6 Best Gas BBQs 2024 UK; tried and tested
FOR summer cooking, the best gas BBQs are going to elevate your outdoor cooking game.
There’s a reason why the phrase ‘now we’re cooking on gas’ is parroted so often. Cooking on gas BBQs is speedy, efficient and reliable.
Most of us have suffered a burnt sausage, while some really unlucky souls have bitten into an underdone kebab. With these gas BBQs, culinary disasters should be a thing of the past (dependent on your cooking skills, of course!).
So you can rest easy this summer, we’ve put some popular models to the test to see which are worth your hard-earned cash.
Best gas BBQs at a glance:
- Best overall: Everdure by Heston Blumenthal Furnace
- Best value: Argos Home 2 burner with side burner gas BBQ
- Best medium range: Von Haus 4+1 burner gas BBQ
- Best premium: Weber Spirit Classic E-330
- Best hybrid: Char-broil Gas2Coal 330
(AD) John Lewis 3 Burner Gas BBQ
John Lewis 3 Burner Gas BBQ, £319
This John Lewis Gas BBQ is designed to cook meals for up to six people, making it a great choice for a family gathering or summer dining.
It has three burners, which can be lit individually, and a lid thermometer to help indicate when your food is cooked.
Whether you love flipping burgers or grilling vegetables, this multi-tasker has plenty of practical features like a warming rack, handy shelves and wheels to transport it around, making it the perfect utensil for your cookout.
Everdure by Heston Blumenthal Furnace
Everdure by Heston Blumenthal Furnace, £695
Pros: huge cooking area, can cook a whole roast, anti-rust hood, looks great
Cons: nowhere to store gas canister, takes up a lot of space
Rating: 4.5/5
As soon as it was out of the box, I could tell the Everdure Furnace was going to be different. It’s got a modern look to it, with hob-style dials on the side instead of across the front, and a brightly coloured hood.
The size and thickness of the hood have been designed to circulate the heat around the inside during cooking – this also locks in extra flavour.
The BBQ draws heat in from the gap at the back, and then the warm air around inside – similar to how a traditional kitchen oven works. I found that with the lid closed, burgers cooked super quickly and evenly.
The result? Burgers that were seared without looking charred, and the meat was still juicy.
During testing, I cooked for a family of five eager burger lovers, grilling chicken kebabs, burgers and corn on the cob. I was impressed with the cooking surface area; Everdure claims you can cook up to three whole chickens on there at once, or 13 medium steaks. Certainly, it’s going to see you through hosting big barbecue celebrations in the summer months.
The bottom storage shelf is roomy, but it’s made from plastic and isn’t up to holding a gas canister on it. There’s also no cupboard to tuck your canister away, so it’s out on display which I found kind of ruined the modern look.
It’s worth noting that if the bright blue colour isn’t your thing, it also comes in an orange colour too.
Burners: 3; Side burner: No; Dimensions (HxWxD): 1068mmx1312mmx742mm
Weber Spirit Classic E-330 gas BBQ
Weber Spirit Classic E-330 gas bbq, £829
Pros: sear zone, warming rack, great for all meats and veggies
Cons: pretty big, expensive
Rating: 4/5
What sets this Weber BBQ apart from the others on this roundup is that it has a “sear zone”. This is a great feature. It’s a higher-intensity heat on one burner. Why would you want this? Good question. I could cook steaks to my liking on the lower heat, allowing them to slowly cook to perfection, then whip it onto the sear zone to leave those sear marks everyone loves to see on their BBQ meats. It also caramelises the meat, which just adds to the flavour.
The other two burners are great for cooking things more steadily. Chicken kebabs cooked well on there, as did veggie kebabs. The heat seemed to stay fairly even while cooking, allowing me to slightly take my eye away from the BBQ for a bit and make salads. If you want a lower heat, you can just have one burner on and shut the lid, or if you need something fiercer, stick both standard burners on.
The side burner is handy for cooking extras like sauces and steaming veg sides. Or, if you’re my children, just a bowl of plain pasta as a side dish. Whatever makes a BBQ for you – no judgment here.
The warming rack is great – once my meats were cooked the way I wanted, I could raise them off the heat but keep them warm while everything else finished off.
It’s hard to find a downside to this BBQ, other than the hefty price tag. But Weber a respected BBQ name and this BBQ really shows why; the build is durable and robust, and the fixtures are well-engineered. If you’re looking to elevate your BBQ game, the E-330 is a great place to start.
Burners: 3; Side burner: Yes; Dimensions (HxWxD): 1590mmx1310mmx810mm
READ MORE:
- Char-Broil Gas2Coal review
- Landman BBQ review
- Best charcoal for a BBQ
- Ninja Woodfire review
- Best patio heaters
Von Haus 4+1 burner gas BBQ
Von Haus 4+1 burner gas BBQ, £199.99
Pros: massive cooking space, side burner, storage cupboard, warming rack
Cons: takes up quite a lot of room
Rating: 4/5
Wow, I was impressed by this Von Haus BBQ! It has everything I really want from a BBQ in terms of extras. The side burner meant I could keep veggies boiling while cooking chicken drumsticks – it’s also handy for doing flame-grilled veg if you’re limited to space on the big grill. I’ve also seen people making stir fries on this side, which is something I want to try. I love the versatility.
There’s a floating rack to put meat that’s done on, so it stays warm while other things finish cooking. I also used this so-called in-direct heat to cook thick chicken fillets, before giving them a final sear on the direct heat. I could melt the cheese for cheeseburgers while they were on there.
There are a whopping four burners, which give enough room to cook for a family and would be more than adequate to use for large gatherings or big lavish meals; there’s definitely space for whole joints of meat on there. I think this is astonishing value for money; hats off to Von Haus here.
Burners: 4; Side burner: Yes; Dimensions (HxWxD): 1010mmx1240mmx520mm
Char-broil Gas 2 Coal 330 hybrid grill
Char-broil Gas 2 Coal 330 hybrid grill, £495
Pros: flexible cooking, premium build quality, easy to light, can do charcoal and gas, side burner, integrated bottle opener
Cons: can only use one layer of charcoal, not suitable for low and slow cooking on coals
Rating: 4/5
Sometimes you want the ease and speed of a gas BBQ, but sometimes there’s something to be said for good old-fashioned charcoal. But if you want the best of both worlds, you need two BBQs, right? Well, not anymore. This Char-Broil Gas 2 Coal can do both.
You can use it as a standard – and very good – gas BBQ. I’ll drill down into that a bit later. But for now, let’s look at charcoal functionality. If you want that smokey BBQ taste, you can insert a stainless steel charcoal tray onto the gas burners. Tip in some charcoal, then use the burners to evenly light the coals and really get them going. This is such a game-changer in my eyes. I loved that it gave me total flexibility in BBQing.
Things to note are that the griddles are close to the coals, so slow cooking is tricky on the coals. There is a warming shelf you can use for smaller bone-in meats like chicken legs, but cooking a full joint on the coals isn’t going to happen. You also can only layer in one load of coal, so if you’re doing an all-dayer BBQ you’re going to need to keep lighting fresh coals – a bit of a drawback if you ask me. Or of course, you can use the gas…
As we’re talking about gas BBQs here, let’s look at that. Cooking on the Char-Broil gas BBQ was fun. The cast-iron grates distribute heat evenly and they’re easy to clean afterwards. The wide griddle left satisfying sear marks on it without cremating my burgers and chicken breasts. There are two burners on the main grill – so it’s not huge, but I found cooking for a family of five on it totally doable. I found the temperature pretty easy to control.
Another bonus of this premium BBQ is the side burner, which is great for side veggies. The integrated bottle opener on the side is a nice touch, too. And there’s a warming rack too. Tick, tick, tick for me.
Burners: 2; Side burner: Yes; Dimensions (HxWxD): 1168mmx1334mmx642mm
Char-broil Evolve electric gas BBQ
Char-broil Evolve electric gas bbq, £739.99
Pros: high-tech, no guesswork needed, connected app, warming grill
Cons: expensive, not for traditional BBQ lovers, no side burner
Rating: 4/5
If you’re totally fed up with burnt meat and have some money to burn, the Char-Broil Evolve takes all the guesswork out of your barbecuing. With this gas BBQ you can set the heat on the two burners, and it tells you on the front LED panel what temperature each side is. Not only that, but it pairs with your smartphone and you can adjust the temperature from your phone. This is perfect if you’re sitting enjoying a drink with friends and family and don’t want to have to keep getting up.
The app also allows you to set timers and provides recipes. What we thought was brilliant though was the Evolve comes with four core sensor probes. Plug these into the front of the BBQ and into your meat cuts, and it will display the core temperature of your food on the LED panel and send the info to the app on your phone, too. No more overdone steaks or dodgy pink chicken ever again. I found this function meant I could cook premium steak cuts without the slight panic I’d overcooked them. I also enjoyed the geekery of it all.
Although you plug this BBQ in (so it needs to be near a power source), it uses gas burners underneath. These heat up an emitter plate, that then distributes the heat evenly across the whole BBQ. Certainly, I didn’t find any cold spots when cooking – or any boiling hot areas either.
Another amazing feature of this ‘cue is that it has an auto-clean function, much like an oven’s auto-clean function. Then you can just brush down the ash and it’s ready for your next al fresco cooking sesh.
Burners: 2; Side burner: No; Dimensions (HxWxD): 1213mmx1278mmx611mm
Argos Home 2 burner with side burner gas BBQ
Argos Home 2 burner with side burner gas BBQ, £100
Pros: budget-friendly, good for medium-sized families or couples who host, side burner, compact size
Cons: not super robust, no warming rack
Rating: 3/5
If the space you have for a BBQ – or your budget – is limited, this is a great little gas BBQ to consider. I found the two burners were more than adequate for a family of five during meal times, with some space to spare even.
The side burner is a handy thing to have, as I was able to keep an eye on our side of potatoes cooking while I cooked the meat. No dashing back inside to check the hob was a real bonus.
I’d say this BBQ isn’t as robust as some others on this list. In winter you’re going to need to invest in a heavy-duty cover to stop it getting blown around. But at £100 I think it’s an absolute steal. It’s a great BBQ for beginners who want something that does the job without blowing the budget and paying for lots of complicated features you won’t ever use.
Burners: 2; Side burner: Yes; Dimensions (HxWxD): 965mmx1120mmx440mm
How we tested these products
We put these gas BBQs to the test, cooking a range of meats and veggies on them for a family with different tastes and cooking preferences. Some liked the traditional bangers ‘n’ burgers, some preferred grilled portabello mushrooms and lamb chops.
While testing we looked at how well the BBQ cooked our food – did it cook the food evenly or incinerate it?
We also put all the BBQs together ourselves to see how robust and well-made they were, factoring that into whether we felt they were worth their price tag. Extra features such as side burners and accessories were considered during our assessments too.
Where to buy gas BBQs in the UK?
You can buy gas BBQs direct from the brand online, or from third-party websites. There are a lot of specialist BBQ retailers online with a huge range of gas bbqs on offer.
If you want to buy in-store, garden centres and department stores are a good bet. Here are some of the best places to buy gas bbqs:
How much does a gas BBQ cost in the UK?
Gas BBQs can cost anything from £100 up to £1000s. There are some big names out there – Weber, Kettler, Char-Broil for example – and some big prices.
But you don’t have to part with your life savings to get your hands on a decent BBQ. Look for bbqs that are going to be large enough for however many people you think you want to serve, and then look at those extra features we’ve talked about above.
Of course, if BBQing is life for you, then you have our permission to blow the budget.