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The 6 Best Portable Gas Grills of 2024

Here are our favorites for on-the-go grilling after testing

Best portable gas grills displayed on grass

The Spruce Eats / Russell Kilgore

Gas grills are undeniably convenient and easy to use, which makes them a prime choice if you're searching for a portable grill. As long as you have a small liquid propane tank in tow, you'll be able to cook up delicious food while tailgating, camping, or hanging out at the beach—no need to lug along charcoal or worry about finding an electrical outlet!

Portable gas grills come in many shapes and sizes, including freestanding and tabletop models, and as you shop, you'll want to consider factors like weight, capacity, and most importantly, how much power you need. We tested popular models side-by-side, assessing each one on everything from how easy it was to set up to cooking performance to the final cleanup.

Best Overall

Weber Q 2200 Gas Grill

Weber Q 2200 Gas Grill

Weber

Our Ratings
  • Ease of Use
    5/5
  • Performance
    5/5
  • Ease of Setup
    5/5
  • Design
    4/5
  • Ease of Cleaning
    5/5
What We Like
  • Extremely easy to set up and operate

  • Spacious cooking area

  • Impressive cooking performance

  • Large folding side tables

What We Don't Like
  • Somewhat heavy for a portable grill

  • Catch pan didn’t fit properly

If you’re searching for a gas grill you can bring on all your adventures that also performs well enough to be used at home, look no further than the Weber Q 2200. This portable grill has everything you need to cook up delicious meals, including 280 square inches of cooking space and two folding work tables to make food prep quick and easy. We tried it out at home and on the road to grill hot dogs, steaks, and veggies and were impressed with the final results each time.

The sturdy Weber Q 2200 has a number of high-end features usually reserved for full-size grills, such as a built-in lid thermometer, electronic ignition, and infinite control burner valve. When it comes to the gas grill’s performance, it gets hot quickly, cooks food evenly, and is easy to clean when you’re done. The unit has a cast aluminum body and ergonomic side handles to make it easy to move from one place to another. It's a bit heavy for a portable option, weighing in at over 43 pounds, but most of the weight is actually its cast-iron grates, which can be carried separately for easy transport.

One downside during assembly was the drip pan didn't fit properly, which necessitated a small trim to get it to slide in. Out of the box, this can be powered by 1-pound gas canisters, but Weber does sell an attachment if you want to use 20-pound tanks. We also tested and recommend the Q 1200, which has 189 square inches of cooking space and a 8,500-BTU burner.

Dimensions: 15.5 x 51.4 x 19.5 inches | Cooking Area: 280 square inches | Power: 12,000 BTUs/hour | Weight: 43.5 pounds

Most Versatile

Weber Traveler Portable Gas Grill

Weber Traveler Portable Gas Grill

Amazon

Our Ratings
  • Ease of Use
    4.6/5
  • Performance
    4.9/5
  • Design
    4.8/5
  • Ease of Cleaning
    4.3/5
  • Value
    4.8/5
What We Like
  • Unique fold-flat design

  • Large cooking surface

  • Effective nonstick grates

What We Don't Like
  • Uneven heating, especially with lid open

  • Difficult to clean

This may be one of the most expensive portable grills available, but you’re paying for quality, both in terms of performance and design. The Weber Traveler managed to heat up to 660 degrees in our testing, hot enough to sear steaks or even make pizza, while the non-stick coating on its cast-iron grate still kept delicate fish filets intact after cooking. We even found the built-in thermometer to be pretty accurate, something that’s rare in grills of all kinds.

It’s a fairly heavy grill, but the Traveler’s design means you won’t really ever have to lift it. The wheeled cart the grill is mounted in folds down flat, slowly and easily lowering into place after you step on the folding lever in the base. Adding to its versatility is the fact that it can use either a 1-pound propane cylinder meant for camping or the 20-pound full-size version. (You’ll need an adapter hose to use the larger tank, but it’s included.)

Two main complaints we have about this grill are that it heats somewhat unevenly when the lid is open and that it’s tough to clean. The first issue can be solved pretty easily by just leaving the lid closed while you’re cooking, especially at high temperatures, but the second one is kind of annoying. You’re not supposed to remove the grate to clean it, and its small holes catch a lot of food bits, so there’s a lot of scrubbing involved.

Dimensions: 42.7 x 43.6 x 37.2 inches | Cooking Area: 320 square inches | Power: 13,000 BTU/hour | Weight: 49 pounds

Best Budget

Weber Go-Anywhere Gas Grill

Weber Go-Anywhere 1-Burner Portable Propane Gas Grill

Amazon

Our Ratings
  • Ease of Use
    3.9/5
  • Performance
    4.6/5
  • Design
    4.4/5
  • Ease of Cleaning
    4/5
  • Value
    5/5
What We Like
  • Very lightweight

  • Plated steel legs flip to lock lid

  • Built-in carrying handle

What We Don't Like
  • Only compatible with 1-pound canisters

For a great portable grill that won’t break your budget or your back, the Weber Go-Anywhere Gas Grill should be at the top of your list. This affordable grill comes from one of the most well-known brands in grilling, and it has all the features you need to cook up delicious meals on the go. It features 160 square inches of cooking space over a single burner. Even though it only produces 6,500 BTUs of power, it was able to heat up to 600 degrees fairly efficiently. We got good results with both delicate fish and medium-rare steak, though the stainless-steel grate doesn’t hold heat quite as well as the cast iron most similar models use. We got some pretty wild swings in temperature when opening the lid and adding food.

The Weber Go-Anywhere is appropriately named, as it’s very compact and surprisingly lightweight. One of the grill’s coolest features is its plated steel legs, which can be pivoted up to lock the lid in place during transportation. However, we didn’t love the way this unit is laid out: The propane tank attaches at an angle that hangs down below the bottom of the grill, so you have to set it up on the edge of a table or other flat surface to make room. The control knob is also positioned right next to the gas tank attachment, which makes adjusting it a little awkward. With that said, the compact form and low price make this an excellent choice for rustic camping, or for riverside or lakeside cooking of the fish you just caught.

Dimensions: 14.5 x 21 x 12.2 inches | Cooking Area: 160 square inches | Power: 6,500 BTUs/hour | Weight: 13.5 pounds

Best for Camping

Cuisinart Venture Gas Grill

Cuisinart CGG-750 Venture Gas Grill

Amazon

Our Ratings
  • Ease of Use
    5/5
  • Performance
    4.9/5
  • Design
    4.9/5
  • Ease of Cleaning
    5/5
  • Value
    4.5/5
What We Like
  • Very compact and lightweight

  • No flare-ups during cooking

  • 9,000-BTU burner

What We Don't Like
  • Lack of a lid makes for uneven cooking

Whether it’s hiking, kayaking, or cross-country skiing, the Cuisinart Venture is perfect for any adventure. With its large carrying and rectangular shape, the compact unit looks like a picnic basket, until you disassemble it to reveal the propane tank hidden in the bottom section and the nonstick-coated cast-iron grate with 9,000-BTU burner in the middle. It’s not the biggest or most powerful grill in the world, but it’s small enough to carry in your pack, and it managed to reach searing temperatures in our Lab testing. During high-temperature cooking, neither delicate fish nor strip steak stuck to the grate, and we also didn’t get any flare-ups despite the grate sitting quite close to the burner.

The main issue with the Venture is its lack of a lid. There’s a wooden cutting board/serving tray that sits on top of the grate when the grill’s not in use, but it’s completely open to the elements while cooking. Most grills have a domed lid that helps distribute the heat from the burner, and without that, we got uneven temperatures—enough that one end of the steak started to burn before the other was sufficiently seared. It might interfere with perfect-looking grill marks, but we’d recommend rotating and moving larger items around during cooking to achieve even doneness.

Dimensions: 13 x 16.3 x 10.8 inches | Cooking Area: 154 square inches | Power: 9,000 BTU/hour | Weight: 20.6 pounds

Best Tabletop

Coleman Portable Propane Grill

Coleman RoadTrip 225 Portable Tabletop Propane Grill

Amazon

Our Ratings
  • Ease of Use
    5/5
  • Performance
    4.5/5
  • Design
    4.2/5
  • Ease of Cleaning
    5/5
  • Value
    4.5/5
What We Like
  • Large cooking area

  • 11,000 BTUs between the two burners

  • Excellent searing

What We Don't Like
  • Low-quality construction

The RoadTrip 225, unsurprisingly, offers 225 square inches of cooking space and is great for a road trip. The grill is compact and lightweight but has two separate burners that put out 11,000 BTUs of heat. It got to seriously high temperatures in our testing—650 degrees created a beautiful sear and crust on a steak—but the temperature dropped precipitously and became uneven from one side to the other after adding food and leaving the lid open for a few minutes.

That said, the nonstick grate didn’t stick, even to delicate fish filets, and was able to brown and crisp the skin nicely. The grill was simple to assemble and fire up, making it easy to attach a 1-pound propane tank; this was notably difficult with some of the other models we tested. Plus, we figured out the drip tray can be used as a water basin for steaming and could add a herbaceous quality by simply adding herbs or foraged greenery.

But we also didn’t love the construction of the RoadTrip 225; it feels a little cheaply built, and the lid doesn’t have a lock to hold it in place when you’re moving the grill around. Make sure you have a stable tabletop to put this on and don’t try to move it until it’s fully cooled.

Dimensions: 21.8 x 18.3 x 10.6 inches | Cooking Area: 225 square inches | Power: 11,000 BTU/hour | Weight: 25.6 pounds

Best for Groups

Napoleon TravelQ Portable Gas Grill

Napoleon PRO285X TravelQ Portable Propane Gas Grill

Amazon

Our Ratings
  • Ease of Use
    4.8/5
  • Performance
    4.9/5
  • Design
    4.9/5
  • Ease of Cleaning
    5/5
  • Value
    4.5/5
What We Like
  • Powerful 14,000-BTU burners

  • Large cooking area

  • Easy-to-fold cart

What We Don't Like
  • Temperature drops quickly with lid open

Throwing a beach party for all your friends? The Napoleon Travelq is the full-featured grill-on-a-cart you need to wheel out onto the sand. Its dual-sided cast-iron grates can hold up to 18 burgers at a time, with its nearly 14,000 BTUs of power split between separately controlled left and right burners. That means you can, say grill chicken at lower heat on one side while you char asparagus on high on the other, or leave one side off completely for successful indirect grilling.

In testing, we were most impressed with the cast-iron grate, which didn't stick at all to fish or steak, and features a unique wave shape to keep items from falling through the gaps. With the lid shut, it was able to reach well over 600 degrees (albeit with 10 minutes of preheating), and the control dials are actually effective and reasonably accurate at adjusting the flames. However, we found that the temperature dropped quickly when we opened the lid to put food on or move it around; the steak wound up underdone in the same amount of time other grills got it to a perfect medium-rare.

The Travelq really does pack a lot of useful space into a small package. There are 285 square inches of cooking space, plus a pair of prep tables on the sides that fold into a dolly configuration when you collapse the cart. (The instructions on how to do this are helpfully printed on one of the prep tables so you'll always have them at hand.) The wheels and locking lid setup make it very easy to move the grill around, but it's fairly heavy and not the best choice for lugging a long distance down a rugged trail.

Napoleon TravelQ PRO285X grilling burgers, kebabs, and corn

The Spruce Eats / Russell Kilgore

Dimensions: 20.3 x 44.3 x 39.8 inches | Cooking Area: 285 square inches | Power: 13,990 BTU/hour | Weight: 50.5 pounds

Final Verdict

The Weber Q 2200 is compact enough to take tailgating or to the beach, but this top-rated grill still offers a spacious cooking surface and powerful heating elements. If you plan on camping, the smaller Cuisinart CGG-750 Venture Grill has a convenient carrying handle and a cutting board top.

How We Tested

We sent various portable gas grills to the homes of our expert reviewers in addition to testing in our Lab. Our Lab testers grilled and seared steak, salmon, onions, hamburgers, and hamburger buns on each model to thoroughly analyze the features and performance. Additionally, the grills were carried around our Birmingham, Alabama, campus to test portability. Our home reviewers spent weeks assessing how these grills stood up to everyday cooking and cleaning. They were also able to offer additional insights into using these during typical weather conditions. The grills are all rated on heat control and retention, size, features, performance, ease of cleaning, and overall value.

Grilled onions with tongs

The Spruce Eats / Russell Kilgore

Other Options We Tested

  • nomadiQ Portable Propane Gas Grill: We've recommended the NomadiQ in the past since it's incredibly lightweight and very simple to set up outdoors. We revisited that since we experienced large flare-ups and extremely uneven heat distribution when we tested it for a second time. And for such a small grill, it was difficult to clean. It's worth considering if you're in an urban environment, but for most, there are better portable grills to meet your needs.
Burgers being grilled on the Weber Go-Anywhere portable grill

The Spruce Eats / Russell Kilgore

What to Look for in a Portable Gas Grill

Size

Portable grills will inevitably be smaller than typical backyard grills, but they still come with enough space for a cookout (though you might need to do a couple of rounds of cooking). When it comes to the cooking area, you'll need 72 square inches for each serving, so if you will regularly be cooking for four or more people at a time, a larger-sized portable grill will cut down on cooking time. You'll also need to factor in carrying weight and storage. If you'll need to carry the grill a few hundred yards or more, a lighter grill (or one that can be easily wheeled) might work better.

Fuel Type

Portable gas grills will always be fueled by a portable propane gas hookup. Propane will need to be procured separately at your favorite home improvement or outdoor store. Many of these grills will work off the very small 1-pound propane cylinders, with a different attachment needed for larger propane tanks. The difference between the two kinds is weight—larger tanks are heavier and need to be carried separately from the grill—and amount. The smaller tanks are easier to carry in a backpack but will run out of fuel within a couple of hours.

Tabletop or Stand

Some portable grills are meant for tabletop use—they can also be used on the ground if you’re comfortable with that, but it may not be as convenient. They'll often have fold-out legs and built-in carrying handles for easy storage and set-up. Grills with tall legs let you work at a comfortable standing height, but the legs add weight and bulk, so they’re not as convenient to carry. The legs also might not be as stable and wobble a bit while you're cooking.

Weber Q2200 Gas Grill on the bed of a truck

The Spruce Eats / Camryn Rabideau

FAQs

How do you start a portable gas grill?

Portable gas grills are typically quite easy to start. After you connect the propane and have checked for leaks, turn on the burner(s). Some grills, such as the Weber Q 2200, have electronic ignition, in which case you simply push the button to ignite the gas. For grills that lack this feature, you'll need to use extra-long matches or a match holder to ignite the propane and get the burner started.

How do you clean a portable gas grill?

You should clean your portable grill the same way you would clean a full-size gas grill. Once you're finished cooking, allow the grill to cool down slightly, then brush grease and food pieces off the grates with a damp grill brush. You may also need to wipe down the interior of the grill and empty or dispose of the grease tray at the bottom.

Can you use a portable gas grill indoors?

You should never use a propane-powered grill indoors. These grills require open air for proper ventilation, as they can give off carbon monoxide. If you want to cook inside, you'll want to look for an indoor grill, which are typically electric.

Do you need a regulator for a portable gas grill?

Portable gas grills are generally designed to be used with small 1-pound propane tanks, and with these, a regulator is not needed. However, if you want to use a larger propane tank—such as a 20-pound tank—with a portable grill, you'll need an adapter and regulator. Most brands sell the appropriate attachment for their portable grill models.

Why Trust The Spruce Eats?

This roundup was put together by The Spruce Eats commerce writer Jason Horn, who’s been writing about food and drinks for almost 20 years, and grilling for a lot longer than that. He chooses gas over charcoal for control and ease of use, plus he’s come up with a pretty solid method of smoking on a gas grill.

This roundup was originally written by Camryn Rabideau, product tester and grill expert for The Spruce Eats. She's done firsthand testing of the Weber Q2200, which took the overall spot on this list, as well as the Masterbuilt Bluetooth Digital Electric Smoker and more.

Originally written by
Camryn Rabideau
Camryn Rabideau

Camryn Rabideau is a freelance writer and product reviewer. She's an expert on all things home, including kitchen appliances, grills, and other cooking gadgets.

Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
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