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Whether charcoal, gas, or electric, our favorites are the key to better burgers, steaks, and way beyond. Electric Camping Grill
Few aromas are more enticing than the smoke and char from a hot grill. Those juicy burgers, seared steaks, and beautifully browned vegetables hold such promise of flavor; it’s no wonder grilling enthusiasts start snapping their barbecue tongs as soon as the weather starts to shift. But there are so many options! Gas or charcoal? Portable tabletop model or one with a cart? Luckily, we have an answer for every grilling preference and outdoor setup.
Over the past year, we've gotten our hands dirty and kitchen aprons smoky to find the best grills. We tested nearly 100 models in almost every type of grill category — charcoal, pellet, gas, electric, and more — to identify the clear winners. Our favorite grill picks scored top marks for performance, reliability, and relative value. Ultimately, the best grill for your backyard (or campsite) will be a personal choice, but we've included all the details you need to pick the best option. Stoke up the fire, and let's get grilling.
This beginner-friendly grill is a top performer thanks to superior searing and heat retention.
You'll need to set aside some time to put the thing together.
The Weber Performer Deluxe is our top pick for charcoal grills thanks to its ease of use and convenient mobility. We love that the grill is built into the four-wheeled cart with a large prep surface that doubles as a cutting board and even a tilt-out charcoal storage bin (or trash can if you prefer). The sturdy design makes the large grill more portable and also extremely stable.
Lighting and controlling the flames are the most difficult parts of grilling over charcoal, but the Performer Deluxe automates the process with a push-button ignition system and easily adjustable dampers. "This remains one of my favorite charcoal grills," says Jennifer Zyman, Food & Wine Testing Editor. "It was one of my first grills, and the propane starter cuts heat-up time in half. I also love that it has built-in charcoal storage." Cleanup is a breeze, too, thanks to a built-in rod that sweeps ashes into the large, removable ash catcher. It was also good at cooking in testing, with stainless-steel grates that yielded nicely defined grill marks on our test steaks, with no troublesome sticking when it was time to flip the meat.
This is a simple grill for first-timers with charcoal, but it's also well-built and a solid option for more experienced open-flame cooks. It'll last you a lifetime, which it ought to: It was the most expensive charcoal grill we tested. Assembly is also a pain, with lots of pieces to put together. The brand's app has 3-D helpful instructions, but we wish that weren't necessary in the first place.
Fuel: Charcoal | Dimensions: 8 x 48 x 43.5 inches | Cooking area: 363 square inches | Weight: 91 pounds
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
This expansive grill gives you pinpoint temperature control.
It's expensive compared to other gas grills we have tested, but it lasts.
You'll find Weber grills of all types atop our lists of bests; the brand is well-known for its popular grills, and it lives up to its reputation. The Weber Genesis E-325s got rave reviews in our gas grill tests) for its large capacity and precision temperature control. During hours of grilling, heat levels remained nice and even with the lid closed, while the center "sear zone" stayed the hottest with the lid open, creating useful cooler zones for steady cooking while you get some nice browning on a reverse-seared steak.
The porcelain-enameled cast iron grates transfer heat beautifully to create those coveted grill marks but also minimize sticking. A fish fillet came off the grill cleanly both skin- and flesh-side-down, and we even got the best caramelized onions of all the models we tried. We were impressed with the rapid temperature response when adjusting the three burners, and the enormous 994 square-inch cooking surface can hold at least three dozen burger patties at once for a neighborhood Fourth of July barbecue. You'll feel sticker shock at the price, but we feel the Genesis E-325s is a great investment for anyone who loves to grill.
Fuel: Propane | Dimensions: 35.5 x 30.75 x 31 inches| Cooking area: 994 square inches | Weight: 175 pounds
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
This versatile charcoal grill works great at high or low temperature.
It's rather small, and not the easiest grill for a beginner to control.
Grilling and smoking can use the same charcoal fuel, but they're very different cooking methods — the former is hot and fast, while the latter is low and slow. It's a rare model that can do both well, but with the PK300, a barbecue enthusiast won't have to invest in a separate smoker. The wide shape lets you arrange fuel under the entire grate for grilling or keep it in one corner away from the food for smoking. There are also four separate adjustable vents to control airflow and temperature. With the right setup, this vessel can sear, bake, roast, or smoke a pork butt to perfection.
If you're not an experienced charcoal griller, you might have trouble with the PK300. Getting the coals going and maintained at the correct level takes some fiddling. During our tests, we let the fire get too high at least once and overcooked a steak. Once you get over the learning curve, though, you'll be free to do as you please over the coals.
The PK300 isn't the most spacious grill on our list, but it does have the added benefit of being portable: You can lift the grill off its cart and bring it wherever it needs to go.
Fuel: Charcoal | Dimensions: 16.21 x 42.75 x 37.35 inches | Cooking area: 300 square inches | Weight: 60 pounds
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
This is a futuristic, do-it-all grill from the leading brand in luxury grills.
It comes with a price tag to match its bells and whistles.
Traeger grills are high-end favorites in general. With touchscreen controls, Bluetooth temperature probes, and Wi-Fi connectivity, the Timberline is one of the most high-tech Traegers on the market. Its wood pellet fuel adds delicious smoky flavor, but unlike with charcoal, you can dial in the temperature to within a few degrees and let the grill control itself automatically. The Timberline's vast 880 square inches of cooking surface can handle nine chickens, eight rib racks, or six pork butts. There's a bonus induction cooktop to the side that'll sear, sauté, simmer, or even sous vide.
We didn't name the Timberline best splurge for nothing. It's an entire outdoor kitchen all in one, and it clocks in at the highest price of any model in our entire set of grill tests — by a good margin. This grill may be a serious investment, but it’s a real gem for anyone who loves to cook outdoors.
Fuel: Wood pellets | Dimensions: 51 x 59 x 25 inches | Cooking area: 880 square inches | Weight: 238 pounds
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Will Dickey
This simple grill gets you true smoky flavor with easy temperature control.
It's tough to reach super-high temperatures for quick searing.
Pellet grills automate the process of managing the fire to combine the easy temperature control of gas with the tasty smoke flavor of charcoal. The Weber SmokeFire is an easy-to-use pellet model with some nice extras, including digital temperature controls, a pair of thermometer probes, and Wi-Fi connectivity to monitor them all via phone app. Its layered grates pack 672 square inches of space into a relatively compact unit that can be set anywhere from 200 to 600°F.
We got great control in testing between low smoking temperatures and the medium-high that's good for grilled chicken or thick burgers, but the SmokeFire had trouble maintaining the very top of its range for effective ultra-hot, ultra-fast searing. In the overall scheme of grills, it's also fairly expensive — but it's quite reasonable for a pellet model.
Fuel: Wood pellets | Dimensions: 33 x 43 x 47 inches | Cooking area: 672 square inches | Weight: 156 pounds
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Will Dickey
This convenient, portable, easy-to-clean machine manages true grilling temperatures.
It offers less versatility and size than most gas and charcoal grills.
Electric grills really can perform as well as gas or charcoal models, and the Weber Q 1400 is proof. This tabletop outdoor grill is ideal for small spaces, balconies, or buildings that ban open flames, with a legit-grilling maximum temperature of 600°F. It reached temperature quickly and consistently in our testing, and we got true searing and caramelization on steaks, chicken, and zucchini. Thanks to Weber's trademark porcelain-coated cast iron, the grates give excellent heat transfer and retention — with no gas tanks, charcoal ash, or even much smoke to worry about.
The downside of this or any electric grill is size. The Q 1400 is big enough to feed a small family, but it's nowhere near some of the monsters on our list. The short lid also limits what kinds of foods you can cook; a beer can chicken can't sit upright with the top closed, for example. You can cook low and slow, but there's no way to create any kind of smoker setup — although eliminating smoke is kind of the point of an electric grill.
Fuel: Electricity | Dimensions: 23.5 x 27 x 14.5 inches | Cooking area: 209.5 square inches | Weight: 28.5 pounds
Food & Wine / Greg DuPree
Quick setup and effective heat distribution make this grill a convenient to-go option.
The size and lack of a lid make it no good for long cooking or large items.
The Cuisinart Venture is a gas grill you can bring just about anywhere. With its integrated handle and wooden top/cutting board, it looks like a cute picnic basket. But once you fire it up, it can get to well over 600°F for nicely charred and grill-marked meats and veggies. The smartly designed grill has a hefty cast-iron grate, with a U-shaped burner powered by a camping-sized 1-pound propane tank that heats everything effectively.
The Venture aced our portable grill tests, turning out nicely charred onions, burgers, and buns alike. It's so easy to set up and use (and clean!) that it’s perfect for camping, tailgating, the beach, a park, or just your patio. As befits a portable model, though, this is a baby grill best for quick-cooking small items. You can't fit more than four burger patties at once, and the lack of a lid means there's very little temperature control.
Fuel: Propane | Dimensions: 13 x 16.25 x 10.75 inches | Cooking area: 154 square inches | Weight: 20 pounds
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
This grill has stellar heat retention, and uses app-enabled smart controls to do everything from smoking to searing accurately.
Like most kamado grills, it's fairly expensive and very heavy.
Originating in Japan, the kamado is a charcoal grill made of dense ceramic in a distinctive egg shape. By controlling the flow of air to the fuel in the bottom and adjusting the placement of the food above, you can achieve everything from slow-smoking to flame-charring.
Using a kamado grill is a little different than most other charcoal styles and can take some practice to figure out, but the Konnected Joe's smart functions take care of that for you. The digital controls can be set anywhere from 225 to 700°F via an onboard touchscreen or phone app. Then the grill lights the fire, monitors the internal temperature, and handles the ventilation settings automatically.
When we tested the Konnected Joe, we got excellent results roasting chicken wings, searing steak, and even baking a calzone. You can set its two-tier rack at different levels to cook different foods at the same time, to boot. It ran a few degrees hotter than it was supposed to, but that was consistent across temperatures so we could solve the problem by simply setting the temperature lower. Like all kamados, it's also very heavy; this model comes on a wheeled stand, but you're not going to want to move it around much after it's set up.
Fuel: Charcoal | Dimensions: 18 x 18.11 x 50.5 inches | Cooking Area: 250 square inches | Weight: 216 pounds
We've tested many grills over the years, and all those previous results helped us pick a total of 98 grill models across six separate categories for our latest round of testing. This included both full-size and portable models fueled by charcoal, gas, wood pellets, and electricity. We pitted each category of grill head-to-head in a series of tests over a year. The specifics of our trials were adapted for the different types of grills, but the goal was to evaluate the same basic characteristics for every single model.
Food & Wine/Russell Kilgore
After completing all of our other tests, we revealed the retail prices of the grills to consider value for money. Prices vary widely between grill types, so we compared them directly as well as to the averages for each category.
Webers pretty well dominated our list of the best gas grills. Besides the Weber E-325s above, we were impressed with Weber EX-325s, which adds smart functions for a small price bump, as well as the slightly cheaper Weber Spirit II. If you love to entertain and want a huge grill that's more reasonably priced, try the Monument Grills 4-Burner Propane Gas Grill.
For lovers of the classic wood flame, our list of the best charcoal grills also includes the huge-capacity Dyna-Glo X-Large Charcoal Grill and the mobile cart-based Char-Griller Classic Charcoal Grill. And yet another Weber model came in on top of the list: the all-time classic Weber Original Kettle Charcoal Grill. We've also thoroughly tested the best charcoal for grilling.
By automatically feeding in small, evenly sized bits of wood, the best pellet grills offer the flavor advantages of charcoal with pinpoint temperature control. They're pricey, but barbecue fanatics swear by them. Try the standard Traeger Wood Pellet Grill for lots of the functionality of the Traeger Timberline above at a lower price, or the Pit Boss Deluxe Wood Pellet Grill for a more budget-friendly choice that performed well.
Food & Wine / Will Dickey
A grill that plugs into the wall might not be traditional, but the best electric grills can heat quickly, deliver true searing, and clean up easily. Many can even be used to grill indoors, like our favorite inexpensive pick, the Presto Cool Touch Electric Indoor Grill. Electric grills are also quite versatile: Take Breville's The Smart Grill, which is grill, griddle, and sandwich press all in one.
By swapping a full-sized propane cylinder for a smaller tank you might use while camping, portable gas grills bring the power to wherever you need it. Two of our faves incorporate wheeled carts, which give them tons of mobility without sacrificing cooking space: the Weber Traveler Portable Gas Grill and the Napoleon TravelQ Portable Gas Grill. If you'd prefer a more affordable tabletop model, our top picks are the Cuisinart Venture above and the Coleman RoadTrip Portable Tabletop Grill.
Whether you're camping in the woods or tailgating in a stadium parking lot, a portable charcoal grill lets you make a gourmet meal away from home. The winner of our testing was the multipurpose Masterbuilt Portable Charcoal Grill and Smoker, which has a built-in wheeled cart and plenty of space. For an even more portable option, we like the Everdure Cube Portable Grill, which has a picnic basket–style design similar to the Cuisinart Venture above.
The outdoor grills that didn’t completely wow us enough to warrant a recommendation had one of a few major flaws. Some grills felt flimsy and unstable in construction, others couldn't heat to searing temperatures, and some were just plain fussy to use. Grills that didn’t make the cut include brands like Napoleon, Oklahoma Joe’s, Royal Gourmet, and portable gas grills from Char-Broil.
Food & Wine / Will Dickey
When it comes to grills, you’ve got lots of options. The first step to narrowing down which one to buy is to figure out how it should heat up. “Electric grills are generally the most convenient,” says Melanie Marcus, RD, a chef and dietician based in North Carolina. “They’re great for their easy-to-use plug-in capability, steady temperature control, and minimal clean-up. But electric grills aren’t as powerful as other types of grills, and don’t offer the same smoky flavor of a gas or charcoal grill."
Marcus recommends a charcoal grill for those who prefer traditional grilling methods and love the rich smokiness that just can’t be replicated by other fuel sources. “Charcoal grills take more effort to light and maintain while cooking, but result in an unmatched, delicious char,” she says.
Gas grills are great for fast grilling sessions since they heat quickly and are easy to control. “Gas grills are fuss-free and efficient,” says Marcus. These most commonly use liquid propane available in cylinders of different sizes at hardware stores, supermarkets, and gas stations everywhere. You can get built-in gas grills as well that connect to a natural gas line rather than propane tanks. There are also conversion kits available that can turn many propane stoves into natural gas ones — either way, you'll have to hire a professional to hook up a natural gas grill.
Finally, there’s the option of a pellet grill, which uses wood pellets instead of charcoal or gas. “They’re quite versatile,” says Marcus. “I think of pellet grills as smokers that can grill, bake, and roast. The key difference is that they often have a lower maximum temperature, which makes getting that traditional sear more difficult.”
The bigger the grill, the more food it can cook at once — but it'll also take up more space, use more fuel, and cost more money. You should start by considering the available space you have; a large grill simply might not fil on a small balcony or patio. Next, consider how many people you plan to cook for regularly to figure out how much cooking space you need. As a rough estimate, four burger patties can fit onto about 100 square inches but it's a very tight squeeze.
You'll also want to keep in mind how the grill will be "mounted." Most larger grills are built into some kind of stand or cart, which often add storage or prep space but also take up more room than just the grill itself. Heavy grills might also need to sit on a patio, bricks, or concrete pavers rather than bare uneven ground. Tabletop grills are much smaller than self-contained models, but they need a heatproof table or counter to sit on.
For gas grills, heat output is measured in British thermal units (BTUs). The number you want depends on the size of the grill but anything close to 100 BTUs per square inch (i.e. 10,000 BTUs for a 100-square-inch grill) indicates a fairly powerful machine. But pure power isn't the only thing that matters; the design and material of the burners and grates also affect a grill's maximum temperature and how quickly it can get there.
Electric grills, like most electrical appliances, measure power in watts. In our testing, machines generally needed at least 1,000 watts to achieve good searing temperatures, but we saw widely varying performance, even from models with the same wattage. The design of the grates, heating elements, and lid have a lot to do with how well an electric grill performs.
Charcoal and pellet grills don't exactly have a built-in power level. Their temperature depends on how much fuel is inside, and how quickly it's burning. What's important with these styles is that it's easy to access coals and simple to adjust the air flowing to them, usually by opening and closing vents.
“If you’re grilling, at a minimum, you’ll need high-quality tongs and a meat thermometer,” says Marcus. She recommends looking for tongs with long handles and a sturdy grip and opting for a digital thermometer for accurate measurements. Other accessories Marcus suggests are cooking trays to help keep things separated, a grill basket to help with delicate foods like fish or vegetables, and a grill brush for thorough cleaning. A pair of grill gloves is also great to have on hand for safety. Some grills can even accommodate rotisserie grill use.
Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore
Compared to an indoor grill, one advantage of an outdoor model is that most drips and food bits that fall into the bottom will burn away to ash. Depending on the fuel source, different grills may require slightly different cleaning methods (we like grill cleaners). So you'll want to check the manual or look online for cleaning recommendations specific to your unit, but some general techniques apply to them all. "Make sure your grill is completely cool. Spray the grill grate and the inside of the chimney (if one is present) with an all-natural cleaner. Then, remove and clean both sides of the grill grates," says Julia Binns, Senior Quality Analyst at Traeger. "We recommend not using wire brushes but rather a cleaning cloth or heavy-duty paper towels. Next, dispose of old foil or drip tray liners if present, and remove the drip tray and the heat baffle. If your grill has a hopper for pellets, charcoal, or wood, empty it.
Vacuum the inside of the grill thoroughly, making sure you collect as much residual sawdust and ash as possible. Scrub the inside of the grill and chimney. Again, we recommend not using wire brushes. Instead, use a cleaning cloth or heavy-duty paper towels. Spray the inside and outside of the grill with the all-natural cleaner and allow it to soak for several minutes before wiping it clean with a paper towel or cleaning cloth. Last, reinsert all components and the grill grates, and you are set!"
Rust will gradually eat away at steel, so it's best to keep it at bay on your grill with regular cleaning and by using a grill cover to protect it from rain. But rust can and does happen, and you can often clean small amounts off with dish soap, warm water, and a cloth. Just be sure to use a soft cloth or sponge rather than an abrasive scrubber to avoid causing further damage. If that doesn't work, you can try baking soda with vinegar or lemon juice, or even a bottle of cola. For more advanced rust cleaning, look for a dedicated rust remover product.
According to Marcus, “if you notice rust and corrosion, it’s likely time to replace your grill.” This is because “rust can cause damage to the structure of the grill and compromise its integrity, making it unsafe to use.”
It may also be time for an upgrade if your gas grill won’t light properly or struggles to stay lit, even after cleaning. That can indicate a clog or damage in the burner and interior gas tubing.
Electr Fireplace Insert Indoor Summer Rylander is a food and travel journalist who's covered food, beverages, and cooking products for Food & Wine, Allrecipes, Serious Eats, and The Kitchn. She wrote this article with notes and data from Food & Wine product testers, in-depth research, and conversation with a chef and dietitian.