Best Gas Grills of 2025
To determine the best gas grills and see how these grills perform in a variety of cooking scenarios, we conducted three tests. These tests show us how efficiently and evenly the grill cooks (or doesn’t cook) based on different meats, methods, and heat settings.
rib cage
Our first test was the ribs. This is an anecdotal round, so there is no connected set of thermometers or software to capture specific data. We preheated each grill for 10 minutes and then turned it to low, indirect heat. Depending on the size of your grill, this means turning off one or two burners completely.
We remove the coating from the pork chop carcass and season it with our all-purpose rub for ribs and chicken. Then, leave the ribs on the grate for at least three hours, keeping the lid closed at all times.
The rib test takes place over low, indirect heat for three hours.
Rib lovers may disagree with this relatively short and smokeless cooking method, but it gives us a glimpse into how low and slow cooking can be done on a regular propane gas grill. If time permits, we continue cooking until the ribs are fully cooked and note the total cooking time.
chicken
To test the grill with a medium cook time and medium heat setting, we grilled a whole chicken. We preheated the grill on high for 10 minutes, then turned the heat to medium and turned off the burners to create an indirect heat environment.
Once we trimmed and seasoned the bird, we placed it in a roasting pan and inserted a temperature probe into each chicken breast, for a total of two probes per chicken (even though the grill has a built-in temperature sensor, This is an important step too) a thermometer as undercooked chicken is not good for anyone). To make our results as fair as possible, all chickens weighed as close to 5.5 pounds as possible.
Cook the whole chicken over medium indirect heat until the breasts reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
These temperature probes are connected to data loggers and laptops and equipped with software that records the internal temperature of each chicken breast every two seconds. Each chicken is cooked until both breasts reach a food-safe 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Rotisserie chicken should have crispy skin and meat that is fully cooked but not dry. We ran this test in three rounds, giving us a solid average cook time for each grill.
Hamburger
The burger is the final test of our barbecue review. We measured out 5.3 ounces of 80/20 ground beef and pressed them into an even patty. The patties were placed in the grill basket and we inserted a temperature probe into the center of each patty at a 45-degree angle.
After preheating the grill for 10 minutes, place the basket on the grill. After six minutes of cooking, we flipped the basket and monitored the internal temperature. Once the last burger in the basket reaches 145 degrees Fahrenheit, the batch of burgers is done. In this test, a good burger was one with nice exterior sear and a slightly pink center.
The burgers are directly grilled at high temperatures.
If one burger consistently reaches 145 degrees Fahrenheit before the others in each round, the burger test will pinpoint any hot spots on the grill’s cooking surface.
In our tests, the average difference between the fastest and slowest patties in a batch was 15 or 20 degrees. A red flag is raised when we start to see differences in the 30 to 40 degree range.
