If you’re looking to stay close to $500, this outdoor grill with stainless steel burner offers the best balance of features and performance among the models we’ve tested. You’ll get less power than the Weber at 25,500 BTUs weber portable grill over 420 square inches of primary cooking area space, and there aren’t any smart grilling features for remote monitoring. This Char-Broil model does have a side burner as well as tank storage behind two cabinet doors.
One of them, the Spirit S-315, is similar to our top pick, the Spirit II E-310, but has a few cosmetic differences, such as a stainless steel lid and metal dials. In our eyes, the S-315 seemed likely to perform about the same as our pick—and did not seem worth the higher price. With only two burners on this model, cooking with indirect heat weber gas grill means the food gets heat from only one side while it sits over the other, inactive burner. So you have to maneuver and rotate your chicken or roast to make sure it cooks evenly throughout. If you think you’ll frequently use your grill as an outdoor oven to cook roasts and whole birds, we recommend choosing one of our other picks instead.
Sun, rain, snow, hail, and wind are bound to take a toll on the outer surface of your grill, so it’s important to pick a material that’s very durable. While stainless steel can discolor from high heat, it won’t rust or corrode with rain and snow. Enameled or powder-coated steel is durable, but eventually, it can crack or chip, leading to rust underneath. That impressive performance begins the moment this arrives at your door. After a straightforward set-up, all you need to do is push the ignition button and connect it to the Weber Connect app on your phone.
For a limited time, save $100 on Weber Genesis 3 burner grills! Introducing the newly designed GENESIS line of grills – the biggest grilling innovation in decades, that creates a full backyard culinary experience. Rib enthusiasts may not agree with this relatively short and smoke-free cooking method, but it allows us to see just how well a regular propane gas grill can cook low and slow.
That may not seem like much, but if you’re working in a small patio area, every inch counts. Like the E-310, the E-210 has an open-cart design and an easy-access side-mounted hook and gauge for the propane tank. The advantage of stainless steel over the porcelainized cast-iron grates on the Spirit II E-310 is its resistance to rust and corrosion. Two-burner grills like our budget pick can save you a little space and a little money—as long as you are prepared to cook your food in smaller batches and don’t plan on much indirect cooking. The grates are made of cast iron, but they are coated in porcelain.
The key to using the Q 1400 successfully is to wait a sufficient amount of time for the grill to come to temperature. Once you do, the 189 square inches of cooking space can handle the grilling needs of anywhere from one person to four or weber bbq more—depending on what you’re cooking up. We were really impressed with the meal created using this grill, especially the quality sear marks it left on veggie shish kebabs, hanger steak, zucchini slices, and marinated chicken breast.
We also tested whether each grill could act like an oven—a nice feature in the hot summer months, when you don’t want to warm up your kitchen, or during the holidays, when oven space is at a premium. By contrast, budget grills usually have fireboxes made of thin, porcelain-coated or painted carbon steel, so they are prone to rust and don’t hold or reflect heat efficiently. Charcoal, gas, and wood pellets all have their pros and cons.