This battery-operated charcoal grill is portable
If you haven’t heard the latest numbers, backyard grill sales are down significantly since the pandemic. Experts reason that so many people purchased grills during COVID-19 three and four years ago – to distance themselves from restaurants – that there’s simply no need to replace those grills yet. And maybe people don’t have the means to buy fancy gas grills and smokers that are commonly running upwards of $1,000 these days.
Enter Nature-Grill, which brings an authentic charcoal grilling experience to both urban and outdoor environments with its innovative, smokeless, and hassle-free small design. The 14-inch portable grill combines the aroma and taste of charcoal with the convenience of propane grills, heating up to 800°F in less than five minutes thanks to a built-in, battery-operated turbo fan. It’s reportedly eco-friendly, using only 10 percent of the charcoal that standard charcoal grills use, while emitting minimal smoke. It’s also durable and can be easily used on balconies, at tailgate parties, or really anywhere outdoors.
Essentially when you first open the box, you insert the included batteries in the grill. Then you apply ignition gel to the circular plate at the bottom of the grill, light it up, add the chute filled with charcoal above it, then put the grill grate above it and let it heat up. Once the fire is going, then you turn on the battery operated fan on the grill. Personally, I won’t use the gel because I’m not sure what kind of chemicals get from it to my food. So I instead learned the trick of lighting a toilet paper tube stuffed with dryer lint. Much cleaner and no chemicals.
The Nature-Grill is billed as reaching up to 800°F in less than five minutes using the built-in fan. It worked a bit slower for me – likely because of my lint method. But that’s on me, not on the grill. Its inner, dishwasher-safe stainless steel bowl features a heat-resistant ceramic coating. The versatile hard-anodized aluminum grate easily switches between grill and griddle modes, by simply flipping it over – a clever design. It’s all lightweight and comes with a carrying case, as well.
So how does it work? I tried it on July 4, setting it up on top of our patio table. I was a little concerned at first that it wouldn’t have the physical capacity to handle all the food I was going to cook on it. But it’s a bit larger than it appears – a great thing. I was able to put six chicken apple sausages on it simultaneously, and still had room for a burger patty or two. But due to first-time caution of Nature-Grill with a house full of people, I opted to cook the burgers on my wood pellet smoker.
The sausages cooked pretty quickly, actually, without flaring up. And the taste was outstanding and smoky, reminding me of my old Weber charcoal grill we used to use before we could afford a good gas grill. And since we’re in California, which keeps threatening to ban the use of natural gas, I guess this kind of future-proofs us for grilling for a while.
Overall, this works as advertised and takes up a tiny space.
