One of the best parts of tailgating is avoiding a meal of overpriced, over-processed stadium food (that you have to wait 30 minutes in line to buy). With a top-notch portable grill, you can fill your tailgating zone with the irresistible aroma of low and slow ribs, grilled steak, or smoked chicken. A good portable grill gives you the flexibility to cook in confined spaces like balconies or small patios, and also brings your grill to outdoor parties, tailgates, and camping trips. To use the grill, the pellets are loaded into a hopper, located on the side of the grill.
Wood pellet grills cook food through the combustion of wood pellets that can also add flavor to your food. The heat and smoke from the burning pellets is directed into the cooking area. Wood pellets deliver temperatures hot enough for grilling steaks and chops or can be set for low and slow cooking of ribs and brisket. You simply set the grill to your desired temperature, and it does the rest. This compact grill will get plenty of use even when you’re not on the road. If you already have another Char-Griller full-size charcoal grill, you can use this portable one as a side fire box for smoking.
Once erected, you have a large cooking space–320 square inches–and a prep table. It also features some nice bells and whistles, including a removable grease tray, built-in thermometer, Grills Portable Grills and removable cooking grates, which were easy to clean between uses. In a world where the Nomad didn’t exist, the Oklahoma Joe’s Rambler would be the top charcoal choice here.
Plus, the wire grates are lightweight and easy to move around when you want to rearrange the coals underneath. We’ve been testing grills for decades in the Good Housekeeping Institute’s Kitchen Appliance and Culinary Innovation Lab. We’ve tested more than 60 grills, including gas grills, charcoal grills, pellet grills and smokers and more. 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.
Now that you’re ready to hit the road, read on to find the perfect portable grill for your next adventure. Camryn Rabideau is a freelance writer for PEOPLE, specializing in home, kitchen, and pet products. For this article, she consulted our testing insights and interviewed pitmaster Shannon Snell of Sonny’s BBQ for her tips on finding the best portable charcoal grills. All of the portable charcoal grills were then rated on their assembly, design, performance, ease of use, ease of cleaning, and value. We ran the numbers, and the PK Grills PKGO earned the top spot with a score of 4.8 out of 5.
Camping trips, road trips, tailgates, closet-size outdoor spaces—there are a lot of scenarios that call for a portable grill. But unfortunately, many of the factors that make a grill portable can also keep it from working well. For more details on how we tested and what we looked for, scroll down to the bottom. We sent various portable gas grills to the homes of our expert reviewers in addition to testing in our Lab. Our Lab testers grilled and seared steak, salmon, onions, hamburgers, and hamburger buns on each model to thoroughly analyze the features and performance. Additionally, the grills were carried around our Birmingham, Alabama, campus to test portability.
The Weber Q 1200 is another solid model in this category due to the adjustability of its control knob and a sound electronic ignition system. We appreciate the naturally non-stick porcelain-enameled grilling surface and that the cast iron grates distribute a consistent temperature across the entire cook surface. Although this portable powerhouse reaches top temperatures with ease, it is more difficult to learn how to harness the heat of the grill surface for foods that require more low-and-slow cooking.
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. All that now stands between you and mobile grilling is your final choice and a big pile of grillable grub. Crack that first tailgate can, ponder our comparative assessments, and pull the trigger on an excellent portable delicious-making machine.
Both Weber gas grills I tested were effective and easy to cook on, but the nod goes to the Traveler here for its passionate embrace of portability. When folded up, the legs become a handle that you can pull behind you as if you’re walking with a nice roller bag. The legs on one side of the grill become Expert Grill Combo Grills a sort of handle when the grill is folded up; you can walk with it, kind of as if you’re pulling a nice roller bag. It has some other nice design touches, like the ability to transition the grill from folded to cook-ready with one hand, and a lid that locks automatically for transport and storage.