked meat, warm weather begs us to get outside and light a fire. This grill is a good starter model for someone, but the construction is pretty shaky, and the heat is very inconsistent, with multiple hot and cold spots across the grill. As with all new grills start it and let it get hot for about 20 minutes to burn off all the oil and grease that is used during the manufacturing process. Most of the lower ratings are in my opinion from people who did not read the specifications of this grill too well.