Kingsford®
Professional Briquets
Exclusively at Costco
- Previous
- Next
- 100% Natural Ingredients
- Made in the USA with North American Ingredients
- High Heat
- Low Ash
Kingsford® Professional Briquets are made in the USA with North American ingredients, 100% natural and premium wood char to ensure professional-quality results. They provide a hotter burn* that’s perfect for searing flavor into any of your favorite meats. They also feature Kingsford’s lowest ash formula, making them great for ceramic grills and smokers. They’re ready to grill on in about 10 minutes, and deliver high heat and a consistent burn time every time. Available in 2x18-lb. bags.
* Compared to nationally available conventional charcoal
Adventurous Eats
Take your taste buds outside their comfort zone with these unexpected twists on grilling favorites.
Rated 1 out of
5
by
The Manager from
Customer service cannot answer product questions.
Dear Kingsford charcoal-smoking experts:
I called Kathy at 800-232-4745 who has been the only one to answer each of the three times I have called looking for answers since August 25, 2025. It has now been one month since I posed my questions, and today, September 24, 2025, marks my sixth effort (three phone calls and three emails) to no avail to get answers. This surely has been enough time for those in the know to meet, confer, vote, and decide upon their answers to questions I posed about how the professional charcoal product works. However, although Kathy is pleasant and respectful, she told me that, surprisingly, she is still awaiting your answers. I can only hypothesize that it has taken a month because your office is running significant lab tests and measurement studies on the charcoal per my questions. Otherwise, I cannot fathom why it would take more than a few minutes for someone who has product knowledge to write a competent response.
Regardless of whether there is some difficulty or has been some internal, total failure and dereliction of duty to answer these questions, please immediately advise on this platform and to this review when someone will elect to answer these questions and how much longer I will have to wait. Silence (to my six efforts/inquiries) is wholly unacceptable. Thank you, and these are my original questions below:
1. Many product reviews on Kingsford's site say the professional briquettes have more smoke than regular briquettes. How to use for low and slow, with maze or the “minion method” if there is lots of smoke? This online Kingsford professional briquette review described the underlying logic of my question: "When you use in a smoker, not all the coals are burning at once; this Kingsford professional briquette has an acrid foul tasting and smelling smoke as it lights up, more so than the Kingsford regular briquette. The professional briquettes are okay once fully lit, but not a good product for smoking since you are always adding that foul smoke."
2. Product reviews also say they burn faster and hotter than the regular Kingsford briquettes. If true, can’t I simply cut the oxygen to where the temp is what I want -- 225F degrees?
3. If they burn faster and hotter, do I get a shorter burn at 225F degrees than using the regular Kingsford briquettes at 225F degrees?
4. How to create a briquette maze with a smoker’s large coal basket that measures 23” x 19”? Stack the briquettes neatly one at a time on top of each other, or dump in at random to make a tall maze that might have the equivalent of four levels tall of briquettes?
5. Is a maze that is approximately three-high to four-high of Kingsford briquettes (randomly dumped into the maze) too tall for most efficient burn? There is air space on all four sides of the coal tray/maze. I desire the longest burn possible without opening the smoker and reloading briquettes.
6. If I were to neatly arrange and stack the briquettes in the maze, how tall should they be and what method should I use to stack? Please precisely describe the stack and ask someone else to read what you wrote to see if it is understandable before submitting to me. Keep in mind I am using six half-sized fire bricks to make a maze that is four vertical rows, with two half-sized bricks (tip to tail) separating each row. See attached photo showing an earlier maze where I randomly dumped in the coals; I now make the maze taller and neatly stacked.
7. I used just over three 16-lb. bags of Kingsford regular briquettes to smoke one 21-pound brisket and six racks of baby back loin ribs. (See attached photo showing the smoker door open for four seconds to snap the photo.) Is this normal usage for a 19-hour smoke at 225F in a cooking chamber that measures 25.5” x 20” x 34.5” (where the ribs were smoking only for about 5.5 hours but the brisket was smoking for about 16.5 hours, and where the first 2.5 hours were heating the smoker to 225F after using a weed burner for ten minutes to get it to 200F which soon dropped to 160F after the thermal shock of the weed burner ended)? I am using a Backwoods Piglet Plus commercial-style smoker.
8. Is the Kingsford low and slow briquette product better for my application? If so, why?
9. Will the Kingsford low and slow briquette product burn longer at 225F degrees than the regular briquette or the professional briquette? If so, how much longer?
10. Will the professional briquette burn longer at 225F degrees than the regular briquette or the low and slow briquette? If so, how much longer?
11, What is the difference between Kingsford Professional briquettes and competition briquettes? I read the competition briquettes don't exist anymore, but they appear as a pull-down selection in Kingsford's online portal.
Date published: 2025-09-24
Rated 5 out of
5
by
rosspetit_220 from
Better charcoal for better results!
I always use Kingsford charcoal, but normally the "Original" version. I picked up a 2-pack from a warehouse store, and was really impressed with it. I actually preferred the flavor of this to the original, and found the performance to be really consistent. The coals heated evenly and burned to completion. Ash wasn't noticeably different than other times I've grilled. Overall a great product.
Date published: 2025-08-06
Rated 3 out of
5
by
danielj63_5681 from
Good flavor dirty smoke
The dirty smoke is not great when you first get the briquettes lit. After they are lit and ashed over you get a decent flavor. I like the even burn amongst all the charcoal. The charcoal does burn quickly. So not the best for low and slow.
Date published: 2025-07-19
Rated 5 out of
5
by
dymondt51_8891 from
Awesome
I absolutely love Kings for charcoal. The flame intensity is amazing. There is Little to know ash residue. The packaging is safe and it burns for a long time. It smells like barbecue I would definitely recommend.
Date published: 2025-07-13
Rated 5 out of
5
by
mamacoop513_2220 from
Great
Really good heat distribution and burn time from this charcoal. We love to grill and this is a great choice! It has good flame intensity and odor control as well.
Date published: 2025-06-03
Rated 4 out of
5
by
angelas792_3378 from
Kingsford
We always use this brand when grilling out and I decided to purchase this kind due as it is advertised to light quickly, burn hot, and produce minimal ash. It does burn faster than standard briquets.
Date published: 2025-05-12
Rated 4 out of
5
by
henv from
About average as most charcoal briquettes.
The flavor intensity is about the same as most charcoal briquettes and the heat output is not too bad. Ash residue and burn time are about average briquettes. Briquettes are better for low and slow cooking, rather than lump charcoal for fast cooking.
Date published: 2024-10-08
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Anonymous from
Kingsford professional Briquets
Kingsford professional Briquets is a good brand, it lights on fire quickly and doesn’t leave a burnt taste on any of the food for your grill! It does leave a lot of ash’s but nothing we can’t handle! I would definitely recommend if you have a small or big grill
Date published: 2024-09-02
Rated 5 out of
5
by
lancehb from
Best charcoal on the market!
Best charcoal on the market. Long clean burn, even heat distribution. I have won multiple competitions using Kingsford Professional Charcoal and it’s the only product I trust whether I’m cooking at home or competitively.
Date published: 2024-08-26
Rated 5 out of
5
by
tammyp46 from
Professional charcoal
I love these they really hold the heat longer than the original ones do an it does holds heat longer too pluse there seems to be less ash than the regular that I use
Date published: 2024-08-08
Rated 5 out of
5
by
sarahr889 from
Best charcoal brand!
This is my husband's favorite charcoal brand! He loves to use this in his Weber grill. The charcoal burns evenly and long lasting briquets. Perfect for the summer time cookouts and occasional winter ones too!
Date published: 2024-02-02
Rated 5 out of
5
by
cat___lady from
Best!!
Kingsford Professional is the best!!! Burn out quickly! And its leaves a lot less ash too, which is not as crazy messy. Always delicious meat and vegetables! Can’t recommend it enough!
Date published: 2023-10-15
Rated 5 out of
5
by
HT 13 from
I switched from lump
I have primarily been using lump charcoal since I went back to charcoal grilling. I had tried several brands of easily available lump. They were fine, they cooked fine, nice and hot. I just always got this heavy smoke almost a hint of diesel and it bothered me. I randomly bought a 2 bag pack at BJs I think, only because it was there. I have stayed with it. It's very consistent and I still smell like smoke but I don't get any unpleasant smells from it. I am very happy so far and will stay with it because it works so well.
Date published: 2023-06-02
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Heavy D from
Kingsford professional briquettes
Loved the heat that the Kingsford professional briquettes produced. The skin on the chicken that I bbqed was amazingly crispy and the flavor was amazing.
Date published: 2022-06-30
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Bledsoe from
Nice Burn!!!
Hands down the Kingsford professional competition brand is the best I have ever used in my smoker. My spare ribs have never been better. I got a nice long burn. It was really easy to keep the temperature that I wanted and I was just completely impressed with the flavor that was set into the meat. Way to go Kingsford!!!!
Date published: 2022-05-31
Light your fire with Kingsford® products.
Explore our full range of charcoal, pellets and flavor boosters to take your grilling to the next level.
