Top 5 Best Portable BBQs in Australia: Camping, Balcony and Backyard Grilling Compared

A compact gas tabletop grill is the honest answer. Fast to light, no charcoal smoke upsetting neighbours, quick to clean, small enough to store under a balcony cover between uses. Look for a single-burner or two-burner tabletop unit that weighs under 8kg and packs to a size you can put away in a laundry cupboard. Around $130-$200 covers the mainstream Australian pick.

A two-burner gas portable like the Weber Go-Anywhere, or a charcoal camp grill sized for the group you actually cook for, is the sensible answer. Gas is more convenient at a national-park site and works during most fire bans; charcoal is more self-sufficient in remote areas where gas bottles are hard to refill. Many serious fourWD tourers carry one of each — a main gas cooker for campsite cooking and a small charcoal grill for the smoky sausage-and-onion tradition.

A folding three-burner gas grill like the Coleman RoadTrip 285 with side tables gives you the closest thing to a full-size backyard grill in a portable package. Around 30kg and $350-$450, this is the crossover unit that lives in the garage as the main BBQ and comes out to a cricket club or weekend work-site when needed. Not for backpacking, not for small balconies — for people wanting the biggest useful cooking surface they can still move.

A combo unit like the Cadac Carri Chef 2 with interchangeable griddle, grill and wok plates is the answer for campers who want to fry, sauté and flip pancakes rather than just grill. This is a different purchase from a straight portable grill and suits people cooking proper meals on multi-day trips rather than just chooks and sausages.

A small charcoal drum-style portable at around $60-$100 covers the fundamentals for occasional use. Slower to light, harder to clean, and unusable during some fire bans, but genuinely capable of good results if you'll put up with the ritual. For a work ute, a first flat, or a household that fires up the BBQ four times a year, this is the honest answer.

Gas lights instantly, cooks within 10-15 minutes, produces almost no visible smoke, and works during most Australian fire-ban conditions (subject to your local council and state rules). Charcoal takes 20-40 minutes to light properly, produces significantly more smoke (which matters on an apartment balcony or a shared campground), and is often explicitly banned during total fire bans when gas is still allowed.

Flavour is the classic argument: charcoal produces the smoke-and-fat flavour Australians associate with proper BBQ, while gas gives you a cleaner cook without that profile. In practice the difference matters most for slow-cooked meats and less for a quick sausage or steak. Serious campers often carry a small charcoal unit for the flavour job and a gas cooker for daily meals.

Fuel availability is a real portability consideration. In Australian regional and remote areas, disposable butane or propane 227g canisters are widely available; 4.5kg refillable pol bottles are common in towns but not always refillable in remote areas. Charcoal is sold everywhere but burns unevenly in wind, and lighter fluid is heavy to carry.

A single-burner tabletop grill tops out around 2.5-3.5 kW. A two-burner crossover unit gets you 4-6 kW total. A three-burner Coleman RoadTrip-style grill runs 6-9 kW combined. More burners let you create separate heat zones — a hot searing area and a lower indirect-heat area — which is genuinely useful for anything more complex than sausages and burger patties.

Heat output (kW) is the number that predicts how fast the BBQ comes up to temperature and how well it holds temperature with the lid closed on a cold or windy day. Weber's Go-Anywhere at around 3kW handles a small cooking load well but struggles to hold temperature when you load six steaks on a cool evening. Bigger units with more kW hold temperature better.

Ignore marketing numbers around 'instant ignition' and 'power-flame'. Real burners take about 5-10 minutes to bring the surface to cooking temperature; anything claiming 2-minute full-power cooking is quoting the ignition spark, not the cooking readiness.

Most portable BBQs ship with a fixed grate — the raised metal bars you grill on. Some (Cadac Carri Chef 2, some Weber Q variants) ship with interchangeable plates: a flat griddle for pancakes and bacon, a raised grill plate for steak and chops, a wok ring for stir-fries. That interchangeability is the reason a combo cooker is genuinely more capable on a multi-day camp trip rather than just a marketing line.

Cast-iron plates hold heat better than thin steel or aluminium, produce better sear marks and are much easier to keep food off. But they're heavier to carry and need proper seasoning and drying to avoid rust. Non-stick coated plates are lighter and easier to clean but lose their coating over two or three years of real use.

For a first portable BBQ you'll use in the backyard and at the beach, standard cast-iron grates are fine. For serious camp cooking, a combo unit with interchangeable plates is worth the extra cost.

Anything under 10kg is honestly portable for a car-and-short-walk campsite. Under 6kg works for a fourWD trip where you might need to carry gear 100m from the vehicle. Under 3kg fits a proper backpacking category that most Australian portable BBQs don't serve well — you'd use a jetboil or alcohol stove instead.

Between 10 and 20kg is 'portable' in the sense that one adult can lift it into the boot and set it up, but it's not going to move far. Over 20kg is genuinely a stationary unit that folds — Coleman RoadTrip-style grills at 30kg live in a garage and get wheeled out, not carried.

Folded size matters as much as weight. A BBQ that fits in a boot alongside a four-week esky is honest; a BBQ that fills the boot is not really portable in a family fourWD context. Check the packed dimensions against your vehicle before ordering.

Gas BBQs run on one of two fuels: disposable 227g or 450g butane/propane canisters, or refillable 4.5kg pol bottles via an adapter hose. Disposable canisters are convenient for short trips and easy to find at servo stores and Bunnings in Australia; refillable pol bottles are cheaper per cook and available everywhere gas is sold, but heavier and require a specific adapter hose on some BBQ models.

For occasional household use, disposable canisters are fine. For a household that runs a BBQ most weekends, a pol bottle plus adapter hose is materially cheaper over a season. Charcoal is available everywhere but is banned in many Australian councils and national parks during total fire bans; check the rules for your region and how often you'll cook during fire-restricted months.

Some BBQs ship without the adapter hose. Confirm on the specific AU listing whether the hose is included; buying it separately after the BBQ arrives is a common frustration.

A single-burner tabletop grill with 43cm × 26cm cooking area comfortably feeds four people at a normal sausage-and-steak meal. A two-burner crossover with around 1700 sq cm feeds six. A three-burner family unit like the Coleman RoadTrip 285 with 4.4 square feet feeds eight to ten easily.

Don't over-buy for the biggest crowd you might once host; buy for the group you usually cook for. A portable BBQ that's too small just means cooking in batches, which is annoying but not fatal. A portable BBQ that's too big means you never take it anywhere because it doesn't fit in the boot.

For households cooking mainly for two to four, the Weber Go-Anywhere or a compact tabletop unit is the honest answer. For five to eight, two burners minimum. For eight-plus or club use, three burners.

Any portable BBQ over 15kg tends to become a stationary unit that lives in the garage and gets rolled out rather than a true camp grill. If you're honestly buying for camping and want to carry it from car to pitch, keep the target under 10kg.

Folded size matters for fourWD tours where boot space is tight. Check the packed dimensions against your vehicle before ordering; a 30kg BBQ that folds flat is honestly manageable, while a 15kg BBQ with an awkward fixed stand shape may not fit alongside a full camp setup.

Hard cases and folding legs are features you'll appreciate on real camp trips and won't care about for a backyard crossover. Don't pay for them if you don't need them.

Gas BBQs are much easier to clean than charcoal. Wipe the grate with a stiff brush after cooking while it's still warm, empty the grease tray every few cooks, and the unit stays usable indefinitely. Charcoal means dealing with a bucket of ash after every session, and the ash has to be disposed of fully cold (usually a day of soaking in water) before binning.

Cast-iron grates need light oiling after cleaning to avoid rust; chrome-plated and porcelain-enameled grates don't. Non-stick coated plates wear out within a few years of regular use and are the single biggest replacement cost on a combo cooker.

For a household that will use the BBQ 20+ times a year, cleaning effort matters. For 5-10 cooks a year, it's minor.

Under $100 you get a small single-zone charcoal drum or a very basic tabletop gas grill. Functional but limited. $100-$200 gets you the mainstream Beefeater-tier crossover: two burners, real cooking area, and a unit that can be the household's only BBQ for a couple or a small family. $200-$350 is the premium-compact tier (Weber Go-Anywhere) where the single-burner grill is smaller but built properly and backed by a real Australian service network. Above $350 you're in family-size three-burner territory or multi-function combo cooking.

For most households the sensible first purchase is in the $150-$250 range: a two-burner crossover grill like the Beefeater B51S or a single-burner premium portable like the Weber Go-Anywhere. Serious camp cooks and families cooking for eight-plus should spend more; couples on a tight balcony should spend less.

For gas grills: brush the grate with a stiff wire brush while it's still warm (not hot), empty the drip tray when it's 3/4 full, and wipe the inside of the lid with a damp cloth once a month to stop grease buildup. A quick clean after every cook prevents the deep clean that's miserable every six months.

For charcoal grills: once the coals are fully cold, empty the ash tray into a metal bucket and let it sit overnight outdoors before binning. Brush the grate while still warm. Check the vents occasionally for ash blockage; that's what makes temperature control unpredictable.

For combo cookers with interchangeable plates: clean plates separately and dry them fully before storing. Griddle and wok plates are usually cast aluminium or heavy-gauge steel; oiling them lightly after cleaning prevents rust.

Cover or case every BBQ stored outdoors. Australian UV degrades plastic igniters, fades paint and cracks rubber seals within a couple of seasons. A proper fitted cover is a $25-$50 investment that adds years to the life of the grill.

For winter or long-term storage, disconnect the gas cylinder and store the BBQ dry indoors (garage, laundry, under a covered deck). A pol bottle left connected outdoors through winter can leak through the valve seal over time; take it off and store the bottle upright outside.

Charcoal BBQs need to be stored dry. A rusty lid that won't close or a grate that's gone orange is a common sign of a drum grill left uncovered in a coastal yard.

The Coleman RoadTrip 285 is a fantastic grill for a family of six cooking in the backyard. It's a bad purchase for a couple wanting a balcony BBQ because it weighs 30kg and doesn't fold small enough to store under a cover. Match the size and weight of the BBQ to the space it will live in and the people it will feed.

If you cook for four most of the time and occasionally eight, buy the four-person unit and accept a second batch for the rare bigger crowd. If you need to lift the BBQ into a boot and carry it 100m from a car to a campsite, buy under 10kg.

Australian states and councils impose seasonal fire bans with different rules on BBQ use. Charcoal is commonly banned during total fire bans even on private property, while gas is often permitted. National parks have their own rules on top of the local council's.

For households cooking outdoors most of the year in a fire-prone region (most of southern Australia through summer), a gas-capable BBQ is more useful than a charcoal-only unit because you can still cook during many restricted periods. Check your local rules before buying a purely charcoal unit if you want year-round use.

Portable BBQ listings vary wildly on what's included. Some ship without the adapter hose for a pol bottle, so you're stuck buying disposable canisters until the hose arrives. Some combo cookers are sold as the grill only with the plate set separate. Some gas BBQs are sold with no igniter batteries included.

Read the specific AU listing's bundle contents before ordering, not just the product image. Confirm the adapter hose, plate set, cover and any accessories are in the box. It's a small thing that saves a lot of frustration on day one.