4 Best Charcoals, Tested and Reviewed

You can keep the whole thing easy and get whatever charcoal you can find at your local supermarket. But depending on your reasons for charcoal grilling in the first place, you might benefit from doing a little research and finding the best charcoal—because there are some differences, as we discovered in our recent tests. And those differences could be deal breakers.

We tested seven different charcoals (two briquette charcoals and five hardwood lump charcoals) to find which burn the hottest, longest, and most evenly. Since so many of us don’t transfer our charcoal from the bag into another container, we also evaluated the bag’s moisture resistance and how easy it is to get the charcoal out. 

It’s going to be a hot summer. Let’s get cooking.