Best Gas and Charcoal Grill Combo (4 Dual-Fuel Picks Still Sold)

Three of the most-recommended combo grills on the internet are out of production. Their Amazon listings are still up, which is why bad roundups keep pointing at them.

So this list is short and current. Every grill below sits on its maker’s own store right now, with a price next to it.

The short version: Buy the Char-Griller FlexFuel Plus if you want one grill that covers propane, charcoal and a flat-top griddle for $549.99. The buying rule that matters most: check whether the model has two lids or one, because that single detail decides whether you can run gas and charcoal at the same time.

Our Picks at a Glance

• Best overall: Char-Griller FlexFuel Plus Grill, Griddle and SmokerJump to review ↓
• Best for big cookouts: Char-Griller Texas TrioJump to review ↓
• Best mid-size pick: Char-Griller Dual Function 2-Burner E5030Jump to review ↓
• Best gas-first pick: Nexgrill 4-Burner with Charcoal TrayJump to review ↓

How the Four Compare

Model	Primary / Total Area	Gas BTU	Lids	Maker’s Price
Char-Griller FlexFuel Plus	875 / 1,260 sq in	30,000	Two	$549.99
Char-Griller Texas Trio	730 / 1,330 sq in	52,800 with side burner	Two	$699.99
Char-Griller E5030	600 / 870 sq in	24,000	Two	$399.99
Nexgrill 720-1141	461 / 621 sq in	60,000 with side burner	One	$399.00

1. Char-Griller FlexFuel Plus Grill, Griddle and Smoker: Best Overall

This is the newest dual-fuel grill Char-Griller sells, and it earns the top spot on breadth. Propane lives on one side, charcoal on the other, and a pre-seasoned griddle insert comes in the box. That third surface is the part most combos skip, and it covers breakfast, smash burgers and anything that would fall through grates.

The charcoal side uses an adjustable tray with two dampers. Raising the tray brings the coals closer to the food for searing, and lowering it drops the heat for a longer cook. The dampers then set how much air reaches the fire, so you get two ways to steer the same firebox.

Cleanup is where this design pays you back. The ash pan pulls out from the front, so you empty it standing up instead of reaching into a warm firebox. Swing-away racks above the grates hold finished food, or run a light smoke over it. That second job pairs well with the method in our guide to using a smoker box on a gas grill.

Char-Griller lists a 5-year warranty on this model. That is longer than the 1-year cover several rival combos carry, and it matters on a grill with two fuel systems to go wrong.

Who should buy it: Anyone buying one outdoor cooker to do everything. The griddle alone replaces a separate flat-top, and it works for the same jobs as a griddle pan for pancakes indoors, only much bigger. Griddle surfaces need their own cleaning habit, and the routine in our guide to cleaning an electric griddle transfers over.

2. Char-Griller Texas Trio: Best for Big Cookouts

The Texas Trio is the biggest combo Char-Griller currently sells, and the side firebox is why it is on this list. That firebox bolts to the charcoal chamber and burns wood or coals off to the side. Heat and smoke then travel sideways across the food instead of rising straight up under it.

That layout is how a proper offset smoker works, and it is the reason this grill can hold a low temperature for hours. If long cooks are the main draw, compare it against the dedicated units in our roundup of the best offset smoker for beginners before you commit.

The side burner adds a fourth job. It takes a pot, so beans, corn or a sauce can simmer while the grates stay full of meat. A wide, low pot works best out there, and the sizing advice in our guide to the best stockpot with a lid applies directly.

Size is the catch. This grill weighs 204.4 pounds and runs 74.9 inches wide. Once it is built and positioned, you are not moving it casually.

Who should buy it: Someone who hosts often and wants smoking, grilling and a burner in one machine. Long cooks need temperature data, so pair it with something from our list of the best meat thermometer for smoking. Probes pick up raw-meat residue in the seams, so clean the thermometer properly between cooks rather than wiping it on a towel.

3. Char-Griller Dual Function 2-Burner E5030: Best Mid-Size Pick

The E5030 is the long-running Char-Griller combo, and it is still the easiest one to fit on a normal patio. At 52.9 inches wide it takes about a foot less wall than the FlexFuel Plus. That gap decides the purchase for plenty of people.

Each chamber gets its own lid and its own gauge, so you can hold 350°F on gas while the charcoal side runs hotter for a sear. Char-Griller rates both sides to 700°F. The charcoal firebox holds up to 2 pounds of coals, which is enough for a family meal but not for an all-day cook.

An EasyDump ash pan slides out for cleanup, and the cart runs on wheels, so one person can reposition 109 pounds without help. A side firebox is sold separately if you want to add offset smoking later. Buying the smoking capability in stages is a reasonable way to spread the cost.

Gas output is the honest weak point. 24,000 BTU across two burners preheats slower than a three-burner grill and gives you fewer heat zones to work with. For hard, fast searing, the units in our guide to the best infrared grills for the money put out more usable heat at the grate.

Who should buy it: Someone with a patio rather than a yard, who still wants two independent chambers. Clearances matter more at this size than people expect, and our walkthrough on setting up a small patio for grilling covers them before the box arrives. If the space is tighter still, look at the best small grills for balconies and patios instead.

4. Nexgrill 4-Burner with Charcoal Tray: Best Gas-First Pick

This one works differently from the other three, so read this part before you buy. The Nexgrill has a single cooking chamber. Charcoal happens by lifting out the gas grates, dropping in the charcoal tray over the burners, and lighting the coals with the burners underneath.

That means one fuel per cook, never both together. What you get in exchange is the strongest gas performance here. Four burners at 12,000 BTU each add up to 48,000 BTU, and a 12,000 BTU side burner sits beside them. All that heat lands on a narrower grate than the two-chamber grills spread theirs over.

So the heat per square inch is high. Preheating is fast, and four separate burners give you proper two-zone setups: high on one end for searing, low on the other for finishing. Porcelain-coated cast iron grates hold that heat and leave clearer marks than thin wire grates do.

The trade-off is charcoal control. With coals sitting over the burners in one chamber, you manage heat by how much fuel you add and how the lid vents, not with an adjustable tray. Treat charcoal here as a flavor option a few times a season rather than the main event.

Who should buy it: A gas griller who wants charcoal available without a second grill. If almost every cook will be propane, this is the honest pick. Renters should read the balcony grilling safety rules first, because many buildings ban charcoal outright even when propane is allowed.

How We Chose These Picks

No grill here has been tested in The Kitchen Pot’s backyard. The list was built from manufacturer spec sheets, current retail listings, warranty terms and patterns in owner reviews.

The hard filter was availability. Each model had to appear on its own maker’s store with a live price: Char-Griller’s dual-fuel collection for the first three, Nexgrill’s product page for the fourth.

Several famous combos failed that test. The Char-Griller Duo 5050 no longer carries a price or an add-to-cart button. Char-Broil’s Gas2Coal line now sells charcoal trays as accessories, and its remaining hybrid grill is out of stock. Amazon listings for all of them are still live, which is exactly the trap.

Where a number could not be confirmed on a manufacturer page, it is left out rather than guessed.

What “Combo Grill” Actually Means

The label covers two designs that behave nothing alike.

A two-chamber combo is a gas grill and a charcoal grill bolted to one cart. Each side has its own grates, its own lid and usually its own gauge. Both can run at once, so chicken can smoke on charcoal while burgers sear on gas.

A convertible hybrid has one chamber. A charcoal tray drops in over the gas burners when you want coals, and comes out when you want propane. One fuel at a time, always.

Neither design is wrong. The FlexFuel Plus, Texas Trio and E5030 are two-chamber. The Nexgrill is convertible. Count the lids in the product photo and you will know which one you are looking at.

How the Charcoal Side Controls Heat

Charcoal has no knob, so heat comes from two things: how close the coals sit to the food, and how much air reaches them.

Distance is the blunt control. An adjustable tray, like the one on the FlexFuel Plus, cranks the coal bed up for searing or down for a slower cook. Moving coals two inches closer makes a bigger difference than most people expect.

Air is the fine control. Vents and dampers decide how much oxygen the fire gets, and a fire starved of air burns cooler. Open the bottom damper to climb, close it partway to settle.

Convertible hybrids give you less of both. The coals sit at a fixed height over the burners, so you are left adjusting fuel quantity and lid position. That is workable, just less precise.

How Much Cooking Space Do You Need?

Total area on the box usually includes a warming rack, and a warming rack is not a cooking surface. Read the primary grate figure first.

Who You Cook For	Primary Area to Aim For	Picks That Fit
One or two people	400 to 500 sq in	Nexgrill 720-1141
A family of four	550 to 750 sq in	E5030, Texas Trio
Regular gatherings	800 sq in and up	FlexFuel Plus

Then check the split between chambers. A combo advertising 1,260 square inches may give the charcoal side far less than half of it. If charcoal is your main fuel, that split matters more than the headline number.

Right-sizing outdoor gear follows the same logic as indoors. Our guide to cookware sizes for cooking for one makes the case better than a grill spec sheet can.

What Gas-Side BTU Actually Buys You

BTU measures fuel burned per hour, not how well a grill cooks. It is still useful for comparing grills of similar size.

What matters is BTU per square inch of grate. The Nexgrill puts 48,000 main-burner BTU under 461 square inches, so heat density is high and preheating is quick. The E5030 spreads 24,000 BTU over 600 square inches, so it climbs slower.

Lid sealing and burner layout then decide how much of that heat stays put. A leaky lid wastes output no matter how big the number is.

For thick steaks, high heat density beats raw BTU every time. That is the same argument behind infrared burners, and it is why a smaller, hotter grate often outperforms a larger, cooler one.

The Honest Trade-Off of One Grill Instead of Two

A combo grill is usually a little worse at gas than a dedicated gas grill of the same price. It is also usually worse at charcoal than a dedicated charcoal grill of the same price.

The reason is simple arithmetic. One budget builds two fuel systems, so something gives: fewer burners, thinner steel, or a smaller firebox.

That is a fine deal if you truly want both fuels in one footprint. It is a poor deal if you are hoping to get two full grills for the price of one.

So be honest about your split. If nine cooks out of ten will be propane, buy a gas grill under $500 and skip the charcoal side. If most cooks are long and smoky, a propane smoker or an electric smoker serves you better.

Assembly Takes Longer Than You Think

You are building two cooking systems on one frame, so plan for an afternoon rather than an hour.

Owner reviews across dual-fuel models commonly report one and a half to three hours. A second person helps most when the chambers go onto the cart, because those panels are awkward before the bolts are in.

1. Sort every bag of hardware by size before you open the frame parts.
2. Build the cart and fit the wheels first, so the heavy chambers land on something stable.
3. Leave bolts finger-tight until the whole frame is square, then torque everything.
4. Read the manual through once. Combo grills often assemble in a different order than a plain gas grill.
5. Do a leak check on the propane fittings with soapy water before the first cook.

Keep heavy gloves nearby from the first cook onward. You will be handling an open firebox and hot cast iron in the same session, and our roundup of heat resistant gloves for cooking covers gear rated for that.

Keeping a Dual-Fuel Grill Alive

Two fuel systems means twice the maintenance, but none of it is difficult.

Empty the ash pan after every charcoal cook. Cold ash holds moisture against bare steel, and that is how fireboxes rust from the inside.

Brush the grates while they are warm rather than cold. Warm grease lifts; cold grease sets. Cast iron grates also want a thin wipe of oil after cleaning, for the same reason a skillet does.

Check the gas burner ports whenever flames look uneven or yellow. Spiders and grease block them, and a clogged port starves that section of the grate.

Cover the grill when it is not in use. Painted steel and stainless both stain in wet weather, and stainless is not immune, whatever the label suggests. Our explainer on what stainless steel cookware is covers why that thin protective layer needs oxygen to keep working.

Food safety does not change with the fuel. Steaks and chops need 145°F with a three-minute rest, ground beef 160°F, and poultry 165°F, per the USDA safe temperature chart. Leftovers then follow the same clock as any other cooked meat, which our guide to how long chicken lasts in the fridge spells out.

Accessories That Earn Their Space

A few extras really do change how often you use each side of the grill.

A smoker box turns the gas side into a light smoker on nights you cannot face lighting coals. Our smoker box roundup covers models that hold enough chips to matter.

Sturdy tools last longer outdoors than kitchen ones. A wide, stiff turner beats a flexible spatula on grill grates, and our guide to the best metal spatula set covers the shapes worth owning.

Prep gear matters as much as grill gear. A mandoline cuts even vegetable slices for skewers faster than a knife, and even slices cook at the same rate. Tougher cuts benefit from a meat tenderizer before they hit the charcoal side. Once a large cut comes off, a home meat slicer portions it more evenly than carving by hand.

Seasoning is the last step and the easiest to neglect. Fresh-cracked pepper or a matched salt and pepper grinder set does more for grilled meat than another gadget will.

Leftovers need somewhere to go, and airtight food storage containers keep smoke flavor in and fridge smells out. Cold drinks help too, which is what a mini fridge for beer is for on a long cook.

Combo Grills in Small Outdoor Spaces

Every grill here needs a patio or a yard. The Texas Trio at 74.9 inches wide is not a balcony grill under any reading.

If your space is measured in feet rather than yards, compare these against purpose-built small options first. Our guides to portable grills for apartment living and small-space grilling accessories are the right starting point.

Weather rules out plenty of evenings too. For those nights, our smokeless grill review looks at what an indoor unit can and cannot do.

Cooking away from home is a different problem again. A tailgate or campsite wants gear that packs down, and our picks for the best camping cookware and a decent insulated cooler cover that side of it.

Which One Should You Buy?

Buy the FlexFuel Plus if you want one machine to cover everything. Propane, charcoal and a griddle for $549.99 is the best value on this list, and the 5-year warranty backs it.

Buy the Texas Trio if you host often or want real offset smoking. It costs $150 more and needs six feet of wall, but nothing else here does as many jobs well.

Buy the E5030 if space is your limit and you still want two independent chambers. Accept the modest 24,000 BTU and you get the smallest true combo currently sold.

Buy the Nexgrill if propane will do most of the work. It has the most gas power for the least money, and the charcoal tray is there for the handful of nights you want it.

One last check before you order: measure your space, then add a foot at each end for clearance. A grill that does not fit is worse than a grill that does one fuel.

Related Guides

• Best Gas Grills Under $500
• Best Infrared Grills for the Money
• Best Offset Smoker for Beginners
• Best Propane Smoker
• Best Small Grills for Balconies and Patios
• How to Set Up a Small Patio for Grilling
• Best Smoker Box for Gas Grills
• How to Use a Masterbuilt Electric Smoker

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a gas and charcoal grill combo?

It's one grill with a propane burner system on one side and a charcoal firebox on the other. Most true combos keep the two fuels in separate chambers under a shared cart, and each chamber gets its own lid. You pick the fuel that suits the evening, propane for speed or charcoal for smoke, without paying for and storing two grills.

Can you use the gas side and the charcoal side at the same time?

On a two-chamber combo, yes. Each side has its own burners or firebox, its own grates and usually its own lid, so both can run at once at different temperatures. Convertible hybrids are different. They have one cooking surface and a charcoal tray that drops in over the burners, so only one fuel works per cook.

Is a combo grill worse than a dedicated gas or charcoal grill?

A little, at the same price. Splitting one budget across two fuel systems means fewer burners, thinner steel or a smaller firebox than a single-fuel grill of the same cost. What you gain is one footprint instead of two. If you know you will use one fuel for nine cooks out of ten, buy the dedicated grill instead.

How much cooking space do gas and charcoal combo grills have?

Current models run from about 620 square inches of total area up to roughly 1,330 square inches. The total usually includes a warming rack, so check the primary grate figure too. Also check how the space divides between the two sides, because one chamber is often clearly smaller than the other.

How long does a combo grill take to assemble?

Longer than a single-fuel grill, because you are building two cooking systems on one cart. Owner reviews across dual-fuel models commonly report one and a half to three hours. A second person helps most at the point where you lift the two chambers onto the frame. Sorting the hardware before you start saves real time.

Do combo grills come with one lid or two?

Two-chamber combos give each side its own lid, and most add a temperature gauge to each one. That is what lets you sear on gas and smoke on charcoal at the same time. A convertible hybrid has a single lid over a single cooking surface, so there is only one temperature to manage and one fuel at a time.