To determine the best gas grill and get a feel for how these grills perform in different cooking scenarios, we perform three tests. Based on different meats, methods and heat settings, these tests show us how efficiently and evenly the grill is cooking (or not).
Ribs
Our first test is the ribs. It's an anecdotal round, so there's no thermometer attached or software that captures specific data. We heat each grill on high for 10 minutes before reducing it to low, indirect heat. Depending on the size of the grill, this means turning off one or two burners completely.
We remove the outer membrane on a rack of pork back ribs and season it with the same all-purpose rub we use on ribs and chicken. The ribs are then placed on the racks for at least three hours with the lid closed the entire time.
Rib testing takes three hours over low, indirect heat.
Rib lovers may not agree with this relatively short smokeless cooking method, but it allows us to see how well a regular propane gas grill can cook low and slow. If time permits, we continue cooking until the ribs are completely done and record the total cooking time.
Chicken
To test the grill with medium cooking time and medium heat settings, we grilled a whole chicken. We heat the grill on high for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to medium and turn off the burners to create an indirect heat environment.
After trimming and seasoning the bird, we place it in a roasting pan and insert one temperature probe into each chicken breast, for a total of two probes per chicken (this is an important step even if the grill has a built-in thermometer because undercooked chicken is not good for nobody). To keep our results as fair as possible, all chickens are as close to 5.5kg as possible.
Cook whole chickens over indirect, medium heat until both breasts reach a temperature of 165 degrees F.
Those temperature probes are connected to a datalogger and a laptop with software that records the internal temperature of each chicken breast every two seconds. Each chicken is cooked until the temperature in both breasts reaches a food-safe 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Grilled chicken should have a crispy skin and meat that is fully cooked but not dry. We do this test in three rounds, giving us a solid average cook time for each grill.
Burgers
Burgers are our final test for our grill reviews. We measure out 5.3 ounces of 80/20 ground beef and press them into uniform patties. Those peppers go into a grill basket and we insert a temperature probe into the center of each cookie at a 45 degree angle.
With the grill preheated for 10 minutes on high, the basket goes on the grill. After six minutes of cooking, we turn the basket over and monitor the internal temperature. Once the last burger in the basket reaches 145 degrees Fahrenheit, the batch is complete. A good burger in this test is one that has both a nice outer char and a slightly pink center.
The burgers go on the grill over direct, high heat.
Burger testing pinpoints any hot spots across the grill's cooking surface if one burger consistently reaches 145 F before the others in each round.
An average difference of 15 or 20 degrees between the fastest and slowest cookies in a batch was the norm in our testing. Red flags go up when we start seeing differences in the 30 to 40 degree range.