8 best portable BBQs 2024 UK; tried and tested by a cooking expert
BBQs don’t just have to be an at-home event – you can take them on the go with you, too.
Whether you're short on space or want to grill food on camping trips or picnics, portable BBQs allow you to take al fresco cooking almost anywhere you want.
There’s nothing like a perfectly grilled sausage on the beach. Or you could even BBQ your best catch during a fishing trip. How about flame grilling some of the veg you’ve grown at the allotment?
Most portable BBQs are charcoal – lugging a gas bottle with you to the park is about as fun as a BBQ in the rain.
They should be lightweight and relatively easy to lug about. Some portable BBQs are more transportable than others.
From smokers on the go, to beach-friendly buckets, there’s a huge range of portable BBQs out there. So, read our honest review of the best portable BBQs available to buy in the UK right now.
Best portable bbqs at a glance:
- Best overall: Char Griller Akorn Jr
- Best value: Dunelm bucket bbq
- Best medium range: Everdure by Heston Blumenthal Cube portable charcoal bbq
- Best premium: Weber Traveler portable gas bbq
- Best multiuse portable bbq: Ninja Woodfire grill and smoker
Char Griller Akorn Jr. Kamado Charcoal BBQ
Char Griller Akorn Jr Kamado Charcoal BBQ, £216.97
Pros: little compromise on features, durable, good for indirect and direct cooking, easy to control temperature
Cons: heavy, not suitable for all on-the-go situations, doesn’t come with a defector plate
Rating: 4.5/5
Personally, I probably wouldn’t lug this BBQ to the beach or park – it’s portable, but quite heavy (17kg!) and a faff to carry. However, if I was going camping or am short on space, I’d be considering the Char Griller Akorn Jr - it’s just so much fun.
The versatility of this BBQ is just incredible – it’s as good as any other charcoal BBQ, just shrunk right down.
Let’s start from the top down.
There’s a thermostat on the lid, which takes out some of the guesswork when cooking. There’s also a vent, so you can control how hot and smoky it is inside. This was a real bonus when cooking thick chicken drumsticks, allowing me to be sure everything was cooked through. The lid can clip shut for transporting.
Under the hood, I loved that the cast-iron rack has a hole in the middle to top up coals, and it comes with a tool for lifting the grate too.
Plus, there are two levels to put the rack on depending on how close you want the meat from the coals – I found further away for chicken and up close for burgers and grilling off veggies worked well. Using the tool, I could flick between the two.
The whole charcoal basket lifts out, so you can tip your coals out easily. And there’s an ash pan underneath so you can keep those coals burning nicely.
At the bottom you can also adjust the airflow to the coals, allowing you to adjust the temperature. With a bit of trial and error, I found it entertaining to see what temperatures I could achieve with the vents.
The ideal would be to get a defector plate for the Akorn Jr so you can make all manner of smoky goodness. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come with one, so I wasn’t able to test this functionality out, but it does have a shelf for one.
But you can pick up compatible cordierite heat deflector plates fairly cheaply online.
Fuel: charcoal; Dimensions (HxWxD): 680x510x53mm
Everdure by Heston Blumenthal Cube portable charcoal BBQ
Everdure by Heston Blumenthal Cube Portable Charcoal BBQ, £149
Pros: looks great, includes food prep board and storage tray, easy to clean, can move it while lit
Cons: no lid
Rating: 4/5
This has almost everything you’d want to take your BBQ on the go.
The clever lid doubles as a food prep space and a food-storage tray.
I could slice my burger buns and salad on the bamboo lid and store food in the plastic white tray. All the layers of the BBQ clip together, so I didn’t struggle with bits sliding about while I carried it.
When you’re cooking on a smaller portable surface, it’s quite tricky to get indirect heat as there’s not a huge amount of space to create it by pushing the coals to one side.
It is possible, but it did seriously limit the space. The Cube doesn’t come with a lid, which did impact cooking times quite a bit as we couldn’t trap any of that hot air.
However, it's great that there’s a charcoal grate for the removable charcoal tray. This allowed air to flow into the charcoal underneath, making it easier to light and keep going.
And talking of space, Everdure claim you can get six burgers on the cooking surface – I tested this and while it was a squeeze, I did manage it.
I'd probably recommend this BBQ to serve about four to five people per session, but of course, it depends on your appetite.
I liked that the charcoal tray was removable. It meant I could tip the cooled ash away easily without having to tip the whole BBQ on its end.
I appreciated the attention to detail with the cool-to-touch handles, which allow you to move it while it’s lit or still hot. There is also a heat-proof base so you can have it on a table and it shouldn’t burn through.
Fuel: charcoal; Dimensions (HxWxD): 230x425x347.4mm
READ MORE:
- Best gas BBQs
- Ninja woodfire review
- Char-Broil Gas2Coal review
- Best charcoal for a BBQ
- Landmann BBQ review
Weber Traveler Portable Gas BBQ
Weber Traveler Portable Gas BBQ, £465
Pros: huge cooking area, robust, easy to move, comes up to standing height, well-engineered
Cons: heavy, pretty pricey, no indirect heat
Rating: 4/5
Now this is a nice bit of kit if you’re BBQing on the go – or even just at home and I was so impressed by the quality of it.
The mechanisms worked perfectly when I was putting up and collapsing the BBQ. The unlock feature was simple to use - it felt easy to wheel it along like a suitcase.
And I found the fact the lid automatically locks when I collapse it very nifty. Plus, you can sort it on its end – perfect if you have an already crowded shed like me.
For a portable BBQ, there’s an outstanding amount of space to cook on. I happily cooked for my family of five on there with zero stress about how I would fit everything on.
The slightly unusual thing about this BBQ is that it’s gas. You can get small bottles of gas to attach to it, which gives you around two hours of cooking time with the wind behind you.
Or if you’re staying put for longer you can use an adaptor hose to attach a regular gas bottle like any other gas BBQ.
Because it’s a gas BBQ, I could easily adjust the temperature and get to the temperature I wanted pretty fast. There is just one burner, but it controls the whole surface of the large grill.
Of course, Weber hasn’t scrimped and there’s a thermostat on the lid of the BBQ to keep an eye on how things are fairing under the hood.
I found the large enamel hood moved heat around pretty well, and this meant I didn’t have to have the burners on too fiercely to get a good temperature going. Many portable BBQs don’t come with hoods, so this is a real bonus here.
However, in-direct cooking is a bit of a challenge on the Weber Travel because there is only one burner and for this reason, I stuck to burgers, and steaks during testing, and I even butterflied some marinaded chicken breasts.
I was really happy with how everything cooked, and everything came out with those beautiful caramelised sear marks.
Another thing I did like was the cast-iron griddles. Many portable BBQs opt for lighter-weight ceramic griddles, which are tricky to get clean afterwards and just don’t hold the heat quite as well in my experience.
The cast iron grills make the BBQ heavy, but you can take them out and carry them separately.
Fuel: gas; Dimensions (HxWxD): 945x1108x350mm
Ninja Woodfire Grill & Smoker
Ninja Woodfire Grill and Smoker, £350
Pros: loads of functions, durable, can sit on table, easy to use
Cons: not super “authentic”, expensive, requires certain woodchip refills
Rating: 4/5
When is a portable BBQ, not a portable BBQ? When it’s also a smoker, air fryer and dehydrator too.
Yes, Ninja has entered the portable BBQ chat and they’re not messing around.
I want to get this out of the way right at the top of the review. You have to plug this BBQ in - so you cannot stray far from the mains with the Ninja Woodfire.
I’m afraid your air-frying in a field dreams end here but stick with me, as there’s plenty to celebrate.
The BBQ grill is actually more of a hot plate. You insert woodchips (you get a couple of packs in the box to get you started) into a smoker box on the side, and then select grill from the dial, input a timer and temperature on the LED, hit the woodfire button and then it preheats.
It then beeps to let you know when it’s up to temperature and your grilling can start. I quite liked that in a pinch, the Woodfire took the guesswork out of BBQing. But if you’re a die-hard BBQer, this isn’t going to give you the caveperson/grilling hit you require.
I found chicken breasts and veggie kebabs cooked well on the Woodfire, and the smoker did its job well of infusing it with a hit of, well, smokiness.
Did it taste authentically BBQ-ed? Perhaps not exactly, but it was a fairly good match. And I thought combined with all the other functions it was an OK compromise to make.
And OK, I admit it, I liked the air fryer function. The Woodfire comes with a huge basket, which gave me loads of room to move food around to make sure the air could circulate.
I made a gorgeous roast chicken and chips in here one evening. Is that what you’re looking for in a BBQ? Maybe not, but it’s nice to have.
Fuel: electricity; Dimensions (HxWxD): 345x299x602mm
Masterbuilt Portable Charcoal BBQ & Smoker
Masterbuilt Portable Charcoal BBQ & Smoker, £486.86
Pros: wheeled cart makes it easy to move, great flavours, can do low and slow cooking, easy to light
Cons: expensive, still fairly big when folded
Rating: 4/5
I tested the Masterbuilt portable BBQ that comes on a trolley, but you can also buy it for cheaper without the trolley.
However, without the caddy, it makes the situation significantly less portable. The trolley folds down easily, and, although I had grave concerns over trapping my fingers, this didn’t happen.
Once folded down, you can wheel it along – it’s still big and it isn’t suitable for under-arm carrying, but it’s portable for sure.
Once the stand is up, you pretty much have a full-size charcoal BBQ to get your grill on.
There’s a grate to put in the smoker box, and under the grate, there’s a holder for lighter blocks. Pop those in, slide in the grate and then light, then it’s just a case of pouring in some charcoal – my BBQ lit really well even in a fairly strong wind.
The heat is drawn through the chassis of the BBQ via a fan. For this, you need to plug in your BBQ or use batteries, which should give you about six hours of cooking time and I found this ample (I used batteries).
The fan whirrs into action and then you can control the temperature using a dial on the base. This means you can gently smoke meats for a low-and-slow vibe or crank it up for direct heat.
I found during cooking that the fan was good, but it was hottest on the grill towards the charcoal box, so you need to keep a close eye. However, it created a beautiful smokey taste that I wasn’t expecting possible for a portable BBQ.
I could infuse thick cuts of chicken with flavour, cooking them all the way through without burning them – in fact, they stayed juicy and succulent.
I also enjoyed roasting a tray of garlic potatoes and grilling some Portobello mushrooms – veggies must be catered for too.
Fuel: charcoal; Dimensions (HxWxD): 910x1140x480cm
Asado uBer-Q Rotisserie Grill Plate Portable BBQ
Asado uBer-Q Rotisserie Grill Plate Portable BBQ, £119.99
Pros: lots of fun, comes with carry bag, lightweight, includes rotisserie accessory, flat pan and griddle for flexible cooking
Cons: not super robust, limited space on the griddle
Rating: 3.5/5
This Asado-style grill takes its inspiration from South American grilling, for fancy BBQing on the go. Whether you’re cooking Argentine steaks on this, or a few burgers, it’s a lot of fun to use.
I was impressed that this BBQ came with its own carry bag. As there are a few different bits to the Uber-Q, it was handy to keep it all together and useful for carrying to your chosen picnic spot too.
The Uber-Q took a matter of minutes to set up – it’s a fairly straightforward bit of kit. But it’s not super robust, so you’re going to want to light it in a relatively sheltered place.
Once lit though, it was enjoyable to cook on the Uber-Q. As there’s a flat pan on it, as well as a griddle, I could make breakfast on this BBQ – a first for me.
Pancakes took a while to get going, but once I started they were flying off the plate. A fried egg also worked well.
The standout for me with the Uber-Q is that it comes with a rotisserie accessory as standard. Load the motor with batteries, and then you can either use the spit fork for large pieces of meat like a whole chicken, or thread on kebabs onto the six skewers.
I made some chicken shish this way, and it was delicious – they were infused with a smokiness I just can’t get when I make chicken kebabs in the kitchen, and the BBQ kept the meat perfectly juicy.
It does take a while to do, but I think this labour of love is well worth it.
Fuel: charcoal; Dimensions (HxWxD): 450x350x550mm
Char-Broil Grill2GO Portable Gas Grill
Char Broil Grill2GO Portable Gas Grill, £229.99
Pros: easy to carry, decent cooking area, easy to use, robust
Cons: no adjustable burner
Rating: 3.5/5
Nothing about this portable BBQ says 'lightweight', other than the fact it’s actually just 11kg in weight.
It’s super robust and a little powerhouse, really. Two handles on either side make it easy to carry, although I found it slightly cumbersome.
I wouldn’t fancy carrying the Grill2Go over distance, but around the garden was fine.
A temperature gauge on the top was appreciated, to help try to control the heat under the hood. There is just an on/off situation with this barbie, which means it lacks any subtly with heat.
However, the unusually shaped griddle that looks like a mountain range is meant to distribute the heat evenly.
I felt there were some cold spots when cooking, but that was pretty handy really when juggling different timings for items.
I didn’t love the griddle surface - the ridges seemed to get a bit gunky in the valleys, but you can clean this off with a steel brush afterwards as they’re made out of stainless steel. Just don’t forget to do this after every cooking session.
I loved how simple this grill was. It’d be very little faff to stick in the car or campervan and have on hand for a quick, easy meal. There are locks on the lid too, to stop it flying open as you round a corner.
I found a bonus to gas portable BBQs is that there’s no ash to deal with afterwards, and it’s easy to cool down more quickly if you’re having to pack away after a meal.
Fuel: gas; Dimensions (HxWxD): 345x602x400mm
Dunelm Bucket BBQ
Dunelm Bucket BBQ, £15
Pros: lightweight, super easy to transport, raised legs, easy to use, great for simple BBQ jobs, affordable
Cons: no lid, not super robust, small surface area for cooking
Rating: 3/5
When I started reviewing bbqs, I didn’t expect to find one for under £20, but here we are.
This is perfect if you hate the environmental impact of a disposable BBQ but still want a barbie on the go.
It’s pretty simple to work this one out – pop the metal stand inside the bucket, with the ash caddy slotted on top, and then the grill on top.
I was pretty impressed, as the bucket was deep enough for me to keep the grill far enough away from the coals to cook without burning my food.
There’s a stand inside the bucket that allows for airflow under the coals. I found this made it easier to light my BBQ than those flimsy disposable versions, and to keep it going too. There is a handle on the grill, which allows me to lift off the grill, add more coals and shift them around.
When cooking on this bucket BBQ I went for easier cuts of meat to cook. If you’re into sausages, burgers and halloumi on the BBQ, you’re going to be golden.
I cooked all of these well, without stress. As it doesn’t have a lid and is fairly unsophisticated, I probably wouldn’t attempt to cook an expensive cut of meat on it. There was room to cook around three burgers at a time on it, so it’s best for couples and small families.
There are folding legs on the BBQ, so in theory, you could attempt to stand it on the grass.
I didn’t want to try this and sacrifice my lawn to the BBQ gods, but it’s handy to have the legs to raise it that bit off the ground to save your back.
Fuel: charcoal; Dimensions (HxWxD): 230x290x270mm
How we tested these products
We reviewed these portable bbqs in real-life settings, cooking for ourselves and our family. A range of foods was tested from burgers to kebabs and even whole joints of meat.
The trade-off between portability and durability was looked at the ensure that all the portable bbqs on this roundup were useful and unlikely to fly away in the first gust of wind.
Of course, we also looked at price as BBQs, even portable ones, can be expensive. Were the more hefty price tags justified?
Where to buy portable bbqs in the UK
You can buy portable bbqs from a range of places in the UK. Many brands have their own websites that you can buy directly from. Sometimes there are really good deals to be had there, but it always pays to shop around. You can also buy portable bbqs from third-party sites – again, there are some attractive sales intermittently throughout the year. Third-party sites are often good if you’re not loyal to one brand, as you can browse a wider range of portable bbqs.
Here are some of the best places to buy portable bbqs:
How much do portable barbeques cost?
Well, there’s one portable BBQ on this round-up for just £15, and then there’s another that's more than £400, so there’s quite a range of price points.
From our testing, we know that some lower-priced portable bbqs are fantastic, and worthy of consideration.
But as you might expect, the higher-priced portable bbqs often have more features, and tend to be more durable and sturdy too.