There are more types of small grills now using every fuel source imaginable, including the sun. Portable grills are perfect for campers, city folks living in apartments and anyone without a big backyard or who finds themselves often on the move. To determine scores in this metric, we loaded each product into vehicles, took them to picnics and campsites, and grilled gratifying culinary concoctions.
It’s only nine pounds — the lightest of any on this list — and with the fitted carrying case can be slung right over your shoulder and taken out for grilling on the go. This take-anywhere charcoal grill is probably the most portable of all the grills I tested and is perfect for campers or hikers who need a small, portable grill while on the move. A portable grill could be just mobile enough to load it in and out of your truck bed with a friend, or it might be compact enough to portable bbq fit inside a large backpack. Such a wide range of sizes and shapes of “portable grills” presents a real challenge to our testers, but that’s why we take time to analyze the entire marketplace and select the best options available today. We then put ourselves in your shoes and put each model through an array of creative real-life cooking scenarios. Our thorough testing process began with scouring the internet for the latest and greatest products across the portable grill market.
Of the one-burner grills, the mid-sized models offer a wide range of control options. On all that we currently include in the review, the knob and regulators allow a clearer and wider range of burner output. Control, then, is mostly a function of burner shape, grill shape, and the relative interaction of these two features. Large burners, relative to the grill size, distribute heat more evenly to the grill top. We found the u-shaped burner of the Camp Chef Portable BBQ to be one of the best single burners in our review.
It’s also nice-looking with flare-out trays to hold your plates and grilling tools, plus an ergonomic design. Despite its sturdy build, the Q-1200 is still light and limber enough for a camping grill to take on a camping trip or for one person to carry with relative ease. This grill, like all on the list, can use any small propane tank sold at most camping or hardware stores. In the end, Weber still makes our favorite portable grill overall, but there are other models that may be a better fit depending on your grilling wants and needs. For the size and price, it may be tough to find a compact grill more powerful than the Cuisinart Grillster. Not only is it incredibly fuel-efficient, but this portable powerhouse reaches peak temperature within a matter of minutes after clicking the piezo lighter.
Charcoal, with its inherent messiness, may not be ideal depending on your portable grill needs but this is a workhorse that will get the job done and last you a good while. Plus, it clocks in at a budget-friendly $48 (for the black model), making it my pick for the best cheap portable charcoal grill. 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.
And with generally good cooking results, it’s an easy model for someone to get started with gas grilling. To evaluate these grills I assembled each one from scratch and then cooked an array of foods at various temperatures to see how they performed. The GoBQ also performed well, cultivating a steady and hot fire, and has a robust 185 square inches of grilling space. There are no bells and whistles on this grill, so you’ll have to adjust and maintain the fire as you would most charcoal fires or campfires — with a careful flow of oxygen and good charcoal management.
We learned that the coal bed can be adjusted for better temperature control — a useful feature that we find highly important in charcoal grill tests. The grill grate is narrow, especially compared to other portable grills we tested, but can still fit about four to five chicken thighs side-by-side, or two large steaks. We tried this grill out along with the brand’s grilling kit (available for purchase separately), and found the accessories to be good quality and useful. I often start these lists with some variation of “when I was young,” and I don’t mean to — it makes me seem like a curmudgeon. It’s just that, as an elder of Gen X, it’s hard to believe the grilling technologies on the market have replaced the often life-threatening pieces of equipment that were commonplace in my youth. They also happen to be easy to move, light, cool, clean, and repack on top of that performance.
This sleek portable gas grill from Weber is superior in almost every category and was a fairly clear winner as the best portable grill overall. It’s easy to assemble, with just a few parts, and once completed feels weber genesis 2 solid and sturdy, even when given a few vigorous shakes. The igniter works well and, once lit, the grill got hot, reaching its advertised 500 degrees Fahrenheit after just 15 minutes with the lid closed.