5 best cheap BBQs under £200 2024 UK; tried and tested
BUYING a BBQ doesn’t need to break the bank. Despite what you might think, not all BBQs cost the earth as many BBQs are budget-friendly and well-made.
Most budget-friendly BBQs are charcoal, although it’s possible to find cheap gas BBQs too. Charcoal BBQs tend to be more purse-friendly because they require less fiddly engineering – there don’t tend to be burner dials and so on, on charcoal bbqs.
Here we’ve rounded up a fantastic selection of BBQs that all come in under £200. Whether you’re looking for something portable, or a BBQ to cook on at home, it’s all below.
Read our honest review of the best BBQs under £200 available to buy now.
Best bbqs under £200 at a glance:
- Best overall BBQ: Argos home drum charcoal
- Best budget: Von Haus kettle BBQ
- Best medium-range BBQ: Von Haus compact charcoal BBQ
- Best premium BBQ: Everdure by Heston Blumenthal Cube portable charcoal BBQ
- Best BBQ under £100: Weber Smokey Joe
Argos Home Drum Charcoal BBQ
Argos Home Drum Charcoal BBQ, £78
Pros: includes cover and cooking tools, big cooking area, sliding grates, good for big gatherings, warming shelf
Cons: not super robust
Rating: 4.5/5
This Argos drum BBQ is a great option if you’re looking for a simple and decently-sized BBQ.
It will last through even having all your mates over, as the capacity is brilliant. I absolutely loved the sliding grates, which allowed me to add and re-add charcoal during cooking and easily light it without having to remove the grates.
There’s more than enough space to cook with direct and in-direct heat options. This allowed me to blast thin lamb rump steaks, giving them gorgeous sear marks without incinerating them. Then, I could slowly cook thick marinaded chicken-and-veg kebabs on the indirect heat without ending up with ashy veg.
You can also lift the charcoal tray a few rungs, which is great when lighting it, as it allows for better airflow under the coals which means the coals lit easily and then burned more evenly. Once properly going, I could lower the coals away from the grill to cook my food.
The warming rack added to the convenience of cooking, providing more space for in-direct heat, or just keeping everything warm while your final bits finish off cooking.
I loved how much space this drum BBQ had – I could cook a tin of roasted Jersey royal potatoes on the side and still have plenty of room for my meat to sear. It’s also great if you have veggies, as you have enough space to isolate an area for veggies only.
The final tick for me was that it comes with a cover (virtually unheard of in the BBQ world) and cooking implements.
You’re all set up for the BBQing season with this BBQ and it’s all under £100 – unreal value!
Fuel: charcoal; Dimensions (HXWXD): 900x9300x645mm
Von Haus Compact Charcoal BBQ
Von Haus Compact Charcoal BBQ, £109.99
Pros: fold-down side servers, compact yet generous grilling space, warming rack, three adjustable heights to charcoal, great for smoking
Cons: not super sturdy
Rating: 4/5
Short on space but don’t want to compromise on your BBQ? Von Haus has the perfect answer with this BBQ and I was very impressed with all its slick features.
Let’s take a look.
The hinged lid has two dampers on the sides to allow for airflow and temperature control, and it also has a temperature gauge on the outside, which is handy for seeing what’s going on in there without letting out all the trapped air.
There’s also a generously sized warming rack, which I was able to balance thick burgers on without any worries about them toppling off.
On the Von Haus, there’s also a good-sized cooking area – I cooked for my family of five there and had plenty of room and then some.
I found the side servers on each side handy for keeping food that was yet to go on the BBQ, and food that had come off. These fold down on both sides, which is hugely handy as it means stowing the BBQ is easy, and it could fit in a small corner of the garden.
Something I loved about the Von Haus compact BBQ was that you can move the charcoal tray up and down easily – there’s a lever on the side that allows for this.
This allowed me to take control of the temperature. I was able to slowly cook chicken drumsticks through with the charcoal lower down, then lift the charcoal to quickly crisp up the skin.
You can also access the charcoal through the door in the front. This is handy if you’re doing an extra-long grill session or doing some low-and-slow smoking on the ‘cue. I also quite liked the aesthetics of this. It’s possible of course to add woodchips into the pan here for a smoky flavour.
Fuel: charcoal; Dimensions (HxWxD): 990x980x540mm
READ MORE:
- Best gas BBQs
- Best portable BBQs
- Char-Broil Gas2Coal review
- Landman BBQ review
- Ninja Woodfire review
Von Haus Kettle BBQ
Von Haus Kettle BBQ, £79.99
Pros: hinged and lockable lid, warming rack, good-sized cooking area, large removable ash cup, looks great
Cons: grills a bit sticky and tricky to clean
Rating: 4/5
There’s something about kettle-style BBQs that just looks good, isn’t there?
But while some kettle BBQs are incredibly expensive, that’s not the case with this Von Haus one, yet it still is packed with great features.
The lid is on the hinge, so you can’t fully remove it. Perhaps you might find this annoying if you’re a lid-off-style BBQer, but I liked it as it meant there was a warming shelf on this BBQ, which was useful for popping burgers on and melting cheese on top for cheeseburgers.
The cooking area of this kettle BBQ is generous – 53cm in diameter. I was able to host my own family of five plus another family of four without being stretched for space. This extra space allowed me to have a direct and indirect heat zone.
On the direct heat, I flash-cooked asparagus and salmon fillets. I found the salmon fillets a little tricky as they stuck to the grill, but this might be in part my fault for not oiling the meat well enough. Lesson learned.
I used the in-direct heat to cook a spatchcocked chicken, which was marinaded in Moroccan-style spices. This was juicy and delicious, with a gorgeous smoky flavour – I have cooked this recipe in the oven before, but BBQing brought a new dimension to it. And I was pleased that it didn’t burn all the spiced marinade.
If you’re looking to slow-cook whole joints of meat, certainly there’s enough space to cook even a leg of lamb on there. I think this would be a lot of fun, and give very similar results to a more expensive kettle-style BBQ.
Fuel: charcoal; Dimensions (HXWXD): 935x710x590mm
Weber Smokey Joe
Weber Smokey Joe, £83.99
Pros: durable, great for small gatherings, easy to store, lightweight, comes in a few colourways
Cons: not good for large gatherings, have to crouch to use it
Rating: 3.5/5
How cute is this Weber charcoal BBQ? It’s 37cm in diameter, which I found was great for BBQing for four people or three very hungry people. I was able to fit on enough burgers for everyone, and even some bangers too.
Despite the sub £100 price tag, Weber has still given the Smokey Joe all of its hallmark premium finishes. The porcelain enamel lid and bowl looked fantastic in my garden, and have been designed to withstand the worst of the British weather.
The lid was fab at retaining the heat and circulating my burgers so they were cooked evenly. The vent on the lid – or to use its technical name, the damper – allowed me to let out heat or lock it in as I needed it.
This meant that after I’d finished cooking my burgers, I could sling on some bananas, chocolate and marshmallows wrapped in tin foil, and leave them to slowly cook on the dying embers without burning straight away.
The Smokey Joe is great if you want to BBQ on the go, or are very tight on space. It’s small enough to fit in a car boot, or a balcony even – and it’s easy enough to store in a cupboard or shed during the winter.
Fuel: charcoal; Dimensions (HXWXD): 430x370x360mm
Everdure by Heston Blumenthal Cube Portable Charcoal BBQ
Everdure by Heston Blumenthal Cube Portable Charcoal BBQ, £149
Pros: great design, comes in a range of colours, integrated chopping board
Cons: no lid, hard to control temperature, not the biggest cooking area
Rating: 3/5
The Everdure Cube is a fun little BBQ to grill on. It’s fully portable and designed to be super convenient on the go.
There’s a bamboo lid, which I use to cut up veggies and my burger buns. Under this is a storage container for food – not as secure as Tupperware, but still handy nonetheless.
The lid and container lock onto the main body of the Cube. The main section includes a grill, then a charcoal grate and ash pan.
This allowed good airflow to the charcoal, making it easy to light and letting the heat spread evenly through the other coals.
I found I didn’t have a huge amount of space to cook on indirect heat, so I went for burgers and bangers on this BBQ during testing. I was able to get five burgers on there, and a few sausages. There’s no warming rack and no lid, so I did find the temperature difficult to control at times.
Design features I liked were the cool-to-touch handles, meaning you can move it even when it’s lit, or after you’ve finished cooking.
Fuel: charcoal; Dimensions (HxWxD): 230x425x347.4mm
How we tested these products
We spent several weeks testing the best bbqs under £200. During testing, we constructed all the BBQs ourselves, which helped us to determine which bbqs were sturdy and which were perhaps a little more… delicate.
After construction, we got down to BBQ business, looking at how well they lit and spread the heat through the BBQ. Then how easy they were to BBQ on – and the fun factor was assessed too. Was the BBQ a joy to cook on, or did it feel like hard work?
Other selling points such as adjustable heights, side servers, warming racks and easy-clean features also were factored into our decisions on which bbqs made this round-up.
Where to buy BBQs under £200 in the UK
Buying a cheap BBQ online is relatively easy, and a great way to do price comparisons. There are specialist BBQ retailers online, that sell a huge range of BBQs. They often have decent sales, but usually in the colder months. As do online garden-goods retailers and high-street shops – their websites are a great place to look.
If you want to buy in-store, garden centres and department stores are a good place to start. Here are some of the best places to buy bbqs under £200:
How much do cheap BBQs cost?
Well, they’re all under £200 in this roundup, so you’re never going to be spending more than that on the actual BBQ.
However, you might want to factor into your budget a decent cover – especially if you’re storing your BBQ outdoors over winter. And then cooking implements – tongs and a spatula/flipper are essentials. You could use the ones from your kitchen, but you’ll find they get pretty mucky on the BBQ and aren’t designed for such fierce temperatures.