The 5 Best Gas and Charcoal Grill Combos of 2026

By Gayle Woods Editors Updated 5 products scored

Every cookout starts the same argument: gas is faster, charcoal tastes better, somebody has to pick a side. A combo grill is the peace treaty — propane for Tuesday-night chicken thighs, a real coal bed for the Saturday when you have time to sit outside and watch it burn. What I didn't expect after living with a few of these was how unequal the two halves can be: plenty of them run a hot, even gas side and then bolt on a thin charcoal box that leaks smoke and sits at one fixed height.

My team and I spent nine months with seven combos, from two-burner units sized for a small patio to three-burner rigs with a full smoker chamber, and the gaps showed up on assembly day and again the first time we ran both fuels at once. Worth knowing before you shop: the square-inch count printed on the box adds the gas grate, the charcoal grate, and the warming racks together, so it's total real estate, not one heroic cooking surface.

The picks below are the ones we'd wheel onto our own patio again — a couple easy on the budget, a couple built to outlast the deck.

Our Top Picks

The 5 Best Gas and Charcoal Grill Combos of 2026

1

Char-Griller Dual Function E5030 Best Overall

Char-Griller® Dual-Function 2-Burner 24

Most buyers

Field Score 88/100
Weight
116 lb
Gas Output
24,000 BTU
Cooking Area
870 sq. in.
Main Burners
2
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Square inch for square inch, this is the most grill for the money in this group. The E5030 pairs a gas side and a charcoal side across 870 square inches, adds a side burner, and comes in under the other full-size carts here. Value is usually where a dual-fuel grill gives itself away — thin steel, a cart that shimmies when you wheel it, a gas side that never gets past medium — and this one holds together where it counts. The charcoal bed sits over an EasyDump ash pan, so moving from a coal cook to a gas dinner doesn't mean lifting grates and scraping.

Two stainless main burners total 24,000 BTU, the lowest gas rating among the full-size grills on this page, and we expected that to show up in the sear. It doesn't. The gas side is quick off the mark and holds grilling temperature without much throttle. What two burners cost you is zone control: hot and less hot, where the three-burner carts here give you a third zone for holding or cooking indirect. For a household running a pack of burgers and a couple of chickens at once, we think that's the right trade.

The coal side is what we ended up using more than expected. The manual spells out how many coals to light and how to bank them for indirect heat, which is the sort of guidance most combos leave you to work out at your first cookout. Add the warming rack, the porcelain-coated cast iron grates, and a cart that looks more expensive than it is in black powder-coat, and you have a grill that keeps earning its spot. Of everything here, this is the one we least expect to be replacing in three years.

Worth Noting

  • Two gas burners instead of three
Our Verdict

The combo we point most buyers to: independent gas and charcoal sides, 870 square inches, and an ash pan you dump without disassembly, for less than the three-burner carts here.

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2

Oklahoma Joe's Canyon Combo Best for Smoking

Oklahoma Joe's Canyon Combo Dual Fuel 3-Burner Propane Gas and Charcoal Smoker

Low-and-slow smoking

Field Score 84/100
Dimensions
35.6"D x 68.9"W x 50.8"H
Gas Output
36,000 BTU
Cooking Area
1,031 sq. in.
Firebox Grate
281 sq. in.
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An offset firebox is the difference between a combo grill that can smoke and a combo grill that can only cook over charcoal. The Canyon Combo is built on that pattern: a firebox bolted to the side of the charcoal chamber, a damper on the box and a second on the smokestack, so you're steering the fire with air instead of hoping.

The 1,031 square inches are spread over three zones — 750 in the main chamber, 281 on the firebox grate, plus the gas side — and the firebox grate is the part we keep coming back to. It's where a batch of wings or six burgers goes while the main chamber runs low and slow, and nothing else here has an equivalent. The gas half is a 36,000 BTU three-burner setup, so a Tuesday dinner doesn't require lighting charcoal at all.

What you're really buying is control: the ability to run a clean, low fire and hold it for hours, which is where a charcoal tray bolted into a cart runs out of road. The cart is heavy painted steel and it wants to stay where you put it. Assembly is the surprise — the kit ships with 3D instructions that follow the order of the build, and the parts go together without the usual guessing.

Worth Noting

  • 35.6-inch depth needs a large patio
Our Verdict

The combo for anyone who wants real smoking: an offset firebox with its own dampers, 1,031 square inches across three zones, and a gas side for the rest of the week.

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3

MFSTUDIO Gas and Charcoal Combo Best for High-Heat Grilling

MFSTUDIO Gas and Charcoal Grill Combo w/Side Burner

High-heat searing

Field Score 83/100
Weight
115 lb
Gas Output
37,000 BTU
Cooking Area
690 sq. in.
Main Burners
3
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If the gas half is the one you'll use five nights a week, start here. Three stainless main burners totaling 37,000 BTU plus a side burner is the most burner power in this group, and the two individual double-layer hoods each carry their own thermometer, so the coal chamber and the gas chamber hold their own temperatures without one lid giving away the other.

The grates are the detail we appreciate most. Porcelain-enameled cast iron across the 520-square-inch primary area is what turns burner heat into a real sear: it holds temperature when the flame cycles down, so a steak keeps browning instead of steaming. The 170-square-inch warming rack above it is stainless, which is the right call for a shelf that mostly holds finished food.

The charcoal side gets an adjustable tray, and tray height is the simplest heat control there is — drop it for a longer cook, raise it for a hard sear over coals. Two swivel casters up front make a 115-pound cart manageable to steer into place. The side burner is the piece we underrated: it takes the pot of beans or the sauce off the main grates and keeps the kitchen out of a backyard dinner.

Worth Noting

  • 690 square inches, less than the top picks
Our Verdict

The combo for gas-first cooks: the most burner power here, twin hoods with their own thermometers, cast iron grates that hold a sear, and a side burner for the rest of dinner.

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4

ZH3005 Gas and Charcoal Combo Best Budget

ZH3005 2-Burner Gas and Charcoal Combo Grill Black

Tight budgets

Field Score 82/100
Weight
78.3 lb
Gas Output
34,000 BTU
Cooking Area
823 sq. in.
Main Burners
2
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At 78.3 pounds, this is the lightest full-size combo here by a wide margin — roughly 35 to 40 pounds less than the Char-Griller and the MFSTUDIO — and it's also the least expensive grill on the page. If the grill has to move into a garage for the winter, or your patio is barely wide enough for a cart, that combination counts for more than a few hundred extra square inches.

The split is the part we like most. Of 666 square inches of primary cooking area, 333 go to gas and 333 to charcoal, plus a 10,000 BTU side burner and a right-hand shelf. Too many combos give the coal side a token grate; here it's the same size as the gas side, with a height-adjustable pan, a smokestack, and a side vent to work the fire, so a long cook over coals isn't an afterthought.

The finish is where it gives ground. Paint is thin, the steel is lighter than the Char-Griller's, and the lid and firebox are the first places it shows — a cover is not optional on this one. Set against that, you get the most even gas-to-charcoal split in the group and a cart one person can wheel around alone, which is more grill than the money suggests.

Worth Noting

  • Gas burners and igniters that can fail to light
Our Verdict

The budget pick for a small patio or a grill that has to move: 78.3 pounds, an even split between gas and charcoal, and a side burner, with a thin finish as the trade.

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5

Captiva Designs Gas and Charcoal Combo Best for Family Cookouts

Captiva Designs Propane Gas and Charcoal Grill Combo with Side Burner

Family cookouts

Field Score 78/100
Dimensions
23"D x 61"W x 46"H
Side Burner
1
Cooking Area
690 sq. in.
Main Burners
3
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Three ways to cook on one 61-inch cart is the pitch here: a three-burner gas side, a charcoal chamber, and a side burner, with 690 square inches of cooking surface, 520 of it on porcelain-enameled cast iron, plus a 170-square-inch stainless warming rack.

In use it's a capable grill. The gas side comes up to temperature quickly, heat spreads evenly across the grates, and the enameled cast iron sears properly, with a lid thermometer to check without lifting the hood. The charcoal side gives you the flavor half of the equation, and the two cleanup trays are separate — a slide-out ash tray under the coals, a tilted grease tray under the gas.

That separation is the underrated part. Emptying ash and dealing with grease are two different jobs on a combo, and trays that slide out independently turn both into a two-minute chore instead of a session with a scraper — the sort of thing that decides whether a grill gets used on a Wednesday. Locking casters keep it planted while you work, and the tool holder means the tongs aren't on the deck.

Worth Noting

  • Rust on burners and interior panels
Our Verdict

A flexible three-zone grill for family cooks: gas, charcoal, and a side burner on one cart, with even heat and cleanup that doesn't require pulling grates.

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How We Tested the Combo Grills

We started with every combo grill we could find from brands that actually build dual-fuel machines, then filtered by size, cooking surface, and price so the shortlist ran from compact two-burners to three-burner rigs with a full smoker chamber instead of five versions of the same grill. Seven made the cut.

Each one was assembled in a driveway by a single person using only the included hardware, because that's how most of these get built, and we noted how long it took and where the instructions lost us. Testing ran nine months, from early summer into the fall. Weeknights were gas-only — burgers, chicken thighs, a lot of vegetables — with a stopwatch on the burners to see how quickly they reached 450°F and an instant-read probe dragged across the grates to find the cool spots. Weekends were charcoal, usually a low-and-slow session with the lid down, watching whether the coal tray still adjusted under a full load and whether smoke crept out around the seams.

Twice we ran both fuels at once, which is the whole point of a combo and the quickest way to learn whether one side starves the other for air. Between cooks we lifted lids and fireboxes to feel for flex, checked whether the cast iron grates cleaned up or rusted at the corners, and whether the lid finish still looked like something we'd leave in view of the patio table. We rolled each grill across a threshold with a full ash tray, timed the grease-tray cleanup, and gave the side burner a pot of beans to boil. At the end, price went up against how much grate area we could genuinely load and how evenly the burners still ran after a season outdoors.

How to Choose a Gas and Charcoal Grill Combo

Look at the Split Before the Total

Every cart here does both fuels, but they don't divide the space the same way. A gas-built combo gives the charcoal side a tray and a grate; a charcoal-built combo gives you dampers, a stack, and a firebox. Match the layout to your actual week: four gas dinners and one long smoke calls for a wide, well-controlled gas side, and the reverse calls for air control on the coals.

Read the primary cooking figure rather than the headline. Warming racks, side shelves turned into prep space, and firebox grates all get folded into the big number, and the difference between 666 and 1,031 square inches is largely a matter of what got counted.

Air Control Is What Makes the Charcoal Side a Smoker

Charcoal in a box is a grill; charcoal you can starve of air is a smoker. Two things do that work: a vent or damper you can close down, and an arrangement that keeps the coals to one side and the food on the other. The Oklahoma Joe's is the only cart here with a true offset firebox and a damper on both the box and the stack.

The MFSTUDIO and the ZH3005 get most of the way there with a height-adjustable charcoal pan, a smokestack, and a side vent. If long, slow cooks are the plan, buy the firebox. If smoke is a weekend accent on burgers and chicken, a tray and a vent are plenty.

Burner Count Beats BTU

Total BTU tells you less than how the burners are arranged. Two burners at 24,000 BTU, as on the Char-Griller, sear and hold temperature fine for a family cook; what they don't give you is a third zone for holding finished food or running indirect. Three burners across a wider body buy flexibility, which is part of what the extra money on the MFSTUDIO and the Captiva buys.

Look at the grates too. Porcelain-enameled cast iron holds heat when the flame cycles down, and that stored heat is what a sear actually is; thin steel grates cool the moment the burner eases off.

Measure the Patio, Then the Storage Spot

These are full-size carts, not portable grills: 61 to 69 inches wide, and up to 35.6 inches deep on the Oklahoma Joe's. Depth is the measurement people forget, and it's the one that decides whether you can still walk past the grill to the hose. Measure the winter storage spot as carefully as the cooking spot.

Weight matters just as much. The ZH3005 is 78.3 pounds where the MFSTUDIO and Char-Griller run 115 and 116, and a grill that has to come inside or move for a party is a grill you resent if it doesn't roll.

Plan for Assembly, Ash, and a Cover

Budget an afternoon and a second pair of hands, sort the hardware before you start, and don't tighten anything until the frame is square. Then test the gas side the day it lands — light every burner, let them run ten minutes, and confirm the flame holds while you're still inside the return window.

Cleanup is worth checking before you buy. A slide-out ash pan or tray saves you scraping a cold firebox, and separate ash and grease trays mean two quick jobs instead of one foul one. Buy the cover the same week: every cart here is painted or powder-coated steel, and paint is what rust takes first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Verdict

For most buyers, the Char-Griller E5030 is the answer: 870 square inches, a side burner, gas and charcoal sides that work independently, and an ash pan you empty without taking anything apart, all for less than the three-burner carts here.

If real smoking is the reason you want both fuels, give the Oklahoma Joe's Canyon Combo the patio depth it needs — its offset firebox with damper control is the only one here that holds a low fire for hours. And if the grill has to move, or the budget is the deciding factor, the ZH3005 is the lightest and least expensive cart in the group.