Equipment Review: Best Gas Grills Under $500 & Our Testing Winner

Byamazingfoodstv


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We tested six gas grills priced under $500 to find the best grill:
Weber Spirit E-310 Gas Grill
Char-Broil Commercial Series 4-Burner Gas Grill
Dyna-Glo 5-Burner Propane Gas Grill with Side Burner and Rotisserie Burner
Nexgrill 4 Burner Liquid Propane Gas Grill
Broil King Baron 440
KitchenAid 3 Burner Gas Grill & Side Burner

It doesn’t matter how powerful a grill is. If it can’t distribute and hold the heat where you want it, your food will suffer.

Crave charcoal? Watch our review of charcoal grills:

What should you look for in a Food Processor? Watch now:

WINNING TRAITS OF A GOOD GAS GRILL
– Extra flame tamer bars between burners to help spread out heat
– Cast-iron grates, which transfer heat best
– Well-built cookbox with tight-sealing lid and few vents
– Lid that shuts tightly to retain heat and opens wide so smoke isn’t directed toward your face
– Large-capacity cooking grate so food is not crowded
– Sturdy construction

WHAT WE EXAMINED

BURNERS: Gas grills heat via perforated tubes called burners that emit flames when ignited. Grills are described by their number of burners, though we found that this did not correlate with performance or capacity.

GRATES: The grill grates are made of either cast iron or stainless steel.

SIZE OF MAIN COOKING GRATE AND HEAT OUTPUT: Manufacturers typically list the combined total square inches, including warming racks and side burners. More usefully, we list the dimensions of the main cooking grate and how many 4-inch burgers each can fit. Similarly, we only list the BTU (British Thermal Units—a measure of heat output per hour) numbers of the main burner.

FEATURES: Some grills offer more extra features than others.

GRILLING: We grilled hamburgers and steaks over direct heat, looking for distinct grill marks, well-browned crusts, and moist interiors. We mapped the heat pattern of each grill by covering its preheated surface with white bread slices and examining the toast.

INDIRECT COOKING: We prepared pulled pork, keeping the grill at 300 degrees for more than 4 hours. Thermocouples confirmed whether lid thermometers were accurate. We rated the pork on smoky flavor and tender, moist texture.

DESIGN: Grills received higher marks if their designs made it easier to set them up and cook.

DURABILITY: Models that were hard to roll; lost wheels, doors, or other parts; or showed greater wear and tear received lower scores.

CLEANUP: We rated whether grates were easy to scrub clean and whether grills had secure, large grease trays and catch pans that were easy to reach.

ABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America’s Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.

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39 Comments

  4. I went griddle top grill. Got the Members Mark Peo Series griddle for $299 delivered free to my door. You won’t find a higher quality made grill for the value anywhere with any brand. Great purchase!

  5. At $499 the Webber is at the very extreme most for a $500 max griller. I would like to know just how much you paid for each of all the other grillers you tested. You do realize you only get what you pay for most of the time. I myself use a pretty cheap Professional dual fuel griller and get top works from it. Its also a three burner gas front to back. The professional griller only cost $350 and is a little on the light scale… but efficient. Is it possible that the cause of great cooking isn't so much the actual construction or cost…but with the simplicity of the 3 burner back to front gas. The charcoal burner side of the Professional is very good also. The lower and raising of the charcoal makes a great difference to. My previous Griller was the E310 and I found it and the Professional dual fuel to be on equal par but worlds apart in price and structure. My Webber was stolen and I couldn't find another here in Mexico to replace it, so this is why I changed to the Professional in the first place.

  30. Great review, lots of information. However, is there a 2nd and 3rd place grill behind the Weber? I feel like the Weber was in first place and the rest are garbage according to this video, but the Weber is pretty expensive still. Is there an OK grill for $250-$300?

  37. Damn…on a sour note, I’m leaving my weber spirit grill (which I love) with my ex while I move back to my home town after a divorce. I came here looking to see which new grill I should buy when I get back…Yippee!

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