With the Royal Wedding and the rise in music festivals and places where you can take a BBQ we thought it was about time we updated our Best Portable BBQ’s Blog Post so here goes.

We have had a play on all 5 of these and really like them. If I had to choose though, I would probably go for the versatility of the Weber portable kettle BBQ or the very nice looking tripod BBQ from Landman.

1. Weber – Smokey Joe Original Portable BBQ £44.99 – Amazon

A nice looking, super versatile BBQ from the BBQ masters at Weber. With it being a kettle BBQ you can do far more on it than the usual open top BBQ’s. It won’t pack as flat as some of the other portable BBQ’s but you get better back for your buck with this one than many of the others. Oh yeah, it also comes in silver, what more could you want?

2. Large Portable Bucket BBQ – £9.99 Amazon

We all loved this retro and funky looking portable BBQ. The wooden handle is a nice touch meant that you can move it easily and not have to wait for it to fully cool down. Not the biggest portable BBQ out there but possibly the cutes and it feels incredibly sturdy.

3. Hotspot Notebook Portable BBQ – £21.99 Amazon

This was quite a controversial BBQ that we promoted in 2009 and then had a flood of complaints because the metal warped after heating and it would not go flat again. The new design is much better and we had not problems whatsoever with it. One of the most portable BBQ’s about… very impressive.

4. Portable Barrel BBQ – £19.99 Amazon

Another portable BBQ that we really love. It looks brilliant and the two barrels means that you can have a hot grill and a medium heat grill. Ultra portable and very stylish, you will look the star of the party if you rock up with one of these.

Oh yeah, we also love that this one is on offer at Amazon at the minute, reduced from £35.99 to £19.99.

5. Landmann Tripod Charcoal BBQ £25.99 Amazon

Possibly the best looking portable BBQ out there and it will certainly get people chatting to you on the campsite, beach or park. Looks like an olden days cowboy BBQ but it built to high modern standards.

No doubt about it, this is one of the iLoveMyBBQ.com teams fave BBQ’s.

So, there you have it, our Top 5 Portable BBQ’s. We have a popped a few more in the below carousel that shows a the ones we love and recommend.

Popularity: 17% [?]

So here we go, our take on the Gas v Charcoal BBQ Debate and which is best. You will never get me to switch to Gas from Charcoal but I can see why some BBQ fans do love a Gas barbecue.

Here are my Top 5 Pros and Cons on Gas v Charcoal BBQ’s..

Gas BBQ Pros

1. Quick to heat up and get going

2. Easy to clean

3. Don’t have to keep buying coal

4. Can keep the BBQ at a consistent temperature

5. Easier to cater for large families or get togethers

Gas BBQ Cons

1. Not as good a flavour as charcoal

2. Gas can work out expensive

3. Typically uglier designs

4. Cannot cook pizza’s on them (need high temp)

5. They are basically just the same as cooking the food indoors!

A Selection of my Favourite Gas BBQ’s are in the Amazon Widget Below

Charcoal BBQ Pros

1. Much more flavour

2. Can do more adventurous recipes on charcoal BBQ’s (pizza, beer can up the bum chicken)

3. Can position the coals as you require (hot spots, indirect BBQ cooking recipes)

4. Designs are much prettier (Kettle Charcoal BBQ’s!)

5. Smell much nicer and you can use woodchips etc

Charcoal BBQ Cons

1. Messy

2. Tougher to clean

3. Hard to control temperature

4. Far more potential for eye brow removal

5. Seem to age/break more quickly than Charcoal BBQ’s

A Selection of my Favourite Charcoal BBQ’s are in the Amazon Widget Below

Popularity: 8% [?]

The one thing that puts people off BBQ’ing so much is the thought “How do I clean and prepare my BBQ properly” and the reality is that this need not be hard work.

Let me take you though our own process here at iLoveMyBBQ.com.

At the end of every BBQ season we clean our Kettle Barbecue out, wrap and place the baskets that we use into the shed and then cover up the BBQ for the winter.

Come the spring when we are getting ready for our first BBQ (as we are having one tomorrow), I simply fire it up the day before, bang the grills together to get rid of any debris, and then once hot, unwrap all the cooking baskets and place them on the hot grill.

The temperature that the Barbecue reaches means that all the germs and dirt will largely be burnt off and hey presto you are ready to go.

We have never sat there and scrubbed our BBQ clean after using it, we simply bang the cooking baskets together to get rid of any dirt and then place them onto a really hot grill to get rid of any germs. This method has served us well for over 10 years and touch wood, not one instance of a dodgy tummy so far (famous last words!).

Happy Grilling People…

Why not share your own BBQ cleaning hints and tips comments below…

Popularity: unranked [?]

This year one the most noticeable increases in new BBQ’s comes from famous celebrity TV Chef, Antony Worrall Thompson.

He has a range of Charcoal and Gas BBQ’s available and a friend of ours recently invited us over to check out his new Anthony Worrall Thompson Signature 4 Burner Gas BBQ.

Our man in the know got his Anthony Worrall Thompson Signature 4 Burner Gas BBQ from Argos for just £391.00. It is a very impressive piece of kit so I decided to have a look at what else the beardy little chef has on offer to wow the BBQ world.

What I like about th e Thompson BBQ’s is that unlike so many other celebrity’s who put their name to various products, all of his come with his own recipe booklet of ideas and tips, and they kind of feel like they are his as well, rather than just being the work of some marketing guy sat in an office.

Given I was already on the Argos website I was able to spot a few more Antony Worrall Thompson Gas and Charcoal BBQ’s.

Also on the charcoal side, this Antony Worrall Thompson 3 Burner Signature BBQ from Argos at just £293.59 is also one of the better products on offer. Like all of his gas barbecue range, the entire grilling unit looks very slick, well presented and most importantly, very sturdy.

The novel temperature controls and burner styles means that you can roast meat in your Antony Worrall Thompson Gas BBQ as well, always very handy, especially if you like the occasional winter BBQ, or even to roast an entire goose for a Christmas or New Years BBQ.

There is a more affordable BBQ in the gas range called simply the Antony Worrall Thompson Gas Grill costing just £195.69, again from Argos.

Moving over to the charcoal side of the Antony Worrall Thompson Barbecue Range we have a similarly impressive offering.

The Antony Worrall Thompson Kettle Charcoal BBQ costs only £78.31 at the minute as Argos has reduced the price. Just for a kettle charcoal bbq alone this is a great price but when you consider it is of such high build quality you can see how much value for money the current offer from Argos is.

The reason I love this charcoal kettle BBQ so much is not just because it is a beast in size given its 51sm grill, it is also because of the little details such as the warming rack, which does not often come with all Kettle BBQ’s. The other reason I love this one is the basket that comes along with it as well and sits below the barbecue.

The basket is a neat idea and can hold all the “stuff” you forget you need and end up having to struggle down the garden with.

I am glad that I took the time to learn a bit more about the BBQ’s on offer from one of the UK’s most well known chefs as they really are an impressive gas and charcoal Barbecue range.

Have you got an Anthony Worrall Thompson BBQ? Why not tell us what you think of it in the comment box below.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Oh my god! I have not been this excited about a BBQ related find since I discovered the Beer Can up the Bum Chicken… We have found a new BBQ gadget, equipment and tools website called Raw Garden and it is Fricking Awesome.

Credit should go to an eagle eyed BBQ’er who tipped me off about the site and it comes at exactly the right time for me as I am thinking about getting a second BBQ for the new Decking area I have built.

Raw Garden has a fantastic range of BBQ’s and I have picked out a couple of my favourites.

My absolute favourite is this Grill Tech Space 800 which will last for years and costs only £199.99!

The Grill Tech Space 800 also double up as a fire pit and what I like most about it are the tables which I feel are lacking off my current Kettle Style BBQ.

I recently spotted one of these style of BBQ at a massive garden centre in the Midlands that I went to as I heard they had a brilliant BBQ range but the cost for the equivilent product was in the region of £500.00, which is why I think the Raw Garden product represents such great value for money.

Raw Garden has so many funky Barbecues it is difficult to fit all the ones I like onto this blog page… but hey, I will give it a go.

I really like this Dancook 1500 Kettle Charcoal BBQ that comes with a preparation table, again, something I would find really handy for our own Kettle BBQ. Prep tables are an essential part of any BBQ and come in very handy indeed.

The Dancook 1500 Kettle Charcoal BBQ costs £294.99 which I know is quite expensive but is again well worth the money when you compare to some of the high street prices!

Finally, hows about this beast then; The Napolean Prestige ii 750 Gemini Gas BBQ which comes in at  a whopping £3200.00. As you can see, it looks awesome and if you want to pimp up your pad then this would sit perfectly in your garden!

There are enough gadgets and widgets on this BBQ to make sure you never burn your bangers again, and what is more, its sleek design and brushed aluminium finish means that in the right light and at the correct angle your BBQ could possibly be observed from space – (maybe getting a bit carried away now!).

Anyway, I am off to go and have more of a nose around the Raw Garden website.

Popularity: unranked [?]