You’re also going to want other tools that make food prep and cleanup easy – tools like thermometers, grill brushes, and a wide range of grilling cookware. You can simultaneously fit a 12-inch pan and a 10-inch pan on this little grill. Two adjustable burners offer precise temperature control, and wind-blocking panels add to its camping-friendly appeal. With tens of thousands of positive reviews, it’s also one of the most highly recommended on our list. The wood pellet grill can get up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, and in addition to its main grilling area, it also has a removable upper rack. You can control the grill via its digital dial, and while the model is compact, keep in mind it weighs a substantial 42 pounds.
The compact design is easy to bring to a sporting event or out camping, yet the porcelain-enameled cooking grate can still fit up to eight burgers at a time. This Cuisinart grill features a 5,500-BTU burner, a twist-start electric ignition, and a temperature gauge. The grate gives you 145 square inches of cooking space, accommodating four to six people at once. There’s nothing else quite like the Nomad on the market today. When closed, this portable grill is easy to carry one-handed thanks to a soft, grippable handle. When opened it has 212 square inches of cooking space—that’s enough for a whole chicken with room to spare, a rack of ribs, or close to a dozen turkey burgers.
This feature is ideal for foods that require different cooking temperatures, or for simply keeping food warm. Materials aren’t a big concern with portable charcoal grills. They’re commonly constructed from thin porcelainized steel with thin wire-rod grilling grates. Charcoal grills’ simple construction is what makes them budget friendly. In addition, we promptly dismissed gas grills equipped with a coupling for a 20-pound propane cylinder.
There are tons of compact, portable grills that let you bring the flavor to the campground, lakeside, backcountry—or even your tiny studio apartment. This is a great grill for burgers, sausages and other fatty foods because most of the fats drip away and that means healthier eating. It also does steaks pretty well though it’s best to halt grilling until the heating element is up to its highest temperature. It’s good for quick heating of simple foods, say hot dogs or thin hamburger patties. However, it can be too much for thicker cuts, burning the outside before the center is fully cooked.
We loaded the grates with 6-ounce burger patties and assessed the evenness of the heat, the temperature control, the searing performance, and any flare-ups. In our tests, its built-in thermometer confirmed it reached 600ºF in less than 10 minutes. It made great steak quickly and nicely browned chicken thighs in under 20 minutes with no noticeable flareups. Grease drips into a disposable drip pan, which makes cleanup easy.
Invented in South Africa, the sturdy, kettle-style Cobb is a small, portable cylindrical unit that can grill, fry, bake and even roast a whole chicken, albeit a small one. Although Traeger says its maximum temperature is 230˚C, we noticed that the actual highest temperature reaches about 241˚C and with a roaring flame beneath the heat shield. This means it could feasibly be used portable bbq to sear steaks, too; something pellet grills usually don’t excel at. Camp Chef claims it puts out 12,000 BTU, but it’s uneven—our bread test revealed comparatively cool corners at the front edge, owing to the coverage of one burner. Otherwise, that’s a lot of heat available to a relatively small grill surface. In some respects, we found it was actually a bit too much heat.
There’s Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support, so you can keep tabs on your cook from anywhere. To test this I marinated some chicken in lemon juice and olive oil and laid it on the grills. Every grill flared somewhat, but the Q have heavy enameled cast-iron grates that are closed over the burners, which helps keep the flaring under control. But there are other models that may be a better fit depending on your grilling goals, including a few that are so portable you could take lug them on a long hike or bike trip.
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 fit inside a large backpack. We then put ourselves in your shoes and put each model through an array of creative real-life cooking scenarios. Sporting one of the largest grill surfaces of any portable grill, the substantial cooking space of 226 square inches can fit about 10 hamburgers. Even though the Jumbo Joe isn’t the smallest or most compact charcoal grill we tested, it is lightweight and easy to carry. The lid-locking metal handle tightly holds the grill together for transport and pulls double duty as a convenient lid holder.
Shield your grill from the elements to keep it from rusting or prematurely aging. If you lack an indoor storage option, keeping the grill covered and off the ground is the best line of defense against harsh weather. Weber makes affordable covers for both the Q 1200 and Q 2200 , and we strongly recommend the investment. The carrying case for the Char-Broil Grill2Go isn’t weatherproof, but you can use a heavy-duty contractor-style garbage bag or a tarp for protection. A swiveling metal handle tightly holds the grill together for easy transporting. Latches on the front of the Char-Broil Grill2Go make it easy to carry one-handed.