Gas grills are undeniably convenient and easy to use, which makes them a prime choice if you’re searching for a best table top gas 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 really 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. We utilized the findings to determine the best portable gas grills.
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- Extremely easy to set up and operate
- Spacious cooking area
- Impressive cooking performance
- Large folding side tables
- 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 came 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 little 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.
Price at time of publish: $329
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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
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Amazon
- Unique fold-flat design
- Large cooking surface
- Effective nonstick grates
- Expensive
- 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.)
Besides its high price, the 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.
Price at time of publish: $419
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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 1-Burner Portable Propane Gas Grill
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Amazon
- Very lightweight
- Plated steel legs flip to lock lid
- Built-in carrying handle
- 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.
Price at time of publish: $89
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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 CGG-750 Venture Gas Grill
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Amazon
- Very compact and lightweight
- No flare-ups during cooking
- 9,000-BTU burner
- Small capacity and low power
- Lacks a lid
- 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.
Price at time of publish: $200
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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 RoadTrip 225 Portable Tabletop Propane Grill
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Amazon
- Large cooking area
- 11,000 BTUs between the two burners
- Excellent searing
- Low-quality construction
- Uneven heating
- Lid doesn’t lock for transport
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.
Price at time of publish: $210
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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 PRO285X TravelQ Portable Propane Gas Grill
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Amazon
- Powerful 14,000-BTU burners
- Large cooking area
- Easy-to-fold cart
- Expensive
- Heavy
- 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. And then there’s the sky-high cost: This is a big luxury grill with a big, luxury price.
Price at time of publish: $549
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Dimensions: 20.3 x 44.3 x 39.8 inches | Cooking Area: 285 square inches | Power: 13,990 BTU/hour | Weight: 50.5 pounds
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’re specifically looking for a grill to take camping, tailgating, or to the beach, we like the easy-to-move and very powerful Weber Traveler Portable Gas Grill.
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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 to 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.
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.
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