Lesley built on her decade of experience in professional kitchens (much of it spent on the grill station) to design and run all of these tests. Cuisinart’s Venture portable gas grill looks like something Apple would make, if Apple got into grills. It’s really a two-part grill that packs up into a lightweight, easy-to-carry package. The base comes off and features a flip-out propane bottle holder (we discourage you from using those; see why below) as well as serving as a place to cut.
Our Lab testers grilled and seared steak, salmon, 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. They were also able to offer additional insights to using these during typical weather conditions.
The Green Mountain Trek Prime pellet grill is the new branding of a very popular grill, the Davy Crockett. If you’re looking for a mostly smokeless, apartment/condo-friendly porta indoor grill option that you can take car camping or use a a portable RV grill, this is a great one. Our testers loved the dishwasher-safe grill plate, the easy storage, and the flexibility of an indoor grill. This portable grill has the elegance of a more permanent grill, so it’s ideal if you want one grill to use at home and while camping. We set it up on a portable camping table on the porch at a garden level apartment in Boston, and it was almost indistinguishable from a permanent grill. Be warned—this combination is not light with the cast iron topper, which alone weighs about 20 pounds.
If you’re looking to cook a whole lot of food at once, you can’t top the Camp Chef Portable Pellet. Between the main grill and the upper shelf, this model offers 500 Charcoal Grills Combo Grills square inches of cooking space. If you like the idea of grilling large hunks of meat on one shelf while roasting veggies on the other, this is the grill for you.
Add to that the spacious cooktop area (320 square inches), and the Weber Traveler is a great grill, period. It’s definitely on the hefiter side—we wouldn’t recommend strapping it to your back for a mountainside hike—but that makes it ideal for new and sometimes-grillers who don’t want to invest upwards of $1,000. As one of the sturdier models we tested, one tested noted it was a good option for apartment dwellers and those looking to grill occasionally. It packs up efficiently, and when fully assembled has two wing-like side tables that are helpful for prep and tool storage. We particularly liked the nonstick coating inside the firebox, which made it easier to clean (a removable drip tray did, too). This grill is refreshingly easy to light, with an indicator button on the knob.
The design of the Camp Chef Portable Pellet is practically unaffected by wind. The burner is deep within the tub of the grill body so it’s protected by the walls of the grill, the heat distributor, and the lid. 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. 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. Keeping coals lit in the Weber Smokey Joe Charcoal Grill 14″ was a challenge.
Look for grills that have these features, as they’re better suited for portable, spur-of-the-moment grilling adventures. Some portable grills have removable or foldable legs that make them easy to pack up and transport. It’s a sturdy portable grill that rests on stable legs, perfect for placing on a table or bench. The biggest flaw is the thinness of its grates, which don’t allow for a ton of weight to be stacked upon them, and which sometimes results in the grate flipping if too much meat is placed on one side.