There really aren’t many grilling jobs you can’t tackle with a kamado grill. It takes a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, the kamado grill can circle around your standard gas grill. They are also great for on wood cooking, a technique that consistently produces amazing results.
Usually made of ceramic, these grill pans boast incredible heat retention. A little fuel goes a long way, allowing you to use the kamado stove at low and low temperatures all day. Additionally, you can fire up the grill to get it hot. I’m talking hot enough to cook an authentic Neapolitan wood-fired pizza. The Kamado grill is also great for grilling a real steakhouse-style steak and, frankly, just about anything you’d think of grilling.
The Big Green Egg is the most prominent example of a traditional kamado grill and kamado smoker, but competing kamado manufacturers such as the Kamado Joe, Char-Griller, Vision, and Char-Broil round out the grill category. Tempted to add it to your outdoor kitchen arsenal and become a hardcore griller? I put the Big Green Egg and its four main grill competitors to the test to find the best kamado grill – here’s what I found.
Ribs, chicken, burgers: You name it, we cooked it.
Brian Bennett/CNET
More than 200 hours of full smokes later, I’ve cooked over 10 pounds of hamburger, 20 pounds of pork ribs, and six chickens, along with a few steaks for good measure. After all that, I can confidently say which brands make the best kamado grill for my taste, and which brands you should probably avoid.
Here are my picks for the best kamado grill options for 2022. I’ll update this list as I review new products.
Chris Monroe/CNET
Big Green Egg, the company that started the kamado craze, still has a winner. Of all the kamado-style grill options in my test group, the Large BGE model had the best temperature performance, heat retention, and stability. Once set to a low and slow temperature of 225 F, the Egg pretty much ran itself. According to our temperature gauge, the Green Egg stayed within this temperature range, with only minor and infrequent fluctuations.
The Great Big Green Egg was also the most responsive. If I had to adjust the top or bottom vents for any reason, I quickly noticed a change. I usually noticed course corrections in just 6 or 7 minutes.
The food I cooked in the Great Big Green Egg was also quite tasty. While my BGE test unit lacked the optional heat deflector attachment, the chicken and pork ribs had a convincing barbecue flavor. Although not as tasty as what I smoked in the Kamado Joe Classic III, the food from BGE came very quickly. Big Green Egg makes a heat deflector attachment, called the ConvEGGtor, but it’s an optional extra.
True to its name, the Large Big Green Egg Kamado Grill and Smoker is large, giving you plenty of space so you can grill, smoke and cook to your heart’s content.
That’s why I recommend the Large Big Green Egg as one of the best kamado grills for just about anyone. You’ll have to go through your local dealer, and, again, unlike the Kamado Joe Classic III, everything but the stand is extra. In the end, however, the total cost of the Big Big Green Egg should be less than the cost of a fully equipped Classic III.
Char Griller
Char-Griller Akorn delivers true kamado performance at the lowest price. It costs less than $350, which is amazing considering that a typical kamado grill will set you back $800 to $1,000. The Akorn’s temperature and temperature control are not as inherently stable as the more expensive kamados I’ve used. I suspect this is because the body of the Akorn is made of triple-walled steel, as opposed to a heavy ceramic stove. The grill fire was also more difficult to start and keep lit than the Big Green Egg and Kamado Joe Classic III.
When I let it burn through our low-slow test (adjusted to 225 F), the Akorn’s fire went out within 45 minutes. After re-igniting, temperatures inside the cooker rose to 370 F in just 15 minutes. I didn’t even add additional fuel, just one paraffin starter. Thirty-five minutes later, heat levels inside Akorn reached 405 degrees. Temperatures then dropped, but remained hot, not dropping below 387 F for the next 3 hours.
Things were very different when I was keeping an eye on Akorn. With a starting temperature of 225 F or 350 F, only a few vent adjustments were needed to get the airflow pushing the grill back on track. And because it’s made of steel and not a ceramic kamado, the Akorn weighs less (100 pounds) than traditional kamado grill options (200 pounds or more).
The food I cooked with Akorn wasn’t bad either. Both the slow cooked baby back ribs and chicken had a pleasant charcoal flavor. That said, they couldn’t compare to what came out of the Kamado Joe grill thanks to its included heat deflector smoking system. Such a low price, however, outweighs many of the drawbacks, so the Akorn Char-Griller adds a fantastic value to the kamado-style grill.
Chris Monroe/CNET
At nearly $1,500, the Kamado Joe Classic III may have a steep price tag, but it delivers a lot for the money. That means lots of kamado grill accessories that don’t come standard with other grills, including the Big Green Egg Kamado. This kamado grill and smoker also perform well. In our slow-low grill test, we set the grill to 225 F (107 C) and run the controls to see what happens. In this test, the Kamado Joe Classic III showed excellent temperature control.
The grill got a little hot in the first 30 minutes (315 F) but then settled down at the 1 hour mark. From there, this ceramic grill ran cruise control, parking the needle between 253 F and 219 F for nearly 3 hours. Only the Big Green Egg turned in a tighter temperature curve, humming for hours in a smoky spot.
One feature that really sets the Classic III apart is something called the SloRoller. Kamado Joe called it a “hyperbolic smoke chamber,” it’s an hourglass-shaped metal contraption that sits above the fire. The device functions both as a heat deflector and as an auxiliary means for convection. It essentially prevents the radiant heat generated by the coals from hitting the food above (on the grill grate). This prevents the meat from drying out during long roasting. According to Kamado Joe, it also encourages air (smoke) circulation within the cooking chamber.
In fact, there are a ton of extras bundled with the Classic III in the box. This includes an additional set of ceramic heat deflectors (one for each half of the grill), a charcoal pot and an aluminum charcoal basket. You get two halved aluminum grates and an ash remover, plus a three-level cooking rack that you can configure as needed for grilling.
In contrast, everything on the Big Green Egg except the stand costs extra. Note that you can also save a little by choosing Kamado Joe’s Classic II. For $1,200, it’s almost identical to the Classic III, but lacks the SloRoller attachment and has a different stand.
The construction of the Classic III model is very solid; I especially like the sturdy side shelves, ideal for grilling and smoking, also standard. All this makes this one of the best kamado grills, if you can afford it.
How we test the kamado grill
Testing a kamado grill is an intense grilling experience. It requires playing with fire (literally) and high temperatures, but in a controlled, responsible way. The most critical element to kamado performance is heat, specifically temperature control and how well the grill holds one temperature. To smoke meat low and slow, that magic number is 225 F. Good smokers, kamados or otherwise, will maintain this temperature for as long as 12, 15, or 20 hours. This means a temperature gauge is key, as is the ability to control airflow through vents or flaps.
We monitor the internal temperature of kamado grills while they are working.
Brian Bennett/CNET
To record temperature data, we place a thermocouple on each kamado grill. Essentially a sensitive temperature sensor made of a probe and connected wire, the thermocouple hangs suspended just 1 inch above the grill grate. It is connected to a data logger and finally to a computer that records changes in heat levels over time.
Then it’s time to fire up every grill.
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
We try to test the temperature on all grills at the same time. We also use the same weight and brand of charcoal (4.4 pounds or 2 kg), often from the same bag. This also applies to lighting a fire (one per grill).
A stable level of heat is the key to good performance for a kamado smoker.
Brian Bennett/CNET
After that, we light them, according to the instructions in their manuals if they are available. This usually means letting the coals catch for 15 minutes, with the lid open, and then closing the grill. At this point, the vents remain wide open until the grill is within 50 degrees of the target temperature.
We carefully fumble through the vents to get there. Finally, we release the controls and observe.
We follow the same procedure for our higher temperature test with a target of 350 F. The idea is to simulate the heat performance needed to roast chicken and other poultry.
We smoke ribs along with other foods for anecdotal tests.
Chris Monroe/CNET
And speaking of food, we also do a lot of “anecdotal tests”. We smoke one rib on each grill (225 F). We butterfly the chickens (aka spatchcock) and roast them too. Obtained from the local Costco, they weigh approximately 5 pounds each. Finally, we grill a set of four 8-ounce hamburger patties on high (600 F).
Burgers, anyone?
Brian Bennett/CNET
Want more options? Here are the other two kamado grill models I evaluated for this test group. Although they didn’t make it into my selection, you might want to take a look for comparison:
Watch this:
CNET Smart Home Gas Grill Testing
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