Pellet grills and smokers are probably the most convenient way to get delicious smoky flavors into meats, fish, cheeses and other foods. But not everyone is convinced. In the end, it really comes down to your own personal preferences both in what you’re grilling or smoking and the process.
Pellet smoker grills and pellet smokers combine age-old wood fire cooking with modern automated equipment to cook and flavor meats and other foods. Instead of wood logs and branches, these grills and smokers use uniformly processed and sized hardwood pellets for heat and smoke.
My wife and I enjoy watching food and cooking shows. Some of my favorite episodes feature BBQ dishes from all over the country. I like seeing how others grill and smoke their favorite meats.
Get Grilling Secrets From A Competition BBQ Pro Here – Awesome Recipes!
Most of the time I see chefs tossing hardwood logs into huge commercial grade smokers. Which is great, but that’s not how I do it or want to do it. I don’t run a restaurant trying to feed a stampede of carnivores. It’s usually just my wife and I or maybe a few friends now and then. So we don’t need or want anything overly sophisticated. When it comes to grilling or smoking meats, I want a simple, predictable, and inexpensive process to get great tasting smoky meats.
That is what caught my attention about pellet smokers and grills: Convenience.
Some people are all about maintaining some sense of purity in the process of smoking. Not me. Show me how to achieve excellent results in a simple, painless and cost-effective way, and I’m all in.
When I went to a Grilling and BBQ School in Phoenix some years ago, the instructor was a competition grill master. He used several different cookers and one was a Traeger pellet smoker grill. Besides preparing the meat, the only other work was keeping the hopper full of wood pellets. The grill itself did all the heavy lifting. Easy!
The meats we tasted that day in the class were delicious! Smoky flavors. Moist, juicy meat. What more could a person want? Are pellet smoker grills good? They’re so good I bought one because of that first-hand experience.
Before I bought my Traeger Lil’ Tex Elite, I was using an electric smoker that used water-soaked wood chips. It was okay, I guess. You had to keep checking the little metal container about every half hour or so to see when to add more wood chips. The electric heating rods did the actual cooking. Think of oven cooking with smoke added. My grill was a propane gas unit built into a BBQ island in our backyard. It was a functional eyesore in my opinion. My new Traeger replaced both units in a handy wood pellet smoker grill combo.
Like any new product or skill, they have their own learning curves. You have to get to know your particular grill or smoker and how to cook various types of meats. Fortunately, there are lots of helpful videos and how-to articles online to help speed the learning along. It wasn’t long before I was grilling and smoking pulled pork, beef brisket, steaks and even tasty meatloaf like grandma never made!
After nearly four years of smoking and grilling, my Traeger flamed up on me and stopped working properly. I was disappointed about that but undeterred. I bought another pellet smoker grill that was bigger, better looking, and had even more features. It’s a beefy Pit Boss Austin XL and it is a champ! With its 30+ lbs pellet capacity, you can smoke at least all day on low and slow. The digital panel gives you at-a-glance awareness of your temperatures.
I recently added a Pit Boss Vertical Smoker to my arsenal of outdoor cooking appliances. The vertical smoker is a superior smoker to the horizontal design of the pellet smoker grill in my opinion. But both units are a breeze to operate.
Are Pellet Grills and Smokers Any Good?
I get great smoky flavors with convenient, easy operation. If that is how you like to grill and smoke, then you will enjoy cooking with pellet grills and smokers. Yes, pellet grills and smokers are good! Here’s what you’ll enjoy with your pellet smoker grill:
All-in-one capability: As I mentioned earlier, my Traeger replaced my built-in BBQ grill and my electric smoker. These units can smoke, roast, grill, and bake like a convection oven with ease.
Nearly set and forget convenience: Seriously, this is terrific! Although not recommended, I’ve set pork shoulders and beef briskets to smoke low and slow and walked away. When I came back several hours later, everything was fine and the meat was heavenly. Again, it’s risky to leave any fire-breathing device unattended for any length of time, but I have done it without the loss of life, limb, or property.
Money Savings: I don’t know what the exact price difference is between logs and pellets, but I do believe you’ll save money going with pellets. Check out the price and delivery options here.
More consistent temperature control: Adding a few logs now and then is going to spike the temperature significantly. You do get temperature variations with pellet grills as well, but not like adding a large log.
What Are The Downsides To a Pellet Smoker Grill?
Pellet smokers and grills aren’t perfect. They have their own drawbacks that need to be factored into the conversation.
Pellet Smoke vs Traditional Log Smoke: You will probably get more smoky flavors from traditional logs compared to pellets. But that difference may be reduced to nil if you use a vertical smoker. More on that later.
Cleaning: You might have to clean a pellet grill or smoker more often than a log fueled smoker. Ash and creosote buildup can cause problems. It’s also best to keep a pellet smoker covered from the outdoor elements.
Electronics and Moving Parts: The automated features that make a pellet smoker grill convenient and easy to use are also its downsides. Moving parts can break. Electronics can short circuit and fail. They aren’t without flaw. Things can go wrong with a control panel, augur, or fan. A traditional wood burning unit bypasses all of these issues.
What Is The Best Pellet Grill For The Money
There are so many pellet grill makers now and new pellet grills coming out all the time it’s tough to keep track of them. In my opinion, the most well equipped and affordably priced pellet smoker grill available is the Pit Boss Austin XL. It’s also one of the best looking grills you’ll find anywhere. Check the details and discounts here.
Are Pit Boss Grills Any Good?
I can tell you Pit Boss grills and smokers are good because I have two of them! I own an Austin XL and a Copperhead Series 3 Vertical Smoker. I can easily recommend either or both to you. They’re well made, good looking, and offer many great features you won’t find on every other grill or smoker out there. They also come with a 5-year warranty that many other grill makers can’t match.
Pellet Smoker Grills and Smokers Are Worth It!
If you prefer wood-fired grilling and smoking to gas or electric grilling, then I strongly recommend that you at least check out wood pellet grills. They are the most convenient way to get that dry wood heat and flavor into whatever is on your grill or in your smoker.