Finest Pellet Grills of 2024

Pellet grills have elevated in reputation over the previous couple of years, and for good purpose. Like pellet people who smoke—lots of that are additionally pellet grills—they offer you that daring smoky taste with out a lot effort in your half. They’re a “set it and overlook it” model of cooking, permitting you to smoke and grill something from complete chickens to brisket to sport meat. The title of the pellet grill sport is low and gradual.

Armed with a bag of wooden pellets, some meat from our native butcher, and a hearty urge for food, I fired up pellet people who smoke and grills from prime manufacturers like Traeger, Weber, and Pit Boss to check them out and see how they actually carry out. After reviewing their options and cooking capabilities and consuming a lot of smoked meat, I’ve decided the perfect pellet grills for any event and funds beneath.

Finest Pellet Grills

Specs

• Weight: 238 lbs
• Max Temperature: 500 F
• Cooking House: 880 sq. in.
• Hopper Capability: 22 lbs
• Guarantee: 10 years

Professionals

• Tons of superior options—very well-designed
• Comes with Meater probes
• Cooks meat evenly with terrific smoke taste
• Has an induction cooktop and slicing board for prepping sides

Cons

• The most costly grill on our listing

Traeger is arguably essentially the most well-known model on this planet of pellet grills and people who smoke with a popularity for among the highest high quality cookers. And the Traeger Timberline definitely lived as much as that popularity, if not exceeded it. From the minute we began setting it up, I knew it was on an entire different stage. For starters, it’s extremely straightforward to place collectively—it even ships with a ratcheting wrench to make use of for meeting, and the field itself turns right into a youngsters’ playhouse.

From there, the Traeger Timberline simply seems to be good. From the pure wooden cabinets to the magnetic detachable bamboo slicing board, it’s a press release piece that will look good in any out of doors house however particularly lends itself to an outside kitchen aesthetic. Those self same options are as sensible as they’re engaging, too. The cabinets present ample cupboard space for instruments, seasonings, and the like, whereas the slicing board is clearly for prepping your meat and veggies. It snaps simply to the grill by way of a robust magnet.

Our expertise cooking with the Traeger Timberline XL was like no different. There’s a lot to like about it. It has a touchscreen management panel that feels high-tech but is straightforward to make use of and navigate on the similar time. Should you’re planning to go away the grill whereas your meat smokes, it connects to WiFi so you need to use the app to regulate the grill’s temperature, verify your meat’s cooking progress, browse and bookmark recipes, and extra. It’s simply as intuitive because the on-grill management panel. The Timberline comes with a Meater probe—which we dubbed one of many greatest meat thermometers—so you’ll be able to monitor the temperature of your meat out of your cellphone. We’ve owned a Meater for awhile and our large followers, so this was a nice shock to search out inside. There’s additionally an inside mild, eliminating the necessity for an additional grill mild attachment, and loads of hooks and rack house for extra equipment (or for hanging towels, utensils, and so on.).

From a smoked hen to pork tenderloin, every thing we made on the Traeger was scrumptious, flavorful, and infused with simply the correct amount of smoke. The truth is, my husband dubbed the hen we made the perfect he’s ever eaten. Coming from him, that’s excessive reward. One factor that improves the smoke taste is the Traeger’s distinctive down draft know-how, which pulls smoke down by the grill to permit the flavour to soak deeper into your meals. It additionally has “tremendous smoke” mode, do you have to need an excellent greater burst of smokiness.

One other enormous draw of the Timberline—and one of many options that makes it our primary choose—is the induction cooktop on the facet. No extra operating from the grill to the kitchen again to the grill. You’ll be able to prep your sides with out ever stepping away from the grill. It boils water inside minutes, and is large enough to carry your common induction-compatible saucepan.

Simply know that you simply’ll be shelling out upwards of $3,000 for this unhealthy boy. It’s effectively value the fee, although. You received’t discover a extra well-designed pellet grill, for my part.

Specs

• Weight: 166 lbs
• Max Temperature: 600 F
• Cooking House: 1,156 sq. in.
• Hopper Capability: 20 lbs
• Guarantee: 5 years

Professionals

• Excessive temperature vary
• Large cooking house
• Simple to watch remotely with the app

Cons

• Doesn’t drain grease effectively

We’ve owned a Weber fuel grill for years, so I had excessive hopes for the Weber pellet grill. It didn’t disappoint. A few of the highlights embrace the SmokeBoost characteristic, which lets you add a burst of smoke in the beginning of cooking for an excellent richer taste, and the built-in inside mild that turns out to be useful if you’re grilling within the night or at evening. The SmokeFire additionally comes with Weber’s well-known Flavorizer bars, that are made with porcelain-coated metal that’s sturdy and straightforward to wash and designed to reinforce the flavour in addition to distribute warmth evenly.

What units the Weber SmokeFire Sear+ aside from different pellet grills is that it might attain temperatures as much as 600 levels F—excellent for searing, because the grill’s title suggests. It delivers on that. Once we cooked steaks on the pellet grill, we have been in a position to get the char and sear marks which are so typically missing when cooking in a pellet smoker. We weren’t in a position to obtain that form of sear on any of the opposite grills we examined. Up to now, it’s one of many solely pellet grills that gives the capabilities of each a fuel grill and smoker multi function. It’s the perfect of each worlds.

When smoking meat on the Weber pellet grill, we discovered the meat to be cooked by evenly and with a stunning quantity of smokiness. The included probes offered correct temperature readings and the grill stayed inside a 5-degree vary of the set level whereas it was operating.

Specs

• Weight: 335 lbs
• Max Temperature: 600 F
• Cooking House: 1,070 sq. in.
• Hopper Capability: 20 lbs
• Guarantee: 10 years

Professionals

• The biggest prepare dinner house on our listing
• Holds temperature impressively effectively
• Made within the USA

Cons

Recognized for its competition-level people who smoke, Yoder People who smoke has garnered a cult following of pit masters. The model additionally has a line of pellet people who smoke and grills for residential use—a.ok.a. what you need to your personal yard. The preferred in its line-up is the Yoder Smoker YS640S Yfi Pellet Grill. With a prepare dinner house of 1,070 sq. inches (the most important on our listing), it’s excellent for anybody who desires to prepare dinner meat in bulk or for a crowd. It could possibly match a pair slabs of brisket, racks of ribs, complete chickens—the selection is yours.

What makes the Yoder Smoker pellet grill so good is its warmth retention. Whereas it smokes, it holds its temperature inside +/- 5 levels of your required temperature the entire time. Meaning evenly cooked meals with out you having to watch it or fiddle with the controls when you set it. The Fireboard app permits you to management virtually every thing out of your cellphone, which is handy. And the detachable warmth defend provides you direct entry to the open flame do you have to wish to get sear marks in your meat after you smoke it. With chrome steel parts, this Yoder Smoker has some fairly stable development—it’s constructed like a tank and definitely worth the expense.

Specs

• Weight: 182 lbs
• Max Temperature: 500 F
• Cooking House: 811 sq. in.
• Hopper Capability: 22 lbs
• Guarantee: 6 years

Professionals

• Customizable with loads of completely different cooking choices
• Can management smoke stage by app
• Simple to wash

Cons

• Considerably sophisticated to arrange

I’d heard lots of good issues about Camp Chef (they make one among our favourite tenting grills) so I used to be excited to check out the extremely rated Camp Chef Woodwind. What’s cool about this pellet grill—and what units it up aside from others—is which you could create taste with extra than simply wooden pellets. Due to the design of the smoke field, you can too use wooden chips, chunks, and even charcoal. We solely used pellets however the versatility is certainly an excellent possibility. Plus, you will get the Sidekick attachment, which provides you a propane-powered facet burner for extra prepare dinner house.

Like others on this listing, the Camp Chef pellet grill is WiFi-connected, with an app that’s intuitive to make use of. You are able to do virtually every thing, together with controlling the smoke output, setting timers to your meals, and recording your previous cooking knowledge. As we cooked on the Camp Chef, we favored how environment friendly it was at heating up and that we may customise the quantity of smoke taste infused into our meat. Every thing turned out flavorful and juicy within the anticipated time predicted by the included probes. One underrated perk is how straightforward it’s to wash after you’re completed cooking. All it’s a must to do is pull the Ash Cleanout knob on the facet of the grill, which dispenses the ash neatly right into a cup. No mess in anyway.

Nevertheless, be sure you have loads of time and persistence to set this pellet grill up. It took us longer than anticipated to assemble and we discovered the directions a bit tough to observe. In fact, it’s value it in the long run if you’re having fun with a slab of completely smoked brisket.

Specs

• Weight: 157 lbs
• Max Temperature: 500 F
• Cooking House: 849 sq. in.
• Hopper Capability: 21 lbs
• Guarantee: 5 years

Professionals

• Extra inexpensive worth level
• Simple to make use of digital management panel
• Giant hopper capability for wooden pellets

Cons

• Temperature isn’t at all times tremendous exact
• No app for distant management

Should you don’t wish to spend hundreds on a brand new pellet grill, we advocate the Pit Boss Sportsman 820. At simply $699, we dubbed it the perfect funds pellet smoker and grill due to its versatility, ease of use, and prime quality development. The digital management panel is intuitive so even essentially the most newbie griller can use it. All it’s a must to do to regulate the temperature and smoke stage is flip the “P-setting” on the panel up or down. (Observe, nevertheless, that in contrast to many pellet grills on this listing, the Pit Boss doesn’t have an app or WiFi connectivity so you can not management it from afar.) With the Pit Boss, you get a refined smoke taste in your meat with good colour and a juicy inside. And if sear marks are what you’re after, you’ll be able to obtain them with the porcelain-coated forged iron grill grates together with the lever that permits you entry to direct warmth.

This Pit Boss pellet grill additionally comes with a couple of considerate options that basically elevate the cooking expertise. Assume: a built-in spice rack on the facet, two digital meat probes, and even a bottle opener so you’ll be able to crack a chilly one when you’re ready to your meals to be achieved. The hopper additionally has a window that permits you to simply maintain tabs in your wooden pellet standing and know when it’s time for a refill. Should you want extra prep house, there’s additionally a detachable facet shelf that has greater than sufficient room for marinating or slicing meat. I like which you could take it off when you’re brief on house or wish to make the grill simpler to retailer, too.

Specs

• Weight: 62 lbs
• Max Temperature: 450 F
• Cooking House: 300 sq. in.
• Hopper Capability: 8 lbs
• Guarantee: 10 years

Professionals

• Light-weight (in comparison with different pellet grills)
• Heats up quick and maintains temperature
• Simple to assemble and disassemble

Cons

• Smaller cooking house
• Not as sturdy

Perhaps you need a moveable pellet grill you’ll be able to take tenting or tailgating. Or perhaps you simply need a Traeger with out blowing your funds. Enter the Traeger Tailgater. At simply 62 kilos, it’s a fraction of the burden of most pellet grills, making it straightforward to move and journey with. Plus, it has folding legs so you need to use it as a freestanding grill or set it in your tailgate or tabletop. Don’t be fooled by its dimension—it smokes simply as successfully as a full-size Traeger and may nonetheless match 12 burgers. It heats up rapidly and has a “maintain heat” setting so your meals doesn’t get chilly if you’re ready for everybody to get again to the campsite after a day of mountaineering.

How We Examined Pellet Grills

As somebody who likes to eat—and somebody with a household obsessive about grilling—I used to be very happy to sort out the problem of testing the preferred pellet smoker grills. To start out, I researched the preferred fashions on the market from prime manufacturers like Traeger, Pit Boss, Weber, and Yoder People who smoke. Then, as soon as the grills arrived and we (a.ok.a. my husband) assembled them, it was time to start out the exams. We smoked all completely different sorts of meats, from complete chickens to pork to brisket, on the pellet grills and evaluated them on components together with the next:

• Ease of use
• Efficiency
• Temperature and cooking
• Effectivity
• Useful options

Shopping for Information

As a result of a pellet grill is an funding—they’ll get very costly very quick—you’ll wish to do all of your analysis earlier than shopping for one. Beneath are some issues to contemplate when deciding which is the perfect pellet smoker grill for you.

Dimension

How many individuals will you sometimes be cooking for? Or extra importantly, how a lot meat would you like to have the ability to smoke at a time? Pellet grills are available a spread of sizes, particularly with regards to the prepare dinner house. Yow will discover them as small as 300 sq. inches (as within the moveable Traeger Tailgater) and as giant as upwards of 1,000 sq. inches. Many can match a number of complete birds or racks of ribs or dozens of burgers. Which dimension you select depends upon what you propose to make use of it for.

Efficiency

That is seemingly going to be the largest deciding issue when selecting a pellet grill. In any case, you need one thing that will get the job achieved and will get it achieved effectively. Think about the grill’s most temperature and the way effectively it retains warmth whereas smoking. How rapidly does it warmth up? What’s the smoke output like? Are you able to management the extent of smokiness? How exact is the temperature whereas cooking? You’ll additionally wish to take into consideration added options, like WiFi connectivity. A wise pellet grill that has an app that permits you to management it from wherever and all over the place could be very handy.

Hopper Capability

The dimensions of the hopper is measured in what number of kilos of wooden pellets it might maintain. The bigger the hopper capability, the much less you’ll must refill it. Some pellet grills—just like the Pit Boss Sportsman—have a window on the hopper so you’ll be able to see the present stage and know when it is advisable to add extra.

Worth and Guarantee

We’ve mentioned it earlier than and we’ll say it once more—pellet grills aren’t low-cost. Many value upwards of $1,000, with some triple that. That mentioned, you could find some respectable funds pellet grills for below $1,000 (just like the Pit Boss Sportsman). It’s vital to concentrate to the guarantee, too. If one thing breaks or malfunctions in your grill, you don’t wish to must pay for costly repairs or worse, an entire new grill. Many manufacturers provide no less than a five-year guarantee that covers defects in supplies and workmanship.

FAQs

Similar to with something you purchase, the correct pellet grill for you will not be the correct one for another person. All of it depends upon your use and preferences. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to’t go mistaken with any of the perfect pellet grills and people who smoke we examined above. Select what you’ll, however I can’t emphasize sufficient how deserving the Traeger Timberline is of our greatest general award. It does every thing you need—and a lot extra. Is it costly? Sure. However is it value it? Additionally sure.

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