The Best Gas Grills, by Size and Budget

A gas grill is bought for one number: 10 to 15 minutes from cold to a 500 F grate, with no chimney, no ash, and no fire to steer. That is the whole value proposition and it is a completely legitimate reason to buy one. Most people grill on weeknights, and a cooker that turns on is a cooker that gets used.

Here is the part the category will not say plainly. Gas does not make smoke flavor, because propane burns to carbon dioxide and water vapor, which contribute nothing aromatic. What flavor you get comes from the crust you build and from fat vaporizing on the heat tents underneath, and a smoker box changes that far less than anyone hopes. If smoke is what you want, read gas versus charcoal first.

The short answer

Best overall: a three-burner at $400 to $700. Roughly 400 to 500 square inches, 12 to 15 burgers, and enough burners to run two hot and one off.

Best on a budget: a two-burner at $200 to $350. Around 300 square inches, fine for two to four people, and it still runs a rough two-zone fire with one burner off.

Put the difference into a thermometer and a heavy grate, because both change your food more than the next $300 of grill does.

Who should not buy a gas grill

Several readers are about to waste money, and the category depends on them not knowing it.

• You want barbecue. Ribs, brisket, and pulled pork want 225 F for hours with wood smoke, and a gas grill gives you a competent roast instead. That is the wrong machine, not a bad grill, and the best beginner smoker under $300 is the right one.
• You already own a working gas grill. Replacing a five-year-old grill that lights and holds heat is the most common bad purchase here. Burners run $40 to $90 and grates $50 to $120, and both cost less than shipping on a new cart.
• Your steaks come out grey. That is a preheat and surface-moisture problem, and it follows you to the new grill. Ten more minutes of preheat and a dry surface fix it, and why food sticks to the grate covers the rest.
• You grill six times a summer. A $200 two-burner serves you for a decade at that rate, and a $900 cart mostly sits under a cover.
• You hate swapping tanks and have no gas line. A 20-pound tank runs 15 to 20 hours, so a regular griller is at the exchange counter two or three times a season.

The reader who should spend most on gas is the one who cooks on it twice a week, and almost nobody else.

How to choose

Four specifications decide how a gas grill cooks and how long it lives. Only one is printed in large type on the box, and it is the one that matters least.

Burner count, because it is really zone count. Three burners is the practical minimum for control: two lit and one off gives you an indirect zone where a chicken finishes at 350 F without the skin burning. One burner gives an oven with no cool side, which is how you get charred outsides and raw middles. It is the mechanism charcoal uses, laid out in direct versus indirect heat.

Grate mass and material, because searing is contact. A crust is the Maillard reaction, which needs a dry surface above roughly 300 F and improves sharply as contact temperature climbs. A thin 5 mm stainless rod stores almost no heat, so a cold steak chills it and you get grey stripes. A 9 mm rod or coated cast iron carries enough energy to keep searing through the first 30 seconds, which is the biggest cooking difference between a $250 grill and a $650 one.

Gauge and burner metal. Stainless tube burners outlast aluminized steel by years, and a heavier lid holds temperature through wind that drops a thin one by 75 F. An entry grill lasts 3 to 5 years and a well-built one 10 to 15, and the gap is almost entirely metal.

BTU per square inch, not total BTU. Total BTU is a fuel consumption rate, not heat delivered, so a big number on a thin, leaky box just puts more propane out the vents. The useful ratio is roughly 75 to 100 BTU per square inch of main grate. A 30,000 BTU three-burner over 450 square inches sits at 67 and cooks fine, and doubling that rating makes it twice as thirsty, not twice as good.

The picks

Every pick is a class rather than a model number, because gas lineups change annually and the physics does not. These come from published specifications and how heat moves in a firebox, not from a test rig this site does not have.

The three-burner, and the one to buy first

The $400 to $700 class buys 400 to 500 square inches, three independently controlled burners, and usually cast iron or heavy stainless grates. Three burners is the point of the purchase: two on high and one off is a proper two-zone fire, so you sear at 550 F and move the steak 10 inches to finish at 325 F with no flare-up chasing it.

What it does well: two-zone control, room for 12 to 15 burgers, and 10 years of life with a cover. Real drawbacks: about 4 feet of patio with the lid open, lighter firebox steel than the marketing implies, and one burner replacement in its life. Who it fits: most households, and anyone who wants one grill that sears a steak Saturday and roasts a chicken Wednesday.

Check current mid-range gas grills

The two-burner, for a balcony, a couple, or a tight budget

The $200 to $350 class gets you roughly 250 to 350 square inches and a footprint that fits a small balcony. You can still run two zones with one burner off, though the cool side is small and heat crossing from the lit side keeps it warmer than a three-burner's. For two to four people it is enough grill.

What it does well: the cheapest full-size gas cooking there is, and small enough to live where a cart cannot. Real drawbacks: uneven heat across a small grate, thin lids that lose temperature in wind, and grates too light to hold a sear. Who it fits: couples, small patios, and anyone whose grilling is weeknight chicken and burgers.

Check current two and three-burner gas grills

The cast iron sear grate, for the crust a thin grate will not make

A cast iron sear grate or griddle insert drops into a section of the existing grate and adds 8 to 12 pounds of metal that holds heat. That mass is the point: it stays hot when a cold steak lands instead of surrendering its temperature in five seconds. On a mid-range gas grill it closes most of the sear gap against charcoal for $40 to $80.

What it does well: real crust on a grill that could not make one, plus a flat side for smash burgers and shrimp. Real drawbacks: 10 to 15 minutes longer to preheat, heavy and awkward to move hot, and it rusts if stored damp. Who it fits: anyone who bought gas for convenience and will not give up a steak crust.

Check current sear grates and griddle inserts

The cast iron skillet, the cheaper route to the same crust

A 12-inch skillet costs $25 to $50 and does the same physics for less. Set it over a lit burner, preheat 10 minutes, and finish a reverse-seared steak in it for 45 seconds a side. Because a skillet holds fat, the crust is more even than bar contact gives you and you can baste with butter without a flare-up.

What it does well: the best crust available on a gas grill, and it outlives the grill by 40 years. Real drawbacks: a great deal of smoke, and a pan that will burn you badly for 20 minutes after the burner is off. Who it fits: the cook who wants steakhouse crust without buying another grill.

Check current cast iron skillets

The four things worth adding

The instant-read thermometer, the $40 that fixes gas grill chicken

Every lid thermometer sits 6 to 8 inches above the grate and reads air rather than food, and 30 to 50 F of error is normal. A $20 to $60 instant-read gives you true internal temperature in 2 to 4 seconds, which is the difference between a breast pulled at 160 F and one at 180 F. It is the only gear on this site we will say you genuinely need, and the best meat thermometers has the picks.

What it does well: removes the largest single cause of ruined backyard food, for less than the meat it saves in a summer. Real drawbacks: cheap models are slower and rarely waterproof, and you will lose one to the rain off a side shelf.

Check current mid-range instant-read thermometers

Long-handled tongs, because the grate is 20 inches deep

A 16-inch pair lets you reach the far corner of a three-burner without putting your forearm over a 550 F grate. Spring tension matters more than material: a stiff pair holds a pork chop and a floppy pair drops it into the fire. Expect $15 to $30.

What it does well: reach and control, from asparagus through to a whole chicken. Real drawbacks: clumsy on delicate fish, and the lock on a cheap pair fails inside a season.

Check current long-handled grill tongs

A bristle-free brush, and the wire bristle problem

Wire brushes shed, and a shed bristle sticks to food and gets swallowed. Emergency physicians have reported ingestion cases for years, so switch: a bristle-free coil brush or a wood scraper costs $12 to $25 and works as well. Clean while the grate is hot and carbonized fat lifts with almost no pressure, which is the routine in cleaning and seasoning a grate.

What it does well: removes the one genuine safety hazard in grill maintenance. Real drawbacks: wood scrapers wear into a groove that fits one grate only, and coils need replacing once deformed.

Check current bristle-free grill brushes

Wood chunks, and the honest limit of a smoker box

Here is the myth. The belief is that a smoker box turns a gas grill into a smoker, and what actually happens is that a gas burner needs a large volume of moving air, so that airflow pulls smoke out of the vents long before it would linger in a closed charcoal cooker. You get a light surface note, not deep flavor and not a smoke ring. Buy chunks anyway if you want that note, at $15 to $25 a bag.

What it does well: a genuine, if mild, wood note on chicken and pork ribs for very little money. Real drawbacks: it will not make barbecue, the smoke lasts 20 to 30 minutes, and wood ash in a gas firebox is one more thing to clean.

Check current smoking wood chunks

What does not matter

The category markets hardest on the specifications that change your food least.

The BTU number. Worth repeating because it is on every box in 40-point type. It is fuel consumed per hour, not heat delivered to food, and a thin firebox with a huge rating heats the yard.

Burner count above four. Five and six-burner grills sell on the look of the control panel. Unless you cook for 15 people regularly, the extra burners are a warming shelf you paid $300 for.

The side burner. A camp stove bolted to a cart, useful twice a summer and first to corrode because it sits open to the weather. A sear zone is the extra that actually changes food.

"Commercial grade" and "restaurant style" labels. Neither phrase has a definition behind it. Grate thickness, burner metal, and warranty length are real specifications.

What we would spend, and in what order

A three-burner at $500. A $40 instant-read. A $50 cast iron sear grate. That is about $600, and it beats a $1,200 stainless grill bought without a thermometer, because internal temperature decides whether the food is good and the grill only decides how convenient getting there was.

Cook a season on that before buying anything else. If you want smoke more than speed, do not upgrade the gas grill: add a $200 to $300 charcoal cooker beside it, because two specialized cookers cost less than one that pretends to do both jobs.

If your grill is over five years old and it lights and holds 500 F, buy new grates and burners instead. That is a $150 repair against a $600 replacement.