Best grills 2024: the best smoker, charcoal, and gas grills – tested by experts

You can't have a family cookout without a good grill. But while they're a home entertaining essential, it can be hard to find the best grills. Grills come with a lot of unhelpful marketing jargon, so it's easy to get lost if you don't know your smokers from your side burners. They can also be very expensive, and if you're not sure what to look for, it can be daunting to take the plunge.

That's why I've tried and tested the best grills on the market. After tracking down the top grills from market leaders like Weber, Traeger, and Kamado Joe, I put them through their paces to find the very best. I've tested grills and other garden and kitchen products for my entire career, so I know exactly what makes the best grill.

I've covered charcoal grills for that unmistakable smoky flavor, smokers for succulent slow-cooked joints of meat, and gas grills for speed and ease of use. The best grills will let you cook almost anything, look great in your garden, and be simple to operate. They should also be affordable, easy to store, and quick to assemble.

The Quick List

Best grills 2024

Best grill you can buy

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If you're looking to step up your grilling game, Weber's Genesis II E-335 is a good place to start. It won't be for everyone, but it's a mighty grill that's up to just about any task you could throw its way. This high-tech grill can be paired with your smartphone for remote monitoring. When we put it to the test, we were amazed to find that you can pair the probe with a smartphone and set it to monitor a specific type of meat and doneness as it grilled.

This means incredible performance when cooking backyard staples like burgers or chicken. Unlike other grills where you judge your food by eye, this grill can help you grill perfectly to the exact degree. It was especially effective when we tested the side burner on a steak. The smart tech in the grill told us when the meat was at the perfect temperature for a juicy, medium-rare steak, taking away all the guesswork.

However, there's no denying that this is a hefty grill. If you've got a small garden it could dominate your space. Assembly took a while too, but once we had everything set up and ready to go, it was more than worth the trouble it took to assemble. You can monitor the grill from your phone but not change the temperature or control it, so keep this in mind when slow-cooking your meat. But while we love all the functionality, this grill is usually $1000 more expensive than our #1 pick.

Best gas grill

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While it's technically not as good as the Weber Genesis II E-335 above - it doesn't have an in-built thermometer, smart controls, or a side burner - this is the grill I recommend to most people. It has everything you need for a family barbecue. It has a large cooking area, is easy to set up and use, and most importantly, it produced the tastiest food in our last round of testing. Best of all, it's relatively cheap.

What I love most about this grill is that it's unfussy and straightforward. Where lots of grills are marketed to 'pit bosses' and need hours of training to make a simple meal, the Spirit II is fast and easy. You hardly need to think while you're cooking - Ignite it and you'll have burgers and sausages ready to go in minutes.

These burgers were delicious - the whole team agreed that they were the best on the test. They were perfectly seared and picked up a delicious char, but were still juicy on the inside. It was a similar story when we grilled vegetables. We also made an unbelievable spatchcock chicken. What's more, the cooking area is huge for a relatively compact grill. If you're smart about it, you could cook dozens of burgers without much effort.

The downsides are relatively minor. The side rack for propane is small, so it might be hard to hide a 30- or 40-lb tank. The grills are also wide - we found that thin slices of vegetables like zucchini easily slip through the gaps. We also felt that the plastic knobs feel a little cheap, but these are minor quibbles rather than serious problems.

There's more detail in our full Weber Spirit II E-310 review.

Best budget grill

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This is unlike most of the other entries in this list, because it is entirely free of bonus features. There's no thermometer, no probe, no side burners; not even a side table. However, if you just want a simple charcoal grill, this is the best one you can get. I've tested a lot of cheap charcoal grills over the years and none are remotely as good as this. Unlike other grills at this price point it's incredbly high-quality.

It makes some of the best-tasting food of any grill I've tested, and that;s because it's very heat-efficient. Unlike other charcoal grills, this makes it easy to light, and it heats up realtively quickly, sometiems taking around 20 minutes where other grills need at least half an hour. This heat effciency also means it has a searing hot spot in the center of the grill that's perfect for meat like burgers. However, the design of the grill means that there's gentler indirect heat at the sides, which is great for warming sides and vegetables. Altogether, it makes for an exceptional grill. The spatchcock chicken I made with this was excellent. Where other grills dried it out, this grill is excellent at retaining moisture, resulting in a crisp, juicy, perfect chicken.

Perhaps I'm just clumsy, but I've always found that there's a finesse to using the lid hook. When you're in the rush of grilling it's a little frustrating to try and hook the lid onto the hook as you cook. However, my biggest warning with this grill is that the tool hooks aren't useful. There are only two of them on either side of the handle. If you like to have a range of spatulas, tongs, forks, and brushes on hand, you'll find this limiting.

Best electric grill

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You might be surprised to see a portable grill so far up the list, but the Ninja Woodfire passed our tests with flying colors. We're confident that this is as good as some full-sized smokers. This portable electric grill has seven different functions, including grilling, roasting, smoking, frying, baking, dehydrating, and broiling. While it can't match the cooking area of a full-sized smoker, this grill is perfect for small families and camping trips, offering fast, simple, and delicious smoked foods.

The standout feature, however, is the smoker. The Woodfire uses a box of wood pellets to infuse your dishes with a delicious, smoky flavor. While the flavor's not the same as the smokers on bigger grills, it's still as good. Our tester Alex used it to make an incredible smoked pork tenderloin in just 45 minutes, and a neighbour she shared it with thought it was the best tenderloin they'd ever had.

It offers incredibly quick cooking. We had a joint of salmon ready in only 7 minutes, and if anything, it was almost too quick. The handy smart display will tell you when to flip your food, but we recommend keeping an eye on it anyway, as this grill is so efficient that it will cook faster than the given recipe times.

Alex's full Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill review has all the details.

Best large grill

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This is straightforward: the Weber Genesis SPX-435 Smart Gas Grill is huge. We found that it has nearly a thousand square inches of grilling area, not including the side burner. If you've got a big, hungry family, this will cater to everyone. It's more than double the size of some of the other grills on the test. It fits forty burgers. That's enough to feed an entire football team, let alone a family.

That's before you get into the extras. We're big fans of the sear station, designed to leave those classic charred lines in your steaks and burgers for maximum flavor by creating an intense heat zone. There's also a side burner that can be used to prep side dishes or cook off smaller items that can't go on the main grill.

There's also a foldable warming rack that can heat burger buns or keep hot dogs warm when they're done cooking, so you can prep your foods with different cooking times but the same serving time.

However, unlike the Weber SmokeFire below, you can't adjust the temperature of this grill via an app. You'll need to run it off an outlet, and it's the most expensive grill on test.

Best gas/charcoal hybrid

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Grill orthodoxy is that charcoal tastes better than gas, but it takes too long to heat up; gas is faster than charcoal, but tastes sterile in comparison. Enter the Charbroil Gas2Coal, which offers the best of both types of fuel.

Our expert tester and Head of Reviews Millie Fender was impressed with how quickly this grill reached temperature with both fuels. It's fast, responsive and perfect for cooking under pressure.

The Char-Broil Gas2Coal Hybrid Grill claims to be rust-resistant, and we can confirm that this is true - after more than a year of testing, we haven't seen any rust. However, to be safe, you should store it with a cover or inside your garage to keep the grill safe from the elements year-round.
The side burner caused the most trouble of the whole experience. It's raised above the side table, so the flame blows around a lot. If you want to cook a steak in a skillet as you grill, you'll have to ensure you do it in a sheltered area of the yard.

Best charcoal grill

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This grill delivered delicious food with a smokiness that a gas grill simply can't match. It made delicious hot dogs and perfect burgers, with enough room for 6 chicken skewers and perfectly charred vegetables. It grills great steaks in only two minutes, and you can also use it with a wok for delicious garlic prawns. There was a tiny amount of sticking, but not enough to be an issue.

There's a cool zone around the outside of the grill, but this is typical for kettle charcoal grills and useful for cooking burgers in the center while warming things like corn on the cob on the outside You can also overcome this by setting the grates at different heights, which is a great feature.

On test, the only drawbacks are that where we prefer lump wood charcoal, this grill was more built for briquettes, as lump wood fell between the grates. It took a long time to get going compared to a gas grill or ceramic kamado, almost an hour. What's more, we aren't sure that the extra $200 for the cart is worth it - you'd likely get better value buying the PRO22KLEG2 - it's identical but doesn't have the cart attached.

There's more detail in our full Napoleon Pro22K review.

Best pellet smoker

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Traeger revolutionized the grilling game when they introduced the world to wood pellet grills over 30 years ago. Rather than the searing heat of charcoal or gas grills, pellet grills cook at a much cooler 450°F. This imbues your food with a fantastic smoky flavor, and the Ironwood 650 takes this to extremes, with a Super Smoke mode that ensures your food is cooked 100% hardwood smoke.

We found that this grill has great capacity. Its 650 square inch volume means you can fit eight whole chickens, six pork butts, or five racks of ribs at a time. That's more than enough to feed even the biggest families.

The technological features of the Traeger Ironwood 650 are also impressive. For instance, once you've set the temperature, the grill maintains that temperature for you, saving you all the hassle. It's also outfitted with WiFi and a built-in meat probe, so you can monitor the internal temperature of the food and the grill all on your phone.

The smart tech in this grill means you need electric power to use it. That could be inconvenient if you don't have an outlet in your yard. The huge capacity is great, but means it'll take up a lot of space in your yard.

Best Kamado grill