So I’ve been a big fan of charcoal grilles for years, mainly for the flavor they add to food cooked on them. But I’ve often wondered if grilling with charcoal is cheaper then gas grilling. The grilles themselves are much cheaper but what about the cost of cooking on them and the long term cost with maintenance and repair. So I did what everyone does in today’s world and turned to the internet for an answer.
Charcoal is cheaper not just in the cost of buying the grill but every time you cook as well. It cost about $1.20 every time you cook on a charcoal grill where gas grilles come at $1.32. It might only be $.12 but over years it adds up. Also, there are fewer parts on a charcoal grill so there’s less to take care of.
The answers I found online just didn’t seem right to me. The cost other sites where giving to get a propane tank filled where much lower than what I’m used to seeing. Also, the cost of charcoal was much higher than what I pay and some sites even said a 20-pound bag would only last for 3 grilling sessions. Well I know that’s not true, so that was it I decided to run my own numbers and see what I came out with.
Cost Breakdown
Everyway I look at it charcoal comes out to be cheaper than gas. Gas grilles will cost you more to buy and more to use. Even if you don’t count the cost of buying a tank it cost me 22.50$ to exchange a 20-pound tank and you’ll go through just under a pound of gas for one grilling session. Remember that’s if you have a tank to exchange if you don’t and you need to get a new full 20-pound tank it’s going to cost you about 45$. Now that is only for the first one after that as long as you don’t lose your tank you’ll always have one to exchange.
But you won’t get all the propane out of a 20-pound tank. When your gas grill goes out there’s still some propane in the tank. In fact, there can be up to three and a half pounds still left in the tank. So you’ll only get about 17 grilling sessions out of one tank. So that works out to be a cost of about 1.32$ every time you use a gas grill. Now, this can change if the cost of propane is cheaper where you live so keep that in mind.
Charcoal, if you use charcoal briquettes will cost you are round 24$ for a two-pack of 20 pound bags so you’re paying 12$ for one 20 pound bag. Now I use a chimney starter to light my charcoal and a full chimney is all I use for one grilling session and that’s about 2 pounds of charcoal. So out of one 20 pound bag of charcoal, you’ll get 10 grilling sessions. So charcoal works out to be around 1.20$ every time you grill.
Now if you have natural gas at your house then gas may be cheaper. I don’t have the option for natural gas so I didn’t figure out the cost to cook on it. But I do know that you get less BTU’s out of natural gas then you do propane. Propane burns at almost double the BTU’s as natural gas so that means you need to use more than double the natural gas to get the same amount of heat. Also, you’ll need to buy a conversion kit to make the grill run on natural gas the only upside I can see is never running out of gas.
Pro Tip: You should never use lighter fluid to light charcoal it adds unnecessary chemicals to the charcoal and can give your food a bad taste if used improperly. If you’re going to be using charcoal and you don’t have a chimney starter you should consider getting one. They sell from 10$ to 30$ witch is money you’ll spend on lighter fluid anyway. In the long run, you’ll save money with a chimney starter sins you only buy it once.
One other thing to consider is charcoal goes on sale a lot. If you go to any big home improvement store in the summer around most holidays you can get the 2 pack of 20-pound bags for 14.99. In that case, it only cost around $0.75 to use your charcoal grill and as long as you keep it dry charcoal doesn’t go bad. Also, I’ve never seen a sale on propane.
The Cost Of The Grill
So now let’s look at the cost of buying a gas grill over buying a charcoal grill. So I think the best way to compare grilles is by looking a the cooking space and finding 2 with about the same amount of square inches (sq-in). This way we’re looking at about the same size grill and your not giving up cooking space to save money.
So a small 23-inch barrel-style charcoal grill that has a total cooking area of 640 sq-in selles for around $99.00, and that has a 435 sq-in main cooking area and 205 sq-in warming rack. That grill also comes with cast iron cooking grates that will outlast the grill even if you don’t do proper maintenance.
So the closes gas grill I found was 650 sq-in so it is 10 sq-in bigger than the charcoal grill. But the grill will cost you $219.00 that’s a lot of extra money for 10 sq-in of cooking space. That’s more than double the cost of the charcoal grill. So to be fair this grill does have a bigger main cooking space at 475 sq-in and a smaller warming rack at 175 sq-in. So you will be able to cook more on it, or you could just buy 2 charcoal grilles and then you’ll have even more cooking space then you know what to do with and money leftover.
Also, this grill does have cast iron cooking grates in it to make this a fair comparison. So charcoal grills are differently cheaper than gas, but gas grilles do offer something that you cant get on a charcoal grill. The side burner, it’s something I’ve never seen come on a charcoal grill. But I can’t say I’ve ever seen someone with a gas grill that uses the side burner either.
Pro Tip: If you buy a grill that comes with cast-iron grates make shore you season them before you cook on them. It will help keep your food from sticking to them you can read my full article on seasoning cast-iron and other types of grill grates by clicking here.
The Cost of UpKeep
So now we know that charcoal grills are cheaper than gas grilles when it comes to cooking, and the cost of buying the grill itself but what about the upkeep. Well for starters there’s not much to take care of in a charcoal grill. Really as long as you empty the ashes and try to keep it out of the rain a bit there’s not much else you need to do. The most I’ve ever had to replace in a charcoal grill is the charcoal grates.
So really if you keep it clean and keep a cover on it you’ll be good for years. My grill is going on 7 years old and still looks like new. If youed like to learn how to keep your charcoal grill clean you can click here to read my full article on cleaning grills.
That’s not the case when it comes to gas grills. When it comes to gas grills there’s a lot more going on. Even just your basic gas grill so I’m not talking about anything special like infrared or the ones with lava rocks, or ceramic briquettes just a plane gas grill. You still have burners and heat tents (the metal covers that go over the burners), your igniter, and gas lines.
Anyone of those parts goes bad and you’re not grilling. That might not be too bad if you’re just cooking for you or your family. But what about when you’re having people over for a cookout and everyone is waiting on your and the grill won’t light. Not what you had in mind when you asked everyone over for a cookout I bet. Now, most of those parts aren’t really expensive if you have to change them but that’s not really the point. The point is that there’s a lot more to look after and more that can go wrong.
Conclusion
So there you have it that’s my take on the cost of gas over charcoal and yes I know there are lots of other sites telling you gas is cheaper. But like I said there number just seamed off to me and this is what I came up with on my own. If it looks off to you then stop by your local home improvement store and look at the cost of there grilles. Maybe see how much your local gas station gets for a propane tank exchange and for a new tank without an exchange so that you know what it’s going to cost you. Not just for exchanging but for the first one as well.
So now there are other grill options out there like pellet grills and electric grills that maybe even cheaper then charcoal. I haven’t done the number on them yet. But is it really grilling if you using an electric grill? Doesn’t grilling need an open flame to me that’s where the skill comes in. If I wanted to cook with electric I would do it on my oven in the house. I haven’t tried a pellet grill out yet so I can’t really give my opinion on them yet.
As Always, Happy Grilling!