Unlike other types of grills, a charcoal grill adds a real, unique smoke flavor to your food. If you are searching for the best charcoal grill under 300, then you’ve come to the right place. Nevertheless, while looking for a cheap charcoal grill, ensure you don’t go for the cheapest, lowest quality grill on the shelf. Today, there are so many charcoal grills available in the market from diverse brands, shapes, prices, and so on. After hours of research, these three charcoal grills stand out the most.
Review Summary
Editor Choice: Char-Griller E1224 Smokin Pro Charcoal Grill
Weber made use of a heavy-gauge steel material coated with porcelain enamel for the lid and bow for long grill life. Certain features like the hinged grates, thermometer gauge, aluminum ash catcher, and nylon handles make this grill easy to use.
Best Value: Landmann 560212 Charcoal Grill
The Fire Sense Yakatori charcoal grill is a compact, tabletop, charcoal grill that offers you a large enough grilling space to handle cooking for a medium-large crowd. Built from durable handmade ceramic clay bodywork that helps prevent much heat loss.
Best Overall: Royal Gourmet CD1824E 24-inch Charcoal BBQ Grill
The Weber 741001 kettle is an ultra-durable grill built with a steel bowl and lid coated with porcelain enamel which helps it retain heat. Designed with a 22 inches plated steel cooking grate that can hold up to 13 burgers.
Top 3 Best Charcoal Grill Under $300 Reviews
#1. Char-Griller E1224 Smokin Pro Charcoal Grill
Char-Griller is a professional manufacturer of grill and smoker owned and operated by the Georgia brother and sister. The Char-Griller E1224 charcoal grill is a Texas-style BBQ/griller that meets the high demand of smokers. This handpicked Char-Griller E1224 with a barrel design optimizes heat convection and circulation to cook more evenly and efficiently.
Durable Steel Construction
Char-Griller made use of durable steel to construct the body of this grill. Apart from the heavy-duty steel construction, Char-Griller also powder coated the steel to make it corrosion resistant. Also, Char-Griller used a wooden handle on the charcoal grill and side firebox, allowing you to open and close the lid without burning your hand.
Total Control
Char-Griller designed this E1224 charcoal grill for Texas-style barbecue, as it features a barrel with a side firebox. The firebox lets you smoke or indirectly grill food. To use this grill, you can load charcoal in the barrel or side firebox. Thanks to its adjustable fire grate and dampers, you get total control over the temperature of this grill. And with the temperature gauge on top of the hood, you can easily know the temperature inside the grill.
Cooking Area
The Char-Griller E1224 charcoal grill provides you with a total cooking space of up to 830 square inches. Importantly, the 580 square inches of primary cooking space in the barrel, and 250 square inches of cooking space on the side box lets you grill all you want. To make this grill even more durable, Char-Griller made use of a cast-iron cooking grate. The cast iron is non stick which helps prevent warping.
Easy Cleanup
Since the grates of this grill are nonstick, cleaning them up after use is quite easy. Moreover, Char-Grill designed this grill with an easy remove charcoal drawer, which allows users to add charcoal or dump ash without much hassle.
Final Verdict
Firstly, Char-Grill designed this grill with heavy-duty steel and powder coating making it last longer. Moreover, the double bottom design further makes this grill durable. Secondly, the included two wheels in this grill makes mobility easy.
#2. Landmann 560212 Charcoal Grill
Another top charcoal grill we recommend you check out is this Landmann 560212. Landmann has been manufacturing high-quality smokers and grills for over 50 years now. The Landmann 560212 charcoal grill is an affordable, high-quality, and innovative product. Moreover, Landmann designed this charcoal grill with precision in functionality, design, and overall aesthetics.
Durable Construction
Featuring on this charcoal grill is a heavy-duty steel body. Also, Landmann made use of a porcelain-coated steel bar cooking grate in the main cooking area and chrome-plated steel for the warming rack. And the heavy-duty steel Landmann used for the lid helps to keep the heat locked in. At the side of this grill is a large foldable side table that lets you prepare food and a bottom storage shelf that helps with food storage.
Large Grilling Capacity
Apart from the durable construction of this charcoal grill, Landmann designed it to have a large grilling surface and a warming rack. You get an overall cooking space of up to 733 square inches on this grill. With this cooking space, you can conveniently cook up to 59 burgers at a time.
Great Smoke Control
To get that smoke-infused juicy grilled food, Landmann designed this grill with an adjustable charcoal pan. The adjustable charcoal pan gives users the flexibility to control the distance between your food and the charcoal. Also, there is a built-in easy to read temperature gauge that ensures you don’t overcook your food.
Built for Mobility
Move this cart-style grill from your front yard to the backyard thanks to the two wheels on this grill.
Final verdict
What we love about this charcoal grill is that it gives you so much control over the heat. As such, your food will always be well cooked, and with precision thanks to the temperature gauge on the hood. And with the easy access charcoal door, you will never run out of fuel as it allows you easily add charcoal or remove ash from this grill.
#3. Royal Gourmet CD1824E 24-inch Charcoal BBQ Grill
Lastly, we would be looking at a budget charcoal grill review of the Royal Gourmet CD18204E charcoal grill. Royal Gourmet is a professional manufacturer of grills and smokers driven by the passion to make joyful BBQ. The Royal Gourmet CD18204E charcoal grill is a 24-inch grill that allows you to savor the delicious aroma of food to enjoy the ultimate cookout.
Spacious Cooking Area
One of the stands out features of this charcoal grill that makes it so appealing to us is its spacious cooking area that allows you to grill for up to 10 people at once. Its porcelain-enameled steel wire cooking grate measuring 474 square inches provides you with all the space you need. The cooking area is divided into a 368 square inches primary cooking area and a 106 square inches warming rack. Also, the two foldable ample side table and bottom shelf provide you with enough space to store food and grilling accessories.
Precise Heat Control
Royal Gourmet also designed this charcoal grill such that it gives you the flexibility to control the heat when needed. The height-adjustable charcoal pan comes in hand as it allows you to maximize the heat produced. A lever in front of the grill allows you to easily raise or lower the charcoal pan to the desired height. The dampers and chimney on this grill provide precise heat control during grilling for better airflow. On top of the hood is a temperature gauge that allows you to tell the exact temperature of this grill.
Easy to Add Charcoal
In front of this grill is an easy access door to add charcoal. A spring handle ensures you don’t burn your hand when opening the door. The charcoal access door also makes it easy to remove ash from the grill. Royal Gourmet made use of a pierced charcoal pan in this grill to allow air circulation for even and faster heating.
Easy to Transport
Transporting this grill is quite easy as it is compact and comes with two large wheels. Thanks to these wheels, you can easily roll this grill to an ideal position for grilling.
Final Verdict
In summary, the Royal Gourmet is one of a kind grill built to ensure you achieve maximum efficiency. Using this grill is pretty easy as it features easy to control air dampers, and a front lever to manipulate the height of the charcoal pan.
Best Charcoal Grill Under 300 Buyer’s Guide
Buying anyone of these top-rated charcoal grills under $300 in this review will offer you value for your money. In order to choose the right one that will best suit your needs, be sure to consider how the following factors relate to you.
1. Cooking Space
One of the first features to look out for when buying a grill is the amount of cooking space it provides. Although other features are equally as important, when the cooking space is not sufficient for your need, you’d end up grilling multiple times which is time-consuming. The best charcoal grills tend to come with more than one cooking rack.
2. Materials
Note steel is a more acceptable material than aluminum. Most grills are made of either stainless steel body or steel body and some kind of weather and rust-resistant powder or paint. Cast iron grates are the most durable, as they retain heat better and make a perfect sear mark, However, cast iron tends to have a problem of rusting. Steel grates are not as durable, but they don’t trust that easily.
3. Heat Control
Good air ventilation is very important in a charcoal grill. A good quality charcoal grill should give you better heat control and heat dissemination to allow you to grill with precision. How well a charcoal grill allows you to control heat relates to how it will affect how your meat turns out especially if you want your meat to be well seared or juicy.
4. Easy Clean
An issue that many people always complain about in a charcoal grill is clean up. As such, when buying a charcoal grill be mindful to get one that comes with features that makes it easy to clean up. For example, a charcoal grill with an ash pan makes cleaning the ash easy. Grease can also be a major problem when grilling, as such go for a grill with a grease tray.
5. Portability
Portability is another feature you should also put into consideration when buying a charcoal grill. A charcoal grill with wheels makes moving it from one place to another easier. Also, aim for a compact charcoal grill that comes with a foldable side shelf.
Conclusion
In conclusion, after all, have been said in this charcoal grill review, what’s next is to take a bold step to place an order. We guarantee you that choosing any one of our best charcoal grills under 300 in this review will give you maximum value for the money. So, even if you don’t have thousands of dollars for a budget to buy a charcoal grill, you can still get good quality and satisfactory grill with just $300.