Most grills performed about as well as advertised, with some topping out at as much as 100 F hotter than others. The better grills also generally ended up reading out a more consistent temperature throughout cooking. Single-use grills exist, and while they may not be the most practical option for everyday use, if you have one long hike planned and want to do some grilling, this is a good option.
Most pellet grills use a deflector plate to produce indirect heat, allowing your food to cook evenly. AS3000 has a deflector plate, however, the plate has a sliding door built into it to allow direct access to grill’s flames if you want to sear items like burgers and steaks. Unfortunately, when closed, the sliding door allows more heat to pass through it than the rest of the deflector plate does. This had us moving chicken drumsticks around the AS3000’s cooking surface to ensure that they all cooked evenly. This Weber grill is a mini version of the brand’s well-loved charcoal kettle. Testers appreciated the solid but portable build and how quickly they were able to set it up.
The frame was surprisingly sturdy and did a great job at high-heat cooking, but because there are no vents or lid, it didn’t do well on the chicken tests. There was no way to control the heat, so the chicken either burned over direct heat without cooking through inside or it was still undercooked after an hour over indirect heat. You also can’t move the grill until it completely cools weber genesis 2 down, and the ashes blow around everywhere because it lacks an ash catcher bucket. It’s a great grill if you’re looking for a cheap way to cook hotdogs at the beach, but we wouldn’t recommend it for heavy-duty use. If our top gas pick is out of stock, or you’re looking for a portable grill that’s well suited for cooking for a crowd, we recommend the Weber Traveler Portable Gas Grill.
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So, fold up a Flatpack grill, grab some charcoal and get cooking. With its compact design, this portable grill fits right into a storage cabinet in your kitchen. All you need to do is take the lid off and use it as the base of your grill. Use two or three small fire starter blocks under the coals and start grilling once the flames have died down. If you’re planning a beach BBQ, there are a few factors you’ll want to consider when choosing a grill. First, it will be difficult to wheel or drag a grill through sand, so opt for a compact model that’s light enough to carry.
For the gas grills, we also placed slices of white bread over the entire surface to map out the heating pattern. Grills with even heating really shined here, creating predictable patterns without noticeable hot or cold spots. The Biolite’s grill surface is only about 130 square inches, so it isn’t as large as some of the other portable grills we tested for this guide.