We are proud of the work we’ve done to hash out all the options and are honored to be a small part of your transient culinary journey. The performance of the George Foreman’s electric grill plate is basically impervious to wind, and all of the food is protected beneath a gigantic lid. 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.
The Cuisinart Petite Gourmet is one of the smallest grills in our tests, and the size does affect control. If you’re cooking only one type of food that covers the entire grilling surface, then you will want to have consistent heat throughout. If you are cooking a variety of foods all at once, you might prefer different temperature zones. To test the distribution of heat across a grill, we grilled different food types in different corners of the grill. You don’t get this uncompromising high-heat cooking performance without some drawbacks. First, the grill top is small, with space for only one or two steaks on it at a time.
It puts out a tremendous amount of heat, doesn’t require a huge amount of charcoal to load (given its 18-inch cooking surface), and remains lightweight. At just 18 pounds, the Jumbo Joe is easy to carry from garage to car to campsite. The bar clip creates a handy holder for the lid when it’s not in use. Choosing a portable grill can often come down to ease of use and the amount of heat produced. Many of the best portable gas grills make adjusting the temperature incredibly easy with dials that clearly indicate low, medium, and high temperatures. For pellet-fueled grills, temperature adjustment is related to the speed at which pellets are fed into the grill.
We found that this Weber model is capable of grilling six large burger patties, a whole cut-up chicken, or 10 bratwurst links at a time. And the single-tube 8,500 Btu burner runs along three edges for better heat distribution, so all of that space is usable. More space between the coal bed and the grilling grate lessens your chances of ending up with charred food.
Portable kamado grills are gaining popularity, but we think their 12- to 14-inch grilling surfaces are too small to justify the high price. We didn’t focus heavily on hibachis because they’re lidless, primarily for high-heat grilling, and limited in performance. Looking for the right balance of heating power and portability in a grill? The maximum heat output is 11,000 BTUs and it is spread over a generous cooking area of 225 square inches. I have to say that this is a grill that is both easy to assemble and set up. The integrated stand comes with two wheels, so moving it around is not a problem.
Portable grills come in a variety of shapes and sizes, including barrel-shaped and flat and rectangular. I bought this for use in our travel trailer trips, but when I did a trial grilling on our deck I was so pleased with the performance that I have used weber charcoal grill it for grilling almost all our meals since. It lights up immediately and maintains the grilling temperature very well. We have grilled Italian sausages, halibut fillets, London broil, chicken thighs, chicken breasts and tri tip, all done perfectly.