We smoked a rack of ribs on a pretty nasty fall day at an elevation of 7,000 feet in central Utah and had absolutely no issues with wind. If you’re looking for a larger model, the best way to get the weight off your back is by going with a wheeled model. The Coleman Roadtrip 285 has large wheels that handle fairly rough terrain and a long handle, so you don’t have to hunch over while hauling it. We’ve tested hundreds of products in our camping kitchen reviewsincluding the best camping tables and top camping coffee makers for your outdoor forays. First, the setup was challenging as the legs were difficult to install properly.
Next, the heat distribution was very uneven, where a uniform layer of coals still resulted in a hot spot in the center. Surely you’ve seen — and possibly owned — one of these little guys in the past. The Weber Smokey Joe is a staple at park cookouts and on camping trips and that’s for good reason. Our experts test thousands of products each year using thoughtful test plans that bring out key performance differences between competing products.
Control is the criteria that most distinctly separates the highest performers from the rest of the contenders. For gas and electric, this metric was scored based on how many burners each product has and whether they can be adjusted to high, medium, and low temperatures. For charcoal, we assessed how easy it was to maneuver the coal bed to create heat zones. For pellet grills, we studied the user interface and considered the details of the startup and shutdown process.
There is no mystery as to why – pellet grills offer the control of a household kitchen oven but produce the flavor and texture of charcoal grills and wood smokers. Traditionally, they are not the type of grill that you’d want to tote along with you on an RV trip or to tailgate the big game, but the Camp Chef Portable Pellet changes that. With a bit of clever design, this model collapses to a size that can be wheeled around and transported into spaces that are a fraction of the size of where most pellet grills can fit. The controls for this grill are digital, allowing you to select the exact temperature you need for the cut you’re cooking. If the controls weren’t precise enough, there are two digital thermometer probes so that you know exactly when your meat’s internal temperature has reached the perfect point.
Our test load of two burgers, two brats, and two ears of corn consumed most of the acreage but still left enough room that the food wasn’t touching and the grill wasn’t overloaded. We found the Weber Traveler intuitive and approachable portable bbq — it’s a dream to assemble, light, and use. With a similar burner and grate design to the Q 1200 but a larger cooking area and an upgrade to 13,000 BTUs, the Traveler is more suited to family-size groups than the former.
The cast iron grates are easy to scrub clean with a grill brush and the drip pan (located inside the grill) removes so you can wash it before storing. The Cuisinart Venture, with its picnic basket appearance, is a good entry-level grill for the uninitiated and a value model for more experienced grillers. It’s a model intended for direct-heat cooking, as there’s no lid to control humidity for “low and slow” cooking. The burner packs 9,000 BTUs under enameled weber q cast iron, providing adequate heat for small-group cooking. The grill comes to temperature quickly, but there is some variation in hot spots, especially towards the outside edges of the grill, which charred more than the center, where foods cooked slower. With 189 square inches of cooking surface, this grill was not the biggest on the list, but it’s plenty big enough to cook burgers, chicken, fish, and veggies for a group of six hungry people.
Nicole Papantoniou is the director of the Good Housekeeping Institute’s Kitchen Appliance and Culinary Innovation Lab where she oversees all kitchen appliance content and testing. This is her third season testing grills for Good Housekeeping and has had her hands on at least 35 grills and counting. The summer is favorite season, mostly because she can put one of her many grills to the test nightly. Some folks mentioned having trouble with assembly and misaligned parts in verified purchase reviews.
We also update our tests as needed to ensure they’re still relevant and we’re keeping up with the trends and latest innovations. The value of your portable grill depends on your cooking needs and your intended usage. A basic, more affordable grill might get you through a backyard bash, but a more expensive product will tend to last longer, even under more rigorous or extensive use. But if you would like the option to sear a steak and slow-cook chicken on the same grate, you’ll likely only find such features on higher-quality models. Similarly, the least expensive grills don’t offer the maximum heat output nor the control to cook more complicated foods.
The Cuisinart portable grill also runs on any small propane tank you can find at camping or hardware stores. This grill is for serious tailgaters and is specifically designed to ride on the back of a car attached to a hitch. The monster Forge 15 has 355 square inches of cooking space so you can feed the whole gang and two powerful 7,500-BTU burners (15,000 total) will make sure your steaks, dogs and sausages get a proper seer. If you’re in the market for a propane grill and you don’t want to worry about your flame getting blown out, our top recommendation is the Coleman Roadtrip 285.