Best Portable Grills for Cooking Out

Coleman LXE Portable Travel Grill

​Distinction: Most uniquely designed travel grill

Description: The Coleman LXE Portable Travel Grill looks a little like a spaceship but bears the iconic Coleman brand name, so you’ll be happy you invested in this propane grill for your outdoor adventures. This product offers outdoor cooks 285-square inches of grilling surface and 20,000 BTUs of heat, so this is no wimpy unit. You can swap out cooktops. Replace the grill with a griddle or stove grate (not included) to churn out everything from toasted cheese sandwiches for the kids to oversized steaks and burgers. This grill folds down for transport and easily fits into most car trunks. 

Cuisinart CGG-180T Portable Travel Grill

​Distinction: Lightest propane travel grill

Description: Go ahead. Call it cute! The Cuisinart CGG-180T Portable Travel Grill is little and the 13.5-pound unit may look small, but it’s mighty, inviting owners to pile on the meats: 4 pounds of fish; up to 10 chicken breasts, 8 steaks or plenty of burgers. The grilling area measures 145-square-inches and the burner puts out 5,500 BTUs via the porcelain-enamel grate and stainless steel burner. Use the carry handle to get it from your car to your cooking site, pull down the aluminum legs fitted with stabilizing feet and let the party begin. When you pack up at day’s end, the lid lock keeps everything secure. 

Cuisinart CGG—200B Portable Travel Grill

Distinction: Best extra feature: fold-down side shelves

​​Description: This portable grill is the sleeker, pricier elder brother of the aforementioned red Cuisinart grill, and like all older brothers, it comes with its own unique features. The 12,000-BTU unit offers grillers a stainless-steel burner while the cast-iron cooking grate is enamel coated. The side shelves fold down if not needed to garnish or spice up meats and there’s a temperature gauge to help folks who cook by the thermometer attain grilling perfection. This Cuisinart comes with the brand’s signature “Twist-start” ignition and the surface is roomy enough to pile on breasts, wings, burgers or steaks and ample room throw in veggies and potatoes for the non-meat eaters. 

Smoke Hollow Portable Travel Grill

Distinction: Best bet for keeping food hot via the warming rack

Description: You may never before have heard of this brand, but it’s worth a look-see if you need a budget-friendly travel grill with loads of features. The Smoke Hollow Portable Grill gives you both a primary stainless steel cooking area measuring 205-square inches and a 105-square inch warming rack to keep grilled items hot. This model features a temperature gauge, stainless steel drip tray, legs that fold down for transport and 10,000 BTU burner. Roomy and sleek, the lock-down features of this travel grill are tenacious yet the unit weighs just 20 pounds. Hate to clean a grill once you’re done? Just set the gauge on high for 5 minutes, let what's left behind incinerate and dump the ashes. 

Weber Portable Travel Grill

Distinction: Most affordable iconic travel grill

​​​Description: It’s the Cadillac of charcoal grills and this travel size unit doesn’t disappoint, but you may have to look twice at the price because this is the least expensive of the models profiled in this review! It’s probably not the travel grill to choose if you’ll be cooking for a crowd, but design integrity and high reviews from folks who wouldn’t think of buying another brand should convince you to consider this affordable product. In fact, it’s hard to find critics of this 9.5-pound grill. Compact and featuring that iconic porcelain-enameled lid, owners like the dampers that help control cooking temperatures, say that the grate is easy to clean and rust complaints are non-existent.

Weber Q1000 Portable Travel Grill

​Distinction: Most sophisticate liquid propane model

Description: The name may be the same, but the Weber Q1000 is light years away from the aforementioned charcoal-burning basic model featured above. And to get all of this sophistication, you’ll spend four times as much cash. The return on investment is substantial: It’s fully-assembled so take it out of the box and it’s ready to deliver 8500 BTUs over a 189-square-inch cooking area. The lid and body are crafted of cast aluminum and the cast-iron grates are clad in porcelain enamel. This Weber comes with push-button ignition capability and “infinite” burner valve settings. 

Char-Broil Grill2Go X200 Portable Travel Grill

Distinction: Best infrared travel grill model

​Description: Yes, this travel grill looks like a piece of sturdy equipment ideal for military use. Char-Broil refers to this propane gas grill as “road worthy,” and who are we to doubt it? The firebox is constructed of tough cast aluminum, the frame has been tested for high-impact transport and the legs and carry handles are beefy. Grill plenty of items at the same time on the 200-square-inch stainless steel grate. This model offers “no flare up” TRU-infrared cooking and features a handy temperature gauge. Secure the lid's dual stainless steel latches for a tight fit. This travel grill won’t kill your budget, so if you’re the rugged outdoors type, this grill may have your name written all over it.

Weber Charcoal Go-Anywhere Grill Portable Travel Grill

Distinction: Best Weber with oversized cooking surface 

Description: If you’re a back-to-basics grill seeker favorably disposed to like the Weber brand but the aforementioned kettle top is too small to meet your needs, meet the 6-burger charcoal grill that should serve your purposes, last many years and won’t require you to spend a fortune to stow it and go. Compact and lightweight at just under 14-pounds, you may find the tuck-and-carry lid lock that folds down to make grill legs quite innovative. The porcelain-enamel lid interior is standard Weber material so heat is retained and when in operation, you get 160-square-inches of cooking surface to work with. Cooking grates are steel-plated and help retain heat when the travel grill is in use. Once you lock this model down, adjust the dampers to control interior temperatures. It’s easy to clean, too. 

Blackstone Table Top Portable Travel Grill

Distinction: Best or​​​​​iginal storage design

Description: This travel grill stands out because it looks distinct. Advertised as convenient, portable and designed for on-the-go grilling trips and at-home (patio/balcony) use, the built-in grease catcher is efficient, popular and the reason owners choose this unit over competitors in its price class. The electric igniter offers speedy start-up and the stainless steel H-shaped burner is engineered for heat distribution and fast cook times. With heat output at 12,000 BTUs, the roomy cooking surface measures 260-square-inches, but it's the unique storage design you may like best: hang the griddle upside down from a hook if you're short on space. Additionally, just wipe down the surface with a paper towel and clean-up is over and done with.

Giantex Portable Travel Grill

Distinction: Most versatile travel grill

Description: This easy-to-operate grill’s price is in the middle range and you get lots of bang for your buck. The 2-burner grill is fashioned 430 grade stainless steel and you get two “push-and-turn” ignition burners to speed up the time it takes to ready each surface for food. Heat output is 20,000 BTUs and each burner functions independently so you can prepare food at differing temperatures. The legs fold up for storage and the lid locks securely. You are going to have to assemble this grill using hardware that comes with the product, but once it’s constructed, it’s ready to hit the road for camping, boating or balcony duty.