At less than 10 pounds and under 15 inches in diameter, the Smokey Joe was easy to carry and took up little space in the trunk of our car. However, it lacks any sort of mechanism to lock the lid to the base, which forced us to carry it in our arms, which gets messy. There’s also the potential for it to come apart in transit, dumping leftover charcoal bits and ash into the trunk. Weber does make a premium version of the Smokey Joe that has a lid-locking mechanism, but you’ll pay more for it. Some portable grills may come with additional features to make them easier to operate, more convenient, and more useful.
There are more types of small grills now using every fuel source imaginable, including the sun. Portable grills are perfect for campers, city folks living in apartments and anyone without a big backyard or who finds themselves often on the move. 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. The Casus grill can only be used once, of course, but it actually gets fairly hot in about five minutes and stays lit for over an hour.
With the lid in place, Jumbo Joe’s bulbous kettle shape created an ideal roasting environment for our kabobs. As with the smaller Joe, the vents on the lid and base do an excellent job portable bbq of controlling oxygen flow into the cooking chamber, which allowed us to control temperature. Though, like the regular Joe, wear a grill mitt to adjust the metal vents to avoid burns.
A basic, more affordable grill might get you through a backyard bash, but a more expensive product will tend to last longer, even under more rigorous or extensive use. Simple grilling, like burgers and dogs, can be done on any portable grill. But if you would like the option to sear a steak and slow-cook chicken on the same grate, you’ll likely only find such features on higher-quality models.
Surely you’ve seen — and possibly owned — one of these little guys in the past. The Weber Smokey Joe is a staple at park cookouts and on camping trips and that’s for good reason. David lives in Brooklyn where he’s logged more than a decade writing about all things edible, including meal kits and meal delivery subscriptions, cooking, kitchen gear and commerce. These days, he’s likely somewhere trying the latest this or tasting the latest that – and reporting back, of course.
Testers appreciated the solid but portable build and how quickly they were able to set it up. The fact that the carrying handle doubles as a lid holder is also useful for keeping an eye on the food when cooking. Portable gas grills are generally designed to be used with small 1-pound weber genesis 2 propane tanks, and with these, a regulator is not needed. However, if you want to use a larger propane tank—such as a 20-pound tank—with a portable grill, you’ll need an adapter and regulator. Most brands sell the appropriate attachment for their portable grill models.
Ever since the early periods of human civilization, grilling and BBQ’ing has been an integral part of our culture. Bringing our grill along with us camping or on a picnic happens to be a nice luxury. Often, regulations on apartments and condo’s limit some of the types and styles of grills that are allowed. Perhaps, you prefer the hassle-free advantage of a mobile grill as opposed to the larger more cumbersome versions, but still crave the smells and flavor of BBQ. To help you make the right choice, we have put together a review of our favorite compact grills on the market. After evaluating each grill’s cooking ability, we determined how easy it was to clean the grill.
Its 240-square-inch round cooking surface offers ample space for grilling, and we liked how we could access the grill from any side. The two grilling plates are removable and nonstick, making them easy to clean in the kitchen sink. Essentially an oversize version of Weber’s classic 14-inch Smokey Joe grill, the Jumbo Joe expands the cooking surface to the size of a standard charcoal grill while remaining quite portable. Despite being bigger, the Jumbo Joe has a lot in common with its smaller sibling. If you’re heading out into the great outdoors, make sure to pack this versatile gas grill, which heated up quickly and cooked food evenly in our testing. The Cuisinart Petite Gourmet Portable Gas Grill is ideal for camping thanks to its unique design, which converts from a freestanding model into a tabletop model in seconds with telescoping legs.
This model is really heavy compared to the others, and it has a short handle. You also have to lay it on its back to convert it from travel to cooking mode, which is not ideal. But if you want a pellet grill for tailgating or base camping, this is still your best option. Building an intensely hot coal bed, that can later be spread out to create individual heat zones, is a critical skill in mastering the art of charcoal grilling. To illustrate this, we cooked plain white bread and photographed the result to help visualize the distribution of heat across these grill tops.
Becoming familiar with these aspects will help shoppers make a smart decision. Scores in this metric were determined by the size of the cooking surface, the surface material, and any coatings, whether the grill has any side tables or any other added features. Additional features and functions weber q include a grill grate that can be turned over and made into a skillet or bonus features like a warming rack or smoker tray. We also took into account how simple or challenging each contender was to clean. Rounding out the bottom of the list for this metric is the Camp Chef Portable Pellet.