Portable grills cost anywhere from $50 for a simple Weber charcoal grill all the way up to $500 or more for fancier gas and propane grills with bells and whistles galore. My favorite portable grill, the Weber Q-1200, sits at about $259 but you can find it for less on sale. Most sturdy small grills should last you several years to a decade if the unit is cleaned, covered and cared for properly. Our ranking of heat output also considered each manufacturer’s BTU reporting, grill surface area, and lid sealing and construction.
One downside during assembly was the drip pan didn’t fit properly, which necessitated a small trim to get it to slide in. Out of the box, this can be powered by 1-pound gas canisters, but Weber does sell an attachment if you want to use 20-pound tanks. We also tested and recommend the Q 1200, which has 189 square inches of cooking space and a 8,500-BTU burner. The Grillster is an excellent option for searing steaks and other high-temperature cooking, but controlling the overall range on this rip-roaring grill is challenging. Unless our goal was blackened chicken or blistered peppers, we rarely found ourselves using anything other than the lowest gas setting.
The spacious dome lid has a built-in thermometer that lets you know when the grill is hot. And small fold-out side tables on either side are convenient for keeping grill tools within reach. We found the Weber Traveler intuitive and approachable Expert Grill Combo Grills — it’s a dream to assemble, light, and use. With a similar burner and grate design to the Q 1200 but a larger cooking area and an upgrade to 13,000 BTUs, the Traveler is more suited to family-size groups than the former.
If you can’t, and you left your lighter fluid at home, gather dry pine needles, extra napkins from your center console, or even leftover dryer sheets to get your charcoal grill going. Most propane grills will have an ignition button installed for easy lighting. If, however, that is not included or that button fails, here’s how to light your propane grill by hand. The BBQ Depot has an excellent guide to cleaning different grills and grill parts, as does Popular Mechanics. Grab some grease-cutting dish soap, warm water, and a grill brush, and start scrubbing. (Except with cast iron, keep soap away from cast iron at all costs. Here’s how to clean cast iron.) Check your manufacturer’s recommendations for cleaning products and advice.
We’ve also tested a slew of portable grills as part of our typical grill testing over the years. Each time we test, we use the same testing methodology and ingredients to make sure our results are comparable. We also update our tests as needed to ensure they’re still relevant and we’re keeping up with the trends and latest innovations. Curious about which portable grills were worth buying, we tested seven popular models from trusted brands. If you’re searching for a gas grill you can bring on all your adventures that also performs well enough to be used at home, look no further than the Weber Q 2200.
The Solaire Everywhere infrared grill is a unique product on our roster and performs very well in a few categories. First, it is very small and compact, and its construction is tight and carries quietly. Most importantly, the high-powered ceramic “flameless” burner that sits below a carefully designed grate of v-shaped bars cooks steaks better than anything else in our review. For those excellent cuts of red meat that require nothing more than a touch of flame, this is the best portable grill on the market. The Q 1200’s design caused the fewest flare-ups of any model we tried, thanks to built-in channels in the porcelain-coated cast-iron grill grates.
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.