Although the Weber Smokey Joe did a fantastic job of grilling our food, it lacked a few features that would have bumped it up in our rankings. You can get a premium version that has a lid lock, but the basic version provides no way of carrying the grill. That means when it’s full of hot coals, it stays where it lies until it cools down. We were pretty happy with the way the vents were positioned, but the ash catcher isn’t removable, making it pretty difficult to clean when you’re done cooking.
Although we didn’t test the grill at low-and-slow smoking temperatures, it’s capable of ranging from 180°F to 500°F. We were happy to see that it held its set temperature within 10°F when used at medium and high temperatures. If our top-rated portable pellet grill is out of stock, we recommend picking up the ASMOKE AS300 Portable Grill. Like the other portable pellet grills we tested, at 45 pounds, it’s a little on the heavy side. While it doesn’t come equipped with any handles to help move it from place to place, the AS3000 folds down into a compact enough package to carry from one space to another, when it’s cool.
But the position of the side handles helps to evenly distribute its 30-pound heft and lessens the burden of hoisting and moving the grill. Foods such as bone-in chicken pieces and thick steaks require surround heat to cook thoroughly. A temperature dial lets you control the heat easily weber q and quickly, just as on a kitchen range. This control helps to mitigate flare-ups, excessive charring, or undercooking. The COBB is a compact, portable, versatile, energy-efficient cooker that perfectly complements the lifestyle of an outdoor enthusiast or a home entertainer.
But there are some models that may be a slightly better fit depending on your grilling goals, including a few that are ultraportable. Some modern portable grills are so compact and light you could take them on a hike through the woods or a trudge to that remote destination. 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.
When we tested using battery power, with the fan set on medium speed, we were able to grill for about five hours. The grill features a porcelain-coated, cast-iron cooking grate that helps provide even heat—and which we found very easy to clean. We were able to roll the grill around easily, with the collapsible cart, and with the dedicated firebox and locking grill lid, we didn’t spread ashes wherever we went with it. The Masterbuilt Portable Charcoal Grill makes grilling with charcoal easy, fast, and clean.
It comes with a push-button starter and removable catch pan, and it’s even compatible with the 1000-series Weber griddle . Two spacious tables provide extra space for prepping and serving, while the ergonomic side handles ensure easy transport. Because the grill has cast-iron grates, our tester did think it was a bit heavy, weighing over 43 pounds, but it’s a small sacrifice if you want a grill that’s extremely reliable and simple to operate.
It could easily fit ten burgers, a few racks of ribs, or a whole chicken, and it offered enough room to arrange the coals into an indirect heat pattern. This allows for heat control which, as every great outdoor cook knows, makes for fabulous outdoor cooking. The locking lid really put it over the top, giving us an easy handle to transport the grill. We felt safe enough moving the grill while it was still hot, but you’ll want to close down the bottom vents to prevent coals from spilling out, just in case. The grill packs up into an extremely compact package that can be carried with one hand by a handle built into the top of the grill. Unlocking the grill and twisting it apart yielded a surprising amount of grilling space—enough to cook eight burgers on its 226 square inches of split cooking space.
The grates were also exceptionally difficult to clean, even with the included scraping tool. Gas grills are more convenient than charcoal grills, especially when it comes to portability. It’s much easier to lug around a one-pound propane canister instead of a huge bag weber charcoal grill of charcoal or pellets! They’re also significantly easier to clean (no ash!), and they heat up more quickly. Gas grills come equipped with electric starters or a spark wheel to ignite their gas burners, helping you get cooking faster than charcoal users can manage.
We’ve also tested a slew of portable grills as part of our typical grill testing over the years. Each time we test, we use the same testing methodology and ingredients to make sure our results are comparable. We also update our tests as needed to ensure they’re still relevant and we’re keeping up with the trends and latest innovations. We learned that the coal bed can be adjusted for better temperature control — a useful feature that we find highly important in charcoal grill tests. The grill grate is narrow, especially compared to other portable grills we tested, but can still fit about four to five chicken thighs side-by-side, or two large steaks.
The removable water pan is designed to catch grease, but it was a complete mess after our tests. The Grill2Go has a maximum 9,500 Btu output, versus the Weber Q 1200’s 8,500 Btu. After we preheated it for five minutes on high, the Grill2Go reached over 600 degrees Fahrenheit, while the Weber Q 1200 never broke 525 °F. Char-Broil claims its “TRU Infrared cooking system” eliminates flare-ups, but we still had to manage moderate flares while cooking burgers, chicken, and brats. Think of portable gas grills as small, outdoor, propane-powered ovens.