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Best Outdoor Grill Deals: Big Savings on Portable BBQs and Well-Known Brands – CNET

September 28, 2023 Admin

Weber Original Kettle Charcoal Grill in the backyard

Weber Premium Kettle Charcoal Grill on a cream background

Summer is well and truly in full swing and there is still time to pick up a new outdoor grill to make the most of what’s left of this year’s barbecue season. There are deals to be had across all kinds of sizes and ranges, and we’ve collected all of the best ones right here.

Weber Original Kettle Charcoal Grill in the backyard

Weber Original Kettle Charcoal Grill in the backyard

Matt Elliott/CNET

There’s no beating the original in terms of getting the best performance and the simplest design for the lowest cost. For a fraction of the price of a kamado or a gas grill, Weber’s basic 22-inch kettle is the standard-bearer of charcoal grills. It’s easy to assemble and will last for years and years. Surprisingly versatile, this Weber kettle can be used for high-heat grilling to get a good sear on burgers and crispy skin on chicken, and you can also set it up for a longer cooking session to smoke bigger cuts of meat like a brisket or pork butt. You can get it for $139 at Lowe’s or Amazon.

Weber Premium Kettle Charcoal Grill on a cream background

Weber Premium Kettle Charcoal Grill on a cream background

Weber

Weber’s 22-inch Premium Charcoal Grill is also a great deal for $80 more than the basic kettle above. Compared with the Original model, the Premium provides a better ash catcher (for less mess on your patio), a built-in thermometer in the lid (for help keeping a constant temperature when cooking low and slow) and a hinged cooking grate (for adding more coals without needing to remove the entire grate). The Premium model is also available in colors other than black.

Char-Broil Commercial three-burner between brick walls

Char-Broil Commercial three-burner between brick walls

Chris Monroe/CNET

Char-Broil’s three-burner stainless-steel gas grill offers the best balance of features and performance among the models CNET has tested. At 25,500 Btu over 420 square inches, it provides a good amount of grilling power and space. It also has a side burner and tank storage behind two cabinet doors, and it comes with a 10-year warranty. Char-Broil uses what it calls Tru-Infrared, a set of perforated emitter plates that separate food from flame to evenly distribute heat and reduce flare-ups. You can currently pick it up for $150 off the usual price when you shop at Char-Broil directly.

Large Big Green Egg in the driveway

Large Big Green Egg in the driveway

Chris Monroe/CNET

Kamado grills are usually made from ceramics and boast amazing heat retention that lets you maintain a constant temperature for low-and-slow cooking. They can also reach high temps for grilling burgers and even pizza. Big Green Egg started the kamado craze and is still the leader in making the best-performing and best-looking kamados.

I bought a Big Green Egg last year and have smoked ribs, pork butts, whole chickens, chicken wings and my masterpiece to date, a 10-pound brisket. The brisket took all day — roughly 10 hours — and the Big Green Egg required very little on my part to maintain a constant temperature around 250 degrees. I tried cooking a brisket on a Weber previously and had to be much more involved in adding coals and adjusting the vents to maintain the temperature of the grill.

I visited the Big Green Eggs on display in my local Ace Hardware for years before finally trading in my trusted Weber for one. The cost is high, and goes even higher when you start adding accessories, including the stand (that is, a nest for your egg) and a ceramic heat deflector for long cooking times over indirect heat. After finally taking the Big Green Egg plunge, I have no regrets. The build quality is so outstanding that I plan to have my Egg for a very long time.

Just note that availability may vary depending on where you’re located.

Victory 21 inch kamado with shelves on a white background

Victory 21 inch kamado with shelves on a white background

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