For the more fearless among us, they’ll use this as is, but if you want to be a little more careful, it’s easier to take the whole grate off. Another feature that makes the Weber Original Kettle Premium Charcoal Grill great is its one-touch cleaning system, which sweeps ash into a removable high-capacity container for easy disposal. It’s intuitive to use, and any ash it misses can quickly be brushed away.
As you might know, starting a charcoal grill usually begins with simply getting the coals warmed up in a chimney starter. It comes with an auto-start gas ignition that consistently lit the coals for us. You can place the lid in different positions for the best top damper placement, with the bottom damper easy to adjust when your flame gets too hot. During our smoking test, we were able to keep the grill within a range of 10 degrees for several hours, making this a great option for cooking with indirect heat. Food cooked on our Char-Broil test unit was good, though slightly less crispy and seared than the Weber.
There you’ll see the ambient temperature, as observed by its very accurate built-in thermometer, and monitor the temperature of your food via the two included probe thermometers. weber portable grill The app doesn’t allow you to alter the flame, one of the few drawbacks to the EX-325S. When cooking, the grate has a hinged design to add more charcoal.
To start, the grill is embedded within an easy-to-move cart that features an extra-large side table and enclosed charcoal storage. Look carefully at each description to be sure you get what you’re looking for. If you plan to use your grill to flip a few burgers occasionally, stick with a less expensive or smaller gas grill model. And, of course, if you’re looking for a portable gas grill or an indoor grill, these won’t be right for you. We also compared each grill’s average cooking time for chicken and burgers over three identical tests. We run the clock until the last burger reaches 145˚F and the lowest chicken breast reaches 165˚F.
And one of this guide’s writers, Lesley Stockton, owned the Spirit II E-210 for years; in her experience, it held a consistent temperature across the cooking grate, and flare-ups were never an issue. We had no issues with the meat sticking to the flat, porcelain-coated iron grates or problems with flare-ups, grease fires that produce charring and acrid smoke. We looked for flare-ups, excessive charring, or patties that were still unacceptably raw. A firebox—the lower half of the grill body, where the burners and grates are mounted—made from cast aluminum is rustproof and highly durable, likely to offer a decade or more of service. The Weber Genesis E-325s is a whole foot longer than the company’s Spirit II E-310, with 20% more cooking area.
Through Bread Pay™, we offer easy and affordable financing options so you can pay for your purchase over time. A full line of flavors to fire up the best tasting grilled meals. Michael Sullivan has been a staff writer on the kitchen team at Wirecutter since 2016. Previously, he was an editor at the International Culinary Center in New York. He has worked in various facets of the food and restaurant industry for over a decade. With its thick, rustproof cast-aluminum firebox, this grill will last for years.
The heat source is consistent, as well as simple to adjust and add to while cooking. We favor Weber grills for their efficiency in managing multi-zone cooking, and for their generous warranties that stand out from their competition. In fact, most of the grills below have warranties beginning at 10 years for the cook box (additional parts, like gas tubes and grates, have warranties ranging from three to 10 years). The Weber Q 2200 Propane Gas Grill is one of our top picks for portable grills by any brand. Though a bit of an investment, the gas grill pays off with its convenience. It’s easy to start, easy to use, and heats up quickly and powerfully, delivering 12,000 BTUs of heat per hour.
If time allows we continue cooking until the ribs are completely done and make note of the total cook time. Lesley Stockton is a senior staff writer reporting on all things cooking and entertaining for Wirecutter. Her expertise builds on a lifelong career in the culinary world—from a restaurant cook and caterer to a food editor at Martha Stewart. She is perfectly happy to leave all that behind to be a full-time kitchen-gear nerd.
It comes disassembled for easy shipping, but putting it together was tedious, with a lot of guesswork when the instructions weren’t clear. Once it was built, it worked great, but it was a pain to get it together. Tim Heffernan is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter and a former writer-editor for The Atlantic, Esquire, and others. He has anchored our unequaled coverage of air purifiers and water filters since 2015. In 2018, he established Wirecutter’s ongoing collaboration with The New York Times’s Smarter Living. Our reader survey revealed high satisfaction with Weber grills’ performance and reliability.
Burgers and chickens were too charred on the outside, thanks to the hot cast-iron cooking grate. If you do purchase this model, keep that in mind and start out with less heat. Ribs were better, perhaps owing to the two smokestacks designed for even low and slow cooking. Char-Broil’s three-burner stainless steel model comes in at almost half the price of the Weber model above.