As a result, we had to manage moderate flare-ups while cooking burgers, chicken, and brats. This larger version of our pick offers more cooking area and higher heat output. At home, I cooked all kinds of meats, from chicken thighs and wings, to brats and salmon filets. Everything cooked in a reasonable time with that delicious, grilled weber portable grill flavor that Weber has built an empire with. My first experience with the Weber was to test it out at a family picnic in the park. Loading up the grill in my wife’s SUV (with the seat down) was effortless as you could slide one end of the grill head first and use the handle on the other end above the wheels to pick it off the ground.
Charcoal is also smokier than gas, a possible issue for smaller, fenced-in spaces.
It’s made for use with a small propane tank (and does not come with an adapter for larger tanks), which can be stored underneath the firebox when packed up. One tester noted that the cast iron grates produced enviably golden-brown sear on a steak, although the surface of the grill did not produce consistent heat, which resulted in burning in some places. If you’re not the camping, beachgoing, or apartment-dwelling type, you may see little value in a portable gas grill.
Grills with side table attachments, stands, and other prep areas ended up ranking higher in our tests, as we rated grills for their overall design. When cooking outside, a clean, workable surface makes prepping convenient and efficient. The tiny Cuisinart CGG-180T Petite Gourmet Portable Tabletop Gas Grill suffered major flare-ups when cooking burgers and turned into a raging grease fire when cooking chicken pieces. Everything we cooked on this grill had a dark, sooty film and tasted like torched fat. Though some things are inherently inconvenient about a charcoal-fueled portable grill, the Jumbo Joe has some design features that make it easier to travel with. The push-button ignition and clearly marked heat-control dial make the Q 1200 easy to start and regulate.
We rated the grills on ease of cleaning, including dumping any ash and unused charcoal for applicable models. After rating the grills’ overall performances in these areas, we looked at those scores and weighed them against their retail prices. Rating each area on a scale of one to five, we averaged the category scores to arrive at the final score for each grill. Porcelain-enameled, cast-iron cooking grates provide even heat distribution across the entire grilling surface and superior heat retention. Char-Broil covers the Grill2Go X200’s lid, firebox, and burner for five years and everything else for one year.
Even though the Jumbo Joe isn’t the smallest or most compact charcoal grill we tested, it is lightweight (about 18 pounds) and easy to carry. A swiveling metal arm holds the grill together for transport and doubles as a lid holder while you’re grilling. The comfortable plastic handle allows you to lift the grill with one hand, while a heat shield keeps it cool to the touch during grilling. The Weber Q 1200 Gas Grill is the best of the portable propane models we’ve tested.
Another tabletop option, this portable gas grill from Weber was a standout for our testers, who named it the winner of the group, and even noted its performance rivaled standard-size grills. “This thing could be priced even higher and I would buy it,” a tester noted, although at under $300, it’s attractively priced as-is. We conducted two sets of tests for scoring, depending on whether weber bbq 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. For those with carts, this included how easy or difficult they were to move, pop up, and collapse.