Unlike many of my peers, I’m not a strictly meat and potatoes guy. I’m big on side dishes as well. When I venture out for barbecue or a steak dinner, I’m usually more excited about the sides than the huge slab of meat in front of me. Salads, vegetables, soups, rices and pastas are all my wheelhouse — and I have the waistline to prove it.
I’ve also become a late-arriving enthusiast to the smoking and outdoor cooking craze. Staying true to my love of sides, I picked up a Weber Deluxe Grilling Basket and a boatload of shrimp and veggies to try my hand at some gourmet creations.
What Is the Weber Deluxe Grilling Basket?
The Weber Deluxe Grilling Basket is a stainless steel container available in a two sizes: 7-1/2-inch square or roughly 11- x 13-in. Both baskets are a hair under 2-1/2-in. deep and can be used with gas, charcoal or pellet grills.
These baskets are ideal for grilling vegetables and small items like shrimp or steak tips. They feature handles that are simple to grasp with oven mitts and tongs. And they’re dishwasher safe, making cleanup a breeze.
How We Tested It
I made three dishes with the Weber Deluxe Grill Basket. The first was a pico de gallo where I smoked the ingredients before dicing them in the food processor. Then I tried rosemary grilled potatoes, and finally grilled Cajun shrimp. I paid close attention to how well I could maneuver the items in the basket, and whether it cleaned up easily.
Performance Review
The Weber Deluxe Grilling basket is superb. To ensure compatibility with all my grills — portable, pellet, and standard — I selected the smaller sized basket. It worked well with each.
I smoked the tomatoes, onions and peppers for my pico on the pellet grill. On the 180 degree smoking setting, the pellet grill never got hot enough to burn anything. A quick ride through the dishwasher, and the basket came out looking like new.
I cooked the potatoes and shrimp on a standard propane grill at medium-high heat. Because of the marinade, the shrimp stuck to the basket’s stainless steel surface. That required a brief soak in hot water and a few minutes of hand scrubbing, but it steel cleaned up nicely.
The basket handles are a pleasant addition that make it easy to carry, but be warned — it gets blistering hot in a flash. Stirring the basket, especially when full, can be a challenge.
On the hot propane grill, the bottom layer of food stuck to the basket. This made it nearly impossible to flip the contents with a flick of the wrist. In most cases, I needed a spatula to mix up the ingredients, knocking a shrimp or veggie to its demise. In hindsight, I could have avoided this if I was more punctual with my stirring, or used more indirect heat or oil.
Why You Should Buy This
All the recipes I tried in the grill basket worked out great. It’s an easy and affordable way to cook small and delicate foods without worrying about them sticking or falling through the grill grates.
Pros
- Durable stainless-steel construction;
- Easy-to-carry handles;
- Dishwasher safe;
- Available in two sizes;
- Works on charcoal, pellet or gas grills.
Cons
- Can be hard to stir.
Where to Buy
Both sizes of the Weber Deluxe Grilling Basket are available at Weber.com, The Home Depot, or Lowe’s.
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