For added convenience, Weber sells a separate stand—a nice accessory when you don’t have a picnic table on which to set the grill. Bushcraft Grill with Canvas Carrying Case, Portable, Easy to Carry. Our outdoor kitchen design experts have helped thousands of customers transform their backyards at no extra cost. It’s miniature, yes, but it’s powerful, made from heat-resistant painted steel. Fans have added thermometers, fastened knobs to make it easier to open and close vents, attached hanging ashcans, and come up with creative ways to cook taller items, like beer-can chicken. 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.
Notice that while the onions were just beginning to nicely char, our burgers were over-browning to a crisp. Higher BTUs produce more heat, but it is challenging to determine the heat output from the BTU rating alone. Grill size, construction materials, and design all contribute to how much heat will be produced on the actual grilling surface. The nomadiQ Grill produces 4,600 BTUs of heat per side which easily cooks food nice and hot. Despite not having a lid, it is great for cooking foods like steaks, raw fish, and shrimp. This grill takes the standard 16 ounce small propane cylinders .
It has a thermometer and some side tables to hold your plates and tongs. It’s also a champ at keeping a constant, even heat in pretty much any weather conditions. A storm blew in one afternoon, but it just kept on cooking despite the high wind and rain. We barbecued for weeks to find the right charcoal and propane grills for road trips—or just for smaller homes. It’s also worth noting that you’ll be getting more of a broiled result versus a traditional grill since there is no actual flame so don’t expect char marks on your oblong burgers.
There’s Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support, so you can keep tabs on your cook from anywhere. To test this I marinated some chicken in lemon juice and olive oil and laid it on the grills. Every grill flared somewhat, but the Q have heavy enameled cast-iron grates that are closed over the burners, which helps keep the flaring under control. But there are other models that may be a better fit depending on your grilling goals, including a few that are so portable you could take lug them on a long hike or bike trip.
You need to consider price, temperature control, ease of cleanup, ability to smoke foods, high heat, durability, safety, and, of course, size and weight. Here at Camping World, our selection of portable camping grills in assorted styles lets you bring the flavors you love on the road. From portable bbq compact griddles to tailgating grills, our products ensure you don’t need to sacrifice flavor and food quality for portability and convenience. Browse top brands such as Coleman, Blackstone, Camp Chef, and more. It doesn’t even weigh a pound, and can be used as both a grill and a stove.
The Cuisinart All Foods Roll-Away scored the lowest in wind resistance. We grew frustrated at the number of times we had to re-light this model in high winds. The Weber Q 1200 comes with a disposable aluminum drip tray insert that you can place in the more permanent weber genesis 2 drip tray. This is nice for aiding with cleanup, but it’s not very wind-resistant, so it usually ended up on the ground after flying away in windy conditions. This can be remedied by doing away with this disposable part or just by putting a rock in it.
There are tons of compact, portable grills that let you bring the flavor to the campground, lakeside, backcountry—or even your tiny studio apartment. This is a great grill for burgers, sausages and other fatty foods because most of the fats drip away and that means healthier eating. It also does steaks pretty well though it’s best to halt grilling until the heating element is up to its highest temperature. It’s good for quick heating of simple foods, say hot dogs or thin hamburger patties. However, it can be too much for thicker cuts, burning the outside before the center is fully cooked.
A portable grill could be just mobile enough to load it in and out of your truck bed with a friend, or it might be compact enough to fit inside a large backpack. We then put ourselves in your shoes and put each model through an array of creative real-life cooking scenarios. Sporting one of the largest grill surfaces of any portable grill, weber genesis 2 the substantial cooking space of 226 square inches can fit about 10 hamburgers. Even though the Jumbo Joe isn’t the smallest or most compact charcoal grill we tested, it is lightweight and easy to carry. The lid-locking metal handle tightly holds the grill together for transport and pulls double duty as a convenient lid holder.
For gas grills, we used slices of white bread to cover the grilling surfaces to identify uneven heating. For charcoal grills, we used a glowing bed of charcoal directly underneath food, and then placed bricks to one side to see how well the grill body distributed heat. We also noted if it was easy to load up and move charcoal around inside the grill, and whether vents provided sufficient airflow. Regarding this gas grill’s performance, it gets hot quickly, cooks food evenly, and is easy to clean when you’re done. It’s a little bit heavy for a portable option, weighing in at over 43 pounds, but most of the weight is actually its cast-iron grates, which can be carried separately for easy transport. Plus, our tester appreciated how solid and sturdy it felt for a portable grill.