This larger version of our pick offers more cooking area and higher heat output. This could be a good starter grill for someone who wants to try grilling but doesn’t want to make a large commitment to the endeavor. Its biggest drawbacks are wobbly legs, even when ensuring that the attachment hardware is fully tightened, and visible air gaps in the lid that limit the ability to control the temperature.
If you like to get your grills extremely hot (600 degrees at the grate or more), we recommend going with the Polished Stainless Steel finish. Always start with a minimum amount of charcoal (12 briquettes or thin layer of small lump charcoal). In addition, there’s an ash collection been beneath the charcoal bed to help keep cleaning simpler than it already is, given the small size Flat Top Grills Gas Grills Pellet of the model as a whole. As well as being my favorite option on the go, I love using the Nomad at home as an extra grill for searing steak or smoking smaller quantities of food. The corners of rectangular grills have a tendency to collect ash and other residue, so you’ll probably have to spend a little more time than you like thoroughly cleaning this grill after each use.
(Take note — this grill is designed to be set up on the ground, not on a picnic table.) The whole fire pit and grill fold down to be stored in a diamond-shaped carrying case for easy transport. The Snow Peak Takibi Grill was Grills Portable Grills by far one of the easiest grills we tested to set up and use. The base plate serves as an ash catcher and a steadier for the grill itself, thanks to notches in the baseplate designed to hold the legs of the fire pit itself.
If you want to splurge the Nomad Grill & Smoker is super portable, and has some great safety features that make it easy to grill just about anywhere. The Weber Q1200 is compact and light, the most convenient portable grill we tested. It gets the job Expert Grill Combo Grills done almost entirely through conduction—its single burner provides heat to a porcelain-coated cast-iron cooking grid that functions much like a 189-square-inch pan. With the lid down, you get reliable cooking as hot air circulates over the grid.
The charcoal hangs in a mesh wire basket, and the ingenious grilltop rolls and unrolls. GoBQ says the fabric can withstand over 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit and should last through 50 or more cooks, making this a good choice for traveling, but not everyday use. And though it was on wheels, folding and unfolding the legs of the grill weren’t intuitive. It provided a great sear, but when combined with the thin material that also meant that the temperature gauge pushed 600 degrees if I didn’t keep an eye on it, and it felt harder to maintain heat control. The grates were also mostly closed, making it more like a grill pan than a grill. Cases can be hardcover or softcover, give you extra handles for transport, and add cushion for bumps in the road (or at the camp kitchen).
It’s illegal in many jurisdictions to throw them in the trash, though that doesn’t stop many people, it seems, given how many of these end up in landfills every year.
The Nomad ships with a single grate, giving you 212 square inches of cooking space, slightly less than the Jumbo Joe above. I managed to smoke nine chicken breasts, and another time I fit two racks of ribs. If you need to grill for a crowd, pick up the second grill grate for $128, but even without it I never felt cramped while cooking for five (two adults, three ravenous children).