With the days getting longer and the nights getting warmer, backyard BBQ season is back in full swing. And if you want your burgers, steaks and ribs cooked to perfection, then you’ll want to invest in a proper grill. There are tons of different kinds to choose from, including pellet grills, portable grills and traditional charcoal grills. As we tested this over the course of two weeks, it rarely had any faults.
Case in point, I cooked a cowboy (rib) steak, a thick ribeye with a bit of actual rib, that puttered along in the indirect zone at 225 degrees until the internal temperature came up to 110 degrees. At that point, I cranked up the left burner and sear burner on the direct side and put the steak over the hot spot to give it a dark crust. If you grill regularly or you enjoy grilling on weeknights, when time is at a premium, you should invest in a gas grill. A good one costs $400 to $900, but it will serve you well for years. That’s more than twice the price of a quality charcoal grill, but if you prioritize speed and convenience, the higher price is worth paying.
The total count on three-burner grills tends to vary between 30,000 Btu and 40,000 Btu. Our research, however, convinced us that whether those British thermal units are applied efficiently, steadily, and evenly across the grates weber bbq is just as important, if not more so. They’re compact, yet they remain big enough to accommodate a complete family dinner (say, chicken breasts, corn on the cob, and another vegetable) or burgers and brats for a party.
As for maintenance, the Spirit II E-310’s flat grates were easy for us to keep clean with a grill brush, and its grease trap was easy for us to access for dumping and washing. To keep your grill in tip-top shape—quite possibly for years after its decade-long warranty expires—be sure to clean it regularly and thoroughly. The Weber Spirit II E-310 provides an unrivaled combination of top-notch grilling performance, a versatile three-burner design, durability, and a relatively affordable price. During the first 45 minutes, with each grill’s lid down, we occasionally checked for charring and redistributed pieces as needed. Then we flipped the chicken parts, slathered on a coating of barbecue sauce, and closed the lid for another 15 minutes.
We are proud to offer top-performance Weber grill products, featuring stainless-steel burners and cast-iron cooking grates. We also offer a variety of grilling accessories that pair well with our Weber grills, including turners, grilling stones, skillets and more. Select from a variety of Weber barbecue products, including Genesis and Kettle grill covers, chimney starters, thermometers and more. Looking for the best Father’s Day gift idea for a dad who loves cooking out?
Beginners will quickly be able to learn the correct damper positions in order to achieve a consistent temperature, as we did. One thing to note is the inaccurate temperature on the built-in dial. We observed off readings and ended up relying on a secondary thermometer.
That doesn’t mean each grill is set to the same preheated temperature. It simply means we turned the knobs to what each grill indicated was medium heat. To keep our results as fair as possible, all the chickens are as close as possible to 5.5 pounds. When space is limited, finding the right grill to give you the taste you want can be hard. This gas grill from Monument is compact on the outside but surprisingly large on the inside. It’s big enough to cook a spatchcocked turkey or several large steaks, and because it’s a gas grill, it’s ready as soon as you want to use it.
The smart features may be helpful for some people, but we didn’t find them worth the price increase. The gas tank mounts externally (see the top photo in this section) instead of in a cabinet underneath the grill, so replacing the tank is easier here than on other models. A sturdy shelf under the grill and a side table, which folds down for storage, give you some outdoor “counter space” while you’re cooking. To some extent, all grills run cooler toward the front of the grate, but in our tests the Spirit II E-310 offered the most consistent heating across the entire grate surface. After 10 minutes, the burgers at the rear, the hottest part of the grill, were medium-well, and those at the front were medium-rare to medium. (If your diners have various preferences, this difference might even come in handy.) In contrast, lesser grills produced nearly raw burgers in the front and well-done patties in the back.