23 Grilling Gifts that Bring the Heat

Grilling attracts both novices and seasoned cooks in equal measure. Once you dip your toe into the waters, it’s hard to resist the siren song of the grill. Any grill-obsessive (or grill-curious) cook will love our guide to tools, gear, and ingredients to make the process markedly more delicious. We’ve chosen 23 items from our tested reviews, including stocking stuffers like the best heat-resistant gloves, and big-ticket items like our favorite pellet grill.

It’s a fundamental commandment of grill mastery that a clean grill is key to better grilling. This is an issue of both food safety and performance. Additionally, a clean grill will heat up faster and more evenly than a dirty one, so it behooves you to be fastidious. Our pick for the best brush is sturdy, long-lasting, and gets the job done effectively.

Moving beyond the conventional uses for a grill—steaks, sausages, and burgers—brings you to a wide world of possibilities. Any vegetable, regardless of how small? Toss it on the grill: mushrooms, sliced squash, cherry tomatoes, you name it. You only need a very good grill basket to corral them. The OXO pan has a clever detachable handle so you can place it safely on the grill then remove the handle to close the lid.

You need tongs, and ideally a set specifically for grilling. While many grills come with a set of tools, the included tongs tend to be oversized and unwieldy. Rubber sides make these locking tongs extra-grippable, and they do everything a griller needs—namely, grabbing and flipping. OXO makes some of our favorite, most durable kitchen equipment, so these will stand the test of time.

Beyond a grill itself, the most important element of great grilling is the ingredients themselves. For a griller who focuses on protein, give them plenty to practice on with a gift box from Butcher Box. The steak lover’s box includes a variety of premium sirloin, filet mignon, ribeye, and New York strip. Butcher Box prides itself on careful, responsible sourcing of the highest-quality meat, so you know your giftee is getting the top-of-the-line splurge: the ideal kind of present.

Bring the heat properly with this lump charcoal made of ultra-dense South American hardwood. Superior burning and mild flavor make this an excellent option for any charcoal grill. Bonus points for the cool name. Can your giftee buy charcoal at any old store? Sure, but it won’t perform this well, and they’ll appreciate the difference. Lump charcoal is a good choice for searing meats, long-cooking projects, and barbecue so you’ll have your bases covered.

A chimney starter is a wonderful item to have on hand when grilling with charcoal. Eliminating the need for lighter fluid—which can leave a lingering chemical smell on your hands, clothes, and even food—a chimney starter funnels a flame up through the small metal body, getting coals hot to get your fire stoked. Sturdy and well-built, this one is smartly designed so the handle stays cool.

A grill spatula needs to be both flexible and strong. Surprisingly, a seemingly nimble fish spatula is our winning choice. Strong enough to get beneath heavier cuts of meat and thin enough to easily maneuver delicate proteins, it’s a must-have for grillers. Best of all, your giftee can use it in myriad places in their cooking life, from flipping pancakes to—of course—fish.

Knowing when your meat is done, to a precise degree, is the key to a perfect steak (and pork chop and chicken breast and so on). Seasoned grillers have a good sense of control over heat and timing to achieve the correct doneness, but you still need a thermometer to know for sure. The ThermoWorks Thermapen ONE is the gold standard for good reason: It’s incredible accurate and features a large easy-to-read digital display.

Sometimes a griller needs to walk away for a cocktail, a little time with dinner guests, or simply to trek back and forth to the kitchen. Give your favorite griller the gift of relaxation with our favorite leave-in probe thermometer. Set the alarm and monitor your temperature (of the grill or your food) from a distance, with no anxiety over forgetting about the burgers.

A carving knife makes a very good gift because it’s a place where you don’t want to cut corners (pun intended) in quality. Splurge a little with this classic German-made knife. The high-carbon steel blade is designed to cut through meat easily and cleanly. Even if your giftee has everything for the kitchen, a new (and very nice) knife is always welcome.

After all the effort you put into grilling your meat, it’s a shame to reach for a subpar cutting board. For a sure-to-please present, wrap up a proper carving board. Our favorite carving board is pretty enough to stay out on the counter or do double duty as a serving board. The key feature here is the groove around the edge to catch juices as you carve.

The French do know their condiments, and they never compromise on quality. Dijon mustard is our best-loved ingredient for elevating a basic meat marinade, and Maille’s packs a vinegary kick while delivering maximum mustard flavor. Any chef with great taste will appreciate the edge it gives their food (plus it’s prettily packaged too).

If your giftee is grill-curious but lacks the fundamental equipment, go for this gas grill. It does everything a grill needs to do, and does it well, without excess bells and whistles. Wheels make it easy to maneuver when needed, and the heat distribution is top-notch.

A good steak deserves a good steak knife, and while we’ve tested plenty that do the job, this Victorinox set is the sort that people will lust after. Combining exceptional performance with stellar design, any griller will be happy to have a set (or two) in their kitchen. These knives slice through any cut of meat like butter, and feature a handsome heavy wooden handle.

Salt is the piece de resistance of any chef’s kitchen, and your giftee will swoon over this tasteful marble salt cellar. The natural marble lid is magnetized, so it swivels open and closed with ease, so it’s no sweat to grab a pinch one-handed.

No kitchen should be without very good spices, and that’s particularly relevant when we talk about the flavor-forward world of grilling. Burlap & Barrel iis renowned for its tightly curated, carefully sourced collection of spices. Their grilling collection includes a range of single-origin spices chosen especially for wet and dry rubs: black lime, paprika, and baharat, to name a few. You can be sure it’s a gift that strikes the right balance between novelty and practicality.

Charcoal grills have the upper hand in flavor, imparting that iconic smoky taste to grilled meats and foods. And despite all the advance in grilling technology, the classic Weber kettle grill remains our top performer. With just enough useful features (hinged grates, for example), the Weber delivers everything a griller needs to hone their craft without overdoing it with flashy extras.

Does your giftee like to entertain? Spend all day smoking meats? If so, get them the Traeger Ironwood XL. It’s a splurge, for sure, but this monster of a grill will make a serious griller’s dreams come true. It’s particularly good for people who like to cook for a crowd, as it can hold a ton of food: four whole chickens or eight racks of ribs at once. It’s got an app for monitoring the cooking process, which will satisfy the grilling geek in anyone.

Grilling outdoors is a fantastic pastime, but if your giftee is in it for the results, not just the conviviality of flipping burgers on a warm summer evening, they need an indoor electric grill. Inclement weather is no deterrent to making a perfectly grilled meal when you have this countertop electric grill. It’s compact, gives off very little smoke, and is partially dishwasher-safe.

If your giftee likes to smoke and grill in equal measure, this kamado cooker is an ideal present. The ceramic material holds heat evenly with little fluctuation, making it ideal for smoking. It’s sturdy, has plenty of hooks for holding tools, and happens to be well-designed for easy cleaning, which alone will earn it top marks in your griller’s book.

Need a gift for an avid griller who has all the basics already? Try this high-heat, clean-burning grill. These small, portable grills use binchotan (a Japanese hardwood charcoal) to cook food with infrared heat. They’re a nifty novelty take on a grill, which not only makes them a neat gift, but also their size makes them great for allowing cooks to take their grilling wherever they want.

Steak sauce, grease spatter, charcoal: Grilling is not without mess. Keep your favorite cook clean and tidy with a sharp-looking apron. Favored by industry insiders and chefs, Hedley & Bennett’s aprons are sturdy, easy to wash, boast plenty of pockets for the stray thermometer or spatula, and come with a lifetime guarantee.

Don’t get caught red-handed. Grill gloves, are a must and these Grill Armor gloves can withstand temperatures up to 932°F. Even better, they come in a few flashy colors like pink, bright yellow, and jade green, so your giftee will look extra spiffy working the grill.

FAQs

What are the best cheap grilling gifts?

For small, inexpensive yet useful grilling gifts, look to ingredients and books. We recommend a tub of very good finishing salt or fish sauce (an under-the-radar chef-loved ingredient to improve marinades), as well as a highly regarded grilling cookbook (with an author named Meathead, you know you’re in good hands). 

What are some good stocking stuffers for grillers?

Small but mighty, a fancy thermometer, grilling gloves, or an extra-special bottle of olive oil would fit the bill for an excellent way to fill a griller’s stocking. We’ve also rounded up more stocking stuffer ideas, sourced from our reviews and editor favorites.

Why We’re the Experts

• Posie Brien is a contributor to Serious Eats. 
• She has over 15 years of experience working as an editor at Food52 and King Arthur Baking Company, focusing on kitchen products.  
• We’ve spent countless hours (really, we couldn’t even begin to tally the time) reviewing tons of grilling and kitchen gear, and as true enthusiasts of the grill, so we know a useful gift when we see one! We rely on careful taste tests for ingredients and thoughtful and rigorous assessment of gear in our kitchens, so you’re getting advice on what we really love.