Should you buy a gas BBQ or charcoal BBQ?
It depends on how you cook, what you want to cook, and how hands-on you like to be. A gas grill gives you speed, convenience, and precise heat control straight out of the box. A charcoal grill delivers richer smoke flavour, higher searing temperatures, and far more versatility for smoking and slow cooking. This guide covers everything you need to decide between the two, with practical UK-specific advice on cost, fuel, garden setup, and which grill types suit each fuel.
In short: gas suits cooks who want to fire up quickly on a weeknight and get dinner done with minimal fuss. Charcoal rewards those who enjoy the hands-on process of building a fire and want deeper flavour, especially on longer cooks like brisket, ribs, and pulled pork. If you genuinely cannot choose, gravity-fed charcoal grills like the Masterbuilt Gravity Series now offer charcoal flavour with gas-level convenience, and dual-fuel models let you run both from a single unit. The right answer comes down to what you want to cook, how often, and how involved you want to be.
Browse our full range of gas BBQs and charcoal grills to see what is available while you read on.
How Do Gas and Charcoal BBQs Actually Work?
Gas grills burn propane (or, rarely in the UK, mains natural gas) through burners beneath the cooking grates. Charcoal grills burn lumpwood charcoal or briquettes, and you control heat by adjusting air vents rather than turning a dial. That core difference in heat source affects flavour, startup time, temperature range, cleanup, and cost.
Gas BBQs: Burners, Heat Zones, and Instant Control
A gas BBQ works much like a kitchen hob. Each burner has its own control knob, and you ignite the grill with a push-button or electronic ignition. Within 10 to 15 minutes, the grates are at cooking temperature and you are ready to go.
The big advantage is zoned cooking. With two or more independently controlled burners, you can sear steaks over high heat on one side while gently warming buns on the other. Some gas grills include extras like side burners for sauces, infrared sear stations, or rotisserie attachments. Heat rises from the burners through metal heat plates or bars that vaporise dripping fats back onto the food, adding some flavour in the proces
Charcoal BBQs: Fire, Airflow, and Radiant Heat
A charcoal BBQ produces radiant heat and smoke from burning fuel. You control temperature by adjusting intake and exhaust vents: more open vents mean more oxygen and higher heat, while closing them down starves the fire and drops the temperature.
When the lid is closed, this creates a blanket of even, radiant heat that surrounds food from all sides, rather than the focused bottom-up heat of gas burners. That radiant heat is why charcoal grills build deeper crusts on meat and reach higher peak temperatures than most gas grills. The trade-off is a longer startup (typically 15 to 25 minutes using a chimney starter) and a learning curve for temperature management that takes a few cooks to get comfortable with.
Does Charcoal Really Taste Better Than Gas?
Yes, but with caveats. Charcoal produces smoke particles that deposit on food as it cooks, creating that distinctive smoky, chargrilled flavour. Fat and juices dripping onto hot coals vaporise and rise back up, adding another layer that gas struggles to replicate.
Gas burns cleanly, so the food tastes more of its own marinade, rub, or natural flavour rather than smoke. Some cooks actually prefer this cleaner profile, especially for delicate items like fish, prawns, or vegetables. You can add smoking wood chips above gas burners using a smoker box, but the effect is milder because gas grills are designed to vent smoke quickly rather than trap it.
For everyday grilling of burgers, sausages, and chicken pieces, the flavour gap is noticeable but not night-and-day. Where charcoal pulls ahead decisively is with larger cuts cooked for longer periods: brisket, pulled pork, ribs, and whole chickens. The longer the cook, the more smoke flavour builds up. If low-and-slow smoking is on your list, charcoal (or wood) is the clear winner.
Gas vs Charcoal BBQ: How Does Temperature Control Compare?
Gas gives you instant, repeatable control at the turn of a dial. Charcoal reaches higher peaks and handles long, low cooks beautifully once you learn the vents. Each fuel type has situations where it is clearly the better choice.
What Gas Grills Do Well
Turn the dial up, the temperature rises. Turn it down, it drops within a minute or two. This makes gas ideal for foods that need consistent, moderate heat: chicken breasts, fish fillets, vegetables, and anything you want to cook quickly without overthinking. Multiple burner zones let you run different temperatures across the grill surface at the same time, which is genuinely useful when cooking a mixed spread for a group.
Where Charcoal Grills Excel
Charcoal reaches higher peak temperatures than most domestic gas grills, making it superior for searing steaks, chops, and anything where you want a hard crust on the outside. A well-built charcoal fire in a kettle grill can hit 350°C or more at grate level. Most domestic gas grills top out around 250 to 300°C, and many budget models fall short of even that.
Charcoal also handles low temperatures well once you learn vent control. A Big Green Egg Large, for example, can hold 110°C for 12 hours or more on a single load of charcoal thanks to its ceramic insulation. That kind of stability over a long cook is something only the most expensive gas setups can match.
Indirect Cooking and Smoking
Indirect cooking means placing food away from the heat source so it roasts rather than grills. On a charcoal grill, you push the coals to one side and put the food on the other. On a gas grill, you light the burners on one side and leave the others off.
Both methods work, but when it comes to BBQ charcoal vs gas for smoking, charcoal has a natural advantage because the coals themselves produce smoke and you can add wood chunks directly onto them. On a gas grill, you need a separate smoker box filled with wood chips, and the results are more subtle. If smoking brisket, ribs, or pulled pork is something you want to try, charcoal gives you a significant head start.
How Do Startup, Ease of Use, and Cleanup Compare?
Gas wins on convenience by a wide margin. Push the ignition, wait 10 minutes, start cooking. When you are done, turn the burners to high for a few minutes to burn off residue, brush the grates, and switch off. No ash to deal with, no leftover fuel to manage.
Charcoal requires more preparation. You need to load the fuel, light it (a chimney starter is the best method and costs under £15), wait 15 to 25 minutes for the coals to ash over, then arrange them for your cook. After cooking, let the ash cool completely before disposing of it in a metal container. It is messier and slower, but plenty of cooks find the ritual of building a fire is part of the enjoyment rather than a chore.
Cleaning a charcoal grill means emptying the ash catcher or pan after every session. Kamado grills and ceramic cookers hold ash internally and only need clearing every few cooks. Gas grills need periodic deeper cleaning of burner tubes, heat plates, and grease traps to prevent flare-ups, but the day-to-day effort is lower. For more on keeping your grill in top shape, see our BBQ cleaning and maintenance tips.
BBQ Charcoal or Gas: What Does Each Cost to Buy and Run?
Neither fuel type is universally cheaper. Gas costs more upfront but less per cook. Charcoal costs less to buy into but burns through fuel faster, especially on open grills. The real answer depends on how often you cook and which grill style you choose.
What a Gas BBQ Costs to Buy and Run
Entry-level gas BBQs with two or three burners start from around £200 to £400. Mid-range models from brands like Weber and Napoleon sit between £500 and £1,500, while premium built-in or freestanding gas grills can reach £3,000 or more. A standard 13kg propane bottle costs roughly £28 to £45 to exchange depending on your supplier and region, and typically lasts 10 to 15 cooking sessions depending on how many burners you use and for how long. Gas grills tend to have more components that can wear: ignition systems, burner tubes, heat plates, and gas regulators. Replacement parts are usually available, but factor in occasional maintenance costs over the grill’s lifetime.
What a Charcoal BBQ Costs to Buy and Run
Charcoal grills cover a broader price range. A basic kettle grill starts from under £100. Mid-range options like the Weber Master-Touch sit around £300 to £325. Premium ceramic kamado grills like the Big Green Egg range from £800 to over £2,500, but they are built to last decades with minimal part replacement.
Fuel costs per cook are higher with charcoal. A bag of quality lumpwood charcoal (around 5 to 10kg) costs £10 to £20, and a typical grilling session uses 2 to 4kg depending on the grill size and cook length. If you cook weekly, charcoal costs add up faster than gas over a season. However, kamado grills are exceptionally fuel-efficient because their ceramic insulation means a small amount of charcoal lasts far longer than on an open kettle or barrel grill.
If you are leaning towards charcoal but want the convenience of gas, take a look at the Masterbuilt Gravity Series. It is the best of both worlds for many of our customers.
What Types of Grill Suit Each Fuel?
One of the biggest oversimplifications in the gas or charcoal BBQ debate is treating each fuel as a single category. The type of grill matters as much as the fuel it burns, and there are very different options within each.
Gas: Freestanding, Flat-Top Griddles, and Built-In
Freestanding gas grills are the most common style. They sit on a wheeled cart, have two to six burners, and include a lid for convection cooking. This is the classic gas BBQ shape and covers the widest range of budgets.
Flat-top gas griddles, like those from Blackstone, use a solid steel cooking surface instead of grates. They are brilliant for breakfast cooks, smash burgers, stir-fries, and anything that would fall through a grate. They do not give you grill marks or smoke flavour, but for sheer cooking speed and versatility they are hard to beat.
Built-in gas grills are designed for permanent outdoor kitchen installations. They require professional gas fitting (which must comply with UK Gas Safe regulations for mains connections) and cost more, but they create a streamlined cooking setup.
Charcoal: Kettles, Kamado Grills, Barrel Smokers, and Offsets
Kettle grills (the classic round shape popularised by Weber) are the most versatile entry point into charcoal cooking. They handle direct grilling, indirect roasting, and basic smoking. Affordable, portable, and a great place to start.
Kamado grills (ceramic egg-shaped cookers like the Big Green Egg Large) are the premium end of charcoal cooking. Their thick ceramic walls provide exceptional heat retention, holding temperature for hours with minimal fuel. They perform brilliantly in cold or windy conditions, which makes them particularly well-suited to British weather. They grill, smoke, roast, and bake, and many models feature flexible cooking systems that let you grill and smoke at different levels simultaneously.
Barrel smokers and offset smokers are purpose-built for low-and-slow cooking. Offset smokers like those from Workhorse Pits and Cactus Jack use a separate firebox to generate smoke that flows through the cooking chamber. These are serious bits of kit aimed at dedicated pitmasters who want authentic stick-burning results.
What About Gravity-Fed Charcoal and Dual-Fuel Grills?
If you have read this far and thought “I want charcoal flavour but gas convenience,” there is a third option that most gas versus charcoal BBQ guides overlook entirely.
Gravity-fed charcoal grills, like the Masterbuilt Gravity Series, use a vertical charcoal hopper and a fan-driven airflow system controlled by a digital display. You set your target temperature, and the fan does the rest. Charcoal feeds down by gravity as it burns. You get genuine charcoal flavour and smoke, but with push-button ignition and set-and-forget temperature control. The Masterbuilt Gravity Series 800 is one of the most popular grills we sell to customers who feel torn between gas and charcoal. It handles everything from low-and-slow smoking to high-heat grilling and even griddle cooking with its included flat top plate. For a deeper look at the range, read our Masterbuilt Gravity Series guide.
Dual-fuel grills offer separate gas and charcoal cooking zones in a single unit, so you can switch between the two depending on what you are cooking. The selection in the UK market is growing, and they suit households where one person wants gas convenience while another prefers charcoal flavour.
What UK-Specific Factors Should You Consider?
Most gas vs charcoal BBQ guides are written for an American audience with large backyards and warm weather. The UK is different, and a few practical factors are worth thinking about before you buy.
Garden Size and Setup
A large offset smoker or a six-burner gas grill needs room. If your garden or patio is compact (and many UK gardens are), a kamado grill, a smaller kettle, or a two-to-three-burner gas grill will be a more practical fit. Kamado grills have a particularly small footprint relative to their cooking capacity, making them popular in smaller gardens.
British Weather and Lid-On Cooking
Wind, rain, and cooler temperatures all affect outdoor cooking. Charcoal grills with good insulation (especially ceramic kamado grills) handle British weather far better than thin-walled gas or charcoal models. A well-insulated grill holds its temperature regardless of what is happening outside, which means you can cook year-round without burning through extra fuel. If you plan to grill in autumn and winter, and you should because cold-weather smoking is brilliant, heat retention should be high on your priority list.
Gas Bottles: Sizes, Sourcing, and Storage
In the UK, most gas BBQs run on propane, supplied in either Patio Gas bottles (with a clip-on regulator) or standard propane cylinders (with a screw-on regulator). The two are not interchangeable, so check which type your grill requires before buying a bottle. Common sizes are 5kg, 6kg, and 13kg. You can buy or exchange bottles at garden centres, petrol stations, and hardware shops. Always store gas bottles upright, outdoors, and away from direct heat. Make sure your regulator and hose match your grill and bottle type before your first cook.
Smoke Control Areas
Some parts of the UK are designated smoke control areas, which restrict the burning of certain solid fuels. Standard lumpwood charcoal and briquettes can be used in smoke control areas provided they are burned in an exempt appliance (most modern charcoal grills with lids qualify). It is worth checking your local council’s rules before committing to charcoal if you are in an urban area. Gas BBQs are unaffected by smoke control regulations.
Want to build your skills before investing? Our BBQ classes in Banbury cover everything from charcoal fire management to offset smoking techniques.
Charcoal BBQ or Gas BBQ: Which Suits Your Experience Level?
Your cooking experience shapes which fuel type will serve you best. Here is how we typically guide customers who visit the Banbury showroom.
First-Time Buyer
If you have never owned a BBQ and want to start cooking outdoors with minimal fuss, a gas grill is the easiest entry point. A two-to-three-burner model gives you enough space to feed a family, heats up fast, and forgives temperature mistakes. Alternatively, a basic Weber kettle is an affordable way to start learning charcoal skills without a major investment.
Weekend Griller Ready to Level Up
If you already grill regularly and want to explore indirect cooking, smoking, and more ambitious cooks, charcoal opens up more possibilities. A kamado grill is a natural next step: it grills, smokes, roasts, and bakes, and the temperature control becomes intuitive after a few sessions. The Big Green Egg Large is an excellent choice at this level. For those who want charcoal flavour without the learning curve, the Masterbuilt Gravity Series is worth a serious look.
Serious Low-and-Slow Enthusiast
If you are already comfortable with fire management and want to cook whole packer briskets, competition-style ribs, or host cookouts for large groups, an offset smoker or a large kamado is the right move. Workhorse Pits and Cactus Jack both make offset smokers built for years of heavy use. We run hands-on Offset Smoker Basics classes at our Banbury showroom for anyone who wants to learn fire management before committing to a purchase.
Our Picks: Gas and Charcoal Grills Worth Considering
Rather than declaring a single winner in the charcoal BBQ vs gas BBQ debate, here are models we consistently recommend based on what customers tell us they want to cook.
For gas convenience: The Weber Spirit range offers reliable build quality and consistent heat in a compact package. For more cooking space and features, the Napoleon Prestige series delivers strong performance with extras like infrared sear zones.
For charcoal flavour and versatility: The Weber Master-Touch is a proven starting point that handles grilling and basic smoking well for around £300. For a step up, the Big Green Egg Large provides exceptional heat retention, fuel efficiency, and versatile cooking, making it a superb option for cooks who plan to smoke and roast regularly.
For the best of both worlds: The Masterbuilt Gravity Series 800 gives you charcoal flavour with digital temperature control and push-button ignition. It is the closest thing to a do-everything grill we have found, and it includes a flat top griddle plate as standard.
For serious smoking: Workhorse Pits and Cactus Jack offset smokers are built for pitmasters who want authentic stick-burning performance. These are not beginner grills, but for those ready to commit, they produce results that no other grill type can match.
Find Your Next BBQ at ProSmoke
Whether you are leaning towards gas, charcoal, or something in between, the best way to decide is to see the grills in person. Our Banbury showroom has over 50 models on display, and the team can walk you through the options based on exactly what you want to cook. If you prefer to browse from home, the full range is available online with UK-wide delivery.
Visit us in Banbury or browse online. Not sure where to start? Drop the team a message at sales@prosmokebbq.co.uk.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are large BBQs and smokers difficult to assemble at home?
Gas grills with multiple burners typically take one to two hours to assemble and require basic tools. Kamado grills arrive mostly assembled but are very heavy (a large ceramic kamado weighs over 100kg) and usually need two people to position. ProSmoke BBQ offers a paid assembly and quality-check service for any grill purchased through us.
Can I convert a gas BBQ from Patio Gas to standard propane or vice versa?
The two bottle types use different regulators and fittings, so they are not directly interchangeable. However, many gas grills can be switched by fitting the correct regulator and hose kit for the bottle type you want to use. Check your grill’s manual or contact the manufacturer before swapping.
How do I stop my charcoal BBQ from rusting over winter?
Clean the grill thoroughly after your last cook of the season, removing all ash and grease. Apply a light coating of cooking oil to cast iron grates. Use a fitted, breathable cover to protect against rain and frost while allowing moisture to escape. Avoid using a fully sealed tarpaulin, which traps condensation and accelerates rust.
Do I need a Gas Safe registered engineer to install a gas BBQ?
Freestanding gas BBQs that connect to portable propane bottles do not require professional installation. However, if you are connecting a built-in gas grill to a mains natural gas supply, a Gas Safe registered engineer must carry out the work. This is a legal requirement in the UK.
Can I use a gas BBQ on a balcony or in a covered area?
Most gas BBQs require adequate ventilation and clearance from walls, ceilings, and combustible materials. Check your specific model’s manual for minimum distances. Many landlords and housing associations also prohibit BBQs on balconies or in shared outdoor spaces, so confirm your building’s rules before buying.