The 11 best charcoal BBQs, tried and tested by our expert chef

Telegraph

14-05-2025

Which is the best charcoal barbecue? You'll need to know if you want to make the most of a heatwave. And if you're still waiting on the elusive British summer, don't worry, our guide to the best patio heaters should keep you grilling through spring.
While many of us are turning to gas barbecues, traditional charcoal grills are the best. They offer a smoky flavour and smell that gas cannot easily match. Charcoal barbecues are often cheaper than gas too, ranging from £50 to £2,000 with hooded, egg and kamado styles all available. That said, they take longer to light up and, unless you're an experienced barbecue cook, it can be tough to get to a consistent temperature.
Telegraph columnist, food writer and chef Xanthe Clay is a huge fan of all outdoor cooking, from barbecues to pizza ovens. She put the best of this year's charcoal barbecues to the test, grilling, roasting and searing meat and vegetables to help find the right model for you. You can read her reviews below, along with reviews by food editor Tomé Morrissy-Swan, and food critic Elaine Lemm Blenkinsop, followed by answers to some frequently asked questions. If you're in a rush, here's a quick look at their top five:
The best charcoal BBQs: At a glance
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How to choose the best charcoal BBQ
The materials are the most important factor. For cooking on, you will want a high-quality stainless steel grill that will resist heat and corrosion, although cast iron steak searers and ceramic pizza stones are also available as specialist cooking surfaces.
The body of your barbecue, whether kettle or drum-shaped, will most likely be made of steel or ceramic. Ceramic barbecues offer superior heat control and can cook a wider range of temperatures, from under 100°C for smoking and slow-cooking to over 300°C, great for pizzas. However, they are heavier and more expensive than steel barbecues.
For anything except open grilling, you will not want to open the barbecue too often and risk letting out the heat and smoke, so look for an inbuilt temperature gauge. Think about safety, too. Is the barbecue solid on its feet or wheels? Does the lid feel safe? Are the air vents safe to operate with bare hands? All important factors to keep in mind.
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How we tested the best charcoal BBQs
Xanthe, Tomé and Elaine tried the barbecues at home over the course of several weeks in the summer. They rated them first and foremost on how easy it was to control the temperature, smoke and flame. This is largely down to the heat-retention properties of the materials, the shape of the barbecue, the quality of the vents or dampers and the ability to move the food towards or away from direct heat.
Built-in thermometers are an important feature, but practical extras like preparation shelves, cart bases, easy-empty ash cans and utensils all make a barbecue more useful. Some also have specially-shaped grills for better results. Here's what our experts found, starting with their favourite...
(And if you're spending time in the garden this summer, don't forget to check out our guides to the best garden chairs and the best rattan furniture next.)
Best charcoal BBQs
1. Best Buy Charcoal BBQ: Weber Master-Touch
Reviewed by Xanthe Clay
Webers are the original kettle barbecue and they remain great workhorses. I've got one that's been outside uncovered for years and it's only got a touch of rust around the vent.
This larger model has a built-in thermometer, which is useful for lid-down barbecuing, and a clever spring-loaded ash can for clearing out. The lid isn't hinged, so you can put it completely to one side or, if you haven't got space, there is a built-in rack which feels on the flimsy side, but holds up well. They will get pretty hot, so keep kids, pets and exuberant party-goers at a distance.
The grills are nothing fancy, just chromed steel, but they do the job even if they aren't the easiest to keep clean. You can remove the central area of the grill using tongs or heatproof gloves to refill the coals, which makes good sense for direct grilling the usual steaks and burgers for a party. However, if you are an indirect heat freak, you may prefer other barbecues which allow refilling at the sides only.
The barbecue heats up reliably thanks to the venting system and since they are the benchmark kettles, most recipes will work on them without needing to adapt them. There are also plenty of compatible accessories, both made by Weber and by other companies, including pizza stones and steak searing grates.
Weber also make one of our favourite portable barbecues, by the way, with their tabletop Smokey Joe.
Key specifications
Functions: grilling, smoking, see below for others
Features: thermometer, one-touch cleaning system, 'smoke' setting on vents
Features sold separately: steak searing grate, pizza stone, poultry roaster, griddle
Material: aluminium
Dimensions: 98cm high, 57cm diameter, weighs 21kg
Warranty: 10-year manufacturer's on bowl and lid, two years on other parts
2. Best Value Charcoal BBQ: Char-Broil Kettleman
Reviewed by Xanthe Clay
The Char-Broil is a handsome, big-kettle barbecue and took me an hour and a half to build single-handed. The rack holding the charcoal is much higher than the Weber, covering nearly the whole circumference of the kettle. This allows you to create direct heat areas above the hot coals and indirect heat zones away from the coals.
Rather than top and bottom dampers to adjust oxygen flow, the Kettleman has air inlets all round and one super-sized damper on top to control the internal temperature. Closing the damper allowed me to get it above 300°C – hot enough to cook a pizza. (It also gets very hot on the outside. Children need to be kept well away.)
The grill rack is porcelain-enamelled and the bars are V-shaped in cross section, rather than the classic tubular bars. Char-Broil call this feature 'TRU-Infrared' and claim it reduces flare-ups. They are on the wide side, but it still makes neat stripes on steak and vegetables and nothing stuck when I used it, as long as I got the grill properly hot (ten minutes with the lid down does the trick) before cooking. The broader profile also means food is less likely to fall between the bars.
Finally, the lid is attached via a nifty double pivot system, making it easy and safe to lift and close. I really liked this. It means that, although it's a big barbecue with a huge cooking area, it would be fine on a medium-sized patio.
Key specifications:
3. Best BBQ Oven: Big Green Egg MiniMax
Reviewed by Xanthe Clay
These Kamado ovens – a Japanese-style ceramic oven with excellent heat retention – are a sensation. I tried out the second smallest version, the MiniMax and was impressed. It lights easily and comes to temperature quickly, but all cooking is done with the lid down, so there's not much posing with tongs to be done. You can use it as a grill, but the clever part is the 'ConvEGGtor' insert, which circulates heat around the dome while protecting food from the flames, turning it into a convector oven for smoking, slow-cooking and even baking bread.
The meat I cooked in there came out juicy and with a nice touch of smoke, even without adding chips. It's simple to use and not difficult to get impressive results – no wonder the chefs love it.
It's worth pointing out, however, that these things are extremely heavy. Even this mini version weighs 42kg. The £1,810 Big Green Egg, which can fit two turkeys at once, is nearly 100kg. You'd better pick the right spot in your garden for that, because you're never picking it up again.
Key specifications
Functions: grilling, smoking, slow-cooking, roasting, baking
Features: temperature gauge, ConvEGGtor insert (turns it into a convector oven)
Material: ceramic with stainless steel cooking grid and carry handles
Dimensions: 50cm high, 56cm diameter, 33cm grill diameter, weighs 42kg
Guarantee: lifetime for ceramic base, dome, fire box and fire ring
4. Best Charcoal BBQ for Slow Cooking: Kamado Joe Junior Grill
Reviewed by Tomé Morrissy-Swan
Another Kamado oven looking, at a glance, identical to the Big Green Egg but at a much lower price tag, having been made in China (though the brand is American). The Joe Junior is slightly larger than the Big Green Egg above and is said to be a portable barbecue, though at over 30kg, it's not portable for me.
Like the BGE, it comes with a ceramic heat deflector that's great for slow cooking. Larger models have a split grill option, meaning you can cook both directly and indirectly at the same time.
Key specifications
5. Best Charcoal Barbecue for Smoking: Drumbecue Original Charcoal BBQ Drum Smoker
Reviewed by Xanthe Clay
Are oil drum barbecues any good? This one certainly is, but boy is it big. One of these in your garden says: I have lots of friends and I know how to party. And the fact that it is made from a cut-open oil drum just adds to the macho appeal (this is the barbecue used by all the chefs at Meatopia, London's annual meat fest).
It's not without its flaws. Load the clever-looking fuel drawer with the suggested 3kg of charcoal and the whole apparatus tips over. That said, once it's going it is a joy to cook on, with heaps of space to create different cooking areas (as described above, in my Char-Broil review).
Key specifications
6. Best Charcoal BBQ Grill: Everhot Grill
Reviewed by Xanthe Clay
Based on the Argentinian Asado grill, these beautifully engineered barbecues are made in the Cotswolds town of Dursley entirely from stainless steel, bar the wooden handle. It arrives fully assembled, weighs 60kg, and I'm told it would be fine left outside uncovered year round.
There are no legs, so you'll need to plan a sturdy surface to sit it on. The fuel compartment has a door at the front which can be lifted off to provide extra access to clean it out, or you can cook with it off, although you shouldn't try to lift it off while the fire is lit.
The EverHot Grill is designed for grilling only, rather than lid down 'smoking'. You can use either ordinary charcoal or wood, a favourite with hipster restaurants, said to give extra flavour. There's no venting system in the fire-brick-lined fuel compartment. Heat control is by winding the grid higher, to reduce the heat reaching the ingredients, or lower, to increase it.
It's worth noting that stainless steel is one of the metals worst at conducting heat: it has a thermal conductivity score of 17 W/(mK) (Watts per meter-Kelvin), against 43 for carbon steel, 73 for iron and 238 for aluminium. This means the thick grill bars take noticeably longer to heat up than other barbecues, making this better for weekend grilling than a quick after work steak. However, once they are hot, they spread the heat evenly.
You can buy a cover for the fuel compartment for £175, a flat griddle-like chapa grill and a slanted parilla grill (both of which slot in instead of the regular grill bars) for £125 each. All grill pieces are dishwasher safe.
A beautiful piece of kit – if you can afford it.
Key specifications
7. Best American-style Charcoal BBQ: VonHaus American Style Charcoal BBQ Grill
Reviewed by Tomé Morrissy-Swan
If there's one thing Americans do better than us, it's barbecuing. Not content with merely slapping a few burgers and bangers on the grill, this style needs enough space to cook whole cuts of meat and ideally space for smoking over wood, too.
Von Haus's American-style Charcoal barbecue is relatively compact for a US-style grill, but its complexity compared to a simple Kettle grill means it takes some time to put together. A step up in the difficulty charts from Ikea furniture, it took two of us an hour to assemble.
But it was worth the wait. Various little details elevate this above your typical barbecue. The grill pan housing the charcoal can easily be lowered or raised for incredibly precise cooking while a vent makes it easy to add more charcoal or wood chips, if you're going for the American style. It's big enough for a whole leg of lamb or more and great for hosting big parties. You can easily keep adding more charcoal to keep the cooking going for long hours.
Everything I cooked on the VonHaus cooked easily and tasted delicious, from skewers and burgers to vegetables and whole aubergines.
Key specifications
8. Best BBQ Cart: Napoleon PRO Cart Charcoal Kettle Grill
Reviewed by Xanthe Clay
Putting this one together was a serious challenge, taking me most of the afternoon (a second pair of hands would have sped things up a bit). The instructions require implements beyond the reach of my tool box (rubber mallet, anyone?) On the upside, once made, it feels rock solid, including the very useful fold out prep table.
I used Napoleon's own smokeless charcoal briquettes, made of coconut shell, along with their JetFire Chimney Starter. One chimney-full didn't get the temperature higher than the 'smoke' level of 100°C required for searing, according to the inbuilt thermometer, so I chucked in a second and (in frustration) a third of British hardwood charcoal. Within half an hour, it was up to a colossal 370°C. After a few airflow tweaks, I made some delicious lamb steaks with roasted vegetables.
The coal rack is 18cm below the cooking grill (compare that to the Char-Broil at 9cm and Weber Master-Touch at 13cm), which may account for the very slow heat-up times and the need for plenty of charcoal for high-heat cooking. The cast iron cooking grill is great, but very solid and heavy, making charcoal top-ups tricky, although there are hinged sides to allow access to the side coal holders if you're slow-cooking. The cart offers protection from the hot kettle.
Key specifications
9. Best Budget American-Style Charcoal BBQ: Uniflame Classic 60cm American Charcoal Grill
Reviewed by Elaine Lemm Blenkinsop
Like the VonHaus above, this 60cm steel American-style barbecue is not the biggest of its type, but it is exceptionally sturdy and wobble-free once built. Despite the well-written guide, neat coding of the parts and help from my husband, the build took an hour and a half. When finished, though, I loved how easy it was to move the barbecue around the garden, even over the grass and onto the patio.
Controlling the heat under the hood is easy with the built-in thermometer and three adjustable side vents, though be warned, these get pretty hot. Other than that, the Uniflame comes with some excellent touches; handles and knobs stay cool; there's a height-adjustable charcoal tray and a super-sized access door for adding more coals when needed.
The promise of being sizeable enough to cook up to 20 is stretching its abilities unless just cooking sausages; a variety of food would be a struggle, even with the handy warming shelf. When cooking for two, however, my steak, prawns, peppers and Kofta had ample space, were evenly cooked and wonderfully charred thanks to the excellent even heat across the grill. Apart from the few niggles, this is an excellent barbecue for the price.
Key specifications
10. Best Budget Small Charcoal BBQ: George Foreman Portable Charcoal BBQ
Reviewed by Simon Lewis
We used to say it wasn't worth spending too much on a barbecue in Britain because it was only sunny for two days a year. People seem to have changed their minds about that, but there's still a case for keeping things reasonably cheap.
George Foreman's basic charcoal barbecue is as good as any you'll find at the garden centre for the price and it's nice to give something back to the retired boxer for the hours spent tinkering away in his garage (I assume that's how it's made). Indeed, tinkering is the operative word here. It took me an hour to assemble this from at least 24 parts and 60 nuts and bolts. If you're having people over, give yourself plenty of time.
Once set up, it's a good, old-fashioned barbecue with vents at top and bottom for airflow, room for about three inches of coals and a 44cm cooking area, which was enough to cook a family meal of six sausages and four burgers, plus a load of chicken thighs.
Though the legs aren't very substantial, it stood quite securely and the bowl itself is sturdy. Overall, a perfectly decent grill for the money. As long as you have the patience to build it.
Key specifications
Functions: grilling
Features: warming rack, wire storage rack at base
Material: steel with enamelled bowl and chrome grills
Dimensions: 86cm high, 55cm wide, 48cm long, 44cm diameter grill, weighs 7kg
11. Best charcoal BBQ for camping: Landmann Tripod Charcoal Barbecue
Reviewed by Tomé Morrissy-Swan
More of a portable campfire than a traditional barbecue, this still works just fine and is great for sitting around in the evening – just add a guitar. The grill can be raised and lowered on its chain to vary the heat intensity and while the tripod is not rock solid, it's sturdy enough and easy to pack away.
Be advised, this barbecue is fairly small with enough space to feed a family, but not a whole party. The grill does swing and the fire bowl is low, so care should be taken if you have small children.
Key specifications
Charcoal BBQ FAQs
How does a charcoal BBQ work?
The basic concept has remained untouched for centuries: all you need is a pit for the burning coals and a grill for the food. There are vents or dampers in most barbecues to control the airflow, increasing or reducing the amount of naked flame. Some barbecues will be more high-tech, with tiered grills allowing you to move food towards or away from direct heat; heat deflectors; slow cooking or smoking functions, etc.
What is a Kamado BBQ and are they worth the high price?
A Kamado barbecue is a ceramic, egg-shaped charcoal barbecue rather than the usual rectangle or drum. The word Kamado is Japanese and translates to 'stove' or 'cooking range', but outside of Japan, it refers to a ceramic barbecue style. They are highly versatile with excellent heat control thanks to their air-tight lids and adjustable vents. You can use one for grilling, smoking, roasting, slow cooking, baking, pizza and bread making and direct and indirect cooking. Most Kamado-style barbecues come at a price, but they are an investment piece that, with care, will last.
How to light a charcoal BBQ
First, clean out any ash from the bottom of the kettle or drum and open the bottom air vent. Then reinsert the coal grill and make a pyramid with a natural firelighter at the centre and the charcoal or briquettes around it. Some people add a pile of kindling underneath the coal grill as well (such as newspaper and twigs) to help get it going. If you add lighter fluid, make sure it's all absorbed and dry before lighting.
A few minutes after lighting the firelighter at the bottom of the pyramid, the charcoal closest to it will start to glow in the centre. Keep moving the outer coals into the centre until they are all grey-white and ashy and glowing. It takes about 20 minutes. Now you are ready to fit the cooking grill above the coals and start cooking.
A charcoal chimney is a good way to speed this up. It's like the pyramid, but the charcoal is contained in a chimney, which you place on the coal grill and light at the bottom. Once the coals are white and ashy, you tip them out onto the coal grill.
Remember to let any lighter fluid burn off before you start cooking or your food will taste of petrol. Good-quality charcoal will provide better flavour and better cooking conditions.
Which is better, charcoal or briquettes?
Charcoal is wood that has been burnt down in an oxygen-poor environment at very high temperatures, driving off the water and sap so that it becomes pure carbon. Charcoal burns hotter than the wood it is made from.
Briquettes are a composite fuel, made from charcoal powder, coal dust, accelerants and binding agents. They are easier to light and produce less heat, burning more steadily and for longer than traditional charcoal, making briquettes the best choice for slow cooking.
Which is the best charcoal?
Lump charcoal – solid pieces of carbonised wood with no additives – takes longer to light, but burns hotter than briquettes and is considered best for searing and grilling. Its behaviour depends on the wood it is made from. Some, such as maple or hickory, can impart a flavour to the food, whereas hardwoods are prized for burning hotter and longer.
Binchotan, also known as white charcoal or bincho-zumi, is the most expensive charcoal in the world. It's made in Japan from ubame oak and burns hotter and longer, without smoke or odour, than other lump charcoals. It can also be reused up to three times. For more advice, read Xanthe's feature on the ultimate barbecue charcoal.
How much charcoal do I typically need to use?
The amount of charcoal needed depends on the size of your grill and the type of cooking. You'll get used to this over time. Typically, for direct grilling, the general principle is to cover the grill with around two thirds of charcoal. Fewer coals are needed for indirect cooking as you only pack one side of the grill. Avoid overloading, which makes it harder to light and using too few coals, which makes keeping a good heat difficult.
Another popular rule of thumb is the one-to-one rule; one kilogram of coal to one kilogram of meat.
Is charcoal environmentally friendly?
According to Greener Ideal, charcoal is less eco-friendly than gas or electric, as carbon monoxide and soot is released as it burns. There are, however, some measures you can take to lessen the effect. Instead of briquettes, opt for lump charcoal, which releases less gas and soot. You could also opt for a dome grill, which captures the heat better, so less fuel is burned.
Does charcoal taste better?
It's a matter of personal preference. Charcoal imparts a more smoky flavour on the food being grilled, which many will enjoy. Connoisseurs advise against using lighter fluid, which can give a petrol flavour to the food. For more details, read Tomé's feature on the differences between gas, charcoal and wood.
How do I set up my charcoal BBQ for indirect cooking or smoking?
Indirect cooking on the barbecue is quick and easy to do; simply place hot coals on one half of the grill. This leaves the other half free for indirect cooking of more delicate food like fish, for slow-cooking larger cuts or whole birds and for keeping items warm. On a Kamado-style barbecue, tools like plate setters or heat deflectors create the necessary barrier between the charcoal and the food for indirect cooking.
What is the best and easiest way to clean a charcoal BBQ?
Cleaning a charcoal barbecue is easier if you start as soon as you have finished cooking by taking advantage of the remaining heat. Carefully, while still hot, scrub the grills of any stuck-on food using a stiff barbecue brush, scraper or a large piece of scrunched up foil.
Leave until completely cold before raking or emptying the ash can, then give it a quick brush or vacuum – yes, there are vacuum cleaners especially for this job. Wash the grills with hot, soapy water and dry thoroughly to prevent rusting. Clean all handles and surfaces where raw meat or other foods may have been with an antibacterial cleaner and use a commercial barbecue cleaner for any remaining stuck-on food or soot.
With Kamado styles or larger grills, when washing by hand is difficult, use the 'burn off' method of heating to a high temperature with the lid closed for a clean, hygienic interior and wipe the outside as above.