You can also take your pick from modern options that range from infrared grills to pizza ovens, all of which come in a myriad of sizes and shapes. 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. It weighs 75 pounds, making it by the far the heaviest grill I tested, but the double-handle carrying system makes it easy for two people to carry it.
Per Weber’s recommendation, we used a chimney starter to light the coals, which gave us an even burn across all the briquettes. Size and weight don’t necessarily correspond, either, so it may be possible to end up with a small, heavy grill or a large, lightweight one. Do weber genesis 2 your research and know your limits if you want to keep things comfortable for the long haul. Because a Traeger can be set for low and slow, roasting, or direct grilling, you can use it to make anything from the morning’s biscuits to a slow-cooked stew in the evening.
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 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.
And though it was on wheels, folding and unfolding the legs of the grill weren’t intuitive. The grates were also mostly closed, making it more like a grill pan than a grill. Infrared grills can be a pain to clean, and the Grill2Go is no different. Food and char tended to get caught between the V’s on the grill grate and clog up holes.
Similar to other gas grills, the Coleman uses 16-ounce propane tanks. After preheating the grill, the Coleman registered temps approaching 600 degrees Fahrenheit on the surface despite having portable bbq one of the largest cooking surfaces of any portable grill we tested. Coleman uses three burners, including a central circular burner that’s accompanied by two C-shaped burners on either side.
You can boil water on any type of grill as long as you have a pot or kettle with no wooden or plastic parts. Simply place the water over the grill’s burner and turn it on high—if you’re able to shut the grill’s lid over it, you’ll be able to speed up the process. If you can’t shut the lid, it will take significantly longer, but the water will eventually reach its boiling point. This grill delivers cooking power up to 20,000 BTU, and it has a pressure-regulator for consistent performance, even in extreme conditions. It also has built-in wind panels to keep your flame going on blustery days. The Cuisinart Petit Gourmet Portable Gas Grill stands out from the crowd thanks to its unique design, which converts from a freestanding model into a tabletop model in seconds.
The weber charcoal grill grill accessible here are seamlessly polished, comprise. Grill size isn’t necessarily tied to value — in fact, the smallest grills in our review are among some of the most expensive. When considering carrying dimensions, grilling surface, and overall performance, the more average-sized grills tend to fall into a more reasonable price bracket. There is a broad range of prices in this category, but two of the lower-priced models stand out.
While the Grill2Go comes with a special scraper, it was still a chore to get the grate clean. The Davy Crockett is a smart smoker, connecting to an app that allowed us to monitor the meat’s temperature, access pre-programmed cooking profiles, and control the grill temperature from afar. While the app was certainly useful for monitoring cooking, we had to reconnect it to the grill every time the smartphone went to sleep, which made it useless for receiving alerts. At one point, it simply refused to connect at all, forcing us to abandon the app controls.
Similarly, the least expensive grills don’t offer the maximum heat output nor the control to cook more complicated foods. For the size and price, it may be tough to find a compact grill more powerful than the Cuisinart Grillster. Not only is it incredibly fuel-efficient, but this portable powerhouse reaches peak temperature within a matter of minutes after clicking the piezo lighter. A lightweight steel lid and three weber genesis 2 insulating walls give it the ability to both block wind and retain heat, allowing you to cook in less-than-ideal weather. This model cools down almost as quickly as it heats up for a quick get-away, with a locking lid and enough space to store one-pound gas canisters. In terms of its cooking performance, the HitchFire runs on two small propane canisters, and it has two burners that can be controlled individually.