Compared to other charcoal barbecues, we couldn’t believe the ease with which you could cook – no need to coax the coals, simply fire it up and expect good heat for over half an hour. The charcoal is in an enclosed container, and with a fan going, you don’t get much in the way of charcoal flavour, but the efficiency and generous cooking area far outweighs this. At just 13 inches tall by 20 inches wide, the Traeger Scout wood pellet grill won’t take up much room in the car and has enough cooking surface for 10 hot dogs, 6 burgers, or a rack of ribs. Charcoal briquette disposal is another drawback of portable charcoal grills. You’ll have to budget time to let the charcoals cool before you can safely dispose of them, and find a safe place to put them.
If you want to cook inside, you’ll want to look for an indoor grill, which are typically electric. On the charcoal side, insulation plays a much more important role in output power and efficiency. The Cuisinart Portable Charcoal and Weber Go-Anywhere are very similar in terms of coal bed volume, but the Go-Anywhere scores much higher thanks to its cast iron construction. For the charcoal options, I also smoked ribs, pork, and brisket, If you’re planning to smoke, I highly recommend investing in some kind of thermometer system. It has adapters based on your grill and offers one temp probe and three food probes. There’s Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support, so you can keep tabs on your cook from anywhere.
If you’re lucky enough to have an apartment, condo, or townhouse with outdoor space or balcony, a portable grill is one purchase that will really help you enjoy it. Obviously, you need to be able to carry the grill regardless of its size. You don’t want anything to be so heavy that carrying it is impossible even if it can fit into your arms. While most of these factors are still important, obviously for a portable grill you need to consider size and weight most of all. This is another Kamado Joe grill that’s smaller than the previous model. It boasts a temperature gauge right on its top lid to allow you to easily see the temperature at any stage of your cookout.
We tried this grill out along with the brand’s grilling kit (available for purchase separately), and found the accessories to be good quality and useful. We sent various portable gas grills to the homes of our expert reviewers in addition to testing in our Lab. Our Lab testers grilled and seared steak, salmon, portable bbq onions, hamburgers, and hamburger buns on each model to thoroughly analyze the features and performance. Additionally, the grills were carried around our Birmingham, Alabama, campus to test portability. Our home reviewers spent weeks assessing how these grills stood up to everyday cooking and cleaning.
The char lines produced were good, but we definitely saw better from some of the other models in this list. That said, we found this barbecue easy to set up, save for the weber charcoal grill fiddly regulator valve. A wood pellet grill is the best option for living spaces with small yards, patios, or balconies — often, it is the only permissible option.