An infrared grill provides a modern way to cook your favorite barbecue recipes, char-broiled food, and other grilled meals. These products continue to rapidly gain popularity across many countries today. This is mainly because these infrared grills offer a number of advantages. Some of the most important ones are the following:
- Much Faster Cooking Time — When compared to traditional grills, an infrared grill can provide you with quicker ways to cook your barbecue recipes and grilled food. That’s because these products produce more heat at a much faster pace than an ordinary grill. This means you can also spend less time beside your grill, exposing you to less heat and smoke in the process;
- More Efficient Fuel Use — With faster cooking time also comes less gas or power consumption. Plus, an infrared grill uses up far fewer energy resources as its mechanism dissipates more heat with the same amount of energy. This means you need less fuel and electricity to achieve the right heat and temperature to cook your barbecue and grilled meals. And this translates to more savings on your part, aside from enabling you to contribute fewer carbon emissions to the global footprint;
- Even Cooking — As an infrared grill is designed to implement much better heat distribution procedures on your barbecue and grilled recipes, you’re likely to benefit from the even cooking advantages that its mechanism can offer. This also translates to fewer worries and more savings on your part as you’re less likely to end up with over-cooked food or meals with under-cooked portions; and
- Quicker Clean-Up & Simpler Maintenance — An infrared grill often consists of detachable components, parts, and accessories. This makes it more straightforward to clean it up after every use. Also, as these infrared grills take less time to cook food, you’ll end up with less soot and smoke particles that cling on your grates and the other parts of your grill.
But even if you know these essential factors, it can still be difficult to find the right infrared grill. That’s especially because of the sheer number of options that are currently available in the market today. To help you out, we’ve listed below our roundup of the best-infrared grills this year.
Comparison And Ratings Of The Best Infrared Grill
| Image | Infrared Grill | Rating |
|---|---|---|
 | #1 - Solaire SOL-EV17A Infrared Grill | 99% |
 | #2 - Solaire SOL-IR17BWR Infrared Grill | 90% |
 | #3 - Char-Broil 17602047 Infrared Grill | 80% |
 | #4 - NORTHFIRE Propane Infrared Grill | 80% |
 | #5 - Char-Broil Performance TRU Infrared Grill | 80% |
 | #6 - Solaire SOL-IR8A Infrared Grill | 80% |
 | #7 - Napoleon Prestige 500 w/ Infrared Grill | 78% |
 | #8 - Kushi Infrared Smokeless Grill | 78% |
 | #9 - Solaire SOL-EV17A Infrared Grill | 76% |
 | #10 - Blaze LTE Gas Grill w/ Infrared Grill | 68% |
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That’s our list of the top 10 infrared grills today. We’ve tested these products and also factored in the reviews of our family and friends, as well as various communities of users that we found on the Web. Now we’ll share the details of our findings as well as the results of our tests. This can give you a more informed decision as you try to find the most suitable infrared grill for your exact needs.
#1 – Solaire SOL-EV17A Infrared Grill
The Solaire SOL-EV17A Everywhere infrared grill is a portable product that’s designed with a cooking area measuring 140 square inches. This can accommodate up to 6 burger patties, each with a diameter of 4 inches. When its hood is down, this product measures 20 inches long, 13.5 inches wide and 8.25 inches tall. Otherwise, it measures 20 inches long, 16 inches wide and 19.5 inches tall.
This infrared grill is powered by propane gas. Also, it’s equipped with a ceramic infrared burner and an electronic ignition button. It’s integrated with stainless steel components for optimum durability and a rust-proof form factor.
To minimize if not entirely eliminate gas and fire flare-ups, the Solaire SOL-EV17A Everywhere infrared grill incorporates a V-shaped design for its grate. Many buyers say this also improves the flavor of their barbecue and grilled recipes. Plus, it weighs 15 lbs. and comes bundled with a cleaning brush.
What We Like About It:
We consider the Solaire SOL-EV17A Everywhere infrared grill’s V-shape grate and its ceramic infrared burner as this product’s most salient features. These are designed with engineering concepts that are primarily focused on enhancing the flavor of your barbecue and grilled recipes, all while giving this infrared grill faster and more gas-efficient cooking results.
Its stainless steel finish for many of its components is also something that we really like in this infrared grill. This is made out of high-grade materials and can ensure that you can keep rust and other harmful elements away from your food. Its form factor is also integrated with a sturdy frame and a durable design.
And most importantly, its ceramic infrared burner can dissipate heat evenly across your barbecue and grilled food. Also, the Solaire SOL-EV17A Everywhere infrared grill’s electronic ignition button makes it simpler and more straightforward to start using this product.
#2 – Solaire SOL-IR17BWR Infrared Grill
Another top-rated infrared grill from Solaire, the SOL-IR17BWR Anywhere portable infrared warming rack gas grill is a slightly taller version of the SOL-EV17A Everywhere infrared grill. With its hood up, this product measures 20 inches long, 13 inches wide and 21 inches tall. Meanwhile, it’s at 20 inches long, 13 inches wide and 12 inches tall with its hood down.
This product also weighs more than the SOL-EV17A Everywhere infrared grill from Solaire. It’s at 20 lbs., as opposed to the 15 lbs weight of the latter.
The quick and easy push-button ignition of the Solaire SOL-IR17BWR Anywhere portable infrared warming rack gas grill makes it quick and easy to start up this product. Also, its ceramic infrared mechanism is designed for optimal heat distribution, fast cooking features and a more efficient propane gas consumption design.
What We Like About It:
The Solaire SOL-IR17BWR Anywhere portable infrared gas grill has a warming rack that measures 67 square inches. We find this a beneficial feature as it allows us to keep a batch of grilled food and barbecue warm while continuing to cook additional servings. Also, its main cooking area can accommodate up to six 4-inch burger patties or any other grilled food of a similar size, thanks to its 140-square inch dimensions.
Based on our tests, its ceramic infrared burner and V-shaped grate design are quite efficient in using propane gas to cook much faster. Plus, this mechanism produces an even cook for our grilled recipes and barbecue. We’re also fond of its stainless steel finish as this prevents rust from accumulating in hard to reach areas.
Moreover, there are additional accessories that can add advantageous features to this product. Aside from a carrying case that comes bundled with this infrared grill, there’s a tank adapter, a portable stand, a tripod, a low-pressure propane gas kit, a grid scraper, a mountable adapter plate and a natural gas conversion mechanism.
#3 – Char-Broil 17602047 Infrared Grill
The Char-Broil 17602047 infrared electric patio bistro grill is a bit larger than the products mentioned earlier. The main cooking area of this product measures 240 square inches, which can accommodate from 8 up to 12 burger patties, each with a diameter of around 4 inches. This means you can cook bigger batches of grilled recipes and barbecue all at once.
Plus, this product is equipped with a warming rack that measures 80 square inches. What this means is that you can continue cooking another batch as soon as you finish up with a serving. You can just place each batch that you finish on this warming rack to keep it hot while you cook the next serving.
This is an electric-powered grill that’s equipped with an infrared cooking mechanism. This produces evenly cooked food at a much faster pace. Also, you’ll be able to lock in the flavor of your grilled and barbecue recipes as its infrared system is designed to retain the moisture of food as it cooks.
What We Like About It:
The infrared cooking system of the Char-Broil 17602047 electric patio bistro grill prevents gas and fire flare-ups, allowing you to avoid over-cooked food as well as to prevent an inefficient use of electricity. This is aside from ensuring that you can cook your food at a much faster pace with minimal moisture loss. These are the main benefits that we really like about this infrared grill.
We’re also quite fond of the cast iron grate of this infrared grill, which is coated with premium porcelain. This prevents harmful toxins and other elements like rust from mixing with our food.
Plus, we really like the foldable side shelves of the Char-Broil 17602047 infrared electric patio bistro grill. This provides us with more than ample space for storing freshly cooked batches, condiments and recipes among others. On the other hand, we find this product’s temperature control system as a convenient feature, enabling us to achieve the texture, flavor, aroma and consistency that we want in more straightforward ways.
#4 – NORTHFIRE Propane Infrared Grill
The NORTHFIRE propane infrared grill has 2 trays. The one on top is designed as its large main cooking area, which can accommodate one large porterhouse steak. This measures 300 square inches and is also capable of accommodating up to 15 or more 4-inch burger patties.
Meanwhile, the other tray is primarily designed for drippings. But this can serve as an additional cooking area. That’s because this tray can also be used to warm up or even cook another batch of steaks, grilled food or barbecue.
Plus, the NORTHFIRE propane infrared grill is integrated with the capacity to accommodate up to 1500°F of heat. It does this through its propane gas burner and infrared cooking system. This produces evenly cooked grilled meat and seafood among other barbecue recipes at a much faster pace. More so, this infrared grill does this without drying up the food.
What We Like About It:
The main thing that got our attention when we first learned about the NORTHFIRE propane infrared grill is its 1500°F heat capacity. And when we began to take a closer look at this product, we also learned about its infrared cooking system. So we were particularly interested in this combination of features as this gives us the opportunity to evenly cook our favorite steaks, grilled recipes and barbecue much quicker, all while retaining the moisture and flavors of our food.
We’re also quite fond of its 2-tray design. That’s aside from the fact that each of these trays is rather big and can accommodate large steaks and bigger batches of grilled food.
Moreover, we were really surprised when we lifted this product off the ground. It weighs just around 50 lbs., and with its foldable form factor, this gives us the chance to take it with us as we go outdoors and visit our family and friends.
#5 – Char-Broil Performance TRU Infrared Grill
This is another infrared gas grill from Char-Broil. Under their Performance product line, this infrared grill provides a main cooking area that measures 450 square inches, which can accommodate up to 2 medium-sized porterhouse steaks. Plus, it has a warming area with a 150-square inch dimension, which is quite useful as you can place a batch and start cooking the next one, all while keeping everything hot and tasty.
The Char-Broil Performance infrared grill is also equipped with 3 burners, which all work with its infrared cooking system. This enables much better temperature control as you cook your favorite recipes. On the other hand, its infrared mechanism is designed to evenly cook food at a much faster pace without drying it up. This means your barbecue, steaks and other grilled recipes can retain its flavorful moisture and texture without issues.
Its sturdy grates are made out of high grade, durable, and food-safe materials. It’s also coated with premium porcelain, and this makes it quick and easy to clean after every use.
What We Like About It:
We’re really fond of the Char-Broil Performance infrared grill’s form factor. Its main cooking area, warming rack, 3-burner design and infrared cooking system all work as one powerhouse grill. We find this product as an ideal tool for backyard barbecue parties, dinner meet-ups, family lunches and the like.
Simply put, its overall design is the main come-on of this product for us. Also, we particularly like its durable frame, sturdy grates, and high-grade porcelain coating.
Plus, we’re impressed of this infrared grill’s 3-burner setup. It really gives us more control over the temperature levels that we want to achieve for each of our recipes. We also like its quick and no-fuss ignition system.
#6 – Solaire SOL-IR8A Infrared Grill
The SOL-IR8A Anywhere mini personal infrared grill is another product from Solaire. With its hood down, it measures 11.5 inches long, 12 inches wide and 8 inches tall. Meanwhile, it measures 11 inches long, 11.5 inches wide and 12 inches tall with its hood cranked up.
This infrared grill has a V-shaped grate that measures 48 square inches for its main cooking area. This can accommodate around 2 burger patties, each with a 4-inch diameter, or one medium-sized porterhouse steak. Coupled with an infrared cooking system, its V-shaped grate is designed to lock in the flavors of your grilled food as it nicely prevents it from drying up while it cooks.
High grade stainless steel and porcelain materials are incorporated into the lightweight form factor of the Solaire SOL-IR8A Anywhere mini personal infrared grill. This is designed for optimum durability, all while ensuring that no rust can accumulate in its deepest sections, thereby preventing harmful elements from mixing with your food. Also, it just weighs 9 lbs., which means you can carry this infrared grill around with ease.
What We Like About It:
We’re specifically fond of the Solaire SOL-IR8A Anywhere mini personal infrared grill’s stainless steel and porcelain design. That’s because we take safety seriously. With this rust-proof, food-safe form factor, we can rest assured that no toxic elements can accidentally mix in with our food without our knowledge.
We also like its infrared cooking system. In our tests, we managed to cook our steaks, barbecue and grilled recipes with ease at a much faster pace. But this didn’t dry up our food, not a bit, which nicely locked in the flavors and texture that we want to achieve.
Plus, the Solaire SOL-IR8A Anywhere mini personal infrared grill’s quick and easy ignition mechanism gives us one-click start-ups without any fuss. This is an excellent addition to an already beneficial portable product.
#7 – Napoleon Prestige 500 w/ Infrared Grill
The Prestige 500 infrared grill from Napoleon Grills is a natural gas grill with a rear infrared burner. This combines modern infrared cooking with traditional charcoal grilling in one large package, which is suitable for backyard barbecue parties, outdoor dinner and lunch get-together among others. Also, this product offers a cooking area that’s equipped with an infrared cooking system, and there’s another area where you can use charcoal for your smoked grill recipes.
This infrared grill has 5 burners, giving you maximum control over the temperatures that you want for your steaks, barbecue recipes, and other grilled food treats. Its main cooking area measures 700 square inches, which can accommodate up to around 4 to 6 large porterhouse steaks, or a big batch of 4-inch burger patties.
Meanwhile, the stainless steel finish of the Napoleon Grills Prestige 500 infrared grill’s grate grid complements a sturdy form factor with rust-proof, food-safe features. This also makes it more convenient to clean and maintain, all while ensuring optimum durability.
What We Like About It:
The Napoleon Grills Prestige 500 infrared grill’s large sturdy frame and 5-burner with rear infrared cooker design are some of the main things that caught our attention. We tested this product multiple times, and our results point out that these features give us more granular control over the temperatures that we want for each of our recipes. It also makes it quick and simple for us to benefit from this product’s infrared cooking system with ease.
On the other hand, its large cooking area gives us more capacity in terms of serving large batches of barbecue, steaks, burgers and other grilled food dishes. We really like this as we were looking for an infrared grill that can accommodate big backyard gatherings and outdoor parties.
Plus, we find it quite simple to maintain and clean this infrared grill after every use. And its quick, one-push ignition button hasn’t conked out on us even after several consecutive tests.
#8 – Kushi Infrared Smokeless Grill
The Kushi smokeless infrared grill is an indoor tabletop electric griller. This product measures 20.8 inches long, 11.2 inches wide and 8.6 inches tall. This infrared grill’s main cooking area can accommodate a batch of around 2 to 3 burger patties at a time, each with a 4-inch diameter.
This product is designed to cook grilled food and similar recipes at up to 480°F. With its infrared cooking system, this makes it much faster and produces a more even cook for your food. It’s also equipped with an efficient electrical mechanism to utilize power more effectively.
Plus, the Kushi smokeless infrared grill is integrated with a system that separates oil and grease from your food while it cooks. This provides a healthier way to enjoy your favorite grilled treats.
What We Like About It:
The main come-on of this infrared grill for us is its smokeless design. Although this is something that we expect from an indoor electric infrared grill, its tabletop form factor and infrared cooking system are nicely combined in one compact package that’s built to last.
We also like the detachable design of the Kushi smokeless infrared grill. This makes it faster and simpler for us to clean this infrared grill after every use, especially those hard to reach areas. It’s also integrated with dishwasher-safe features.
#9 – Solaire SOL-EV17A Infrared Grill
Another infrared grill from Solaire, the SOL-EV17A Everywhere infrared grill is a portable product that runs on propane gas. This product just weighs 15 lbs. and measures 20 inches long, 16 inches wide and 19.5 inches tall with its hood up. But it’s a bit shorter and narrower when you put its hood down at 13.5 inches wide and 8.25 inches tall.
Similar to the other infrared grills in this roundup from Solaire, this is equipped with a V-shaped grate that’s made out of stainless steel with a ceramic finish. It’s also integrated with an infrared cooking system that’s designed to cook much faster than traditional grills, all while locking in moisture and flavors even at high temperatures. Plus, it has a one-push electronic ignition button that makes it quick and simple to start it up and begin to cook your favorite grilled recipes, steaks and barbecue treats.
Meanwhile, the Solaire SOL-EV17A Everywhere infrared grill’s main cooking area measures 140 square inches. This can accommodate one small porterhouse steak, or up to 4 large or 6 medium-sized burger patties, each with a 4 to 5-inch diameter.
What We Like About It:
The primary feature of the Solaire SOL-EV17A Everywhere infrared grill that made us pay attention to this product is its optimum portability. We were looking for a medium-sized infrared grill that we can take outdoors or to a friend’s place for weekend backyard barbecue parties. This was a suitable choice as it only weighs 15 lbs. and can accommodate the right amount of grilled batches.
We’re also fond of this infrared grill’s V-shaped stainless steel grate, which is also integrated with a ceramic infrared cooking system. After our multiple tests, we really like how this infrared grill managed to lock in the flavors and moisture of our steaks, burger patties, and other grilled treats, all while still giving us a faster and more even cook for our food.
#10 – Blaze LTE Gas Grill w/ Infrared Grill
The Blaze LTE grill is equipped with a rear infrared burner that provides a faster, more even cook for your favorite steaks, barbecue recipes, and grilled treats. It has a total of 4 burners, each providing 14,000 BTUs of cooking power. Plus, this grill can be powered by natural or propane gas.
On the other hand, this product offers a medium-sized cooking area that measures 32 inches in diameter. This can accommodate sufficient servings for a small group of persons at backyard barbecue parties and outdoor lunch or dinner get-together.
Plus, the grate of the Blaze LTE grill is made out of heavy-duty stainless steel and durable cast iron. This is the main reason behind the sturdy form factor of this product. It’s also integrated with interior lights for optimum visibility of its main cooking area and other sections at night, along with a push and turn ignition system that provides quick and easy start-up.
What We Like About It:
The Blaze LTE grill’s cast iron frame and stainless steel finish are the main features that we really like about this product. We were looking for a durable grill that’s incorporated with an infrared cooking system and a rust-proof form factor to prevent rust and other harmful elements from coming in contact with our food. And this product got our attention when we learned about these features.
Plus, we find its interior lights quite handy, especially for outdoor dinner parties and barbecue get-together during the night. Meanwhile, we really like its rear infrared burner as this gives us a much quicker and more even cook for our food, which also allows us to efficiently use gas resources.
We’re also particularly fond of this infrared grill’s support for both natural and propane gas. And its push and turn ignition system nicely complements its 4-burner design for optimum temperature control.
So these are the 10 best-infrared grills this 2021. Many buyers gave lots of positive reviews about each of these products. Most of what they said coincides with the results of our tests.
But what exactly is an infrared grill? How does it work? Knowing these things can enable you to focus on the right features while you’re looking for the most suitable infrared grill for your needs. This can, in turn, help you make a more informed buying decision, which can save you a lot of time, effort, and money.
What is an Infrared Grill?
Infrared grills are equipped with a special mechanism, which is often designed as a plate among other components. This is placed between the grate and the flame source of the grill. As the flame heats this mechanism, it produces more heat and distributes this in ways that strictly follow its engineering design.
Now, these infrared grills come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and types. Some can enable you to cook bigger batches simultaneously, which in turn allows you to serve larger groups of people. Others are designed with smaller profiles, which are ideal for singles, couples and small families that often have a few guests over for backyard barbecue get-together.
Meanwhile, there are electric and gas infrared grills. The former uses gas to produce a flame for its burner, which in turn heats the infrared mechanism of the grill. On the other hand, electric infrared grills can be plugged into a wall socket to produce heat through its coils, which are powered by electricity. This heats the grill’s infrared mechanism.
But with so many infrared grills in the market today, especially considering its massive popularity this year — How exactly can you choose the right one for your exact needs? Well here are the most important factors that you should consider while you’re searching for a suitable infrared grill that can provide you with the best value for your money:
How to Choose the Best Infrared Grill?
There are fundamental aspects that you should focus on when looking for the best-infrared grills this 2021. Others tend to be slanted to more subjective parameters, so you should prioritize these essential factors. This can allow you to quickly create a shortlist of promising options before you start to take a closer look at each product with regards to your highly specific needs. So read on and learn about the most important aspects that you should keep in mind:
- Safety Measures Implemented into Overall Design — Obviously, you wouldn’t want harmful elements, substances, and toxic materials to come in contact with your food, right? So take a closer look at the quality of the materials that are used to manufacture the infrared grills in your shortlist.
For example, you wouldn’t want rust to accumulate at hidden areas of your grill, which can expose your food to health risks without your knowledge. And remember, a gas-powered infrared grill should have safety protocols in place to minimize if not eliminate the likelihood of explosions and the like.
On the other hand, electric-powered infrared grills should also have effective security measures in place, to prevent accidental fires and electrocutions among other unforeseen events; - Shape & Size — Getting an infrared grill in the right shape and size will greatly benefit you. For example, if you buy a product that just allows you to simultaneously cook and prepare servings that are much fewer than what you need in most instances, then you’ll end up using a lot of time and energy to cook multiple batches just to accommodate your family, friends, colleagues and other guests.
Meanwhile, you’re more likely to end up wasting gas or electric power than what you need when you get a much bigger infrared grill, even if you just need to prepare smaller batches in most situations.
On the other hand, buying an infrared grill in the wrong dimensions and shape can lead to inefficient use of your available space. And by carefully considering the shape and size of your shortlisted infrared grills, you’ll be able to choose one that can help you avoid these problems; - Efficiency & Effectiveness — Infrared grills have different mechanisms and designs. Make sure to choose one that’s most suitable for your needs. For example, some products are designed to be more efficient in grilling meat, while others are specifically produced for seafood. These specialized features are particularly associated with the way that these infrared grills are designed to consume gas or electricity.
So choosing the right product can help you save time, energy and money, aside from giving you the ideal cook for your food; - Add-On Features — Some infrared grills are equipped with timers and temperature reading panels. Others can be connected to a battery pack, especially for products that are designed for hikers and campers. So make sure to take a closer look at the additional features and special functions that are integrated into your shortlisted infrared grills. This can provide you with the best value for your time and money; and
- Price, Warranty & Other Guarantees — As mentioned above, the value of an infrared grill should be your primary basis for the amount of money that you should be willing to spend. And by “value,” this refers to all the other factors described earlier. But keep in mind that the warranty and guarantees of an infrared grill that its manufacturer is willing to give customers can likely indicate their confidence in their product.
For example, if a manufacturer bundles a 2-year warranty with their product, then it’s safe to assume that they’ve thoroughly tested their infrared grill and found out that it can last for a couple of years or more, even with above-average use.
Do You Need an Infrared Grill?
If you want to save time and money, then the answer to this question is a definite yes. That’s because an infrared grill cooks much faster than a traditional one. This, in turn, allows these products to more efficiently use up electricity and gas. So this means with an infrared grill, you’ll be spending less time beside your grill as you cook your favorite steaks, barbecue treats, and other grilled recipes. Plus, you’ll be able to cook more batches of food with the same amount of power and electricity.
Meanwhile, if you don’t want your grilled dishes and steaks drying up too much and losing some of its taste and flavor, then you’ll like what an infrared grill can do for you to avoid this. Aside from giving a much faster and more even cook, these products are designed to lock in the moisture and flavor of your favorite grilled recipes as you cook it. So keep these things in mind as you go through our roundup of the 10 best infrared grills this 2021.
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