A charcoal barbecue offers you the chance to make the most of warm, sunny weather by cooking and eating outside.

If you want to be hands-on with outdoor cooking, or want your barbecue to impart that classic smoky flavour, a charcoal barbecue is the one for you. Cooking over coals requires care and attention and we find the final reward is often more delicious because of it.

They also make brilliant pieces of kit for hosting, providing a great centrepiece for your guests to gather around whether you're smoking a leg of lamb or toasting marshmallows at the end of the evening.

Our reviews experts have put the best models on the market through their paces to help you find the best charcoal barbecue for your. Read on to find our favourites.

Looking for some inspiration? Check out our guide to the best gas BBQs, plus find the best ever BBQ recipes and the best healthy BBQ recipes.

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Best charcoal BBQs at a glance

  • Best blowout charcoal BBQ: Kamado Joe Konnected Joe, £1,795
  • Best charcoal smoker BBQ: Big Green Egg large ceramic grill, £1,760
  • Best Weber charcoal BBQ: Weber Master Touch, £298
  • Best affordable charcoal BBQ: Char-Broil Kettleman, £212.99
  • Best kettle charcoal BBQ: Weber Classic Kettle E-5710, £232.99
  • Best portable charcoal BBQ: Everdure by Heston Blumental Cube, £164.99
  • Best compact charcoal smoker BBQ: Big Green Egg MiniMax, £820
  • Best user-friendly charcoal BBQ: Napoleon 22" charcoal kettle, £244.99

Best charcoal BBQ to buy 2024

Kamado Joe Konnected Joe

best charcoal BBQs

Best blowout charcoal BBQ

Star rating: 5/5

As soon as you open the box the look of this barbecue is striking. The red ceramic coating is eye-catching and attractive, sure to be the point of conversation at your next outdoor gathering. Although it is worth noting that this barbecue is seriously weighty, with a curb-side delivery that means you'll need a few of your strongest friends or family to give you a hand getting it into place.

We were seriously impressed by the level of control and versatility allowed by this model. You can choose how involved you'd like to be, from tending your food as it cooks to sitting back with a drink in hand. We really liked the app which you can use to get alerts on how your food is cooking and even on your clean up.

Big Green Egg large ceramic grill

best charcoal BBQs

Best charcoal smoker BBQ

Star rating: 5/5

There's no getting around the fact this is a specialist piece of kit, with a price tag to match. It operates in a different way from regular charcoal barbecues with mechanisms to control the heat and temperature, but once you've got your head around how it works you'll be able to achieve versatility with high temperatures or cook low and slow.

You can use this as a simple barbecue but there's a lot more on offer here. It can be used as a smoker and is brilliant for roasting and even baking, with extra accessories to further increase the versatility. If you're looking to invest in a piece of kit that will transform the way you cook outdoors, this is a brilliant option and cooked some of the best barbecued food we've tasted.

Weber Master Touch

best charcoal BBQs

Best Weber charcoal BBQ

Star rating: 5/5

Even from it's silhouette this barbecue is instantly recognisable. The iconic Weber kettle for which the brand is best known is still one of our favourites when it comes to charcoal barbecues. You need to be pretty hands on with this model as how the coals are arranged in the kettle is key to creating different zones for cooking. However, one of the reasons we are so impressed with Weber is the amount of education of offer, and you'll find tutorials and more online so you can soon become an expert.

On test, we were impressed with how quick and easy the barbecue was to light, and how accurate the thermometer on the lid was, meaning you don't have to keep peeking at your food.

Char-Broil Kettleman

best charcoal BBQs

Best affordable charcoal BBQ

Star rating: 4.5/5

With enough space the cook food for four people, this barbecue works well for crowds. Be warned though, the building process is a frustrating one. We found the instructions very unclear as it's only diagrammatic, and we were surprised that a spanner wasn't provided given it's a key piece of kit for assembly.

Once assembly was behind us, we found the barbecue was robust with vents that were easy to use and meant the grill was very responsive to temperature changes.

Weber Classic Kettle E-5710

best charcoal BBQs

Best kettle charcoal BBQ

Star rating: 4.5/5

Another Weber kettle design on the list, this barbecue is easy to use with an intuitive design that makes it great for beginners and seasoned grillers alike. The cooking area is large enough to cook for six people so is brilliant for family gatherings or if you're catering for a crowd.

We found the handbook really useful in using this barbecue as it's full of advice and inspiration. The temperature gauge on the lid was accurate and helpful and we liked the multitude of additional features like the charcoal rails for indirect cooking.

Everdure by Heston Blumental Cube

best charcoal BBQs

Best portable charcoal BBQ

Star rating: 4/5

A portable barbecue is a brilliant addition to any camping trip or beach holiday. This model is lightweight yet sturdy with lots of built-in features including a preparation board, food storage tray and cool-touch handles.

Since there's no lid it's pretty tricky to get this barbecue to retain heat, but despite its small size we were impressed with the amount of food we were able to cook. The cooking time of our vegetables was slightly slow but they had a good if uneven char to them.

Big Green Egg MiniMax

Big Green Egg MiniMax

Best compact charcoal smoker BBQ

Star rating: 4/5

The Big Green Egg MiniMax is the smaller sibling of the Big Green Egg also on this list. It's a pricey model but would be perfect if you're looking to invest and have a small garden or are a couple.

Straight out of the box we were impressed by the build quality and we found it to be sturdily constructed and straightforward to assemble. It has the capability to reach internal temperatures of 370C while the outside handles remain cool to the touch. On test, we found it cooked our vegetable skewers speedily, but it's worth bearing in mind that the heat produced is a powerful one and you'll need to keep an eye on your food.

Napoleon 22" charcoal kettle grill

best charcoal BBQs

Best user-friendly charcoal BBQ

Star rating: 4/5

If you're planning to cook outdoors on a regular basis, this barbecue could be a good option with a robust build quality and affordable price tag to match. Construction was much easier compared to other models we've tested, with a clear instruction manual and a screwdriver and spanner included.

Once we got cooking, it was easy going with delicious results. Our courgettes had attractive grill lines and were tender on the inside. The direct and indirect grill zones meant we could keep food warm while searing and grilling other ingredients.

How to choose a charcoal BBQ

There are several terms when it comes to charcoal barbecues that will help you choose the right type for you. The most straightforward models offer a grill over coals without any vents or a hood, which means you'll need to keep an eye on your food as you have fewer means of controlling the temperature.

Kettle barbecues are the iconic shape of Weber and uses air vents combined with a circular shape to circulate the air and gives you a greater sense of control, meaning you can cook hot and fast or low and slow. American-style grills achieve a similar effect using a cooking hood and are ideal for cooking large cuts of meat or fish.

Kamado grills have heavy, ceramic linings which allows for more versatility and precision cooking. These tend to be some of the pricier barbecues thanks to the greater level of engineering and are brilliant for the more experienced grill master.

What charcoal is best for a BBQ?

When lighting your barbecue it can be tricky to choose a charcoal. First things first — never use chemical firelighter to light your barbecue and don't use accelerants like petrol. Natural firelighters are now widely available and these are what we use to get our barbecues going on test.

Sustainable charcoal is fairly widely on offer, and although it can be a pricier method of fuelling it has a slower burn time so you should use less of it compared to regular charcoal. It's worth taking note that most self-lighting charcoal or briquettes will have chemical ingredients which can affect the flavour of your food.

Charcoal vs gas: which BBQ is best?

If you're trying to choose between a charcoal and gas barbecue there are a few key differences to be aware of.

A charcoal barbecue offers brilliant levels of versatility, meaning you can cook quickly on a high heat or low and slow over smouldering coals. They tend to require a little more patience and effort than their gas counterparts since you'll need to light and manually tend to your fire to control the temperature, but for the devoted this is bound to be a satisfying process.

Charcoal barbecues are also brilliant for imparting a smoky flavour into your food, whether it's meat or vegetables. The best way to do this is via indirect grilling which is easy to achieve thanks to the large area offered by many charcoal barbecues.

It's worth considering, however, that the clean-up tends to be a bigger job with a charcoal barbecue than a gas model.

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Imogen Hope

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