Find out which gas grill is the best fit for your space, and discover important details to look for before buying. As a heat source, this grill will accept briquettes, charcoal and wood pieces of all types. Ultralight and ultra-compact, this is the portable grill you want for your outdoor overnight excursions. The Petit Gourmet has telescoping legs that fold up neatly, and it’s easy to carry in one hand.
This model was engineered with boaters in mind so if you’re setting sail this summer, you might give the pricey Magma a closer look. If you like the look of this and need a fire pit on top of a charcoal grill, I say go for it. But be aware that it might not last for as long as you want it to.
It has two large carrying candles and latches on either side to hold all of the pieces in place. The bamboo lid doubles as a cutting board that rests on top of a plastic container where you can store grilling accessories. To test this I marinated some chicken in lemon juice and olive oil and laid it on the grills.
In our tests, this grill quickly cooked a steak and four chicken thighs, all of which were juicy and tender. I wanted a charcoal grill that did not rapidly lose heat because its materials were too thin. I wanted a gas grill that kept a nice even temperature once it was set.
Read on for answers to some of the most common queries about portable grills. Despite these issues, the Cuisinart produced flavorful food and is a great budget-priced option for those looking for a super-light grill to tote to a park or stadium parking lot. At 21 pounds, the George Foreman is fairly light and fit easily into the trunk of our SUV, though toting along the stand, which breaks down into three pieces, was a bit more cumbersome. We’d certainly prefer using it on a tabletop if we’re traveling with it.
Greg Baker is an award-winning chef, restaurateur, and food writer with decades of experience in the food industry. For this piece, he interviewed chef Cory Bahr and pitmasters Jake Wood and Tank Jackson to find out what the pros look for in a portable grill. He then used their insights and his own expertise combined with market research to curate this list.
They’re commonly constructed from thin porcelainized steel with thin wire-rod grilling grates. Charcoal grills’ simple construction is what makes them budget friendly. British thermal units are a measure of maximum heat output over the course of an hour. The output on portable gas grills ranges from 4,000 to over 13,000 Btu.
It also wasn’t as easy to move as the GoBQ because…nothing was as easy to move as the GoBQ. Flattop grills operate like traditional portable gas grills without lids, but their stainless steel tops act like griddles. Cast-iron grates are durable but require frequent cleaning and oiling. Stainless steel is also durable and requires very little maintenance but doesn’t distribute heat as evenly as cast iron. The downside is that cast iron is quite heavy so is less suitable for some portable grills. The portable bbq Grill is perfect for grilling just about anywhere.
The compact size also created issues when we attempted to roast our kabobs. Closing the lid seemed to stymie airflow to the charcoal, which struggled to stay lit even with both vents wide open. This issue required us to remove and replace the lid periodically, allowing oxygen into the cooking chamber to keep the grill going while cooking our kabobs. Unlike a standard grill that’s open on at least three sides, the Davy Crockett has a single panel that grants access to the cooking surface, which is hard to access with a spatula or tongs. It was especially awkward to flip a burger patty or adjust our kabobs while crouching down.
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