Best Charcoal Briquettes

We love to grill. What better way to enjoy meals with family and friends than with your grill? 

We love creating smoky barbecue infused foods with a charcoal grill, for an unrivalled and unforgettable flavor. 

When we think about grilling, there are generally two main fuels that we love to use. Some prefer gas grills, and some prefer the more traditional charcoal grill. 

Charcoal grills are typically considered the ubiquitous winner for its delicious, mouth wateringly smoky taste.

If you are into grilling and barbecuing, then you have probably heard of charcoal briquettes before. These are handy little fire lighters that help give us that barbecue and smoky flavor when cooking. 

Charcoal briquettes are small brick-shaped forms of charcoal that ignite quickly for use on grills and barbeques. They are much easier to use than normal lumps of charcoal, as you can stack them and place them easily to control the amount of heat you want. 

Charcoal briquettes are so popular with grilling connoisseurs, because they are affordable, ignite quickly and are much easier to use. They are made of wood and binding agents such as starch or sawdust so that they burn quicker and for longer periods of time. 

As they come in a compressed, molded brick shape, you can stack them and place them for a consistent burn for your foods. 

There are so many different types of charcoal briquettes on the market, it can be overwhelming to find the right ones. With so many different brands and types all up in your grill, it is hard to know which are best for you.

Luckily, we have created a guide of the best charcoal briquettes to help you choose. Embrace the barbecue life with briquettes! 

Our Best Pick

So that you can stop searching, and get back to grilling, we have found the best charcoal briquettes and have decided on a winner. The best barbecuing briquettes have got to be the Kingsford Original Charcoal Briquettes. 

These briquettes are reliable, American made, and organic charcoal briquettes that can give a beautiful barbecue flavor. The Kingsford briquettes offer premium quality grilling briquettes that are still 100% natural and made from real wood.

For an authentic, smoky and wood-fired flavor that will infuse real taste to your food, these are the briquettes for you. With a quick to open, easy to carry package, these charcoal briquettes are easy to take anywhere for your grilling needs!

What we love about these charcoal briquettes is that they are ready to go in about 15 minutes, and can reach high temperatures for a perfect grill. 

If you want to up your grilling game, and try your hand at charcoal grilling, then these Kingsford Original Briquettes are a great option.

Best Charcoal Briquettes Buying Guide

How to Find the Best Charcoal Briquettes

When looking for the best charcoal briquettes to use in your cooking and grilling, there are a few factors that you should consider first. 

The main role of a briquette is that it needs to catch fire quickly and easily. Charcoal briquettes that ignite easily are the best ones to have for your grill. In addition, the best charcoal briquettes will give you a great, longer burn time and tend not to leave too much ash for the clean up later.

The best charcoal briquettes will be as close to 100% charcoal as possible. The closer, the better. However, charcoal will not stick together on its own, so to create a briquette shape, there needs to be a binder involved. 

These are often made from corn or tapioca, although some companies will add extra ingredients and additives that you do not need. You are better off finding briquettes that do not have too many harmful additives or chemical binders as this can give off unsavory flavors and be damaging to your health. 

When trying to find the best charcoal briquettes, you should search for ones that have uniform shapes that you can stack. Charcoal briquettes are great as they can typically be stacked so that you can control where the heat is. Briquettes that simply fall apart or do not retain their shape are useless.

Similarly, charcoal briquettes that have lots of filler materials other than charcoal tend to burn much quicker and create a lot more ash. As we all know, ash is very difficult to clean up, and can create far more mess, so look for ones with limited ash production.

You may also like to consider flavored briquettes for some added taste in your cooking. These could be hickory, barbecue or applewood flavors that can add some zing to your grill. 

It is important to note that some briquettes may be labelled as instant or quick burning. This is due to the fact that they are generally soaked with lighter fluid to help them burn faster.

This may seem convenient, but will give your food an unenjoyable chemical taste, and you will be ingesting fumes from harmful chemicals. 

Try to look for natural, organic and sustainably made charcoal briquettes that protect not only your health, but the environment too.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are charcoal briquettes?

Charcoal briquettes are machine-formed pieces of charcoal, combined with a variety of additives to make them stick together into one brick or pillow shaped form.

They are sometimes more popular than lumps of coal, as they ignite quickly, burn for longer, more consistently, and give you better temperature control. 

They are made from charcoal, a substance created when carbon is made from burning wood in a low-oxygen environment. Most good charcoal briquettes will be close to 100% charcoal, but what makes them the briquette is the shape that they are molded into. 

Lumps of pure charcoal cannot be easily molded into shape, so charcoal briquettes are mixed with things like wood chips, limestone, corn starch, or sawdust to help bind them together and create a brick. 

As they are in a long brick form, they can burn more consistently for a better grilling experience. However, they do not burn as hot as lumps of charcoal, and produce more ash in most cases.

What is the difference between charcoal briquettes and briquets?

You say briquette, I say briquet, we all say briquettes. The two words mean exactly the same thing, they just have different spellings.

So if you are looking for the best charcoal briquettes, and briquets come up, do not worry. 

How long do charcoal briquettes last?

Generally speaking, most charcoal briquettes will burn for around 1 hour whilst you grill, so if you need more heat or longer burn time, then just add more.

If you are wondering if charcoal briquettes have a use by day, then typically charcoal briquettes can last indefinitely as long as they are stored in a cool, dry place and in an airtight container.

How many times can you use charcoal briquettes?

It may surprise you to know that charcoal briquettes can be used more than once. Once you have finished grilling for the evening, take a look at some of the untouched pieces left in the grill. 

Even though they have started to burn, they will ignite again a second time around. Try shutting off your vents after cooking, and make sure that the fuel is completely extinguished. Collect pieces of charcoal briquettes that are still solid and store them in a cool, dry place to use again!

Is it better to grill with charcoal or gas?

We get asked this all of the time! Charcoal vs gas grilling, now that really is the question. We are sorry to tell you that, there is no true answer, this is all down to personal preference. 

Some people prefer the convenience of a gas grill; they heat up quickly, cool down quickly, offer temperature control, are easy to clean and do not create much smoke. However, with a gas grill, you will never get that smoky barbecue flavor that we have all come to love. 

Charcoal grilling can burn hotter than gas, and you cannot turn down the heat, however, you can control where you put the briquettes for more heat on one side of the grill and less on the other.

Using charcoal in your grilling will give you a mouth-watering, delicious flavor, but will take much more time to clean up afterwards.

Is charcoal bad for you?

Charcoal creates more smoke than gas does, which can produce carcinogens.

As the fat drips down off the meat and onto hot coals, smoke is formed that can contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which can be harmful to you. 

However, all things can be bad for your health if they are not consumed in moderation. Trim the fat off your meat as best as you can to prevent any carcinogens, and always eat in moderation.