The best small portable BBQs to buy this summer, tried and tested
Sun’s out, grill’s out – it’s time to fire up the barbecue. With holidays largely based in Blighty this year, grabbing every opportunity to be outdoors makes good sense.
But while there’s a place for wheeling out a huge beast of a grill, sometimes small is beautiful. The new, neat barbecues are little enough to pop in the boot of the car, meaning they are “staycation ready”.
For those of us without a garage or a shed to store them in, they’ll fit in a cupboard, and if a balcony is the extent of your outdoor space, they’ll work brilliantly there too (health and safety permitting).
The range available now covers lots of bases, from grilling to smoking. Here, we put them through their paces.
Best for... after-work grilling
1. Cobb Premier Charcoal Barbecue Grill and Carry Bag (£136.50, Lakeland)
A bowl barbecue, the charcoal is held in a central chamber with a moat around that can be filled with liquid for slower cooking that imparts extra flavour.
→ Set-up
You can use regular charcoal, but it’s worth getting the Cobb “cobblestones” (£15.75, Lakeland), which fit the grill snuggly and light easily, ready to cook in 15 minutes. Putting it together was easy (no need for a screwdriver), although the picture in the instruction book didn’t match the Cobb exactly; check the videos on YouTube instead.
→ Cooking
The flat grill plate won’t give your food charred stripes (you can buy a ridged griddle) but, given the heat is concentrated in the centre, it did give a surprisingly even, powerful heat. The genius bit is the lid: lift up the grill plate, throw a few wood chips on the charcoal and pop the lid over the food for a fantastic smoky flavour.
→ Safety
The body stays cool on the outside (although the lid gets hot) and its feet grip well, so it’s unlikely to slide about.
→ Mess factor
Another area where the Cobb excels. The charcoal sits in a basket that’s easy to lift out to cool, while the bowl, lid and grill plate are machine washable.
→ Portability
On the large side but not heavy (3.7kg), and comes with a carry bag.
Best for... wild camping
2. EcoGrill (from £7.99, Ecogrill)
Ordinary disposable barbecues are a major litter issue (Brighton and Hove Council recently announced that it plans to ban them from the seafront). This all-wood alternative is entirely burnable or biodegradable, with no chemical accelerants added.
→ Set-up
The charcoal and resin starter are contained in a slice of Latvian alder, so it’s just a case of taking off the recyclable film. You’ll need your own grill rack, and a burn-safe patch of ground or a heatproof tray. It can be used inside a larger barbecue drum, too.
→ Cooking
With nothing to raise the rack above the charcoal, there’s a risk of the food being carbonised. My vegetables were acrid with smoke, and the 20cm-round cooking area on my medium-sized EcoGrill was too small for more than two people. Best used in a barbecue with a raised rack (which increases the cooking area but defeats the point of being disposable), or to heat a pan.
→ Safety
The wooden surround is meant to hold up until the charcoal is spent, but mine soon had flames licking out of the sides and started to burn in earnest before all the charcoal was fully lit.
→ Mess factor
You should be left with nothing but a pile of ash.
→ Portability
A neat package (2kg), but you’ll still need to carry a grill. Best as a low-stress bonfire kit, and a lot of fun in a Bear Grylls way.
Best for... no-frills alternative to disposables
3. Asda Festival Grill (£15, Asda)
This simple grill is a bargain (I’ve seen similar models advertised for twice the price) and will last into next summer and beyond.
→ Set-up
A basic oblong barbecue with no set-up required. The folding legs are a bit stiff but mean there’s no need to sit it on bricks (it can hold itself up well). The build feels solid for the price, and a handle to lift the grill is included.
→ Cooking
The design is quite shallow so it’s best to keep a fairly low level of charcoal in there, but sausages cooked up perfectly well and had a decent area to cook on. You may find you need to top up the charcoal. There’s no option to cook “lid down”.
→ Safety
Gets searingly hot, but is reasonably stable.
→ Mess factor
The vessel cools fast once the charcoal is spent (there’s no insulation), but folding the legs away after using it can get a bit mucky.
→ Portability
There’s no carry case but it’ll fit perfectly well in a carrier bag or tote, and weighs a mere 1.9kg. A good one for festivals.
Best for... serious chefs
4. B-4 Full Metal Jacket Dual Chamber Konro (£250, Chefs Locker)
Japanese Konro grills cost £500 plus, so this version for home cooking is a relative bargain. It has the same Diatomite rock (the fossilised remains of aquatic algae) lining which holds the heat well.
→ Set-up
Instructions are in Japanese but there are English ones online; it’s just slotting in the racks. Tongs are included. Bintochan charcoal is recommended, but I used regular charcoal successfully. You need to get the charcoal fully lit before adding it – I used a chimney starter.
→ Cooking
Vegetables ended up with patches of a crisp, ethereal crust that I’ve had in restaurants in Japan. It’s recommended for skewers rather than larger cuts, but I cooked chicken pieces and a steak and they were delectably browned with a caramelised, smoky taste, even though no wood chips were added.
→ Safety
The outside got hot, but not enough to burn you; the grill rack slides around, so strictly for adults to handle.
→ Mess factor
There’s minimal ash left in the bottom and the high heat means the stone lining stays clean and white. You can buy a special pot for the hot coals but it’s fiddly transferring them.
→ Portability
Heavy (5.9kg), though sturdy handles make it easy to lift. The fragile lining could break if dropped. It can also crack if water gets on the hot surface, so sand is your only option if you want to put out the charcoal.
Best for... versatile cooks
5. Gusta Mini Smoker (£79, Sous Chef)
This cute miniature version of an oil-drum smoker means that you can do proper American-style barbecue, joints of meat cooked low and slow, with the lid down. There’s even a thermometer to check the temperature inside, and you can use it as a regular barbecue grill with the lid up, too.
→ Set-up
Takes about 20 minutes to assemble with a screwdriver but is pretty straightforward. After that, you can light wood or charcoal in the base, popping firelighters (the wood, wool and wax ones work well) underneath the rack.
→ Cooking
The removable divider makes it easy to spread the coals to make hotter and cooler sections, and the heat spread well. Vents make it possible to regulate the heat, but it takes practice to get it right for slow-cooking, and you’ll probably find yourself having to adjust the charcoal levels often. I cooked chicken legs, adding wood chips for a fantastic smoked flavour.
→ Safety
The drum gets very hot, but being able to put a lid on it reduces the risk of sparks.
→ Mess factor
It cools fairly fast with the lid on and vents closed (which will put out the last of the charcoal), and the handle means it can be carried while still slightly warm. The rim around the edge of the base makes tipping out the last bit of ash tricky.
→ Portability
With a sturdy carry handle and a lid that fastens on, it’s perfect to stick in the boot or carry to the park. Weighs 4.9kg.
Best for... purists on the move
6. Everdure Cube by Heston (£159, Kettler)
Made by Australian company Everdure, this simple box has a plastic and bamboo lid, which doubles as storage and a chopping board.
→ Set-up
The sturdy “cube” contains a square charcoal bowl, which is fiddly to get in and out, although the two racks are simple to lay on top.
→ Cooking
Its depth means the food is well raised from the heat, and both veg and meat cooked well without burning (no attractive charred stripes). But with no vents there is no way of regulating the heat.
More seriously, there’s no handle or lifting tool to get the grill on and off, so it’s tricky to add or move charcoal to make hotter or cooler areas, never mind rescue the inevitable veg slice that slips between the bars.
→ Safety
The outside got surprisingly hot, but the carry handles are designed to make it safe to carry even mid-cook. Deep sides limit flying sparks. But the grill is awkward to lift without a handle.
→ Mess factor
Takes a while to cool, but wipes up fairly well after tipping out the ashes.
→ Portability
Sturdy handles, but you’ll need to wait for it to be really cool before putting the plastic lid on. The heaviest at 7.3kg.
Handy gadgets
1. Grillbot BBQ cleaner (£98.99, Amazon)
If cleaning a bigger barbecue puts you off using it, this might be worth the investment. Switch it on, close the lid and its brushes whirl over the grill.
2. BBQ Dragon fan (£49, Tbbq)
Blasting charcoal with air helps to get the fire going. This purpose-made fan works off a portable phone charger. You can clip it to the barbecue so you don’t need to stand there holding it.
3. Woodsmith wood chips (£12 for 1.5kg, Woodsmith Wood)
Woodsmith stocks a range, including apple (for shellfish and chicken), blackthorn (for fish and white meat) and rich hazel (a good all-rounder).
