Frequent Grillers: Gas or Charcoal?

Gas is great, very convenient and consistent. If you miss the smokey flavor, you can soak wood chips, cup them in foil and put them on the grill to add the flavor.

I love the flavor and everything of using charcoal. However, for daily use I would absolutely go with gas.

We have both.

We love the charcoal as far as the flavor, experience, etc. We have a Weber charcoal grill (about $100) from Home Depot. We use it often in the summer.

We also love the gas because we have a lot of options with the gas.... slow cook, rotesserie (sp), fast heat up for quick grilling. We have a Ducane (about $800) from Home Depot and it has served us well. We use the gas more due to convenience. We keep 3 tanks so we don't run out of propane.

Gas, just press a button and it lights up

Gas is easier, but nothing beats the taste of food coming off a charcoal grill.

Gas grills are GREAT! Less 'warm up' time...you can get coals or stones that have cedar or other flavors you might like.

With gas you will need to keep track of the gas in the tank and have a drip pan for the grease/oils.

Other than that? Can't see going back to coal. Love my gas grill!

Gas is so much easier. I love charcoal also, but it took so long to light sometimes.. , and the clean up was a hassle. Also I always felt like I was wasting the good coals with the charcoal, since the longest I ever used it was for 20 minutes.

We grill all through the year , at least twice a week.
I have a tank on the grill and a spare, so that if one runs out, we an switch it out. You light it, use it and then can turn it off.

No drawbacks that I know of.

We have charcoal and love using it. My husband preferrs the charcoal. But I wish we had a gas grill sometimes. Our neighbors can grill at any time. Quick cleanup, turn it on, and grill. No need to get charcoal, light it up, wait for it to be ready. I would love to just turn it on and go.
A gas grill can have drawbacks. My brother stores his indoors. He got a mouse nest and had to clean it out. i once saw a photo of a birds nest in one. But I think those are pretty minor. You do have to make sure they are clean but that is just like anything else. I think it would be great to be able to put some thing on the grill in Janurary. No way would i stand outside with a charcoal grill in this areas cold.

We have a bbq that one side is gas and the other is propane. We got it a lowes for 299.00. It is a Char-Griller.
They always seem to put it onsale on Fathers Day weekend.
We also have the smoker attachment.
I love to bbq now. I use the propane because it is quick but boy on the weekends, we do alot of coals and using the smoker.
Good luck and enjoy
Many blessings

I was a diehard charcoal griller. I love the smell. I didn't see the point of a gas grill - just cook it on the stove or in the oven... Then we got one for free with "points". I LOVE it! It's way way faster than charcoal to heat up of course and that means we use it way more. It's just so easy! And maybe burgers don't have that charcoal taste but I've been amazed how good other meats are. They're so juicy. We put pork chops on with a little seasoning and they're so moist. It takes no work. My kids love them. Same with chicken. Marinate it some and it's delicious. I feel like it's pretty healthy that way and then again - it's so easy!

If you are talking "easier", then gas is easier. If you are talking tastier, then charcoal is the best. AND if you are going to use gas, then have a gas line run to your gas grill so you never have to go and switch out gas bottles.

While some may argue that gas is just as tasty as charcoal, I have been going to BBQ cooking contests snce1980. I cannot recall any chef or cooking team that placed in the top 3 that cooked with anything but wood and/or charcoal. I know, you say you aren't going into competitive BBQ cooking, but you may know other back yard BBQers and you don't want others to say they would rather "Bob" cooks the BBQ and you find out the only edge he has over you is he isn't "cooking with gas".

I have won 3 cooking contests and each time I used my charcoal grill. I wouldn't even consider a serious contest with anything but charcoal or wood. I use mesquite, hickory, or wood from a Jim Beam barrel for my smoke. I always use chunks, not chips. When you use chunks you don't have to soak the wood.

I use between 100 and 150 pounds of charcoal each year. I purchase my charcoal when they have the sales just before Memorial Day and the 4th of July.

As far as the time it takes to warm up the grill, I go out and use a chimney to start my charcoal. While the charcoal is starting, I spice and rub what ever I'm cooking. When the meat is ready to go on the grill, the charcoal is ready so no "wait time" is involved.

Good luck to you and yours. (If you would like a book to help you learn about BBQing buy "BBQ Greats, Memphis Style". It is out of print but can be bought used on Amazon.)

I have propane. It is much easier than charcoal. The only drawback is when the propane tank runs out in the middle of grilling dinner. We bought two tanks so we always have a spare ready to go (providing we remembered to fill it!) My neighbour has a natural gas grill, which is awesome because he doesn't have to worry about tanks. It was initially expensive having the natural gas hook up installed outside.

We have both. Charcoal tastes better. But you cannot beat the convenience of gas. During the summer I grill A LOT. And that only happens because we have a gas grill. If I had to fuss with charcoal (in our 100+ degree summers) it would rarely happen.

We have five grills including the "new soldier" in Troy's army. The new soldier is a Traeger pellet grill. Easiest freaking thing on earth to use!! I have used it once, that is all he will allow...just kidding but there is no arm twisting to get him to cook dinner.

The beauty of the Traeger is perfect temperature control, you can smoke, heck you can bake in the sucker! The first thing Troy made was cookies. You would never know from taste they were made on a grill. He has also smoked his chex mix, you can tell it was smoked.

Can you tell I love this soldier? :)
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Oh yeah the pellets aren't heavy at all. They kind of look like the pellets you put in small animal cages. I can lift a bag with one hand and no effort.
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To answer Christine, we have acquired them over the past 20 years and the back patio is 1,200 sq ft. Yes the oldest one is 20 years old and works perfectly.

We like charcoal, and to make life easier, we bought a charcoal chimney. You put the charcoal in it, stuff some newspaper in it, light it, and it does everything it's supposed to do in a matter of minutes instead of the hassle of how you'd usually do it. I'm not the one who does the grilling so I don't know much more about it, but my husband thinks he can't live without the chimney.

But, being a long time fan of King of the Hill, I could give quite a lesson on why propane is better. ;)

We practically live outside during the summer. Consequently, we do a whole heck of a lot of grilling. My honest answer to your question is that if you have the space and love to grill, you need both. We use the gas grill if we are pressed for time and just want get a meal out quickly. It's also great for grilling breakfast (who wants to wait for the charcoal to be ready when your little ones are whining for breakfast?). But if, say, you want to make awesome smoky baba ganoush or fire roasted tomatoes or something that really depends on that smoky taste... you are going to want that charcoal grill (try loading it with almond wood in lieu of charcoal and making pizza with it).
The cookbook Author Steven Raichlen does a good job listing the differences between the two and why you might choose one over the other. He's got a great website...and his book 'How To Grill' has dramatically improved our grilling experiences as well as opened our eyes to other possibilities (grilled endive and smoked sweet potatoes are TDF).
Ok, now I'm hungry. Think I'm gonna go grill!

We have both but use the charcoal a lot more. It just tastes better, the gas is easier but it doesn't have that BBQ taste.

Gas is good for cooking a lot of food easily and evenly and you can do more with it. Why not get a gas grill and then you can decide which to use depending on the night? Sometimes there isn't time or you don't want to bother firing up the coals other times you're in it for the taste, smell and effect of an old fashioned BBQ.

Gas is the way to go if you want easy, quick, daily grilling. I do miss the smoky flavor at times, but it's just not practical to try to use a charcoal grill that often. Too much time is wasted setting up the briquettes, waiting for them to light, cleaning out the grill afterwards. The only drawback to gas is that you can run out of gas in the middle of cooking, so we have two tanks that we rotate to prevent that.

It depends on what we are grilling and how much time we have.

If we are grilling up burgers quickly then we use the gas grill.

If we have time and have smoked some ribs we will fire up the charcoal to finish them off.

Most of the time we turn to the gas grill b/c it is quicker and less messy.

Our next purchase will be Traeger!

We practically lived and die by our gas grill. It heats up quickly and is easy to clean. The only thing you have to watch for is making sure you have gas all the time. We have four tanks and we rotate them. When we put the fourth on the grill, we take the first three to exchange them.

We also a charcoal grill and a wood burning smoking pit (that gets hauled behind the truck. We also have an electric smoker in the back yard. The gas grill gets the most personal use. (The big BBQ pit gets the most use, but it's 90% business use.)

Hands down gas for frequent cooking.

We have one of each - the charcoal grill was a dumpster dive find (free) and the gas grill was a Craigslist find. If you aren't sure what you want, looked for a used one. We bought our gas grill off Craigslist because we weren't sure we would love it and use it enough to justify the expense. We do love it and rarely use our charcoal grill now. The charcoal grill is way too much work for our small family and for regular cooking. The key for us with the gas is to use the lava rocks you find by the grills in the home improvement centers. The meats you cook drop fat on the rocks and over time that helps with the flavor. Gross but effective. The only drawback I see to gas is running out of fuel. Keep an eye on your propane tank level and you will be fine though. Once or twice we have run out in the middle of cooking which is a nuisance. Fortunately our local corner store carries the bottles. Good luck and happy grilling.

If you want to grill often, go with gas. I personally think food tastes better coming off a charcoal grill and am happy when *someone else* presents me with such food and is in charge of clean up. But for our own needs, a charcoal grill wouldn't get much use due to the pain in the @$$ cleanup issues. Gas for convenience all the way (and the food still tastes pretty great).

Drawbacks? Sometimes we run out of gas...easily remedied by BEING MORE PREPARED (a lesson we really need to learn).

To me, charcoal tastes better but gas is more convenient. So we usually use the gas grill and save charcoal for the weekend. You can get a smoker box (a small cast iron box you can put soaked wood chips in so they smoke) for the gas grill. It helps a little.

Frankly I am shocked by how many people have both! Really, everyone has enough $$ to buy two grills - and where do you keep them?

Beyond that, we have a gas grill. I love it and use it year round. I wouldn't ever use a charcoal grill due to the length of time it takes to heat it up and make it useable for cooking plus the clean up would be a huge deterrant.

Love my gas grill and never going back to charcoal. The person who has theirs hooked up to the gas line - that would be a dream. In the meantime, the exchange station at Home Depot works just fine for us.

C.

Gas is definitely more convenient. We have both but only use the charcoal on weekends when we are slow grilling or smoking something like salmon, a pork shoulder, a turkey etc. But for a quick dinner? Gas all the way.

ETA Christine ours are on a tiny 10 x 10 slab of concrete as you walk out our back door and we just cover them and leave them there for the winter. A charcoal grill is pretty cheap ($100). We actually have two gas grills - an old one that I can't remember why my husband kept it, and a newer one that we bought used last year when the old one had problems. We also cook on a rotisserie over a fire pit.

Gas! We use our grill year round, even in the snow! It takes no time to turn on, and I do whole meals on it to bypass dishes!

We have a natural gas line going to ours, to we never run out of gas. This makes it even more convenient.

Switching out the gas tank isn't that big of a deal. Ours last practically all summer, and we use it 2-3 times a week. We keep a spare in the garage in case we're in the middle of grilling and it runs out. Then I head to BJ's as soon as possible to fill the empty one to put back in the garage!

Gas because it's quick, even I can get it to start & perfect for what you
say will be "frequent grilling".

Not very much clean up (I use the wire brush after every use to clean up
so it's much easier to keep clean).

Propane grills.
Much easier, and faster.