It’s a tricky time of year. Not quite summer, but still a highly volatile spring, weather-wise at least.
Yet, there is no better time to plan for the days that lie ahead, days when the sun shines unabated, blue skies stretch endlessly in all directions and the heady aroma of alfresco fired food combines with the sounds of daytime drinking as garden-based gastronomy bursts fully into being. I speak, of course, of the braai, the cookout, the broil, or as it’s more commonly known in this green and pleasant land: the barbecue.
Some people, like semi-evolved simians, or Bear Grylls-esque survival nuts, are happy to perform an intimate dance with potential salmonella, E. coli, campylobacter and listeria by hauling raw food across hot coals until it ‘looks ready’. But these people are savages and not to be trusted with your gastric health. No, when it comes to cooking outside with that winning combination of control and class, you need gas.
But with literally hundreds of alternate options available, which gas BBQ is right for you? How many burners do you need? How portable does it need to be? Do you need an infrared side burner, a built-in thermometer, LED lit control knobs and wireless connectivity with your smartphone? And if you think I’m joking about that last item, brace yourself.
Best gas BBQs at a glance
- Best for gadget addicts: Weber Genesis E-325 GBS Weber Crafted 3-Burner Gas BBQ - £1399, John Lewis
- Best for compact cooking without compromise: Char-Broil Performance PRO S 2 - £467.99, Amazon
- Best for wondrous food in any weather: Gozney Dome - £1799, Gozney
- Best for Michelin star-level steak and sausages: Kettler Everdure Furnace - £695, John Lewis
- Best for large cook offs: Weber Genesis E-435 - £1849, Weber
- Best for medium-sized gatherings: Landmann Triton Maxx PTS 4.1 - £559.99, Landmann
- Best for portable grilling on the go: George Foreman GFSBBQ1 Portable Gas BBQ - £99.99, Amazon
- Best for steakhouse-style grilling greatness: Napoleon Grills Freestyle 365 SIB - £649.99, Napoleon
- Best for small homes, bougee campers: Weber Go Anywhere Portable 1 Burner Gas BBQ - £175, Argos
But if you don’t have a clue what you need, worry not, for in the interests of cutting-edge outdoor culinary journalism, I have been selflessly standing around in both sun and snow, flipping burgers and much more besides to bring you my selection of the best BBQs currently about.
Let’s get cookin’…
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Weber Genesis E-325 GBS Weber Crafted 3-Burner Gas BBQ
Best for: gadget addicts
- Dimensions: 122.2 x 156.2 x 68.6cm
- Weight: 73.5kg
- No. of burners: 3
Back in the Pleistocene era when monkeys first started walking upright, an ancient human ancestor discovered that cooking meat with fire made it more palatable, and in essence, the first BBQ was born.
Some 1.8 million years later, the BBQ has evolved again, with this fine example at the hands of industry leader Weber. The brand presents its three-burner BBQ, with an extra large sear zone and expandable cooking grate that’s perfect for grilling family feasts or feeding the 500 when your mates descend to watch the footie.
Dual grill levels mean you can prep mains and sides simultaneously or use them to keep veggie bites clear of meat. Shelves on either side give utensils, marinades and a cold beer somewhere to call home as you cook while you can keep other BBQ essentials close to hand in the storage cabinet underneath the grill.
Buy now £1399.00, John Lewis
Char-Broil Performance PRO S 2
Best for: compact cooking without compromise
- Dimensions: 23 x 46.9 x 47.8cm
- Weight: 45kg
- No. of burners: 2
Returning to the theme of the Great British summer, let’s start at the first excellent reason residents of the UK will want to consider the Performance PRO S 2 from Char-Broil: it’s weatherproof. Yes, constructed from high-quality stainless steel, not only is the PRO S 2 robustly built, it can also brush off those sudden, unexpected downpours that characterise our summer months.
But, of course, withstanding the weather is only one of the Char-Broils considerable talents. A more compact offering for smaller gardens and patios, the PRO S 2 can still cook up ample amounts of food to perfection thanks to its twin stainless-steel burners and Char-Broil’s TRU-Infrared cooking technology which distributes heat evenly across the grill, guaranteeing whatever food you desire will be done to a T.
Featuring a cooking area of 45 x 43.8cm, SureFire tech means that each burner can be ignited independently at the touch of button, freeing you from any faffing around and getting your food grilling underway with utter expediency, while an additional cast-iron griddle allows even more flexibility in how you do it.
Standing 115cm tall and easy to move around thanks to four wheeled feet (with foot locks on two), the Char-Broil Performance PRO S 2 has all the BBQ based covered. And, as a final flair of cryogenically cool sex appeal, they’ve even included red LED illumination on the temperature controllers – cooking with gas, baby!
Buy now £467.99, Amazon
Gozney Dome
Best for: wondrous food in any weather
- Dimensions: 660mm x 630mm x 732mm
- Weight: 58kg
- No. of burners: 1
This, my friends, is The Dome from Gozney, a dual fuel next-level outdoor over that takes the idea of barbecuing and boosts it into the stratosphere by factoring in the ability to roast, smoke, steam or bake food to a professional grade too, while engineered to be easy to use for beginners and experienced chefs alike.
The most sought-after option of its ilk, The Dome is currently on sale again for the first time in a year after it completely sold out in just eight-hours on launch day in 2021, so if you’re already sold, get your order in now before the rest of our well-heeled readership get ahead of you.
So, capable of being both gas or wood fuelled/fired, the incredible-looking Dome is also designed to tale on whatever the outdoors can throw at it, all year round, thanks to the ceramic bonded outer coating making it extra durable, water-resistant and UV stable, so come sun or snow, if you want to eat outdoors, whether you hanker for pulled pork, pizza, steak, salmon or even sourdough, The Dome will as be as eager as you.
A precision instrument, absolutely accurate temperature readings can be taken throughout, thanks to a digital thermometer and the inclusion of two built in meat probes, while a 30mm double-layer stone floor and dense cavity insulation allow The Dome to reach incredibly high temps faster and stay hotter for longer.
Sizeable at 660mm x 630mm x 732mm (HxDxW), it also has quite the heft at 58kg and comes with a full range of accessories (that you’ll want to also own) along with a stand that can let you keep the The Dome’s opening at eye level for enhanced ease of use.
In short then, a ludicrously brilliant BBQ/outdoor oven that does the lot, in any weather, while looking like looking like the option that got the standing ovation on the catwalk of cooking, Gozney’s The Dome is expensive and would look utter, utterly out of place in my generally ungroomed garden, but do I want one? You bet your life I do!
Buy now £1799.00, Gozney
Kettler Everdure Furnace
Best for: Michelin star-level steak and sausages
- Dimensions: 106.7 x 131.2 x 74.3cm
- Weight: 34kg
- No. of burners: 3
Behold the stunningly minimalist, rather delightfully retro-looking lines of the FURNACE food-firer, conceived and created in a beautiful union between triple Michelin-starred celeb chef Heston Blumenthal and Everdure, a BBQ specialist company that hails from the spiritual home of chucking things on the barbie, Australia - so you know it going to be something special.
A bit of a beast at 1312mm in length x 743mm wide and 1067mm high with hood down and 1447mm with hood up, there’s an epic 2915cm² cooking area. Nicely ergonomic taps on the top allow access to the instant ignition, kicking any of the three independently controlled, high-performance burners into life and heating the grill from stone-cold to time to cook in as little as just five-minutes.
Made entirely from diecast aluminium to keep it rust-proof, the Everdure FURNACE is solidly built for many years of steak-searing service and while you can cook with the hood either up or down, whilst down that extra high hood allows for convection cooking, letting air circulate 360-degrees around food to really infuse the flavour.
Cool-looking, hot in minutes, flexible, sizeable and available in Graphite, Mint or Orange finishes, driving that stereotype home still further, there is little Aussies (yes, all Aussies) don’t know about BBQs and what Heston doesn’t know about flavour wouldn’t fill the back of a postage stamp. So, if its effortless BBQ brilliance you seek, the Everdure FURNACE is a no-brainer.
Buy now £695.00, John Lewis
Weber Genesis E-435
Best for: large cook offs
- Dimensions: 174 x 123 x 69cm
- Weight: 88.68kg
- No. of burners: 4
The company’s most advanced BBQ in some 15 years, it’s hard to know where to start with this beauty of the barbecue world without waxing lyrical in wonder at just what this can bring to your garden-based bash.
First off, it doesn’t limit your alfresco eats to just BBQ, as it is also capable of letting you bake and stir-fry your food thanks to WEBER CRAFTED Gourmet BBQ System compatibility, so already the rule book has been torn up and tossed on the fire. Aside from the side burner allowing you to sauté, boil water, or warm sauces while you cook, the four burners under the temperature gauge mounted hood come backed by Weber’s largest and hottest Sear Zone to date. The expandable top grate means you can cook enough to satiate the appetites of all around you, regardless of how big your BBQ party has grown.
Fire-up comes courtesy of electronic ignition, locking castors keep everything safely in place, and the extra-large folding prep and serve table is perfect for sorting out the burger buns/baps/cobs/barm cakes (let’s kill that argument right there) and seasoning salad when awaiting the main meaty event.
Okay, it’s expensive, there’s no ignoring that, but for bringing your best BBQ game to the garden, the Weber Genesis E-435 is the word.
Buy now £1849.00, Weber
Landmann Triton Maxx PTS 4.1
Best for: medium-sized gatherings
- Dimensions: 120 x 57 x 140cm
- Weight: 50kg
- No. of burners: 4
The Goldilocks of grilling, the Landmann Triton Maxx PTS 4.1 is neither too small or too big, but just the right size for feeding medium-sized group of family and friends It boasts a three-piece Modulus Cooking System cast-iron grill area measuring 65 x 44cm, four adjustable stainless-steel burners with automatic ignition and (the .1 of the name) a stainless-steel infrared side burner to help you sear your steak and other assorted stuff to its barbecued best.
With an enamel-coated steel warming rack, you can keep cooked food piping hot and the equally enamel-coated steel flame tamers not only ensure heat is distributed evenly across the grill, but also resist flame flare-up to stop your grub getting burnt when fat drips down.
Up top, the double-skinned hood includes a built-in thermometer to let you constantly monitor the Triton Maxx’s temperature and, down below, four castors make it easy to move around, while locks on two ensure it stays firmly in place when the heat is on.
Easy on the eye too, making it a great addition to the garden, akin to the Char-Broil I got all hot and bothered over earlier, Landmann have also included red LEDs in the control knobs, both delighting me more than it should and elevating it to another aesthetic level.
With hooks for cooking utensils and a shelf for food prep or just to rest a perfectly chilled bottle of beer/glass of wine/goldfish bowl of gin, the Landmann Triton Maxx PTS 4.1 is the ideal BBQ to whip out when the weather gets warmer.
Fancy something chicer than plain old black? Argos has a Landmann model in a very fetching shade of Bordeaux red (£400).
Buy now £559.99, Landmann
George Foreman GFSBBQ1 Portable Gas BBQ
Best for: portable grilling on the go
- Dimensions: 19.7 x 27.6 x 13.4cm
- Weight: 7.5kg
- No. of burners: 1
Without wishing to sound like Captain Obvious: gardens are great for BBQs… but what if you don’t have a garden? Or what if you want to break free of the binds of the back garden and get your grill on out in the wilds, say at a beach or campsite? Well, two-time world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman has the solution: the GFSBBQ1 Portable Gas BBQ.
Snazzy on the eye and designed specifically to facilitate the fast BBQing of food out in the great outdoors, this Foreman is no heavyweight itself (ahem), weighing in at just 7.5kg. However, despite the lightness and relatively pint-sized footprint, the GFSBBQ1 provides a quite sizable cooking area of 50 x 37cm, served by 1x .3.5kw burner with instant ignition and monitored by integrated thermostat for meticulous meat manipulating.
Made from alloy steel and available in any colour as long as it’s black, the George Foreman Portable Gas BBQ comes on castors, making it easy to move. Those worrying about scorched earth and staring down the barrel of potential forest fires and other such officials involving unpleasantries can relax – GF’s thought it all through and his GFSBBQ1 Portable Gas BBQ is elevated enough from the ground to prevent grass searing while also allowing for better heat circulation.
For a go anywhere gas BBQ, you really can’t beat the Foreman, for simplicity of use and quality of cooking, it’s a knockout! (sorry).
Buy now £99.99, Amazon
Napoleon Grills Freestyle 365 SIB
Best for: steakhouse-style grilling greatness
- Dimensions: 11.6 × 12.4 × 6.4cm
- Weight: 51.25kg
- No. of burners: 4
I know it’s not very popular these days, but I’m pretty much a dinosaur, a relic of a time long gone when the world would happily put its fingers in its ears and sing la-la-la to itself while people in lab coats pointed at pictures of global destruction. Yes, I’m a committed carnivore.
Now before anyone gets too overheated, I need to point out that my gastro views are my own and not necessarily those of the Evening Standard and, also, in my defence, how am I supposed to move past meat when things like the Freestyle 365 SIB from Napoleon Grills exists?
A step up in size from the Char-Broil Performance PRO S 2, the Freestyle comes packing three stainless-steel burners with cast-iron porcelainised enamel cooking grids to give meat that sublime sear and even an integrated infrared sear station side burner to prepare steak to mouth-watering perfection.
Another example of effortless, instant ignition under the name of JETFIRE gives you one-button fire-up and a cooking area of 51 x 45cm provides more space for meat. Oh, and veg, I guess.
A folding prep area, tool hangers and even a handy built-in bottle-opener keeps everything at the barbecuer’s unblemished-by-charcoal fingers, and an unerringly accurate, retro-styled temperature gauge and instantly responsive temp knobs give complete control over your cooking.
Stylish looking to boot, the firing of animal flesh may be somewhat frowned upon these days, and I know I have a choice, but Napoleon Grills have gone and done this and I’m just too weak to do anything but bask in the meatwave.
Buy now £649.99, Napoleon
Weber Go Anywhere Portable 1 Burner Gas BBQ
Best for: small homes, bougee campers
- Dimensions: H43 x W53 x D31cm
- Weight: 6kg
- No. of burners: 1
Roughing it doesn’t mean you have to eat like an animal. For campers who want to take their outdoors experience to the luxe level, look no further than Weber’s Go Anywhere portable gas-powered BBQ. This nifty little thing from the BBQ boffins is perfect for short weekend trips where you want to guarantee close-your-eyes-delicious meals.
Made up of an easy-clean and compact porcelain bowl and lid, you’ll find little swivel legs underneath to raise it off the forest floor or campground, avoiding scorch marks (and scorch march penalty fees).
With 25 x 41cm of cooking space, there’s just about enough room to fire up a feast for two hungry campers and at 6kg, it’ll be simple for most people to carry to and from the boot. Not everyone is the camping kind, mind you, and for the folks on the other side of the venn diagram, you’ve reason to invest in this BBQ too.
The compact size - we’re talking dimensions of H43 x W53 x D31cm - make storage issues disappear. This will easily slide onto a shed shelf or pack down into a cupboard when it’s not grill weather. Small design, big taste and with a 10-year manufacturer’s guarantee: quids in.
Buy now £175.00, Argos
Gas BBQ FAQs
Where to buy gas for a gas BBQ?
Without fuel your BBQ won't be going anywhere fast. Luckily there are plenty of online vendors to help stockpile gas cannisters ahead of time and keep the flames of your party alive.
Amazon, Argos and Homebase are key ports of call, but there are smaller companies that specialise in BBQ fuel too. Find out more in our roundup of the best gas canisters and charcoal for BBQs to order online.
How to clean a gas BBQ?
There's never a race to clean the BBQ once the party is over for two reasons. It's a tough job and you're likely too stuffed from filling your face to move. Luckily there are plenty of gadgets and tools that make light work of the chore, whether you’re one for wiping down your grill after every use, cleansing with fire in between, or you wait until the season ends for a thorough clean-up, keeping your BBQ in good nick is the sure-fire way to ensure it stays in action for longer.
Find the best BBQ cleaning tools and products to keep your grill gleaming here.
What to look for in a gas BBQ?
Depending on your cook level and how much space you have to work with in your garden, there's a shopping list divided into 'wants', 'nice to have', and 'essential'.
We consider at least one side tray essential for keeping BBQ utensils and the odd bowl of marinade to make your creations all the tastier. Look for trays that fold down for more compact storage.
Undergrill storage is nice to have - especially if you've got nowhere else to keep gas fuel - but can add weight and bulk to your unit. Double tiers allow you to keep cooked food warm without overcooking it, and also means you can cook veggie bites away from sausages, burgers and chicken wings.
