The air is getting cooler, the nights are getting longer and Halloween is here. Fall is in the air. If you limped through the summer grilling season with an aging, battered grill, now is a great time to up your game with sales of all types of outdoor grills. I would say fall is better than summer for grilling. Would you rather enjoy a hot grill during the hot, humid months of July and August or a crisp, cool evening in October or November? Whether you need a new grill for your patio, deck, or tailgate parking lot, we’ve rounded up the best deals on a variety of grill types, from traditional charcoal grills and ceramic grill kamado to gas grills and portable grills.
Not sure which type of grill would suit you best? Before you check out our picks for the best deals on outdoor grills, check out ours grill buying guide. I’m firmly in the charcoal grill camp, but if you haven’t yet taken sides in the great grilling debate, here’s a helpful example of which is better gas grill or charcoal grill.
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It doesn’t beat the original in terms of the best performance and simplest design for the lowest price. For a fraction of the cost of a kamado or gas grill, Weber’s basic 22-inch kettle is the standard bearer of charcoal grills. Easy to assemble and will last for years and years. Surprisingly versatile, this Weber Kettle can be used for grilling at high heat to get a good sear on burgers and crispy skin on chicken, and you can also set it for a longer cooking session to smoke more -large pieces of meat such as breast or pork butt. You can get it for $139 at Lowe’s or Amazon.
Weber
Weber’s 22-inch Premium Charcoal Grill is also a great deal at $80 more than the basic kettle above. Compared to the original model, the Premium provides a better ash catcher (for less mess in your yard), a built-in thermometer in the lid (to help maintain a constant temperature during low and slow cooking), and a hinged cooking grate (for adding more coal without having to remove the entire grate). The Premium model is also available in colors other than black.
Chris Monroe/CNET
Char-Broil’s three-burner stainless steel gas grill offers the best balance of features and performance among the models CNET tested. With 25,500 Btu over 420 square inches, it provides a good amount of power and cooking space. It also has a side burner and storage tank behind two cabinet doors and comes with a 10-year warranty. Char-Broil uses what it calls Tru-Infrared, a set of perforated emitter plates that separate the food from the flame to evenly distribute heat and reduce flare-ups.
Chris Monroe/CNET
Kamado grills are usually made of ceramic and boast incredible heat retention, allowing you to maintain a consistent temperature for low and slow cooking. They can also reach high temperatures for grilling burgers and even pizza. Big Green Egg started the kamado craze and is still the leader in producing the most efficient and best looking kamado.
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 breasts took all day — roughly 10 hours — and the Big Green Egg required very little on my part to maintain a consistent temperature around 250 degrees. I’ve tried cooking brisket on a Weber before and had to be much more involved in adding coals and adjusting the vents to keep the grill temperature up.
I frequented Big Green Eggs on display at my local Ace Hardware for years before finally trading in my trusty Weber for one. The price is high, and it gets even higher when you start adding accessories, including a stand (that is, a nest for your egg) and a ceramic heat deflector for long indirect heat cooking times. After finally making the Big Green Egg, I have no regrets. The build quality is so exceptional that I plan to have my egg for a very long time.
Kamado Joe
The Kamado Joe is Big Green Egg’s biggest kamado competitor, and the Classic II costs less than the big Big Green Egg when you consider that it comes complete with a cast iron cart and side shelves. It’s not the newest model in the Kamado Joe lineup, but it should perform similarly to the newer Classic III for a fraction of the price. The Classic III has three cooking zones compared to the Classic II’s two, but two should be enough for most backyard crafters.
Amazon
As much as I prefer a charcoal grill, using a gas grill for luggage or camping makes a lot of sense because you don’t have to deal with the mess of transporting a dirty, ash-filled grill in your car. Of all the portable grills CNET tested, this sleek gas grill from Weber was the clear winner.
Easy to assemble and feels solid. The igniter works well and the grill quickly gets up to temperature, reaching the advertised 500 degrees Fahrenheit in just 15 minutes. The flame is easily controlled and maintains a constant temperature during cooking, even when grilling on low heat. It’s big enough to cook for a party of six and has expandable trays for your plates and baking tools. And it comes in a bunch of fun colors.
https://www.cnet.com/deals/best-grill-deals/#ftag=CADf328eec
