You can just brush the grates down with a grill brush if they have any debris on them. Additionally, oiling the grates can result in them becoming sticky once the oil has heated beyond its smoking point, which will inevitably happen. If you’re experiencing issues with your food sticking to your Weber grill, oil the food, not the grill grates. Chef Tony shows you his recipe for producing perfect, juicy grilled hamburgers on the Weber Kettle charcoal grill. One thing our test data highlights is how quickly a grill can cook on its own medium or high setting.
Since wood pellet grills work by indirect heat, you’ll be able to smoke food as well, without any accessories. You will need to make sure there’s an electric outlet nearby since most need to be plugged-in for the ignition and the auger. It’s an anecdotal round, so there isn’t a connected thermometer set or software capturing specific data. We preheat each grill on high for 10 minutes before turning it down to low, indirect heat.
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.
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 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.
We put a bunch of the bestselling models through their paces by using them to cook up burgers, whole chickens, ribs and more. On gas grills, most of your searing comes from the contact with the grate. The Weber’s ceramic-coated cast-iron grates have weber charcoal grill a triangular form to them, flat faces up on side A, the pointy edge on side B. Weber suggests the flat side for searing and the pointy side for delicate food that might stick. In reality, you’re probably going to pick one side and never flip it.
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 gas grill 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.
If you want to splurge on a grill with exceptional temperature control and a dedicated searing zone, go for our upgrade pick, the Weber Genesis E-325s, instead. This little two-burner grill puts a mean sear on steaks, chops, and burgers. It provides good heat control and can maintain a steady medium to medium-low for grilling chicken pieces with rendered skin and sticky glaze. With almost no fiddling on our part, the Spirit and Genesis grills we tested both produced perfect barbecue chicken, while other contenders produced either flabby barbecue or charred chicken and burnt sauce. And in our indirect-cooking test, the Spirit II E-310 turned out a pair of flawless roasted birds that were deeply browned with skin so crisp, it puffed up like a balloon. Ah, fresh air and a juicy grilled burger—pure warm-weather delight.
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.
Despite those annoyances, this barbecue grill offers plenty of practicality and power for a very reasonable price. Char-Broil uses what it calls Tru-Infrared, a set of perforated emitter plates that separate food from flame to evenly distribute heat and reduce flare-ups. There were definitely fewer flare-ups compared with other models in our testing, but you won’t be able to see the flame when you’re lighting the grill or adjusting the temperature, so keep that in mind.
For an electric grill that performs great wherever there is a power outlet, choose the Q 1400 from Weber. This compact but mighty electric grill delivers great flavor and doesn’t require propane or charcoal. Instead, plug the unit into an electrical outlet, adjust the temperature setting, and then get ready to grill. Take a look at our chart and see how best selling Weber gas grills from different collections compare to each other. The full-sized griddle seamlessly fits into your existing gas grill so that you can go from grilling to griddling within seconds.