Whether you’re hosting a 4th of July party at home or picnicking in a park, you can fire up a delicious feast from anywhere with a portable grill. The best time to buy a portable grill is right now while the summer is heating up. For our favorite portable grills, we consider the grill’s size and durability to be easily packable and withstand the weather. The Camp Chef has a stable cooking surface that prevents any wind from getting through to the grilling grate. Scores in this metric were determined by the size of the cooking surface, the surface material, and any coatings, whether the grill has any side tables or any other added features. Additional features and functions include a grill grate that can be turned over and made into a skillet, or bonus features like a warming rack or smoker tray.
Becoming familiar with these aspects will help shoppers make a smart decision. Shop this large selection of outdoor grills at DICK’S Sporting Goods and discover the perfect design for weber q your needs. Are you looking for that premium backyard grill that can get super hot to perfectly sear steaks? Or do you want to go low and slow for your signature 14-hour pulled pork?
It’s small and compact, which makes it quite portable, yet sturdy and powerful for good, fast cooks. We’ve tested both this model and the larger stand-up model with shelves, and were impressed with the sear marks we got on chicken, steak, burgers and hot dogs. Despite being light and very portable, the Venture features a heavy-duty cast iron grilling surface that cooks evenly and sears well. In fact, I rarely turned this one up past medium, because it gets plenty hot on low. Conversely, don’t plan on cooking slow and low with this; it’s a “sear things and be done” sort of grill. Of all the charcoal grills I tested, the Weber Jumbo Joe strikes the best balance of affordability, features, and ease of use.
Choose from barbecues of different sizes, as well as gas propane grills and charcoal burning grill options. Portable charcoal grills are, weber genesis 2 for the most part, just smaller versions of backyard charcoal grills. The smaller size means they weigh less and are easier to transport.
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.
Camp Chef claims it puts out 12,000 BTU, but it’s uneven—our bread test revealed comparatively cool corners at the front edge, owing to the coverage of one burner. Otherwise, that’s a lot of heat available to a relatively small grill surface. From indoor grilling to cooking pancakes for the whole family, this compact appliance can do it all. Plus, check out a clever tool for whipping up creative pancake shapes on the griddle kids will love. They deliver an ultra-satisfying sizzle when you throw your burger, steak or hot dog on the cooktop.
Our tester was truly impressed at how secure the HitchFire felt when mounted to her truck, and she said it never budged on a 350-mile drive. She’s an expert on all things home, including kitchen appliances, grills, and other cooking gadgets. And vegetables on each to see how the portable grills performed in their most critical of duties. I haven’t used the fancier models, but this basic four-serving one served me well for years.
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. Grills equipped with an accessible coupling for 1-pound liquid-propane canisters are a must. One-pound canisters are lightweight, inexpensive, and available at most hardware stores. Lugging around a 20-pound propane cylinder isn’t our idea of portability.