I have a friend who’s considering getting a pellet grill. As I’ve had mine for over a year now, and I use it at least once a week (if not more) I figured that I had some opinions on the matter that I could let y’all know about.
A pellet grill is basically an oven that runs on wood pellets. Pretty much everything you cook in an oven you can cook in your pellet grill. I’ve made tarts, egg bakes, roasts, pies, etc. We rarely use our oven anymore as everything goes on the grill. I’ve seen people make crazy things on their grill, including all sorts of baked goods, lasagna, desserts, bread, etc.
Though I don’t really eat pizza (just too difficult with all my allergies) we have cooked pizza on the grill a couple of times. Blaze swears it’s the best pizza he’s ever had.
Modern day pellet grills are automatic. You don’t have to go out and feed it more fuel (though you should check the hopper and make sure that you still have enough pellets in it!). Pellet grills come with an internal temperature gauge that they use to maintain a fairly consistent heat.
An offset wood smoker is NOT automatic. You need to go out and feed it wood on a regular basis. Plus, it takes a lot more skill to maintain a particular heat in an offset. It’s similar that way to a charcoal grill.
I, personally, LOVE my pellet grill. I have a Z-Grill, one of the 700 models. (I bought the previous year’s model when I got mine in 2023, so it doesn’t have a Wi-Fi temperature gauge. Don’t think they make them like that anymore.)
My grill’s name is Bobby. My husband teases me that A) I can’t throw him over and marry Bobby and B) I have a new religion.
As much as I love my grill, would I recommend that everyone go right out and get themselves a grill?
No. I wouldn’t. A pellet grill isn’t for everyone.
Here’s why.
I eat a LOT of meat. Like, a lot. (I’m still following my mostly carnivore diet with great success.) I’m not sure that I’d recommend this grill if you aren’t going to use it regularly cooking meat. Sure, you might roast enough vegetables to make it worth your while, but I’m not going to push that.
A pellet grill requires some maintenance, namely, you MUST clean it regularly. Pellet grills have an auger that move the pellets from the hopper to the fire bowl. You must clean out the ash from the fire bowl on a regular basis, say, once every four to five cooks. I use a shop-vac to vacuum the fire bowl out.
In addition, once a year I do a thorough cleaning on the grill, scraping all the accumulated fat, etc. off the sides of it.
If you want to see what happens if you don’t do this, do a search on YouTube for, “Pellet Grill Fires.” Yes, your pellet grill can catch on fire if you don’t clean it. Sometimes in a spectacular fashion.
It is my understanding that a gas grill heats up pretty quickly. My pellet grill is more like an oven in that it takes 15-20 minutes to reach temperature. So there’s always more waiting time with the pellet grill.
While my particular model of pellet grill claims that you can sear meat on it, I don’t find the sear function works that well. The grill just doesn’t get hot enough for that, even during the summer. If that’s a hard requirement for you, I recommend doing some research and getting one of the more expensive models of pellet grills that will actually sear. They make them, but you’re going to pay a lot more for them.
And speaking of seasons—Bobby isn’t made out of thick, insulated metal. I have a jacket that he wears during the winter months. (He doesn’t need it during the summer.) In addition, I tend to cook things at a higher temperature during the winter, because even with his jacket, he doesn’t maintain heat as well.
I figure that’s what makes all this cooking more art than science. As every piece of meat is different, every day of cooking is different as well.
One of the great debates about pellet grills is the amount of smoke that it generates. Does a pellet grill infuse meat with as much smoke as an offset smoker? No.
Does a pellet grill infuse meat with some smoke flavor? I think so. I also believe that it depends on the pellets. Whatever you do, don’t get the Traeger brand of pellets. They’re too clean. They burn efficiently. You actually want pellets that won’t burn cleanly, so they’ll produce lots of smoke.
Now, there are smoke tubes that I could get that would give me more smoke. Or if I was really worried about it, I could start every cook at the “smoke” setting on my grill for a couple hours before I raised the temperature. (I will actually have to try that sometime…)
In terms of grilling meat, one of the most important things I’ve learned is that how you rest your meat is just as important as how you cook it. For example, once a brisket is finished, I put it in a plastic garbage bag, then place that in a cooler. I let it slowly go down in temperature, resting the meat for between four to twelve hours. (No less than four, no more than twelve.) Ditto with pork butt. Chicken I merely tent with aluminum foil and let rest on a cutting board.
My current favorite way of preparing meat to be grilled is to do a dry rub on it, then wrap it in plastic wrap and let the meat sit for a day before cooking it. The most recent cooks that I’ve done this way have produced the most amazing results. (Seriously. The last brisket I cooked was so tender and tasty you didn’t need to warm it up. Could just eat it cold. Ditto with the last pork butt, which ended up being of pulled pork consistency and Oh So Good!)
And that’s one other thing that you should consider before buying a pellet grill. Sure, you can use it for just a steak, or a couple hamburgers. I make a large quantity of meat all at once, then heat it up and have it over several days’ time. It seems wasteful to me to have a grill if you’re going to do such small servings: too much time to heat up, too much maintenance, etc. YMMV, though.
So there you have it! My thoughts on my pellet grill.
Questions? Comments? Let me know!