Best Gas Grills of 2024
To determine the best gas grill and get a sense of how these grills perform in a variety of cooking scenarios, we run three tests. Based on different meats, methods, and heat settings, these tests show us how efficiently and evenly a grill cooks (or doesn’t).
Coasts
Our first test is ribs. This is an anecdotal round, so there’s no connected thermometer or software capturing specific data. We preheat each grill on high for 10 minutes before reducing it to low, indirect heat. Depending on the size of the grill, this means turning off one or two burners completely.
We remove the outer membrane from a rack of pork ribs and season it with an all-purpose rub that we use for ribs and chicken. Then the ribs are placed on the racks for at least three hours with the lid closed the entire time.
The rib test lasts three hours over low, indirect heat.
Rib lovers may not agree with this relatively short, smokeless cooking method, but it does allow us to see how well a regular propane grill can cook low and slow. If time permits, we continue cooking until the ribs are completely cooked and record the total cooking time.
Chicken
To test the grill with a medium cook time and medium heat settings, we grill a whole chicken. We preheat the grill on high for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to medium and turn off the burners to create an indirect heat environment.
Once the bird is trimmed and seasoned, we place it in a roasting pan and insert a temperature probe into each chicken breast, for a total of two probes per bird (this is an important step even if the grill has a built-in thermometer, because undercooked chicken is no good for anyone). To keep our results as accurate as possible, all of the chickens weighed as close to 5.5 pounds as possible.
Whole chickens are cooked over medium indirect heat until both breasts reach 165 degrees F.
These temperature probes are connected to a data logger and a laptop with software that records the internal temperature of each chicken breast every two seconds. Each chicken cooks until the temperature of both breasts reaches a food temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Grilled chicken should have crispy skin and meat that’s cooked through, but not dry. We do this test in three rounds, which gives us a solid average cooking time for each grill.
Burgers
Burgers are our final test for our grilling tests. We measure out 150g of 80/20 ground beef and press them into uniform patties. These patties are placed in a grill basket and we insert a temperature probe into the centre of each patty at a 45-degree angle.
After preheating the grill for 10 minutes on high, the basket is placed on the grill. After six minutes of cooking, we flip the basket and monitor the internal temperature. Once the last burger in the basket reaches 145 degrees Fahrenheit, the batch is done. A good burger in this test is one that has both a nice charred surface and a slightly pink center.
The burgers are cooked on the grill over high, direct heat.
Burger tests indicate hot spots on the grill’s cooking surface if a burger consistently reaches 145°F before the others on each rotation.
An average difference of 15 or 20 degrees between the fastest and slowest pancakes in a batch was the norm in our tests. Red flags are raised when we start seeing differences in the 30 to 40 degree range.
