The best charcoal grills for 2021: Char-Griller, Weber, Napoleon and more – CNET [CNET]

Charcoal grills often lack the luxury looks of gas grills, but the best charcoal grills will absolutely compete when it comes to flavor. They’re typically easier to set up than gas grills, too. All you need is a bag of charcoal, a lighter and your favorite ingredients in order to achieve a quick meal with true smoky flavor. On top of that, they’re often more affordable than gas grills, making charcoal a good option for tight budgets and beginner grillers.

From kettle-style to cart-style, feature-filled to bare minimum, we tested eight charcoal grills with steak, chicken and ribs to find out which are the best bets for your next cookout. We update this list periodically.

How we test

Testing charcoal grills requires a lot of hands-on cooking, and your results will obviously vary based on your technique and ingredients, among other factors. Depending on the season, and how your charcoal grill is set up, your experience cooking and grilling will likely be very different from ours. For example, a kettle-style charcoal grill left in the July sun all day will run a lot hotter than a grill in the cooler spring months. 

First, a note about grill thermometers. None of the hood thermometers built into these grills mirrored the temperatures recorded by our own thermocouples and data software. It’s not uncommon for grill thermometers to read high, so we recommend keeping an oven thermometer or Bluetooth thermometer handy while you’re grilling, either for your meat or for the grill’s temperature itself. 

High-heat searing with steak

To test high heat, we seared two steaks on each grill. Charcoal was measured in a chimney by grams, and in a ratio for that grill’s specific surface area. We lit the charcoal inside the chimney, letting it burn until the smoke dissipated and the coals began to turn grayish white, then put the charcoal into the grill. After letting the grill heat up for 10 minutes, the steaks are ready to hit the grates. 

We placed two steaks on each charcoal grill near the center and seared for five minutes before flipping them over and searing for five minutes more. In a good, reliable grill this will give you a steak with a seared outside and medium rare to medium center. If you prefer meat that’s more done, you can extend the cooking time or sear and finish cooking in an oven. 

The best charcoal grill for steak-searing in our lineup was the Weber Classic Kettle. The steak had nice grill marks while keeping a medium doneness on the inside. The worst was our Tacklife review unit, which didn’t hold much heat and didn’t sear while cooking. The steak on that grill needed an additional 5 minutes to get to a temperature of 135 F, the minimum for medium rare. 

Chicken and indirect, medium heat

Next, we tested each grill’s medium heat cooking capability by roasting whole chickens. The trick here is to keep the grills at a hot enough temperature to cook a chicken for upwards of two hours. 

For our tests, each grill gets a full chimney of lit charcoal, and one six-pound chicken opposite the coals for indirect heat. 

Cooking over charcoal takes longer than cooking with a gas grill, and we typically need to add more fuel during the cook to keep our grills above 300 degrees for the full duration. Our favorite bird from this batch was the one cooked on the Weber, though it was a tough call. The Nexgrill cart-style grill came in right behind, a close second in terms of flavor and texture.

The difference between the two was largely in the crispiness of the skin, with Weber being superior. Meat from the Nexgrill was delicious, with just a bit more flavor than the Weber. Between the two, I’d say it largely depends on your budget and what style of grill you prefer for other meats like burgers or steak. Weber certainly had the superior sear in that category. 

Low and slow ribs

Our last test centers around barbecue ribs, specifically baby back pork ribs. This style of cooking requires strict temperature control over a period of multiple hours. Ideally, a quality charcoal grill (or any smoker) will keep its fire humming along as close to 225 F for as long as possible. 

To that end, we set up each grill for a low and slow burn, using the charcoal snake method. In the case of kettle models, we arrange coals in a semicircle around the grill’s inner wall. The charcoal briquettes (Kingsford Blue) form a line two coals wide and two coals deep. We also drop a few chunks of smokewood on top of the snake (aka fuse). On cart-style grills, we modify the snake to run in right angles to match their rectangular-shaped fireboxes. 

Next, we light each grill’s snake at one end of the chain with five lit briquettes (tumbleweed fire starters work, too). We set all air vents on each grill (top and bottom) to the halfway open position. Lastly, we place one rack of ribs on each grill for indirect cooking, with the meat not sitting directly above the coals.

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thermometer, confirmed this. Throughout the Weber’s 6 hour, 32 minute cook time, the grill’s internal heat levels never wandered beyond 25 degrees of our target, 225 F. In fact, most of the time the temperature hovered between 220 and 230 F. As a result, ribs cooked in the Weber came out tender, juicy and full of smoky flavor.

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We noted similar temperature performance from the NexGrill, along with similar rib results. Cooking ribs low and slow on the NexGrill required just 4 hours, 30 minutes. Its rack came out well too, though like the Napoleon, its bark was more pronounced than what the Weber produced. 

Our rib experience with a few of the other grills was far from ideal. The TackLife was particularly bad. At times, the inside of this grill hit temperatures as high as 400 F. And sadly, the ribs it produced came out burned, charred and overdone.

Other grills we’ve tested

The CNET Smart Home editors have been serving up grill data for a few years now. In addition to the models we recommend above, here are the other charcoal grills we’ve tested: 

• KitchenAid Cart-Style Charcoal Grill: KitchenAid’s $199 cart-style charcoal grill has heavy-duty cast iron grates as well as two foldable side trays for extra workspace. It didn’t wow us in any of our tests, but wasn’t noticeably bad either.
• Char-Griller Super Pro: This $147 cart-style charcoal grill was average in our tests, but it is compatible with a side smoker sold separately, if you’re looking for a charcoal grill with great versatility. 
• Cuisinart Kettle Charcoal Grill: This 18-inch kettle-style grill costs $90 and includes all the basic features you’d expect. It couldn’t beat the Weber for classic kettle cooking, but it’s a solid second choice for an affordable kettle-style grill. 
• Tacklife Oversize Grill (22.5-inch): Tacklife fared the worst in our testing. It costs just $77, and while price doesn’t always reflect performance or quality, in this case it did. 
• Dyna-Glo Heavy Duty Charcoal Grill: This cart-style model from Dyna-Glo is pricier at $200, and has killer looks but only fair performance.
• Masterbuilt Gravity Series 560: This $500 cart-style model from Masterbuilt is pricey but unique. It burns charcoal but controls its fire and heat levels electronically like a pellet smoker. It performs well too, though it could be more fuel efficient. The Masterbuilt’s hardware isn’t weatherized against rain either. Read out full review.
• Royal Gourmet CD1824A 24-Inch Charcoal Grill: At $120 this cart-style grill is very affordable. It also offers a decent amount of cooking space when you count its upper rack. Apart from chicken that was nicely done, its performance was mediocre. It also burned through more charcoal than other grills. 

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