Open Fire Grill Guide: Live-Fire Cooking at Home

An open fire grill cooks food over burning wood or charcoal with nothing between the fire and the food but a grate or a steel plate. No gas valves, no burners, no lid required. It is the oldest form of outdoor cooking, and right now open-fire cooking is the fastest-growing corner of the backyard: Argentine parrillas, Santa Maria grills and round fire-ring planchas you can cook on and then sit around like a fire pit.

We sell, design and build these into outdoor kitchens, so this guide covers what counts as live-fire cooking, the three styles worth buying for home, our picks with pricing, and how to run the fire. To shop every style in one place, browse our open fire grills collection, or the full wood fired grills range.

What Counts as Open-Fire Cooking?

If the heat comes from a live wood or charcoal fire you can see, and you cook directly over or beside it, it is open fire. That covers a lot of gear, from a simple campfire grate or camping grill to a $30,000 stainless asado grill built for home. What separates them is how you control the heat:

A gas grill with a smoker box is not open fire, and neither is a pellet grill; both keep the fire behind a burner or in a hopper. If you want gas with a live-fire side, look at our hybrid grill guide instead.

Three Styles of Live-Fire Grills for Home

Fire-Ring Plancha Grills

A thick round steel plate sits over a cone or bowl with the fire in the center. You cook on the plate like a griddle, sear over the open center, and when dinner is done, lift the plate off and it becomes one of the best-looking fire pits on the patio at home. Arteflame and OFYR are the two brands we carry; our plancha grill explainer and Arteflame vs OFYR comparison go deeper. Shop them together in plancha grills.

How you cook on it. Build a hardwood or charcoal fire in the center and give the plate 30 to 40 minutes to heat. Sear steaks and smash burgers next to the fire, then slide vegetables, shrimp and eggs toward the cooler rim to finish. When you are done, push the scraps into the fire and oil the warm plate, the same way you care for any carbon steel.

Is it right for you? Yes if you cook for a crowd and want everyone standing around the fire, and you cook vegetables, seafood and breakfast as often as steak. Think twice if you want grill marks on everything: the heat zones are fixed, so you move the food instead of the heat.

Santa Maria Grills

A Santa Maria grill is one open fire of oak or lump charcoal directly under a wide grate. The grate hangs on chains from a flywheel, so you turn the wheel to raise or lower the food over the coals. The style comes from California’s Central Coast, where it is built for tri-tip. Our Santa Maria grill guide covers the history, and the Santa Maria grills collection has every size.

How you cook on it. Build the fire right in the firebox and crank the grate all the way up while it burns down. Rake a thick bed of coals on one side and a thin bed on the other. Spin the grate down low to sear tri-tip and ribeye for 3 to 4 minutes a side, then raise it to roast chicken and sausages gently. Start with our Santa Maria tri-tip recipe.

Is it right for you? Yes if you mostly cook steak, tri-tip, chicken and vegetables and want the simplest live fire to run: one fire, one wheel, and cooking in 20 to 40 minutes. Think twice if smoke bothers you. Drippings fall onto the coals, so you get more smoke and flare-ups, and you tame them by raising the grate.

Argentine Grills (Parrillas)

An Argentine grill, or parrilla, adds a second fire. Logs burn in a side brasero, and you rake only the glowing embers under a crank-adjusted grate, so the food never sits over flame. Many grates are V-shaped channels that carry fat away from the coals. Our Argentine grills guide and Santa Maria vs Argentine grill comparison go deeper. The Argentine grills collection has every model.

How you cook on it. Light hardwood or lump charcoal in the brasero; the first embers are ready in about 20 minutes. Shovel them under the grate, thick on one side to sear and thin on the other to finish. Crank the grate to about two inches for a picanha, or up to eight inches to render short ribs slowly for two hours. Keep feeding the brasero so fresh embers are always coming. Our asado guide walks through a full cook.

Is it right for you? Yes if you host long afternoons and like to cook in courses: ribs, sausages, whole cuts and provoleta, with friends standing around the fire. Think twice if you want dinner fast. There are two fires to tend, and a full asado takes about two hours from lighting to the table.

Built-In Live-Fire Grills for the Outdoor Kitchen

Built-in versions of the Argentine and Santa Maria grill drop into a masonry or framed island, the same way a gas grill does, so the fire becomes the centerpiece of the kitchen. Read our built-in Santa Maria grills roundup for cutouts and framing, then let us design the island around it.

The Live-Fire Grills We Recommend

One pick for each way people cook over fire. Pricing below is from our product pages, with free shipping. Specs are the maker’s.

Best way in

Sunterra Origin Santa Maria Grill on a Cart

From $2,329 (30″) · sizes up to 72″

• One flywheel raises and lowers the whole grate on a chain drive
• Firebrick floor and walls, a swing-down front door and slide-out drip trays
• Rolling cart with locking casters and removable side shelves

Why we picked it: a Santa Maria is the easiest live-fire grill to learn. There is one fire under one grate, and the flywheel is the only control: spin it down to sear, spin it up to roast. The Origin adds the details that make it easy to live with. The front door lets you add wood and pull ash without lifting the grate, and the drip trays slide out to clean.

It is made to order in the USA in 3/16-inch steel, in sizes from 30 to 72 inches, so you buy the grate you need. Later, the grill lifts off the cart and drops into a masonry island. The 48-inch size is the best overall pick in our best Santa Maria grills roundup.

Shop the Origin 30 →

Best flat top

Arteflame Classic 40″

From $2,495

• 1,250+ sq in cooktop in 1/2″ carbon steel
• Hottest at the center and cooler toward the rim, per Arteflame
• Standing height of 38″ on the High Euro Base

Why we picked it: of every flat top we sell, the Classic 40 does the most. The plate is big enough to sear steaks over the center while vegetables, bread and eggs cook on the cooler edge, so the whole meal comes off at once. It also has the most accessories of any plancha we carry, including a rotisserie and a pizza oven kit ($295 each).

Lift the cooktop off after dinner and the corten bowl becomes a fire pit. Prefer a bright finish to a rust-colored patina? The Platinum 40 cooks the same in stainless. Our Arteflame vs OFYR comparison covers the other way to go.

Shop the Classic 40 →

Best Argentine freestanding

Tagwood BBQ03 Argentine Grill

$3,950 (black steel) · $5,750 (304 stainless)

• Crank wheel moves the 34″ main grate to any height
• Firebrick-lined side brasero for burning wood down to embers
• Secondary grate, griddle and meat hooks included

Why we picked it: it is the grill we recommend first in our Tagwood BBQ review. The brasero is what makes it Argentine: wood burns down beside the food, and you rake only glowing embers under the grate, so there are no flare-ups. With the crank as well, you control heat two ways at once, by height and by how many coals you rake.

It feeds a party of twelve to fifteen with the hooks and secondary grate working. It rolls on four casters, two with brakes, and the grill body arrives assembled. Choose black steel for the traditional patina, or all stainless if you never want to repaint. Accessories such as a V-shape grate and a cover are sold separately.

Shop the BBQ03 →

Best Argentine built-in

Tagwood Built-In Argentine Grill

$4,500 · all 304 stainless

• Crank moves the grate from 2¾″ to 20½″ over the coals
• Firebrick brasero lining rated to 2,870°F
• Front access door, griddle and meat hooks included

Why we picked it: it is the same cooking system as the BBQ03 (brasero, crank grate and hooks) in a body made to be framed in stone, brick or stucco. Every part is 304 stainless, so there is nothing to paint. The front door lets you rake embers under the grate without reaching over the fire, and the crank sits at counter height.

Under a roof, add Tagwood’s matching stainless smoke hood; other accessories include covers and a wind guard. Our built-in grill guide covers cutouts and framing, and we design the island around it for free.

Shop the Tagwood built-in →

Best Santa Maria built-in

Sunterra Stainless Steel Santa Maria Built-In

$6,929 (48″) · 36″ to 72″ from $5,599

• 3/16″ 304 stainless plate, including the grates, chains and drip trays
• Flywheel and chain lift one full-width grate
• Firebrick floor and walls, swing-down front door

Why we picked it: it is the best built-in in our Santa Maria roundup. It cooks just like the Origin, with one fire and one wheel, but it is stainless from the grates to the door handles, so it will not rust beside a pool or on the coast. Choose V-channel grates to carry fat to the drip tray, or round bar for classic grill marks.

It sets into a non-combustible island from the top, and the cutout drawing is in the product photos for your mason. Each one is made to order, so plan on about 8 to 10 weeks. On a tighter budget, the painted-steel Origin built-in starts at $1,969.

Shop the stainless 48 →

How to Build and Manage a Cooking Fire

Every live-fire grill runs on the same three steps. The fuel and the timing change; the logic does not.

Pick the Right Fuel

• Seasoned hardwood such as oak, hickory or fruitwood for flavor
• Lump charcoal for steady heat, alone or under the wood
• Never treated, painted or green lumber, and no lighter fluid on cooking surfaces

Burn It Down to Coals

Flames look dramatic but cook unevenly and soot the food. Let hardwood burn for about 20 to 40 minutes until it breaks into glowing coals, or burn logs in the brasero and rake embers under the grate as you need them.

Cook in Zones

Keep a hot zone for searing and a cooler zone for finishing. On a plancha that is center versus rim; on a Santa Maria it is a low grate over thick coals versus a high grate or a thin bed. Add small splits often rather than one big log.

Open Fire vs Gas and Charcoal Grills

Gas wins on convenience: push a button and dinner is on in minutes. A kettle-style charcoal grill adds smoke with a lid to trap it. Cooking over an open flame gives you the most flavor and the most control, and it takes the most attention, since you manage the fire the whole cook. Many of our customers keep a gas grill for weeknights and add a live-fire grill at home for weekends. Our gas grill vs charcoal guide covers the trade-offs, and wood fire grills explained compares all five wood-burning styles.

Live-Fire Cooking FAQ