Or you might want something you can tote to a campground, park, or tailgate. After grilling 65 burgers, 30 pounds of chicken, and 25 pounds of bratwurst on nine portable grills, we found the best ones for both small backyards and outdoor adventures. The Weber Q 1200 Gas Grill is our pick for the best portable gas grill because of its no-fuss convenience and stellar grilling performance. For charcoal purists, we recommend the Weber Jumbo Joe Charcoal Grill 18″. It’s just as capable as a full-size kettle at searing and grilling food to perfection. This somewhat simple, unassuming grill turned out to be the sleeper in our test.
While we didn’t test it on low-and-slow smoking temperatures, we anticipate this hopper capacity should be able to produce smoke for five to six hours before needing a refill. We also loved that the Traeger is easy to clean, especially if you use Traeger’s drip tray and bucket liners. As with its larger Weber kettle grills siblings, the Jumbo Joe’s stainless steel grates were easy to clean, as was the large ash catcher bucket clipped in underneath the grill. Being able to control the airflow is important when cooking over charcoal; the bottom vents control the heat of the fire, while the top exhausts hot air and smoke out of the grill. And while it’s size may have made it bulky and hard to transport, Weber’s round, kettle design kept it from being intimidating. If you prefer that smoky charcoal flavor, the lightweight Weber Jumbo Joe Charcoal Grill 18″ matches the searing and grilling abilities of a full-size kettle.
Nicole Papantoniou is the director of the Good Housekeeping Institute’s Kitchen Appliance and Culinary Innovation Lab where she oversees all kitchen appliance content and testing. This is her third season testing grills for Good Housekeeping and has had her hands on at least 35 grills weber q and counting. She’s a professional, trained cooked, recipe developer and grill aficionado. The summer is favorite season, mostly because she can put one of her many grills to the test nightly. Small it might be, but make no mistake about it, UNA Grill is big enough to fit a steak.
Modernize your home with the latest news on smart home products and trends. Note, that you should remove as much grease as possible before burying the grill. Surely you’ve seen — and possibly owned — one of these little guys in the past. The Weber Smokey Joe is a staple at park cookouts and on camping trips and that’s for good reason.
The small fold-out side tables are convenient for keeping grill tools within reach. This Weber model’s long handles make this 30-pound grill comfortable for one person to carry, too. And Weber backs this model with a warranty that covers most parts on the grill for five years.
It takes a little practice to get the hang of it, but it’s all about controlling the airflow, the coal patterns, and the food’s proximity to the hot coals. You’ll learn to allow oxygen in by opening up the bottom vents, fueling the coals, and creating intense heat. Portable grills with a lid also have top vents to give you some control of the heat, but they also change the flavor of the food by venting the hot exhaust or keeping the smoke inside the dome. You can also control the heat by managing your coal bed and rearranging its placement inside the grill. If your portable grill is large enough to make a two-zone fire, you can move the food off of the flames to a cooler area where they’ll cook over indirect heat. In our tests, the Weber Q 1200 topped the competition in grilling performance.
The ceramic construction retains heat and turns it into a portable oven as well. The MiniMax Big Green Egg is identical to its larger cousin in nearly every way, but smaller. It weighs 75 pounds, making it by the far the heaviest grill I tested, but the double-handle carrying system makes it easy for two people to carry it. The problem is that the 13-inch grilling surface of the MiniMax can only grill for about four people.
In our tests, the well-placed vents in both the lid and the firebox provided precise temperature control that no other grill we tried—including two other portable Webers—could match. The Jumbo Joe’s 18-inch-diameter cooking surface is enough to grill a complete meal for two or the main course for a small party . We also like the Jumbo Joe’s tripod base, which automatically stabilizes on uneven terrain. The simple ash catcher is a nice touch and keeps hot embers from falling on the ground.
If you want to buy a portable grill that will last a lifetime, it’s the Lodge L410 Hibachi Style Charcoal Grill. This cast-iron charcoal grill is heavy, but it holds its heat exceptionally well, using fewer coals than most grills. It did a fantastic job of infusing smoky flavor into our burgers weber charcoal grill and bone-in chicken, and adding coals was as easy as tossing them in through the fire door built into the grill’s body. It was just as easy to control the heat with the sliding draft door located underneath the unit. This folding GoBQ is a novel, innovative portable grill unlike any other.
The Ranger’s 176 square inches of cooking space fits about six burgers, which isn’t enough to feed a crowd but is more than enough space to feed two to four people. We actually liked the reduced cooking area compared to other portable pellet grills we tested because it makes the unit more compact. After locking down the lid, this 13- by 21-inch tabletop grill fits easily into the storage compartment of your RV or on the floor in the passenger side of a car. That said, it does weigh 60 pounds and doesn’t have any carry handles, so it is a little difficult to transport.