Portable kamado grills are gaining popularity, but we think their 12- to 14-inch grilling surfaces are too small to justify the high price. We didn’t focus heavily on hibachis because they’re lidless, primarily for high-heat grilling, and limited in performance. In general, a charcoal grill and bags of briquets cost less than a gas grill and propane canisters. The Performance burner grill has a set of cast-iron cooking grates. Burgers and steaks cook evenly without having to move them around the grill. The cast iron grates get hot enough for searing and leave beautiful grill marks on pork chops and chicken.
We grilled bone-in chicken to test for flare-ups and how well both the gas and charcoal grills could sustain a medium-low cooking temperature over 45 minutes. In spring 2017, Tim and Wirecutter writers Lesley Stockton and Michael Sullivan spent over 40 hours testing full-size gas and charcoal grills, as well asgrill accessories. With all this knowledge in hand, Lesley and Tim spent 16 hours, over the course of two days, testing nine portable grills. The Char-Broil burner cabinet gas grill comes with porcelain-coated cast-iron grates which are rust-resistant.
Flare-ups should rarely happen, if at all, with this grill, especially with the convection cooking system, which reduces flare-ups and ensures even heat distribution. We’ll also look at the pros and cons, ease of assembly, use, and cleanup of this grill, so you can decide if this is the right grill for your next char broil performance big cookout. Overall, we were impressed by the Spirit’s design and can understand why Webers have a passionate following. It maintained and evenly distributed heat over its entire 475-square-inch cooking area during our tests. Learn to replace the burners on your Char-Broil grill in a matter of minutes.
And if you’re not content with the basics Char-Broil offers a variety of accessories like nylon cleaning brushes, pizza pans, and beer can chicken roasters. If you have the space for something bigger, check out our guide to full-size charcoal grills. If you have enough space for a full-size grill, you’ll probably be happier with one of our full-size gas or charcoal picks.
Grills in this category should be light, small, and comfortable enough to carry from a car into a park or campground. While a 5-year warranty backs the stainless-steel burner, a 2-year warranty covers the firebox and lid. All other parts have a 1-year warranty from the time you buy the grill. Therefore, it will light when you push and hold the electronic ignitor button while turning the burner knobs. The grill can take a bit of time to heat up, but it’s good to go once it does.
This baby is a gem of a gas grill as it sat in the top spot across nearly every expert list we consulted. These gas grills are designed to cook your outdoor foods to perfection, but perhaps the best part is they’re built to last. While the grill is hot, scrape the debris and stuck-on food from the hot grates with a wire grill brush. We prefer to do this when the grill is preheating and the embers are their hottest. Wipe the grates with a wet rag to remove the soot, and then brush them with vegetable oil. We immediately ruled out collapsible models because they’re made from thin steel and probably not durable enough for regular use.