Best Grills for 2024 (2024)

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James Bricknell

Chris Wedel

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James Bricknell Senior Editor

James has been writing about technology for years but has loved it since the early 90s. While his main areas of expertise are maker tools -- 3D printers, vinyl cutters, paper printers, and laser cutters -- he also loves to play board games and tabletop RPGs.

Expertise 3D printers, maker tools such as Cricut style vinyl cutters and laser cutters, and traditional paper printers Credentials

  • 6 years working professionally in the 3D printing space / 4 years testing consumer electronics for large websites.

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Best Grills for 2024 (4)

Chris Wedel Home Tech Editor

Chris Wedel is a fan of all things tech and gadgets. Living in rural Kansas with his wife and two young boys makes finding ways to stay online tricky — not to mention making my homestead smarter. However, by utilizing his years of experience in the tech and mobile communications industries, success is assured. When not conquering the outdoors and testing new gadgets, Chris enjoys cruising a gravel road in his UTV with some good tunes, camping, and hanging out with his family.

Expertise Smart home devices, outdoors gadgets, smartphones, wearables, kid's tech, and some dabbling in 3D printing Credentials

  • Covered the mobile and smart home tech space for the past five years for multiple large publications.

See full bio

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Our Picks

$900 at Monument Grills

Best overall gas grill

Monument Denali 605 Pro 6-burner

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$96 at Walmart

Best budget grill for a large family

Expert Grill Heavy Duty 24-Inch Charcoal Grill

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$2,447 at Walmart

Best overall pellet grill

Traeger Ironwood XL

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$1,599 at Amazon

Best large pellet grill

Recteq Flagship XL 1400

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$247 at Amazon

Best electric grill ever

Ninja Woodfire electric grill

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$900 at Traeger

Best for tacos and smash burgers

Traeger Flatrock

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$199 at The Home Depot

Best budget grill/griddle

Nexgrill Daytona 2

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$250 at Amazon

Best grill for an outdoor kitchen

Ninja woodfire outdoor oven

View details

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$149 at Amazon

Best compact gas grill

Monument Tabletop Propane Gas Grill

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1,699 at The Home Depot

Best kamado grill

Kamado Joe Konnected Joe

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CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise.

Grilling isn't a one-machine-fits-all type of cooking. There are portable grills you can easily take to the park, traditional charcoal grills for a great backyard barbeque, pellet grills for that smokey taste or high-heat kamado grills for specialty grilling. Whatever your style and whatever your meat of choice, we found a grill for it.

There are so many options to choose from, so if you're considering what type of grill to get, check out ourguide to pellet, charcoal andgas grill variants.

What's the best grill of 2024?

After spending countless hours grilling and smoking, including burning and eating hamburgers, chicken, corn and kebob skewers, we've managed to crown the best grill overall: the Denali 605Pro smart grill from Monument. It's a gas grill large enough to feed a huge family, or the entire block if you're having a cookout. It's equipped with smart technology, so you can keep an eye on the food even from the kitchen.

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While the perfect grill may not exist for everyone, many grills tick a lot of boxes. The right grill for you depends on what type of food you want to grill, so bear that in mind. Here is some guidance:

  • Charcoal grill: Good for high heat and getting that perfect char.
  • Gas grill: Great for large grills and spur-of-the-moment outdoor cooking.
  • Flat top grills (griddles): Perfect for smash burgers and tacos.
  • Pellet grill: Perfect for long, slow cooking and smoking your food.
  • Kamado grill: Great for extreme heat or heat retention.
  • Pizza oven: Wonderful for pizza, sure, but great for other breads, too.

No matter what type of outdoor grill you choose, you should brush up on how to clean it(keeping that grilling surface clean with a grill brush and grill cleaner is essential) and get thebest accessories for grilling. Having the right techniques and tools of the trade will complement your perfect grill, turn you into a grill master extraordinaire and make your cookouts a breeze.

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Pros

  • Large area for large families
  • Smart thermometers
  • Great build quality

Cons

  • Instructions were hard to read

$900 at Monument Grills

Best overall gas grill

Monument Denali 605 Pro 6-burner

Update: The latest update to the Denali 605 Pro has been tested by us and has now reached the top spot. All the notes about the Denali 605 still stand but the Pro has some extra features which elevate it beyond the standard. The burner on the left has been replaced with a ceramic "searing station" which still managed to cook a pot of beans while also allowing me to get a fantastic crisp on my steak. The Pro also comes with a rotisserie spit and motor, a grill cover and a replaceable section of the grilling rack that can become a pizza stone or griddle. All of these extras come at the same $900 price as the original and make the Denali 605 Pro the best deal in grilling today.

While a giant six-burner grill may not be for everyone, the Monument Denali is the perfect balance of modern thinking, price point and quality. Like any modern smart grill, the Denali has temperature probes to accurately watch your food and uses an app to connect those probes to your phone. You can set the app to alert you when your food reaches the correct temperature or after a certain time limit.

The size of the Denali is impressive, giving you room to easily cook for multiple guests. I especially liked the little slots for hanging your drumsticks so that they cook evenly. All the food I tested was tender, and the probes did a good job pinpointing the right temperature. My medium-rare steaks were perfectly cooked, and burger patties were browned evenly across the entire range. The addition of the burner to the side meant I could cook some delicious barbecue beans at the same time as the meat, and I didn't need to bounce from inside to outside to keep everything cooking.

My only complaint with the Denali 605 is the time it took to build. It comes disassembled for easy shipping, but putting it together was tedious, with a lot of guesswork when the instructions weren't clear. Once it was built, it worked great, but it was a pain to get it together.

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Pros

  • Budget friendly
  • Large enough for a big family
  • Solid construction

Cons

  • Ash tray warped over time

$96 at Walmart

Best budget grill for a large family

Expert Grill Heavy Duty 24-Inch Charcoal Grill

When I first moved out to the High Desert in California, I knew I wanted a grill that could handle enough food for a party. I also knew that moving was expensive, so it had to be affordable. I picked up this heavy-duty grill at Walmart and was instantly impressed with how well it was constructed. After putting it all together, there was a heft to all the materials that made me think it would stand the test of time, and it did.

The easily removable ashtray made keeping the grill clean a breeze, and the thermometer on the top is helpful for smoking meats, especially if you don't want to keep lifting the lid and losing the smoke. Little touches like the bottle opener and the hooks under the shelf were also helpful. I used this grill for nearly six years before I moved again. Even when I left, the new owners took it to use with their families.

I have used a lot of really expensive grills, but this budget-friendly, sturdy workhorse is still one of my favorites.

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Pros

  • Even smoke thanks to lid seal
  • Light on lid and pellet hopper
  • Mobile app for wireless adjustments

Cons

  • Quite expensive

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$2,447 at Walmart

Best overall pellet grill

Traeger Ironwood XL

Seeing Traeger at the top of this list shouldn't be surprising, considering the brand truly popularized the pellet grill. While there are many choices in the Traeger lineup to choose from, after testing the latest Ironwood XL, it was clear that this is the one that can do it all. There is a smaller version, the Traeger Ironwood, which has all of the same features as the XL model but over 300 square inches less cooking space. If you don't plan on cooking large pieces of meat like brisket or for large groups of people, then the smaller model might be for you.

The Traeger Ironwood XL gets the top spot because of more than just the large cooking area. It's because it offers the complete package for pellet grills. It does a great job of managing its pellet usage. When I cooked for 24 hours on it with meals ranging from pork chops to beer can chicken and pork butt to brisket, the Ironwood XL handled it all wonderfully. With a temperature range of 165-500 degrees, it can cook any way you want.

The WiFIRE features allow you to monitor grill temps, pellet levels, food temps with the included meat probes, and more. The control system combining a rotating knob and touchscreen makes tuning the grill to your needs a snap. I also like the Traeger app, which has many recipes you can send straight to your grill. The biggest downside is the price, which is quite expensive. There is little this grill can't do when it comes to outdoor cooking.

Pros

  • Largest cooking area & pellet hopper
  • Mobile app to control heat and monitor cooking

Cons

  • Missing seal around the lid

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$1,599 at Amazon

Best large pellet grill

Recteq Flagship XL 1400

Even if you aren't familiar with the Recteq brand, it doesn't mean the world of BBQ is. It may be a bit under the radar compared to others like Traeger, but the Flagship XL 1400 does some things the Ironwood XL cannot. With a massive 1,437 square-inch cooking surface, you can cook a whole lot of food.

To complement the large cooking area, the Flagship XL 1400 also boasts a massive pellet hopper, easily handling over 40 pounds of wood pellets. It also did a good job of cooking efficiently during the overnight smoking of brisket during testing. With built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, using the Recteq app makes it easy to monitor the grill temp and meat temps with the included probes. You can't check the pellet level from the app like with the Ironwood XL.

Because the Recteq Flagship XL 1400 is built like a tank, including the heavy bullhorn handles, it does an excellent job at maintaining an even temp across the grill. This is largely thanks to the heavy cast iron burn pot deflector and the large stainless steel smoke and heat deflector. The one thing I wish this grill had to improve the heat and smoke retention was a seal around the lid.

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Pros

  • Perfect size for two to four people
  • Uses a tiny amount of pellets
  • Multiple functions

Cons

  • Pellet holder can get sticky if not cleaned

$247 at Amazon

Best electric grill ever

Ninja Woodfire electric grill

The Ninja Woodfire has all the convenience of an indoor electric grill and air fryer with the addition of a small smoking hopper that lets you burn pellets. These pellets add a distinctive smoky taste to anything you are cooking without the need for an entire smoker to do it.

I've cooked chicken, salmon and beef on the grill setting using just a cup of pellets, saving a lot of time and money compared with a full-size smoker. It even works with the air fryer, so making crispy wings with an Applewood smoke taste is easy.

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$900 at Traeger

Best for tacos and smash burgers

Traeger Flatrock

The Flatrock is pricey for a flat-top griddle, but its quality and usefulness can't be overstated. Some foods just can't be cooked on a standard grill, including tacos and smash burgers, but a flat-top griddle makes them a breeze. (By the way, if you've never had a smash burger, you need one in your life. They're amazing.)

The Flatrock uses Traeger's Pop and Lock system for accessories, so if you already have one of the brand's grills, you can mix and match what you need. You will need to cure the Flatrock's surface, but I enjoyed creating just the right surface for my needs. I use the Flatrock more than any other grill right now, and it is my go-to for burgers and tacos.

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Pros

  • Easy to Store
  • Quick to heat up
  • Great price

Cons

  • Hard to build

$199 at The Home Depot

Best budget grill/griddle

Nexgrill Daytona 2

The Traeger is a fantastic flat-top grill, but it's big and heavy, and sometimes you don't need to cook tacos for 10 people. The Nexgrill griddle is much smaller, perfect for a small family of four, and is collapsable so it can be easily stored under your deck, or even thrown in the back of your truck to take camping.

I did find the instructions a little hard to follow, so make sure you have some time to put it together right.

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Pros

  • Great for pizzas and meat
  • Larger than it looks
  • Able to smoke as well

Cons

  • High heat can easily burn

$250 at Amazon

Best grill for an outdoor kitchen

Ninja woodfire outdoor oven

Like the Ninja Woodsmoke grill above this outdoor oven uses a small pellet smoker on the side to infuse the food with a smokey flavor. The difference with this oven is it can cook at very high temperatures to cook pizzas and make burnt ends, or you can drop the temp and slow-cook meat to perfection. If you have a built-in outdoor kitchen this will look fantastic in that setting.

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Pros

  • Easy to carry
  • Even heat across cooking surface
  • Included spirit level is excellent

Cons

  • Should include a cover

$300 at Amazon

Best camping griddle

Halo Griddle

Halo has made some excellent products over the last few years, including a pizza oven that I liked when testing, but this griddle is a stand-out product. On top of all the standard testing I do with grills, I got to take it for the first camping trip of the season and it held up like an absolute champ. The cooking surface heated evenly, and because of the inspired idea to include a spirit level and adjustable feet, I could set it up on a rickety picnic table and not have my eggs run to one corner. That spirit level is such a good idea.

I love having a giant griddle to cook for my huge family, but the Halo tabletop griddle is perfect for making a few smash burgers, or some breakfast burritos without using a ton of gas to do it.

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$149 at Amazon

Best compact gas grill

Monument Tabletop Propane Gas Grill

When space is limited, finding the right grill to give you the taste you want can be hard. This gas grill from Monument is compact on the outside but surprisingly large on the inside. It's big enough to cook a spatchcocked turkey or several large steaks and, because it's a gas grill, it's ready as soon as you want to use it.
If you only have a small outdoor space or a little balcony, this would be a great addition to make your grilling dreams come true.

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Pros

  • Premium look and feel
  • Remote monitoring with the app
  • Can produce very high heat

Cons

  • That price tag is as high as the temperature

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1,699 at The Home Depot

Best kamado grill

Kamado Joe Konnected Joe

Kamado grilling cookers are distinctively egg-shaped wood-burning grills. They impart a delicious smoky flavor to everything, and this is the best grill in the bunch. They can run low and slow for hours at smoker temperaturesandsear at high heat levels that go well beyond the capabilities of gas grills. That's hot enough to create true steakhouse steaks and real wood-fired pizza like a pro griller.

These abilities are attributed to the thick ceramic used to form and line the grill, which is similar to what is used for a pizza stone in the top pizza ovens. That ceramic does an amazing job at holding heat, allowing you to use far less charcoal than you would in a traditional charcoal grill and get more smoke and heat from it.

The Kamado Joe Konnected Joe may have a steep price tag, but this high-end grill delivers plenty of cooking power for the money. That means lots of grilling accessories that don't come standard with other grills, including the Big Green Egg. It performs well, too. On our slow-and-low barbecue grill test, we adjust grills to 225 degrees Fahrenheit (107 degrees Celsius) and let go of the controls to see what happens. In this trial, the Konnected Joe demonstrated excellent temperature stability.Thanks to the Wi-Fi connectivity, you can monitor and set temps for your ceramic cooker from the comfort of your AC.

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How we test grills

We test the main types of grills differently, but for most, we include a high-heat test like searing steak or grilling burgers, a medium, indirect heat test like grilling a whole chicken for more than an hour and a low-and-slow test with racks of ribs.

To determine what should be the best outdoor barbecue grill, we collect data including total cooking time, temperatures inside the grill and temperature inside separate pieces of meat. All that information helps us find where grills might have hot spots or thermometer inconsistencies.

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I use the InfiRay P2 Pro to test how fast the grills heat up and if the heat is even. It only works as the grills heat up because the top temperature is too high, but it gives me a good idea of how well each grill spreads the needed heat.

There's also a fair amount of (read: so much) blind taste testing, lively debate and voting among our editors and families, in addition to the data we gather about grilling temperatures and cooking times. You might think it would be more fun than work to eat delicious food while discussing the merits of a grill, and you'd be right.

If you're interested in any particular method of testing, we've got that, plus our recommendations for cooking withkamado grills, portable grillsand charcoal grills ready for your perusal. Happy grilling.

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