6 Best Smoker Grill Combo BBQs for 2023 — Money-Saving and Versatile

The Masterbuilt gravity series charcoal grill smoker combo is somewhat like a pellet grill…but runs on charcoal!

It combines a charcoal hopper with smart technology that allows you to set a temp, place a firelighter starter cube, close a door, and watch as the grill comes up to your desired temperature and controls it automatically for you, hands off.

A fan inside controls airflow to the burning coals, controlling its burn rate to settle at the desired temp. And as coals burn and turn to ash, they fall out of the hopper, down through a fire grate into an ash drawer, and gravity causes fresh coals to fall down and ignite, keeping the fire going.

The digital controller allows you to set temperatures between 225 F at the low-end for low n slow smoking, up to 700 F at the high-end for grilling and searing.

Controlling temperatures on the Masterbuilt gravity Fed series is as simple as setting the temp on the controller, and walking away. There is no fire management to learn, it’s as easy as your kitchen oven.

Wi-Fi connectivity allows you to control it from on an app from your smartphone, monitoring temps and changing settings remotely, wherever you happen to be. So you can enjoy time with guests, rather than being tied to the grill.

There’s also built-in cooking chamber and meat thermometer probes, so you do not need to spend extra on a 3^rd party smoker thermometer.

The 1050 series that I own comes in at 24.65 × 54.13 × 51.97 inches, and weighs 147 lbs. So it’s not exactly solid, but is decently built and should last many years. It has two fixed wheels and two rotating lockable castors, making it easy to move about and to lock in place.

The hopper can hold 10 lbs of lump charcoal, or 16 lbs of briquettes, which is enough for a good 12 to 16 hours of smoking without refilling, but of course, far less for high heat grilling.

For clean up after cooking, there is a removable ash drawer that you simply out and dump and a grease pan that catches drips and is easy to remove and clean.

The above photos come from a 1050 model that I personally own and use often, but Masterbuilt in fact has three versions of this great combination grill and smoker. Here is a comparison chart showing how each compares.

Although I own the 1050 version, I think the 800 version is more suitable for most people. It is a good size, can handle a lot of food at once, will be more fuel-efficient than the larger 1050, and also comes with a flat top griddle for more versatility in cooking techniques you can use. So I would consider purchasing the 800 version rather than the 1050 I own.

All in all, this is a versatile combo grill and smoker that is good value for the money.

In this one unit, depending on the temperature you set, you can do low and slow smoking or high heat grilling, and all with the authentic flavor of charcoal, something that even the best gassers or pellet grills cannot match.

Please check our detailed Masterbuilt Gravity Fed Series review for more details on this excellent bit of kit.

Pit Boss wants to do it all with this 4-in-1 beast. In fact, their marketing copy touts the KC Combo as an 11-in-1 cooker! Why settle for a mere 2-in-1 or even a 3-in-1?

It’s like the Spinal Tap “these go to 11” amplifier of barbecues. Need to “grill, smoke, bake, braise, roast, sear, char-grill, barbecue, scramble, stir-fry, and sauté” all in one place? Read on.

Take one look at the Pit Boss KC Combo, and you’ll know this is not for beginners or casual grillers. This is exclusively for those who have mastered or want to master every aspect of outdoor cooking.

Oh, and it’s also for people with a lot of room in the backyard — when assembled, it’s a walloping 69 x 26.6 x 51.4 inches. That’s nearly 6 feet long!

Ok, let’s break it down and see what makes this a 4-in-1 cooker.

First, you’ve got a pellet grill and smoker. That’s at the left-hand end of the KC Combo, starting with the huge 26-pound hopper next to the two-level cooking area. The lower rack provides 439.4 square inches of primary cooking space, with an additional 135.77 square inches up top. It’s not huge, but it’s ample room for some smoking or pellet grilling to get that real smoke flavor.

You can even open the heat deflector to expose the firepot for flame broiling.

Next, you’ve got the gas grilling zone. Connect a propane tank and grill to your heart’s content on the 439-square-inch grate. A trio of baffles keep drippings off the burners and convert them into taste-enhancing vapors.

And three separate burners make it easy to set up for multi-zone and indirect heat cooking.

Lastly, the KC Combo comes with a 321-square-inch griddle insert for the gas grill section. With the flattop in place, you can make eggs, pancakes, bacon, smash burgers, fish, wings, and more.

Convenience features include a grease management system, ash clean-out, hopper dump, lower storage shelf, four casters (including two that swivel and lock), and a side work shelf.

Like any self-respecting pellet grill, the KC Combo features a PID digital controller with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth control from a free smart device app. Two meat probes are included to help you nail the perfect doneness every time.

This grill is also Wi-Fi ready, so you can connect it to your home network, to monitor and control many aspects of your cook from anywhere you have an internet connection. Here’s a quick video overview from Pit-Boss on this feature:

Finally, another cool feature is built-in lighting for night-time grilling. A nice touch and useful for those long, overnight smokes of briskets and pork butts.

The Pit Boss KC Combo Series 4-in-1 is so versatile you’ll wish you had more arms. The freedom to cook anything you can think of on one cooker makes this a great value, especially when considering what it could cost to buy each component separately.

It’s a space-saver, too, compared to owning a separate pellet smoker, gas grill, and griddle.

If your motto is “cook all the things,” this probably belongs in your backyard.

You’ll struggle to find a more complete smoker grill combo than the Oklahoma Joe.

For those who’d like a more traditional smoker in their backyard is this 3-in-1 grill, barbecue, and smoker. Perfect for quickly firing up for a steak or burger midweek and slow cooking over charcoal at the weekends.

Oklahoma Joe’s grill and smoker is built like a tank to ensure it will last you a lifetime.

This 205 lbs., 74″ W × 5″ D × 50.6″ H cooker is made with heavy gauge steel and super durable components, this cooker is huge — definitely not one for use on the road.

Assembly is straightforward but be prepared for a few hours of hard work. It might be advisable to invite a few friends to help due to the construction’s sheer size and weight.

With 6 × porcelain-coated cast-iron grates providing a total cooking area of 1,060 square inches, this BBQ grill and smoker will provide enough space for even the largest of backyard parties.

Three 12,000 BTU main burner tubes and an additional 12,000 BTU side burner mean you won’t be lacking firepower either. If you decide to use charcoal, the side burner could be handy for lighting the chimney starter.

The temperature gauges on each compartment and a multitude of dampers make temperature control on this grill, while heat-resistant handles allow you to check coals or meats easily, without charring your hands.

Once you’re done smoking, the offset firebox is readily accessible for discarding ash.

With the option of gas or charcoal and the three large compartments, there’s not much you can’t do on this unit.

The extra cooking space makes it ideal for larger cookouts. You could even smoke a full turkey on the lower shelf settings. At this price, the Oklahoma Joe easily wins our top pick as best combination grill smoker on a budget.

There comes a time in every grill enthusiast’s life when he wants to move his grilling or smoking up to the next level. The Kamado Joe certainly isn’t a cheap upgrade, but rarely, anybody goes back after choosing one.

Once you’ve mastered the skill of cooking on this kamado, you could find it the most versatile piece of outdoor cooking equipment you’ve ever owned.

The Kamado Joe Big Joe III is one of the more attractive and best kamado grills on the market, with a glossy red exterior.

Perhaps the first thing you’ll notice when your Big Joe III arrives is how heavy it is. It measures 58.4” (W) x 53.7” (H) x 35.8” (D) and weighs a whopping 487 lbs, so you won’t want to move it too far too often.

It arrives in a very well packaged box, which is a good thing, as the ceramic can be quite fragile.

Opening the box reveals not only the kamado “egg” itself but also all the accessories you’ll need.

• Heavy-duty, rolling galvanized steel cart
• Divide and conquer system (for creating different grilling and temperature zones)
• Harvard University designed, patented Slo-Roller system for low n slow smoking
• Ash removal tool and grate gripper tool for lifting out the hot cooking grate
• Flip-up side tables.

Assembly of this grill and smoker is pretty straightforward, although its weight may mean you need an able-bodied assistant.

With this premium smoker grill combo the build quality is of the highest standard, with everything solidly attached and latches that stay tightly sealed when closed.

A patented airlift hinge makes the substantial lid easy to open with just two fingers.

On the other side of the lid, a rust-resistant latch ensures all that heat and smoke are sealed inside the grill when cooking by squeezing tight, long-life fiberglass seals. These are an excellent advancement over the more typical felt gaskets used in other kamados, which tend to wear out every 6 to 12 months.

Versatility is the most significant advantage this Kamado style cooker has to offer.

A Kontrol Tower Top vent allows you to manage airflow easier. Used in conjunction with the bottom vent, you can regulate the temperature more accurately—essential for those low and slow smoking sessions.

You would imagine the 24-inch grate would restrict your cooking area, but a novel grill system allows you to set up the grill grates at staggered heights. When used with the heat deflectors, you can create different temperature zones for direct and indirect grilling at the same time.

Cooking on any kamado takes practice, but the Big Joe III aims to simplify it.

You don’t have to scoop the ash out by hand with this grill combo either; the removable ash pan allows for hassle-free cleaning.

Finally, the SloRoller hyperbolic insert, designed by Harvard university students, can be used to eliminate any hot spots, and distribute heat and smoke in circling vortexes throughout the cooking chambers for the most consistent and even cooks.

I use this insert for all my low and slow cooks, and it really does work well and helps to create wonderfully smoked, evenly cooked food.

There’s no doubt that the Kamado Joe Big Joe III is a premium product that many outdoor cooking enthusiasts envy. Its stylish design is not only eye-catching but also robust, and it’s capabilities and versatility, in both grilling and smoking, are something to behold.

It’s the true Swiss army knife of outdoor cooking that can do a little of everything, and do it well, earning it top spot as the best charcoal grill smoker in our list.

Learn more in our hands on review and testing of the Kamado Joe Big Joe III.

Any serious outdoor chef will know that those signature grill marks add the finishing touches and great taste to food. And any dedicated outdoor chef will know that pellet grills, as a whole, do not sear as well as gas or charcoal grills. They simply cannot reach the blazing hot temperatures required.

Well, the Camp Chef Woodwind Wi-Fi pellet smoker grill combo can do it all, from 160 F to 650 F smoking and grilling in the main smoking chamber to 900 F grilling and searing on the attached sidekick. With this unit, you can smoke, grill, roast, and bake all on one piece of equipment.

The Camp Chef Woodwind is a high-tech unit, with a PID controller that has a constant temperature feedback loop, dialing in and keeping temps incredibly accurately. All you need to do is set a temp on the controller, and it stays there. It’s push-button easy.

It also has Wi-Fi connectivity, so you can connect it to your home network, and then use the ‘Camp Chef Connect’ smartphone app to monitor, control, and change settings for your cook from anywhere you have a mobile phone signal.

You can receive notifications about your cook, monitor the temp of your cooker and the internal temp of your food, as well as change temperature settings, all from the palm of your hand, wherever you happen to be, without being tied to the grill.

Mostly this product is a smoker, using wood pellets as fuel to low n slow smoke foods such as brisket, pulled pork, and ribs. But it has two great features turning it into a combo smoker grill also.

Inside the main grill body, you can slide a heat deflector out of the way to grill over the flames from the fire pot at up to 650F.

And it also has a 180 square inches, 16,000 BTU propane fueled side sear box that can reach 900 F.

So you can start foods with a sear and then finish with a low smoke, or low smoke until nearly up to temp and then finish with a sear. Perfect!

Like the rest of this grill, the sear box is made of a heavy-duty steel construction to withstand those higher temperatures. And due to the separate design, you can even use it independently, ideal for a mid-week burger fix.

The Woodwind also has a line of attachments you can add to the sidekick, such as a pizza oven, a flat top griddle or a sear box attachment, taking this model’s versatility to even more incredible heights.

Other standout features include a simplified ash cleanout system, with which you can empty the ashes with a simple pull of a knob.

Four temperature probes enable you to monitor the internal temperature of four foods simultaneously. No more overcooking or drying out foods…and no need to buy an extra 3^rd party thermometer.

It has a 22 lb wood pellet hopper capacity, so it can hold a full bag (no more storing partially empty bags of fuel!), and the hopper has a window, so you can see how much fuel remains without lifting a lid.

The hopper is also easy to empty by pulling a knob that opens a chute, causing the pellets to empty out. This is a great feature as in many pellet grills, you have to scoop them out by hand, which can be very tedious if you wish to change smoking wood flavors.

This Camp Chef Combo Grill and Smoker is high-tech, full-featured, incredibly versatile, great to look at, and a great value price for what you get and what it can do. It’s also so tech rich that it’s easy-to-use, making it one of the best smokers for beginners. What’s not to like?

For more details, please see our hands on testing and review of the Camp Chef Woodwind with Sidekick.

Sometimes you want the versatility of a smoker grill combo when you’re on the move. Wouldn’t it be great to smoke a brisket overnight while you stay in the great outdoors?

A barrel-style grill smoker combo offers all the features you use at home, with the bonus of all accessories stored inside it.

You’ll be ready to cook within minutes of taking this barrel out of the box. It measures 21 × 21 × 31.1 inches, and weighs 57 pounds, so is perfectly manageable for most people alone. And there’s no tricky assembly, just unpack everything, and it’s ready to go.

With eight hanging hooks, a standard grill grate, charcoal basket, and two heavy-duty steel rods, you have everything you need for a BBQ right out of the box.

The Pit Barrel smoker is constructed from durable steel, upgraded to 18 gauge, coated with a porcelain enamel layer. This allows it to function better in adverse weather conditions.

A barrel style cooker is so simple to use and has a huge capacity. Although you get grill grates for burgers, steaks or plank cooking salmon, you also get hanging hooks. Larger cuts of meat or whole birds can be hung for smoking and result in crispy skin.

The Pit Barrel uses charcoal as fuel, which can be messier than propane to clean up.

The hooks tend to be easier to clean than traditional grates of other smoker grill combos, and just as simple to use. Just season the meat, hang it from a hook or rod, close the lid and leave until cooked.

It’s easy to pack up for tailgating or camping, with very little fuss or assembly needed at the other end. To take home, merely empty the ashes when cold, by tipping over the barrel—in a responsible way of course!

For a simple grill smoker combo you can easily throw in the back of your truck, the Pit Barrel is the go-to solution. It’s so simple to use, and creates such great results that even competition BBQ chefs are known to use this bit of kit.

For further details, please check out our Pit Barrel Cooker review.