This portable electric grill is lauded as an indoor wonder, with everyday reviews praising its easy cleaning, removable grease tray, and quick-heating capabilities. It’s not a light set up at 32 lbs—so don’t plan to schlep this one in a few miles up the trail. However, it’s perfect for a basecamp setup, car camping, RV camping, BBQ by the lake, or right in your backyard. All portable grills should still have excellent features that allow them to cook effectively in comparison to traditional grills. Other than those relatively minor complaints we have no issue naming the Weber Jumbo Joe our best all-around portable charcoal grill. It has two large carrying candles and latches on either side to hold all of the pieces in place.
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. We also took into account how simple or challenging each contender was to clean. The Cuisinart Petite Gourmet is one of the smallest grills in our tests, and the size does affect control. It has a fairly uniform temperature, but the shape of the grate and burner gives you the option to move your food around to different temperature zones in case you are needing some range for different foods.
Perhaps a cast-iron hibachi is your best choice, or again, maybe it’s a simple, low-maintenance charcoal grill. As you’d expect from such a powerhouse, this grill gets super hot and produced an “impeccably crispy” crust during our steak test. Minor faults aside, this “exceedingly beginner friendly” is “cute, functional, and just a delight to hold.” It is a super option for the fair-weather griller, or first-timer concerned with aesthetics. It’s also undeniably great for camping, due to its efficient packability and included cutting board. The Petit Gourmet has telescoping legs that fold up neatly, and it’s easy to carry in one hand.
While we don’t want to get ahead of summer so fast, football season will be on ya before you can say, “Blue 42.” Among the charcoal models, the Weber Go-Anywhere scores top marks for control. Thanks to a relatively deep basin, we were able to build and stoke a substantial volume of coals to achieve the exact heat we desired.
We got good results with both delicate fish and medium-rare steak, though the stainless-steel grate doesn’t hold heat quite as well as the cast-iron most similar models use. We got some pretty wild swings in temperature when opening the lid and adding food. The grill runs a little hotter with the lid down than the temperature Expert Grill Combo Grills indicated on the built-in thermometer, and there were minimal flare-ups in cooking. Cleanup is easy; using a grill brush on the grates and wiping down the inside of the lid to prevent grease buildup did the job. It’s ultimately a reliable compact grill that does double-duty as an indoor or outdoor workhorse.
Whether you’re looking for a gas or charcoal grill, a tabletop, or one with a stand and wheels, we’ve tested a range of top-rated and best-selling portable grills to find the best performers in each category. We spent several days testing 14 of the most popular portable charcoal grills to help you find the best product for your next camping trip or tailgate. After firing up the grills, we measured how hot their grates got, then used each one to cook hamburgers, bratwursts, and corn on the cob. Once we finished cooking, we took note of how much of the charcoal was used up and how easy it was to clean each grill. If you’re not the camping, beachgoing, or apartment-dwelling type, you may see little value in a portable gas grill. But although the best stationary gas grills produce consistent, accurate heat, and offer the benefit of multiple temperature zones, portable grills take the cake for transportability, space-saving, and price.
With this grill, barring some sort of unexpected mishap, you will likely never overcook a tri-tip again. To illustrate this, we cooked plain white bread and photographed the result to help visualize the distribution of heat across these grill tops. We also took into consideration whether the lid was big enough for closed grilling, Grills Portable Grills how easy the grease trap was to use, remove, and clean, and if the regulator provided a snug or loose fit. In our tests, the Jumbo Joe charcoal grill made the best seared burgers, barbecued chicken, and grilled bratwurst. Plus, cooking with charcoal gives your food that smoky flavor that you can’t get from a gas flame.