Best Charcoal Grill For 2022

An easy-access door makes emptying ashes quick and easy. At this price, getting these features feels like a steal. Starting a charcoal grill is definitely not as easy as starting a gas grill, so it’s important to understand how to do it correctly.

They carry regular charcoal grills, kamados (charcoal-burning griller-smokers, usually made of heavy ceramic, the most familiar being the Big Green Egg), and griller-smokers that burn wood pellets . Salvaggio spent an hour explaining the fundamentals of charcoal-grill design, function, materials, and maintenance to us. And because he’s an independent retailer, he was able to speak freely about what he sees as the relative strengths and weaknesses of the various designs. It takes some effort to light and arrange the charcoal, and you have to empty the ashes regularly. Vents above and below need to be adjusted, oftentimes during cooking. A charcoal grill is harder to cook on, too, since you can’t just turn a mound of burning charcoal from “low” to “high” like you can with the flames of a gas grill by simply turning a knob.

We measured charcoal in a chimney by grams, and in a ratio for that grill’s specific surface area. We lit the charcoal inside the chimney, letting it burn until the smoke dissipated and the coals began to turn grayish-white, then put the charcoal into the grill. After the grill was heated up for 10 minutes, the portable bbq steaks were ready to hit the grill grate. None of the hood thermometers built into these grills mirrored the temperatures recorded by our own thermocouples and data software. “We’ve had the grill only a few weeks, but we’ve cooked delicious ribs, brisket, pork shoulder and a whole chicken,” reports one fan.

weber charcoal grill

As the chicken cooked we monitored the grills’ temperatures, using the built-in thermometer where available and a probe thermometer where not. The goal was a steady hold at 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and we adjusted the vents to get as close to that as we could. After 45 minutes, we flipped the chicken parts, slathered on a coating weber genesis 2 of barbecue sauce, and closed the lid for another five minutes. We repeated this step twice more, rounding out the cook time at an hour flat. Then we had a taste, paying special attention to the breast meat—a long cook can dry it out. At $129, Weber’s original, kettle-style charcoal grill continues to stand the test of time.

The other day as I was cooking burgers in a far more antiseptic fashion on my gas grill, I started waxing nostalgic about these Weber Grill-related memories of mine. I decided I wanted to try cooking on one myself, to see if it was as good as I recalled. Great Value for the Price- Weber offers a charcoal grill for everyone. Weber grill sizes range from the 14 inch Smokey Joe Portable to the 37 inch Ranch Kettle.

And sadly, the ribs it produced came out burned, charred and overdone. We noted similar temperature performance from the weber charcoal grill Nexgrill, along with similar rib results. Cooking ribs low and slow on the Nexgrill required just 4 hours, 30 minutes.