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    Best Kamado Grills of 2024

    These charcoal-fueled grills look and cook like nothing else—and you don't have to spend a ton of money to get a great one

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    Pepperoni pizza with olives and mushrooms sitting on a kamado grill.
     CR tests high-heat cooking of kamado grills with pizza and low-heat cooking with pork shoulder.
    Photo: Kamado Joe

    If you’re serious about grilling, a kamado grill is the gold standard. Its thick walls, airtight design, and highly adjustable dampers combine to create a cooker that can produce a rip-roaring fire for searing steaks or slow-burning coals to gently smoke pork butts or brisket—with no need to add extra charcoal or even fidget with the dampers.

    In this article Arrow link

    For more than three decades, the Big Green Egg was the only widely available kamado-style charcoal grill. It developed a cultlike following, and it’s easy to see why. The Big Green Egg, like most kamado grills, is positioned as a combination charcoal grill, smoker, and outdoor oven.

    When Consumer Reports first tested it, we noted that the Big Green Egg delivered unparalleled control over flames and cooking temperature flexibility when compared with a traditional charcoal grill.

    More on Grills

    But it seems that fans of the Egg—self-proclaimed Eggheads—haven’t been the only ones to take notice of the grill’s many virtues. In recent years, there has been a proliferation of Egg-inspired kamado cookers showing up at wholesale clubs, home centers, and hardware stores.

    “We’ve seen close to a dozen new kamado grills come on the market,” says Mark Allwood, a market analyst who tracks grill trends for Consumer Reports. “Most of these models are shaped like the Egg, but each has unique features that manufacturers claim make it superior to the competition.”

    Prices for kamado grills range from $300 to almost $2,000, and we’ve seen models with metal exteriors, side shelves, extra dampers, and a host of other options.

    But can these Egg-inspired alternatives really cook as well as the original? Consumer Reports currently has seven models in our kamado grill ratings, including the Big Green Egg, as well as models from Broil King, Char-Broil, Kamado Joe, and others. Chief among their similarities is that the seven kamados we tested make great food. (We test high-heat cooking with pizza and low-heat cooking with pork shoulder for making pulled pork.) The best kamado grills are versatile and earn a high cooking-performance score in our tests.

    But we also found some big differences in how easy each grill is to use and control. Some require constant adjustments to the temperature; others can be set and left alone for hours, which is exactly what you want when you’re cooking a brisket.

    Below are three of the top-rated kamado grills from our tests. CR members can also browse our comprehensive ratings of gas, charcoal, and pellet grills. And if you’re looking to learn more about the differences between kamado and traditional charcoal grills, check out our grill buying guide.

    Best Kamado Grills

    Traditional kamado grills are made from ceramic, which offers superior heat control. Now, there are cheaper alternatives made from metal. Our tests have found that some of these nonceramic models are capable of performing well, too. These three highly rated models (two ceramic and one nonceramic) all offer excellent cooking performance. 

    How CR Tests Kamado Grills

    In CR’s labs, we focus our kamado grill tests on how well each model cooks at high heat and low heat, as well as airflow. 

    • High and low heat: Kamado grills are designed to reach a temperature of around 1,000° F, which is higher than that of any other type of grill. We test each model’s ability to get that hot by quick-grilling thin-crust pizzas. We also test kamado grills on very low heat by cooking pork shoulder. To make sure you buy a model that’s both capable and versatile, find an option with a high cooking-performance score in our ratings.
    • Airflow: Just like conventional charcoal grills, kamado grills rely on airflow to regulate heat. Many have a gasket on the lid and even locking latches to create the tightest seal possible. Some also have multiple dampers, which make it easier to fine-tune the temperature. The models in our ratings with a high convenience score are most likely to have such user-friendly lids (in addition to other useful features, such as shelving and wheels).

    Kamado Grilling Tips

    A kamado grill can provide a greater temperature range than any other type of grill, but it also works differently from gas, pellet, or charcoal grills. You’ll need to practice using the dampers to control the heat. No matter which model you purchase, these five tips will help you get great results.

    • Brisket and ribs: Use a heat-deflecting plate (included with the Kamado Joe featured above and sold as an extra for other models) to protect slow-smoked meats from drying out during cooking. The plate is usually an inch-thick ceramic disc that doubles as a pizza stone.
    • Chicken: Thin pieces can be cooked with the lid open the entire time. For thicker pieces or a whole chicken, close the lid and control the temperature with the dampers.
    • Vegetables: Skewer smaller vegetables like button mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and sliced peppers to keep them from falling through the grates on your grill because the gaps on kamado grills can be larger than those on gas.
    • Pizza: Heat the pizza stone (included with most kamados) in the grill, then dust it with cornmeal to prevent sticking. Dust the underside of your pizza and pizza peel, too.
    • Fish: Hearty fish like salmon, tuna, and swordfish stand up well to smoke imparted by cooking with a mix of charcoal and wood chips or wood chunks. For more delicate fish like sole, tilapia, and bass, cook only with charcoal, as the smoke flavor can become overpowering.

    Paul Hope

    Paul Hope is a Home & DIY Editor at Consumer Reports and a trained chef. He covers ranges, cooktops, and wall ovens, as well as grills, drills, outdoor power tools, decking, and wood stains. Before joining CR in 2016, he tested kitchen products at Good Housekeeping and covered tools and remodeling for This Old House magazine. You’ll typically find him in his old fixer-upper, engrossed in a DIY project or trying out a new recipe.