Best Charcoal Grills of 2024

Barrel-style charcoal grills are rectangular and include many helpful features, such as adjustable cooking grates and a door to add charcoal. Most also have a removable ashpan. These grills hold more food than other grills but they use more charcoal, so expect to add lots of coals while cooking.

Kettle-style charcoal grills are smaller than most barrel grills, so they take up less space on a deck or patio. The tapered shape lets you build a deeper bed of coals than you can with a barrel grill, so you can sear or cook for longer without adding coals. That said, kettle-style grills typically hold less food than barrel-style grills.

We test each charcoal grill with a full chimney of charcoal and spread the layer of coals evenly across the base of the grill. As with gas grills, we wire the charcoal-grill grates with thermocouples to conduct our lab tests. Here is how our testers assess charcoal grills:

• Cooking evenness: If you plan on frequently grilling for large parties, a great heating evenness is a must. We test a grill’s cooking evenness with thermocouples to make sure that a big batch of burgers or hot dogs would finish at the same time.
• Indirect cooking: We test a grill’s ability to slow-cook foods when the food isn’t placed directly over the charcoal. Models with a high indirect cooking score make for great slow cookers and can heat through a thick cut of chicken without drying it out.
• Convenience: We judge how easy it is to add coals, adjust the vents, move the grill, and more.
• Cleaning: Our testers evaluate how easy it is to remove the ash from the grill once cooking is complete.