Best BBQ 2024: Our favourite hybrid, gas and charcoal barbecues
Keen to make the most of your garden right now? Look no further: we've got your barbecue needs covered
No matter the size of your garden, finding the best BBQ to suit your grilling needs is a must if you want to make the most of the summer sun and dining alfresco.
In our opinion, it pays to invest in a quality BBQ that guarantees great-tasting food for amateurs and experts alike. And, with the UK’s unpredictable weather doing its best to sabotage even the best-laid plans, you don’t want to take any chances with your equipment.
An upmarket barbecue set opens the door to more advanced preparation techniques, such as smoking, roasting, beer-can chickens and the like. While not everyone has the time or inclination for 24-hour slow cooking sessions, we think that even the most casual users will find it rewarding to tackle something a little more adventurous than basic grilling.
Whatever your budget, we’ve tested out some of the very best BBQs around, for everything from simple grilling to masterful smoking. Scroll down to our buying guide at the bottom of the page, which will run you through everything you need to know to pick the perfect grill, or read on to see our top picks.
Best BBQ: At a glance
| Best cheap family BBQ | Argos Home Charcoal BBQ (~£55) | Check price at Argos |
| Best compact charcoal BBQ | Weber Compact 47cm Kettle BBQ (~£110) | Check price at Amazon |
| Best charcoal/gas hybrid | Argos Home 2 Burner Gas And Charcoal BBQ (~£265) | Check price at Argos |
| Best gas smoker | Char-Broil Big Easy Smoker (~£330) | Check price at Amazon |
| Best compact electric BBQ | Weber Lumin Electric BBQ (~£399) | Check price at John Lewis |
The best BBQs you can buy in 2024
1. Argos Home Charcoal BBQ: Best cheap family BBQ
Price when reviewed: £55 | Check price at Argos
- Great for… simple budget-friendly barbequing
- Not so great for… bells and whistles grilling
This is a cheap, carbon steel charcoal BBQ that’s perfect for easy, family-friendly grilling. It can comfortably cater to a crowd of up to ten people, which means there’s plenty of room to feed the whole family, with plenty of leftovers. While there are no fancy attachments, you do get a warming rack, so you can serve food all at once, and the temperature can be loosely controlled by lifting or closing the lid.
For the price, you’ll struggle to get anything else as big or as simple to use as this. It might not produce results worthy of professional chefs but it will more than adequately barbeque your bangers and chargrill your kebabs. If you’re looking for something a little more complex and multifunctional, though, there are plenty of other options on this list to tantalise your tastebuds.
Key details – Fuel type: Charcoal; Cooking area: 35 x 71cm; Dimensions (WDH): 83 x 57 x 90cm; Weight: 11.5kg
2. Weber Compact 47cm Kettle BBQ: Best compact charcoal BBQ
Price when reviewed: £110 | Check price at Amazon
- Great for… kettle-style barbequing that’s easy to use
- Not so great for… chefs who want to grill quickly
Despite its small stature, this compact BBQ can feed up to eight people. It has everything you’d expect from a classic charcoal grill, including an ash catcher, weatherproof handles, a wire rack for food/utensils and an adjustable ventilation system to regulate airflow and temperature.
What makes this compact BBQ stand out from cheaper models isn’t just the grill space: like many Weber products, it’s impressively durable and comes with crack-proof wheels for storage in all weathers, a body that’s rust- and chip-resistant, as well as a triple-plated cooking grate that protects against acidity and rust. This BBQ is ideal if you don’t have a lot of room to work with but still want a robust outdoor grill that will last for years.
If you’re looking for a kettle-style charcoal barbecue with a bit more versatility, we’re also big fans of the slightly more expensive Weber Master-Touch GBS Premium, which we’ve tested extensively. It can tackle everything from a whole chicken to inches-thick cuts of meat, and its design makes it easy to swap out various specialist cooking accessories. The E-5775 model, for example, comes with an optional drop-in GBS (Gourmet BBQ System) steak-searing grate – drop it in place and the thick iron grate heats up to give steaks those attractive criss-cross scorch lines.
Key details – Fuel type: Charcoal; Cooking area: 47cm (diameter); Dimensions (WDH): 53 x 54 x 88cm; Weight: 11kg
3. Weber Lumin Electric BBQ: Best compact electric BBQ
Price when reviewed: £399 | Check price at John Lewis
- Great for… those with limited cooking space
- Not so great for… affordability and weight
If, like Dylan, you’re ready to go electric then the Weber Lumin Compact Electric BBQ is an excellent choice. This sturdy, well-built BBQ has an exterior made from porcelain-enamelled steel with heat-resistant plastics, and inside it features traditional cast-iron grill plates. Thanks to its slight frame and mains-powered setup, the Weber Lumin makes a perfect option for apartment-dwellers, capable of fitting neatly onto a balcony or outdoor terrace, though it functions just as well in a garden environment. We tested it on both a treated wood table and on flat concrete with no issue, confirming its usability.
Ditching all fuel canisters and coals, the Lumin Compact is easy to set up and straightforward to use. In testing, we found the BBQ heats quickly and consistently, with the grill taking about 12 minutes to hit 250ºC and 18 minutes to reach its maximum temperature of 315ºC. What’s more, to add some versatility to your cooking, one of the grill plates can be removed to reveal a reservoir that can be used for steaming, smoking or just defrosting items.
Read our full Weber Lumin Electric BBQ review
Key details – Fuel type: Electric; Cooking area: 43 x 28cm; Dimensions (WDH): 58.6 x 41.2 x 27.9cm; Weight: 12kg
4. Argos Home 2 Burner Gas And Charcoal BBQ: Best BBQ if you can’t decide between gas or charcoal
Price when reviewed: £265 | Check price at Argos
- Great for… large parties of hybrid BBQ lovers
- Not so great for… impatient chefs, as setup takes a while
Hybrid BBQs are all the rage, allowing you to switch between gas and charcoal seamlessly, or even – as with this one – use them simultaneously. We found both cooking areas were ready to use reasonably quickly (though, obviously, charcoal is slower) and there’s enough space to cook for 14 people. It’s got some handy extras – a warming rack, a drip tray, hooks and a side table, plus under-BBQ storage – plus wheels to make it manoeuvrable, and it looks smart, too.
The fact that you can cook on both grills concurrently forces a comparison between the foods and, it has to be said, the gas-grilled food isn’t quite on a par with the charcoal-barbecued food. Unfortunately, it also takes a very long time to assemble, which is another niggle, but all-in-all, we’d recommend this novel and practical BBQ.
Key details – Fuel type: Charcoal and gas; Cooking area: 43 x 44cm (per area); Dimensions (WDH): 139 x 59 x 116cm; Weight: 38.75kg
5. Char-Broil Big Easy Smoker: Best gas smoker
Price when reviewed: £330 | Check price at Amazon
- Great for… extra juicy meat with optional wood chip smoke
- Not so great for… temperature control – it gets extremely hot
Char-Broil’s Big Easy Smoker is far cheaper than its main rival – the Big Green Egg, which starts at £625 – and it works brilliantly. It roasts, smokes or grills for up to six people, with a design that locks the juices into your food so it doesn’t dry out, and patented infrared technology that brings you a traditional BBQ taste with no flare-ups. It’s fast too, using much less gas than most barbecues and delivering perfectly even cooking.
The most fun part is smoking your food: there’s a small removable chamber on the side of the BBQ that you can fill with wood chips. It then takes about ten minutes to warm up and gives the meat a fabulous smokey taste, which will vary according to which wood you use. Just be warned that this barbecue gets extremely hot. Oh, and the grill could be bigger.
Key details – Fuel type: Gas; Cooking area: 38.5cm (diameter); Dimensions (WDH): 59.4 x 58.7 x 92cm; Weight: 22.7kg
6. Landmann Kentucky Smoker: Best mid-price charcoal smoker
Price when reviewed: £300 | Check price at Appliances Direct
- Great for… temperature control via vent doors
- Not so great for… build quality or assembly
This large, oil-drum barbecue is big enough for you to be able to invite all the neighbours round. Plus, for the authentic American experience, you can burn wood chips in its side chamber for a delicious, smoky BBQ taste – especially when it comes to chicken. The hood grill lets you control the speed of cooking and means you can either roast or smoke food – after which it can all wait on the large warming rack until you’re ready to eat.
We wouldn’t necessarily recommend this appliance to barbecue beginners though: it takes some skill to make the most effective use of the whole length of the barbecue and get things evenly cooked. It’s not the easiest to assemble or clean either.
Key details – Fuel type: Charcoal/woodchip; Cooking area: 66 x 36cm; Dimensions (WDH): 141 x 48.5 x 127cm; Weight: 29kg
7. Big Green Egg: Best charcoal BBQ with a smoker
Price when reviewed: £1,935 | Check price at John Lewis
- Great for… a long term investment thanks to the lifetime guarantee
- Not so great for… budgeting BBQers
Anyone who loves a good barbeque session has probably heard of the Big Green Egg. This American company produces high-end, komodo-style BBQs made from a ceramic that retains heat incredibly well. You can buy the Eggs in sizes from small portables to XL family-sized models. This particular model is a large Egg, and it’s big enough to fit either 12 burgers, six chickens (vertically), eight steaks or seven racks of ribs. That’s plenty of room for most family barbeques, whether you’re simply sizzling sausages or cooking up a full meal.
A temperature gauge and airflow control mean you can accurately bring your Egg’s temperature up or down to within a few degrees and then maintain this throughout cooking with very little charcoal. Accessory-wise, it comes with a snuffer cap, transporter castors, a stainless steel cooking grid and two rather beautiful Acacia wood shelves for plates, condiments or utensils. This definitely isn’t the cheapest of BBQs but if you’re looking to invest in something that will last you a very long time, we think it’s worth it.
Key details – Fuel type: Charcoal; Cooking area: 46cm (diameter); Dimensions (WDH): 60 x 60 x 70cm (egg only); Weight: 104kg (including shelves)
How to choose the best BBQ for you
Which fuel type is best?
Traditionalists insist that a “real” barbecue needs charcoal, or some other solid fuel, but these briquettes can take a long time to get hot enough to cook on. Gas barbecues provide instant heat and will cook your food more quickly too – the trade-off being that they’re normally far less portable, while some also say the taste isn’t as “authentic”.
What size BBQ should I get?
Clearly, a bigger barbecue means you can cook more items at once. A smaller grill might be fine for a lazy afternoon with friends – where it doesn’t matter if the burgers only go on after the sausages are done – but it’s less ideal if you’re evening dining al fresco and don’t want things to drag on all night.
A small, portable barbecue will generally make dinner for two to four people, depending on appetites. A medium-sized, kettle-style barbecue should be fine to serve six to eight people. The large oil-drum or half-barrel barbecues are great for parties but they tend to use a lot of fuel.
Then there are big, open grills, which can be bought in practically any size and give you the ability to cook, and keep warm, huge amounts of food.
A two-burner barbecue should feed up to six people, while a three or four-burner will give you more cooking power and more control over how you cook. This might be ideal for small parties, but bear in mind that larger appliances are trickier to store when not in use.
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What cooking capabilities do I need?
Grilling is just part of the barbecue story: some models can also smoke, fry, sauté, boil, bake and even roast. Griddles and hot plates are an increasingly common feature of gas-fired barbecues, as are side burners for cooking accompaniments.
How much do I need to pay?
There’s a barbecue for every budget: a disposable tray should set you back less than £10, while the most comprehensive, innovative barbecue sets can cost thousands. As a rule of thumb, a non-disposable barbecue costing under £100 is unlikely to be as robust or as well designed as more expensive counterparts, and won’t offer as much control.
That said, a high price doesn’t always translate to a guarantee of quality, and some of the more affordable options on our list will still see you through many summers to come.
