• Hamburgers and hotdogs on a grill.Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Rick Audet
  
  

Function

• Both a charcoal grill and a gas grill serve the same purpose of cooking your meat and meals over a hot surface outdoors. They both provide the same health benefits of lower fats and greases that cook off your meats to provide low-calorie and low-cholesterol meals.
  
  

Time

• The time involved in lighting the two types of grills are drastically different. A charcoal grill involves putting the charcoal in it and lighting it then waiting for the coals to burn down for an even temperature. Using a gas grill is much quicker. You light it and you can immediately put your food on to cook. Wind also plays a determining factor in the time for charcoal to burn down but does not affect a gas grill.
  
  

Assembly

• When you purchase a new grill, it requires assembly. It takes about two hours to assemble a gas grill, and a charcoal grill involves only about a half hour to complete the assembly.
  
  

Cooking Style

• Charcoal grills can provide a smoky flavor to foods with the addition of wood chips to the coals. You can also have this option on a gas grill if it has a wood chip box inside. A charcoal grill can operate at a low heat and smoke foods or can operate at a high heat to sear meat. Cooking on a gas grill at a low heat sometimes makes foods tough and it needs to reach 600 degrees to sear foods. There are models which do reach this temperature.
  
  

Considerations

• Both charbroil and gas grills are available in many sizes. You need to consider if you are cooking for two people or a large group in order to choose the size and features that you need.