Best Gas Grills Under 300$ – Review For 2021

How to Choose the Best Gas Grill under $300

That must be quite a lot to choose from! But when you get down to exactly what you are looking for in a gas grill, you can easily pick out the right gas grill that comes under your budget.

Here are some considerations that will help you choose the best gas grill under $300. Look into these factors to make an educated decision.

• Look for the features

Some say cooking is an art while others say it is just a skill. Either way, no one can deny that each person has their own cooking style and technique. So look for what will make grilling easy for you in a grill.

Most grills have a set of basic features that are standard across all the gas grills. But they also come embedded with certain special features which can help you choose better.

See if the grill suits what you want to cook and in the way you want it done.

For instance, if you like to slow cook your steaks, then you will need a warming rack for your grill.

If you are into cooking multiple types of meat at once, a grill with a control valve adjustability will work for you.

Look for grills with storage shelves and space if your kitchen area is small.

Grills may even come in different colors and sometimes the price may vary according to color. So if you are not particularly worried about colors, you can choose the one that costs less to save money.

So narrow down your grill choices to satisfy your needs.

• Cooking area

Cooking space is an important feature in any gas grill. The more the area for cooking, the more meat you can cook at a time. The rate of heat disbursal will also vary depending on the cooking area.

The cooking space provided by grills is usually measured in sq. inches. In a 100 sq. inch cooking space, you can cook about 3 medium-sized burgers.

The more people you want to serve, the bigger your cooking area has to be.

So if you are going to use it for parties and events, a grill with larger cooking space would work well. On the other hand, private grilling just for your family would do fine with a smaller grill.

Also, be careful to note that warming racks may or may not be included in cooking space specifications by the makers. Since you will not be using warmers to fully cook your meat, look mostly at the cooking rack space to get an idea of the actual cooking area.

• Grill size

This is an obvious consideration when you buy any kitchen appliances. You have to have enough space in your kitchen or your backyard where you are going to store or use your grill. While you can get an exact idea of the space from a physical store, online shopping only gives you a picture to look at.

So look carefully for the dimensions and weight of the gas grills before you make the order.

Measure and have an estimate of how big you want your grill to be.

The size of a gas grill gets bigger with a bigger cooking space. If your grill does not have foldable side tables, it is going to occupy even more space.

Compact grills are easier to travel with and can also weigh less for easy transportation.

Understand the Grilling Buzzwords

When buying a gas grill, you will find that most reviews and product specifications use certain technical lingo related to grilling when explaining about a grill.

Let me give you brief information on some of these lingos to acts as a quick reference.

• BTU

British Thermal Unit abbreviated as BTU is the measurement most grill manufacturers use to rate their grill performance. It gives an estimate of the fuel consumption and corresponding heating capacity. The higher the value of BTU, the more efficient a grill is in converting the fuel to heat energy.

• Burners

Burners are the outlet of heat and fire in a grill. Their placement and number can affect the cooking and the even distribution of heat in the meat while cooking.

• Gas – propane or natural gas

Gas fuel used in gas grills can be propane or natural gas. It is usually much easier to acquire and use a propane gas tank.

• Liquid propane

Propane gas is usually sold as liquid propane and is one popular way to add fuel to your gas grills. See if your grill works with the fuel that is easy for you to acquire.

• Cooking grates

Cooking grates are the surface on which you actually cook. The material these grates are made of can be a concern to the buyer.  Cooking grates must not easily bend, should be able to withstand high cooking temperatures, and should also be rustproof. Some people also like their grilled meat to have the classic grill marks and it is the cooking grates from which you will get those marks.

• Warming rack

Warming racks are an additional layer of grates that allow you to raise the food above your usual cooking grates so that you can have more cooking space and be able to slow cook your meat on a lower even temperature.

• Side shelves

Side shelves provide extra storage space. Each model of the grill may have a different side shelf design which can be fixed or foldable.

• Control valves

Each burner will have a control valve that helps in adjusting the heat flow. These are usually knobs that can be turned to adjust the cooking temperatures.

• Hood

Also referred to as the cook box, the hood serves as the lid for the grill.

• Ignition switch

This is the power-on switch for the gas grill. It lights the burners mostly by the electric spark to start the fire.

Here Are Some More Tips on Getting the Right Fit

• Strike a good balance with the budget and the features you want. Try to go for a grill that is close to your maximum budget and select the one that has a good number of features in that price range. Also, it is up to you to make compromises on which features you want and which one to ignore. You would check our Camp Chef vs Blackstone comparison based on your needs and decision. 
• Choose the grill size based on how you will be using the grill. If you usually grill steaks and burgers for a house party or bigger events, a cooking space that can cook as much as 30 burgers at once is what you need to get. For personal and small-time usage, a medium to small-sized grill would suffice.
• Check for the BTU levels and corresponding cooking space to get an estimate of how fast your cooking will be. If the cooking space is large but the BTU is low, your cooking time will be very slow. Meanwhile, smaller grills with the small cooking area may be able to cook faster even in low BTU levels due to concentrated heat distribution.
• Go for good quality portable grills if you are more into grilling during outdoor trips. Portable grills are a special category in themselves and hence using them for the right occasion means they last longer than regular-sized grills which you may find difficult in transporting. Don’t invest in a grill that is not suitable for your use.
• Look for grates that are thick and made of stainless steel material. Thicker grates can help fasten cooking as they retain more heat.

The Next Steps

When you exhaust all other criteria for narrowing down your choice of the grill, don’t forget to check if it’s easy to clean. An easily cleanable grill means it’s easy to maintain. The easier it is to clean the lesser is the risk of rusting and grease build-up.

The life and durability of a grill are directly impacted by how easy it is to be cleaned. So when you are investing in a grill, make sure it will be easy to keep it as much less messy as you can.

Undoubtedly, buying the best grill under $300 can be a difficult task. But I hope this list would have helped you out. Simply, follow the factors mentioned above and I am sure, you will be able to find the right fit. If the process seems to be rather daunting, I will highly recommend you go for the list I suggested.

So, which one will you like to go for? Let us know in the comments below.