A tabletop gas grill is one of the more versatile ways to cook, giving you a full cooking surface that you can use both indoors and out in almost any location or situation! Not only are they popular for camping and picnics, but there are very few places where you can’t use them, and having a portable cooking space that can be moved from place to place on a whim opens up a lot of possibilities that you can’t achieve with a normal kitchen or outdoor barbecue.
Like all ovens, though, there are thousands of individual designs and models to choose from, each of which has their own benefits and drawbacks that make them useful for different roles and cooking types.
Below are ten of the best tabletop grill designs available online, as well as the reasons they’re worth picking up for yourself.
View The Best Tabletop Gas Grill Below
1. Blackstone Table Top Grill
This portable grill is fuelled with 1-pound bottles of propane, making it fairly easy to keep running outdoors without needing to lug around a heavy power source. The built-in grease catcher and specially-made griddle ensures that cleaning is much easier, and the design gives you a whole 260 square inches of cooking surface to work with.
Despite this size, it’s compact shape means that it’s also very easy to store, and the “H” burner style means that it can provide a 12,000 BTU heat output hat’s equally distributed across every inch of the cooking grate for perfect results almost every time.
Pros:
+ Compact and portable shape.
+ Provides a large cooking surface.
+ Uses a reliable stainless steel grill.
+ Very easy to clean.
+ Designed to work well outdoors.
WhyWe Like It – This grill is simple, compact and extremely easy to use, making it one of the best grill options for people who want kitchen-quality food while they’re outdoors or camping away from home.
2. Weber Q2200 Liquid Propane Grill
This liquid propane grill offers 280 square inches of cooking space to give you plenty of room for different foods, operation at a heat level of 12,000 BTU per hour for consistent and thorough cooking. The cooking grades use porcelain and cast iron to make cleaning easier while also improving heat distribution, and the electronic ignition system means that you don’t need to carry matches with you at all times.
The grill even comes with its own thermometer to help you keep track of the current heat levels when you’re making a very specific recipe. Even better, it has two fold-out portable tabletop sections.
Pros:
+ Fold-out meal preparation spaces.
+ Great heat distribution.
+ Electronic lighting system.
+ Built-in thermometer.
+ Porcelain-enameled grates for better heat management.
Why We Like It – This gas grill gives you a large cooking space and two separate work surfaces to help you prepare great meals, making it easier to cook them to perfection every time.
3. Cuisinart CGG-059 Grillster
This sleek-looking grill boasts 164 square inches of cooking space on an enameled steel grate surface, making it easy to clean and improving heat distribution dramatically for better meals with more universal and balanced cooking results. The push-to-ignite system gets rid of the need for any matches or other external flames, and the portable tabletop design weighs only 10 pounds for easy movement and storage.
Setting up the grill in preparation to cook barely takes any time at all, and there’s no assembly required: you just fold back the hood and start cooking straight away, no extra equipment or adjustments needed!
Pros:
+ Extremely easy to set up.
+ Gives you over 160 inches of cooking space.
+ Easy to store and transport.
+ Streamlined gas grill design.
+ Dishwasher-safe grill design.
Why We Like It – The large cooking surface of this grill, combined with the simple ignition, makes it extremely useful for cooking all kinds of large meals!
4. Giantex Propane Tabletop Gas Grill
This stainless steel tabletop grill uses a two-burner system to let you adjust the heat levels independently, giving you a bit more versatility and letting you choose how much heat you need up to a maximum of 20,000 BTU. The folding legs can be tucked away for easier transport, and the lightweight overall design makes it much more portable than many other grills. The specific metals used in the design make it extremely easy to clean on a regular basis, and the small amount of assembly that’s needed can be carried out in only a few minutes with no major delays or other tools needed.
Pros:
+ Extremely easy to set up.
+ Gives you over 160 inches of cooking space.
+ Easy to store and transport.
+ Streamlined gas grill design.
+ Dishwasher-safe grill design.
Why We Like It – This is one of the best grill choices for people who need something basic but reliable, giving you a portable cooking surface that’s incredibly easy to handle.
5. Megamaster 820-0033M Propane Gas Grill
The dual burners in this stainless steel grill are incredibly easy to use, reaching a heat of up to 16,000 BTU and offering 200 square inches of cooking area for you to use as needed. A small amount of assembly is required, but setting up the grill barely takes any time and it can be very easily cleaned without having to remove any parts.
Each burner can reach up to 8,000 BTU, letting you adjust the heat of each one separately to get the results you need. The lid can be locked down and the legs tucked away during transport or storage to give the grill a much more portable size and shape.
Pros:
+ Offers plenty of cooking area.
+ Easy to transport.
+ Contains two burners that can be adjusted separately.
+ Excellent heat distribution.
+ Simple ignition system.
Why We Like It – Unlike a lot of grills, this one offers two burners and a shiny, easy-to-clean design that makes it perfect for cooking varied meals on short notice.
6. Royal Gourmet PD1300 Portable Gas Grill
This high-quality tabletop grill contains three independent burners that can reach 9,000 BTU each,(27,000 BTUs in total) for a high level of cooking power and heat adjustment, as well as giving you 316 square inches of cooking area to help you cook multiple meals at once.
The Piezo ignition system makes it easy to use while camping or taking a rest outdoors, and the built-in grease cup can minimize the amount of grease that needs to be cleaned later. Most of the grill is made with stainless steel to prevent stains and ensure maximum meal quality whenever possible, all while being fairly portable and lightweight.
Pros:
+ Very portable tabletop gas grill design.
+ Comes with a special grease cup.
+ Made of reliable stainless steel.
+ Perfect for use while camping.
+ Uses a three burner system.
Why We Like It – Each burner in this grill is adjustable, making it ideal for people who want very precise results or need to cook specific foods at different heat levels.
7. Char-Broil Portable Liquid Gas Grill
The 240 square inches of cooking area offered by this tabletop propane grill makes it surprisingly versatile, and the sturdy legs mounted into the grill section double as useful handles for carrying it around on short notice. The lid has a special temperature gauge built into the surface that can help you keep track of your current cooking heat, and the wire grate can hold a surprising amount of food. The rest of the design is mostly made of painted porcelain for easier cleaning and better durability if you use the grill frequently.
Pros:
+ Comes with a lid-mounter temperature checking gauge.
+ Has strong legs that double as handles.
+ Very sturdy design.
+ Plenty of cooking space.
+ Made with painted porcelain.
Why We Like It – This grill combines a basic design with plenty of useful materials and adjustments to make it much more reliable, but still has a low weight and portable shape.
8. Pit Boss Grills Portable Grill
The tough stainless steel body of this portable tabletop grill keeps it safe while it’s two 10,000 BTU burners are ignited, letting it cook food thoroughly and consistently without leaving any major marks on the grill itself. The portable size is backed up with folding legs and a lockable hood that can easily be tucked town for better storage and transport, and the push-and-turn ignition system means that it’s easy to start cooking straight away. You also get a built-in thermometer to help you guess the current heat of the cooking grate for specific recipes, meaning that you don’t have to just guess.
Pros:
+ Contains two reliable burner sections.
+ Portable and easy-to-store design.
+ Folding legs for easier transport.
+ Simple ignition system.
+ Lightweight construction.
Why We Like It – This is one of the best tabletop grill options for people who need to grill food on the go without wanting to clean very often or constantly remove and re-attach different parts.
9. IWATANI Smokeless Korean Barbecue Grill
The unconventional design of this grill is meant to be smokeless, cooking meals extremely well without generating all of the horrible smoke that can ruin a picnic or make an area smell horrible. It’s designed to make sure that no fat ever reaches the flame, dropping it on pools of water instead.
As a grill, it’s extremely lightweight and uses a range of heat-resistant materials (such as aluminum) and a simple ignition system that doesn’t take much effort to use, meaning that you can set it up and start cooking in one swift attempt. Unlike many grills, it also uses pressure-sensitive equipment to make it harder to burn yourself if you’re not careful.
Pros:
+ Very lightweight design.
+ Built to provide smokeless cooking.
+ Rounded cooking grate construction.
+ Straightforward ignition.
+ Pressure-based safety system.
Why We Like It – If you’re looking for something more than just regular tabletop grips, this is one of the best portable gas grill options in terms of style and unique designs.
10. Coleman NXT Lite Tabletop Grill
This portable propane grill design offers up to 8,500 BTUs of consistent heat spread across 168 square inches of cooking area, giving you plenty of space to use while still staying easy to carry around. The InstaStart ignition system removes the need for any lighters or matches, and the Swaptop cooking grates can be moved around or replaced with other alternatives if needed.
If that’s not enough, you can also use the Even-Temp burner designs to make sure that you get equal heat distribution on each piece of food, reducing the chance of different items cooking at different rates depending on their place on the grills.
Pros:
+ Low overall weight.
+ Good-sized cooking surface.
+ Convenient InstaStart ignition system.
+ Removable grease-gathering drip tray.
+ Fuel-efficient heating system.
Why We Like It – This grill combines a variety of useful features into one great design, making it perfect for a huge range of situations, locations, and outdoor cooking styles.
Tabletop Gas Grill Buyer’s Guide
Like all grill types, a tabletop gas grill isn’t something that should be bought lightly. There are thousands of designs available to choose from, and for a good reason: each tabletop grill can offer a completely different set of features, even if they look similar from the outside. This isn’t just down to the heat they produce or the size of the gates, either: the smallest changes can have a large impact when it comes to food preparation, regardless of the cooking tool. This is only made more obvious with a tabletop gas grill, since you can’t rely on a fully-equipped kitchen to help you out. So how do you choose the best tabletop grills, and what features matter most?
Before you go hunting for specific tabletop grills, it’s important to know what you need to look for. Each person will have their own needs and preferences, so understanding what’s important to you as a chef makes a big difference. One person’s “best grill” might be another person’s “worst grill” simply because they’re looking for different things, so it’s a good idea to find out what’s most important in a grill design.
Burners
All grills on the market will have at least one burner, since it’s the main tool behind actually grilling: without it, there’s no heat. However, there are various combinations of burner that you can use, each of which can give you a different level of good heat control or other benefits that can alter how well your grilling surface works.
First of all, you’ll want to figure out how many burners you actually need. Some grills have a grilling area that only contains one burner, whereas others might go as high as three or four depending on the design. In portable grills, more burners can be incredibly useful for getting a decent level of temperature control when you’re trying to cook difficult or precise recipes, but it isn’t always the best option for every situation. Having at least two burners not only means that tabletop grills have to be larger, but also forces you to control them independently, and can sometimes even make more fuel per hour to use compared to other grills with a single burner.
There’s also the issue of the type of burner you use. A propane grill, by nature of using gas, will have a different burner compared to an electric grill. However, some designs might combine them as one of the key grill features, which can mean that you have one 6000 BTU burner and another 9000 BTU burner. This is rare, but some tabletop grills will do it either as a convenience feature or as an emergency grill, and there’s no guarantee that each of the burners will work correctly.
BTU Output and Heat Adjustment
BTUs (British Thermal Units) are used as a standard measurement of heat that helps you judge most grill burners and the amount of heat they can produce, as well as telling you what kind of cooking power you can expect to get from a portable tabletop gas grill. A grill that can deliver 12,000 BTUs of heat is objectively less heat-effective than one that can deliver 20,000 BTUs, but that doesn’t mean that the one with the larger number is best. It all comes down to how good the grill itself is when it comes to cooking and preparing food, since raw heat on its own won’t have that many benefits other than making meat edible faster.
A high BTU is generally a good thing since it means that the cooking surface can get hotter and reduces the amount of time it takes for the tabletop grill to cook or heat a certain item. However, you might find a high BTU grill best suited for large meals and thick items: it can struggle to deal with thinner items, since it’s likely to over-cook them or burn them (or even set them on fire, if the heat level is high enough). On the other hand, you’ll find a low-BTU grill best for smaller tasks, like warming up food and melting cheese. A low BTU can still cook food just as well as a high one, but it takes much longer and can use far more fuel to do so.
Quite a few tabletop grills will give you the ability to adjust the amount of heat each burner can product, which can help you alleviate this problem slightly. If you’re needing 9,000 BTUs, you can just adjust the burners to make them produce less heat, reducing the amount of BTUs the grill is producing.
Portability
One of the main advantages of a tabletop grill is how portable they can be: they’re quite literally a grill that can be carried around and set up on any tabletop, bench, grassy clearing or another surface that’s stable enough to hold it, making almost any place a potential kitchen for you. Obviously, you can’t just grill wherever you like, but having the option of setting up a grill in the middle of a camping trip or during a long day of walking can be incredibly useful, and you’re not forced to rely on less efficient means like creating a campfire. In fact, almost every tabletop grill is designed to be as portable as possible, making use of folding parts and lightweight materials to keep you moving freely.
Not all grills will be exactly as portable as one another. Some might have legs that fold inwards to reduce their size, whereas others might leave the legs in place and have them double as carrying handles instead. Some are easy to fit into a mid-sized backpack, others are still meant to be carried by hand. It differs between designs, and there’s no single grill size or shape that’s universally considered “best”, so a large part of it comes down to personal preference and the kind of features you might need. Remember that larger grills can have more space for extra features, whereas smaller designs are generally focused on being as small and light as possible.
Keep in mind that many gas grills will have one or two folding lids that are used to cover up the cooking surface area, which may often have some kind of locking system to stop them from swinging open. These are often overlooked, but having a lock like this can be very useful for storage reasons. The same goes for legs that fold inwards or extra food preparation platforms that can be tucked back into the main body of the grill – anything that can reduce its overall size makes a big difference, and it should never be ignored.
Ignition
Ignition is another feature that’s easy to ignore, but it’s also one of the most important. A grill is only useful if you can light it and actually create heat using it, so not having a proper ignition system available makes it dead weight with no uses until you can get it working again.
Some grill designs will use a match-based system that’s the same as classic models: you just use a match to create the first flame, which then ignites the gas and lets the grill cook food as normal. Others will use an electric system that only needs you to turn a dial to create sparks, and some might go a step further by having an automated system that works based on the press of a button.
Each of these systems has its own upsides and downsides – such as button-press ignition being easy to accidentally trigger or a match-based ignition requiring a physical set of matches that can eventually run out – but it’s once again a matter of personal preference. Think of it as a charcoal grill: charcoal grills generally require a match flame to work, but some of them have electric systems instead, and the end result is more or less the same anyway. The only difference is how you set up the grill and start cooking with it.
What is the best tabletop grill?
It’s easy to name a single grill as the “best” option, such as the Cuisinart Petit Gourmet, but that just wouldn’t be truthful. Using the Petit Gourmet as an example, it’s a great choice for extra features, but doesn’t have a lot of cooking space. On the other hand, another design like the Blackstone tabletop grill mentioned above is better suited to equal heating distribution with the trade-off of not having many extra features.
Because of this, it wouldn’t be right to say that the Petit Gourmet is the “best option” since there really isn’t a best option for everybody who’s looking for a tabletop grill. You need to find one that’s best for you, rather than just choosing the most popular choice without considering what, where and how you’ll be cooking in the future.
What is the best small propane grill?
Once you figure out the specifics of what you want, it’s a good idea to try and narrow down your searches. If you want a grill that specifically runs on propane, you can start to rule out other types of fuel entirely and focus on other features, such as the material. The decision between stainless steel and cast iron becomes much easier when you’re not worried about having to find one that uses a certain type of fuel, and you’ll be able to ignore a large portion of the grill market to make your search faster and take less effort.
However, the same rule of thumb from earlier applies here: the best option isn’t always going to be the same between different people, so even something as small as cast aluminum versus stainless steel construction can completely change the kind of person that tabletop gas grills appeal to.
What is the best gas grill under $300?
Once you add budgets to your search for a grill, it can either get easier or harder to find one that matches your needs. If all you care about is the fuel type, then it becomes much simpler, but having to look for very niche features isn’t always going to be an easy task under a strict financial limit.
Let’s say you want a cast iron grill surface that’s exactly 200 square inches in size: only so many grills with offer a surface of that exact amount of square inches, and not all of them will be in your price range. Be prepared to spend a bit more time searching, since niche requirements can make it a lot harder to find designs that tick every box for you.
Conclusion
By now, you should have an idea of what to look for in a new tabletop grill, regardless of what you’re looking for or the kinds of features you might want to find. At this point, it’s up to you: the product reviews listed here should be a good place to start your search, since they’re some of the best on the market. Make sure you figure out your needs and requirements carefully, and don’t be afraid to spend a while looking over the specification of each grill you find.
Hopefully, this buyer’s guide has given you a few pointers on how to carry out your search, what to consider as “important features” and the kinds of grills that might be perfect for your next camping trip or a long walk.
Go ahead and start searching! You never know when you’ll find the perfect grill for you, and it might even be one of the products listed in this article!
