The cooking area of grills is typically measured in square inches, and the larger the cooking space, the more food you’ll be able to cook at once. A 16.4-ounce propane tank attaches to the back of the grill with a sturdy, easy-to-secure attachment. It has two plastic temperature knobs on the front of the grill; one knob controls in the inner flame ring and the other controls the outer. The cast iron grates are easy to scrub clean with a grill brush and the drip pan (located inside the grill) removes so you can wash it before storing.
The stand is easy to operate, with clear indicators for raising and lowering it. Since the base is included, you won’t need to hunt for a safe cooking surface or crouch down to flip burgers, but it requires a little more storage space and room in your trunk. Like the Q above, Weber’s Traveler uses a single burner that wraps around the entire bottom of the grill. That’s covered by a two-piece cast iron grill grate that’s solid where it runs over the burner, which acts as a heat diffuser and keeps the burner from getting covered in grease. Speaking of grease, it has a slide-out grease trap that’s easy to empty.
On the left, we have vegetables that need to grill at a different temperature than the burgers on the right. The first night I landed in Japan for the ski trip of my dreams, we dropped our bags at our Tokyo hotel and headed straight for dinner. We Expert Grill Combo Grills feasted on soft shell crabs cooked over tableside, interlaced grills, and ate like royalty. When we fired up the Snow Peak Takibi Fire & Grill, I felt like I was right back in Japan—minus the traffic noises of Tokyo, plus a few more pine trees.
This is another Kamado Joe grill that’s smaller than the previous model. It boasts a temperature gauge right on its top lid to allow you to easily see the temperature at any stage of your cookout. At 37 pounds it does weigh quite a lot more than the Weber Jumbo Joe or Go-Anywhere, but the two handles make it easy to Expert Grill Combo Grills move. This, coupled with the suitcase design, makes the Nomad our top choice for a portable grill if you’ve got the budget. The exterior of the grill has an anodized finish which helps prevent rust. The grill has been designed to keep the outer shell temperature low, so it’s safe to use on virtually any surface.
Portable gas grills are generally designed to be used with small 1-pound propane tanks, and with these, a regulator is not needed. However, if you want to use a larger propane Charcoal Grills Combo Grills tank—such as a 20-pound tank—with a portable grill, you’ll need an adapter and regulator. Most brands sell the appropriate attachment for their portable grill models.
She’s done firsthand testing of the Weber Q2200, which took the overall spot on this list, as well as the Masterbuilt Bluetooth Digital Electric Smoker and more. Our experts test thousands of products each year using thoughtful test plans that bring out key performance differences between competing products. And, to assure complete independence, we buy all the products we test ourselves. Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions.
We conducted two sets of tests for scoring, depending on whether the grill was gas-fueled or charcoal. The first step for each was to assemble the grill, rating it on the clarity of instructions and how easy it was to accomplish the task. Next, we judged the grills’ portability, such as how easy they were to move and if lids or grates fell off easily.