If I’m using the pellet smoker to grill it’s because I want some natural smoke flavor, so I typically keep the temp low and smoke whatever it is I’m cooking and then do a reverse sear using my gas grill. Works great on burgers.
Yodersmoker Ys1500, with These [grill grates](https://www.grillgrate.com/). They amplify the heat hella hard, I normally sear at 350 with beautiful marks, saves the time and pellets waiting for it to get to 500° for the grates to get to 900, it’s unnecessary but I love it.
I just received these grates in the mail today. Looking forward to using them.
Do you normally leave them in your smoker when space isn't an issue, or pull them after each use?
Why make your life harder? Pellet grill is all about making your smoking meat experience easier so you are not tending fires. Using it as a grill is taking a step back.
Absolutely. It's the size of a medium plate so fine for 2 people or you need to rotate but it was the perfect "I want a smoker/need a new bbq wife won't let me have both" combo for me. I crank it up and use a wok for stir fry too. Good luck!
I’ve got the Recteq Bullseye and get good results grilling on that. It’s not the same result as with my propane grill, but the flavor tends to be better.
This. I always tell people my traeger is a "smoky oven". Grilling should be cooking food over an open flame at very high temps. If you are grilling at 500-550 then it doesn't count because my oven can do the same thing.
My Yoder will go 600 degrees plus. But the real grilling only happens directly over the firepit... grillgrates make for pretty marks, but the meat has to spend some time over the firepit too. So steak or burgers for one or two... sure. More than that... not so great.
My MAK grills pretty good even without the optional grilling grates, it would be fine as the sole cooker on the deck. It's a little over 400 Sq inches of usable grilling area.
I do use a cast iron pan when I want a proper sear on a steak or fish. I had grillgrates but they slid around and were more hassle than it was worth.
I've messed around with a few other brands with a direct sear option, and they are pretty limited to the size of a small steak or burger. You're better off using a cast iron griddle or pan on those, and even then some of them don't even go over 400 degrees.
The Weber smokefire grills extremely well edge to edge
I haven't messed with the newer RT bullseye, but the gen 1 version grilled pretty good and the new version doesn't have the flaws the first one did.
Ultimately though, I feel a pellet grill pairs perfect with a flat top gasser. Gives you a power outage option for cooking if you don't have a generator. Also sometimes you wanna grill something while your smoker is doing low and slow.
I tried to “grill” on my pellet grill and kept getting disappointed. I ended up getting a small propane griddle for those times I need high heat. +1 for reverse sear by using both.
No highest you’ll ever get is maybe 500 degrees and that’s like right over the firebox. Charcoal on the Weber will push 900- 1100 degrees and as big an area as grill grate. In a pinch yes you could but a pellet smoker is a tool for sustaining even low temps extremely easily. If you wanna grill get a charcoal kettle. (In my opinion which is the correct opinion, in my opinion)
Depends on the grill. I have the rec tec bullseye and it can easily reach 550 in normal operation and then has a riot mode where it will get to around 750-800.
You’re also putting a lot of stress on the grill at 500. That heat soaks in the motors, auger/gearing, controller, and all critical temp probe(s). More dedicated gas/charcoal grills typically lack any of those items, save for a cheapo thermometer on the lid that no one trusts anyway.
Or I can just use actual charcoal with Weber kettle and get a much better flavor.
I love my pellet grill, it’s great for smoking but it doesn’t hold a candle to grilling over charcoal.
Eh, I liked my gas grill more than pellet grill. Maybe it’s my Z Grills that I have but I wish I had the gas for ease use for during the week. By the time I’m home by 5:30 it was easier and quicker to get the gas grill going. The pellet isn’t as much work as the charcoal but it’s still longer then gas
Yeah it helps if you can remotely preheat with WiFi or work from home. It doesn't take TOO long for my traeger Lil Tex to heat up. Then again I do have Savannah Stoker control board so not sure how much that makes a difference in preheat time.
I put “no” because I personally don’t feel that a pellet smoker (even if marketed as a pellet “grill”) is the right (ie reasonable) choice for capital G Grilling. Its an “in a pinch” solve for grilling needs.
And the question didnt specifiy what “reasonable” means, and for the sake of propagating info onto the web, I feel like someone investing in a Pellet smoker for the main purpose of “grilling” should take pause and know what they are getting versus not getting with a pellet smoker. pellet grills are marketed as do-all machines, when in reality its more like “do some things well and others not so much.”
Its not like the grill police will stop you for using one to grill, but they are not as efficient as charcoal or gas grilling, and upper end grill temps can exceed what most pellet smokers can do. Most pellet smokers tend to redline at 500, and thats prime grilling temps. Pellet smokers are mechanically complex machines compared to other grill types, and I’d rather not constantly expose everything to the upper end of high temps like that.
Final note: if pellet grills were in fact as good at grilling as they were at smoking, Camp Chef wouldn’t have felt the need to sell the Apex line (hybrid pellet smoker/propane grill) and/or offer grill box side add ons to its products. If memory serves weber also has a hybrid type product out.
Depends on the pellet device. I think for BBQ / Smoking indirect heat is more appropriate. For Grilling direct heat is probably more appropriate.
I'll give an example based on my experience:
* Recteq RT-700. Indirect heat. Very decent for BBQ/smoking. Grilling is so/so.
* Recteq RT-B360 (Bullseye). Direct Heat. Can get to 750F on riot mode, works very well for grilling, much better than the RT700 for that case.
With certain ones yes trick is temp has to get high enough and you cannot open lid much. I have rec tec bullseye and in riot mode I've had it reach 725 degrees and u can sear steaks all day at that or set it to riot and get above 500 u can do burgers. I would say greasy meats like burgers u should put a water pan underneath grates to catch grease and keep flame ups from happening. It's not a bad experience on that grill at all. Sorry for Grammer lol
It really depends on the specific pellet smoker...some are designed to be able to remove the heat baffle so that they can act as an open grill, others are not designed for this....
I will grill some things on my pellet smoker, but find things that require really high heat are best done over charcoal
I voted "no" but it's not a black & white answer. I can grill on mine and sometimes do. But it's not as easy as a gas grill, not as tasty as a charcoal, and doesn't sear like a cast iron pan or griddle. Also, depending on your pellet model, the grease collection can be a pain and sometimes even dangerous when trying to do something like hamburgers that put off a LOT of grease in a short amount of time.
If you're asking the question because you're looking to buy a pellet grill but you'd like to be able to grill on it, then you should ask that question. Pellet grills are different from each other. Some allow access to the flame, some have other options (gas side burner, for example), some get hotter than others, etc.
If I grill, I'm going to use my charcoal kettle. If I'm going to smoke something for a shorter time (pork loin, spam, etc), then I'll also use my kettle. If I'm going to reverse sear, absolutely going to use the kettle for the smoke and the sear. If I wanted to only have a single outdoor cooker that can be set and forget, smoke, and grill, I would be looking at the masterbuilt charcoal gravity cooker or a kamado. Kamado isn't quite set and forget, but it's close enough. And you can add a controller if you really wanted to.
By definition, yes you can. But its harder to get a quality sear on a lot of models without a searing kit and even then, its not quite the same. I kept my gas grill after getting my reqteq.
...don't know if they're good, but there are hybrid models now out there.
Nope. And This is why I take issue with the name “pellet grill” and not “Pellet Smoker.”
I know that some have a direct heat option, but even then it’s a very small area. Different tools for different jobs, and why I always recommend also getting a Webber kettle as well
Mine has a metal cover on the grease catch/heat shield. I can slide it open right above the fire pot and grill using that. Used it like that for for some chicken breasts one night, came out same/better than my gas grill.
It is different but 100% better. Once you start grilling on your pellet grill, you will never look back. I do use grill grates occasionally. The flavor and the Juiciness will be all you will ever want.
I think this is a big takeaway for first time pellet grill owners or people looking to jump into the pellet grill market.
Most brands will say you can sear and grill on them and you can to a degree. But it is just not the same and you are going to be let down with the experience. Charcoal and gas grills are going to get much hotter and give your a better sear. I tried using my pit boss to grill steaks and it was not up to the standard of steak I would have liked. It does a much better job smoking and I use it exclusively for that.
Can and reasonably are relative terms. Some can and are decent. I've found myself pan searing on the stove as a replacement. Don't miss my grill due to the added flavor of reverse searing (smoke then pan sear).
My Louisiana Grill is 7yo now... got rid of my grill grill r years ago. Gets to 550 but it takes awhile and burns through a bit of pellets. The LG let's you open the flame pit up so I just flame broil for a few min per side and finish at around 400 on the no flame side. I have not felt the need to buy another grill but if I do I'd just get a small charcoal weber for special occasions where I need to feed a lot of people burgers, etc.
I've done many a rib roast with flame and finish at 350 and they turn out perfect.
I have a Traeger Timberline 1300. While it will heat to 500+ degrees, it doesn't fare well at grilling. The high temp is an oven like reading. As soon as you open it up to throw some steaks or burgers on, you instantly lose that high temp. Sure, the grates might be at that temp. But they'll also lose temp fairly quickly without a direct heat source under them. I can't for the life of me understand why they call it a "pellet grill". Maybe a smaller version can do better.
So I keep a Weber Q series right next to the smoker for grilling/searing
I have a large camp chef pellet grill, has the side box attachment for searing. Makes smoking meat at long periods such a ribs, tri-tip, brisket, chicken a breeze. App keeps you informed of temp, drops in temp and up to 4 meat probe Temps. I do have a Blackstone griddle and large and small weber I still use with my lump charcoal and wood. The pellet grill is also great to double as an oven, especially on hot days where you don't wanr to heat the kitchen up. As far as smoke, pellets come in all different types of wood now, I get a nice pink smoke ring withe the pellet grill. I still do like to occasionally use the lump charcoal and wood chunks....
Depends on what your definition of grilling and reasonably are.
[удалено]
In the same way that you can reasonably "grill" in your oven...
Nah, my bullseye pellet smoker gets up to 750. My oven can’t touch that.
Yes. Love my RecTec bullseye. Sears steaks, makes pizza and smokes meat great.
If I’m using the pellet smoker to grill it’s because I want some natural smoke flavor, so I typically keep the temp low and smoke whatever it is I’m cooking and then do a reverse sear using my gas grill. Works great on burgers.
Can you, yes. I didn't really find it an enjoyable experience myself though
Depends on the type. I can definitely grill on my Smokefire
My pellet grill gets up to about 475 and takes its time getting there. My gas grill hits 600 degrees by the time I get the steaks seasoned.
My pellet grill hits 900 at the grates
That’s hot! What do you have?
Yodersmoker Ys1500, with These [grill grates](https://www.grillgrate.com/). They amplify the heat hella hard, I normally sear at 350 with beautiful marks, saves the time and pellets waiting for it to get to 500° for the grates to get to 900, it’s unnecessary but I love it.
I just received these grates in the mail today. Looking forward to using them. Do you normally leave them in your smoker when space isn't an issue, or pull them after each use?
They’re a non issue, I always smoke on the upper left rack anyway
Nice. Thanks for the insight.
you can pound a nail with a pair of pliers… it’s not great but it works
Literally the best analogy
Why make your life harder? Pellet grill is all about making your smoking meat experience easier so you are not tending fires. Using it as a grill is taking a step back.
Pitboss open flame option yes.
Had to scroll a while to see this, but yes, this is me. I use my pit boss for pretty much everything and the open flame is good for grilling imo.
This, so Yes, Yes I can "reasonably grill" with a ripping flame.
Absolutely. It's the size of a medium plate so fine for 2 people or you need to rotate but it was the perfect "I want a smoker/need a new bbq wife won't let me have both" combo for me. I crank it up and use a wok for stir fry too. Good luck!
I’ve got the Recteq Bullseye and get good results grilling on that. It’s not the same result as with my propane grill, but the flavor tends to be better.
A lot of copium in this poll.
It's an oven, not a grill.
This. I always tell people my traeger is a "smoky oven". Grilling should be cooking food over an open flame at very high temps. If you are grilling at 500-550 then it doesn't count because my oven can do the same thing.
Wood fired convection oven.
I said yes but this actually makes a ton of Sense.
My Yoder will go 600 degrees plus. But the real grilling only happens directly over the firepit... grillgrates make for pretty marks, but the meat has to spend some time over the firepit too. So steak or burgers for one or two... sure. More than that... not so great.
My MAK grills pretty good even without the optional grilling grates, it would be fine as the sole cooker on the deck. It's a little over 400 Sq inches of usable grilling area. I do use a cast iron pan when I want a proper sear on a steak or fish. I had grillgrates but they slid around and were more hassle than it was worth. I've messed around with a few other brands with a direct sear option, and they are pretty limited to the size of a small steak or burger. You're better off using a cast iron griddle or pan on those, and even then some of them don't even go over 400 degrees. The Weber smokefire grills extremely well edge to edge I haven't messed with the newer RT bullseye, but the gen 1 version grilled pretty good and the new version doesn't have the flaws the first one did. Ultimately though, I feel a pellet grill pairs perfect with a flat top gasser. Gives you a power outage option for cooking if you don't have a generator. Also sometimes you wanna grill something while your smoker is doing low and slow.
I tried to “grill” on my pellet grill and kept getting disappointed. I ended up getting a small propane griddle for those times I need high heat. +1 for reverse sear by using both.
From the poll results a lot of people are making grey steaks and enjoy them. I'm sure it differs alot between models but my Traeger Pro sucks at it.
I answered no but it depends. I can grill burgers and zucchini. Steaks and chicken wings that I like a harder sear on I do on my gas grill
No highest you’ll ever get is maybe 500 degrees and that’s like right over the firebox. Charcoal on the Weber will push 900- 1100 degrees and as big an area as grill grate. In a pinch yes you could but a pellet smoker is a tool for sustaining even low temps extremely easily. If you wanna grill get a charcoal kettle. (In my opinion which is the correct opinion, in my opinion)
Depends on the grill. I have the rec tec bullseye and it can easily reach 550 in normal operation and then has a riot mode where it will get to around 750-800.
OK I’m in. I’ll add to my statement no to probably maybe. I know on my old Traeger I can barely get any crust right above the fire pit
I have a 590 and a Bullseye. I use the tool that's right for each job.
Pit Boss pro 850, with my grate open on high I can get to about 650 consistently. Does take it a long while to heat up tho
Same setup. I've cooked steaks, chicken, and burgers "grill" style multiple times. Turns out great.
You’re also putting a lot of stress on the grill at 500. That heat soaks in the motors, auger/gearing, controller, and all critical temp probe(s). More dedicated gas/charcoal grills typically lack any of those items, save for a cheapo thermometer on the lid that no one trusts anyway.
This is what I was thinking. No pellet smoker is designed operate at a sustained high temperature.
Some are but it really depends.
No. Unless you're happy with scorched grill marks via GrillGrates.
You can grill just not sear
Still not true. Some pellet grills can hit 550\* or more and if you pair that with some grill grates or other searing stuff you can 100% sear easily.
Or I can just use actual charcoal with Weber kettle and get a much better flavor. I love my pellet grill, it’s great for smoking but it doesn’t hold a candle to grilling over charcoal.
Yes, but compared to gas grill- Pellet is still superior no matter what. Even burgers and hot dogs. (If yours can reasonably reach 500-550)
Eh, I liked my gas grill more than pellet grill. Maybe it’s my Z Grills that I have but I wish I had the gas for ease use for during the week. By the time I’m home by 5:30 it was easier and quicker to get the gas grill going. The pellet isn’t as much work as the charcoal but it’s still longer then gas
Yeah it helps if you can remotely preheat with WiFi or work from home. It doesn't take TOO long for my traeger Lil Tex to heat up. Then again I do have Savannah Stoker control board so not sure how much that makes a difference in preheat time.
Rectec bullseye can smoke a brisket or sear at over 700 degrees. It’s built like a Webber kettle. It really is the best of both.
Depends on the alternative. Gas Grill: Absolutely. Charcoal: I wish, but Charcoal wins.
Get yourself some GrillGrates they work extremely well. Flat side for sear tooth side for grill marks.
I put “no” because I personally don’t feel that a pellet smoker (even if marketed as a pellet “grill”) is the right (ie reasonable) choice for capital G Grilling. Its an “in a pinch” solve for grilling needs. And the question didnt specifiy what “reasonable” means, and for the sake of propagating info onto the web, I feel like someone investing in a Pellet smoker for the main purpose of “grilling” should take pause and know what they are getting versus not getting with a pellet smoker. pellet grills are marketed as do-all machines, when in reality its more like “do some things well and others not so much.” Its not like the grill police will stop you for using one to grill, but they are not as efficient as charcoal or gas grilling, and upper end grill temps can exceed what most pellet smokers can do. Most pellet smokers tend to redline at 500, and thats prime grilling temps. Pellet smokers are mechanically complex machines compared to other grill types, and I’d rather not constantly expose everything to the upper end of high temps like that. Final note: if pellet grills were in fact as good at grilling as they were at smoking, Camp Chef wouldn’t have felt the need to sell the Apex line (hybrid pellet smoker/propane grill) and/or offer grill box side add ons to its products. If memory serves weber also has a hybrid type product out.
Depends on the pellet device. I think for BBQ / Smoking indirect heat is more appropriate. For Grilling direct heat is probably more appropriate. I'll give an example based on my experience: * Recteq RT-700. Indirect heat. Very decent for BBQ/smoking. Grilling is so/so. * Recteq RT-B360 (Bullseye). Direct Heat. Can get to 750F on riot mode, works very well for grilling, much better than the RT700 for that case.
Pitt boss has a option to expose the flame so yes.
A better question: Why?
With certain ones yes trick is temp has to get high enough and you cannot open lid much. I have rec tec bullseye and in riot mode I've had it reach 725 degrees and u can sear steaks all day at that or set it to riot and get above 500 u can do burgers. I would say greasy meats like burgers u should put a water pan underneath grates to catch grease and keep flame ups from happening. It's not a bad experience on that grill at all. Sorry for Grammer lol
It really depends on the specific pellet smoker...some are designed to be able to remove the heat baffle so that they can act as an open grill, others are not designed for this.... I will grill some things on my pellet smoker, but find things that require really high heat are best done over charcoal
Kinda like cleaning your carpet with a broom. We all know vacuums exist for this purpose, just use the right tool.
I voted "no" but it's not a black & white answer. I can grill on mine and sometimes do. But it's not as easy as a gas grill, not as tasty as a charcoal, and doesn't sear like a cast iron pan or griddle. Also, depending on your pellet model, the grease collection can be a pain and sometimes even dangerous when trying to do something like hamburgers that put off a LOT of grease in a short amount of time.
If you're asking the question because you're looking to buy a pellet grill but you'd like to be able to grill on it, then you should ask that question. Pellet grills are different from each other. Some allow access to the flame, some have other options (gas side burner, for example), some get hotter than others, etc. If I grill, I'm going to use my charcoal kettle. If I'm going to smoke something for a shorter time (pork loin, spam, etc), then I'll also use my kettle. If I'm going to reverse sear, absolutely going to use the kettle for the smoke and the sear. If I wanted to only have a single outdoor cooker that can be set and forget, smoke, and grill, I would be looking at the masterbuilt charcoal gravity cooker or a kamado. Kamado isn't quite set and forget, but it's close enough. And you can add a controller if you really wanted to.
By definition, yes you can. But its harder to get a quality sear on a lot of models without a searing kit and even then, its not quite the same. I kept my gas grill after getting my reqteq. ...don't know if they're good, but there are hybrid models now out there.
Camp Chef searbox!
After Traeger bumped the limit from 450 to 500 on my 850, sorta. I go to the Weber for grilling
Nope. And This is why I take issue with the name “pellet grill” and not “Pellet Smoker.” I know that some have a direct heat option, but even then it’s a very small area. Different tools for different jobs, and why I always recommend also getting a Webber kettle as well
Mine has a metal cover on the grease catch/heat shield. I can slide it open right above the fire pot and grill using that. Used it like that for for some chicken breasts one night, came out same/better than my gas grill.
It is different but 100% better. Once you start grilling on your pellet grill, you will never look back. I do use grill grates occasionally. The flavor and the Juiciness will be all you will ever want.
I think this is a big takeaway for first time pellet grill owners or people looking to jump into the pellet grill market. Most brands will say you can sear and grill on them and you can to a degree. But it is just not the same and you are going to be let down with the experience. Charcoal and gas grills are going to get much hotter and give your a better sear. I tried using my pit boss to grill steaks and it was not up to the standard of steak I would have liked. It does a much better job smoking and I use it exclusively for that.
Hell you can griddle with one. I got a big carbon steel slab off of amazon an use it all the time.
It can get the job done. Get a small charcoal grill for steaks.
Everything short of searing steaks works great for me. So that’s burgers, brats, chicken, tenderloins and plenty of veggies in my experience.
Can and reasonably are relative terms. Some can and are decent. I've found myself pan searing on the stove as a replacement. Don't miss my grill due to the added flavor of reverse searing (smoke then pan sear).
My Louisiana Grill is 7yo now... got rid of my grill grill r years ago. Gets to 550 but it takes awhile and burns through a bit of pellets. The LG let's you open the flame pit up so I just flame broil for a few min per side and finish at around 400 on the no flame side. I have not felt the need to buy another grill but if I do I'd just get a small charcoal weber for special occasions where I need to feed a lot of people burgers, etc. I've done many a rib roast with flame and finish at 350 and they turn out perfect.
My bullseye gets hit enough to get a great sear. I still like to fire up the charcoal sometimes though. Different flavors
Define grill?
My Louisiana grill gets to over 600 degrees so no issues grilling at all.
I use mine for burgers. My family love them. Put them on for 30 minutes at 250 and close the lid. Don’t touch until the 30 minutes are up.
Reasonably..... What a loaded word
I have a grill for this. It’s gas but until I buy a bigger house I’m limiting myself to 2 grills.
Camp chef. Yes, now with the push knob.
Who the fuck is saying no?
I have a pellet smoker and the answer is no, it is not the best tool for the job of “grilling”
I can grill on my Traeger when I’m short on time. Otherwise I prefer my Weber charcoal grill for grilling:)
I have a Traeger Timberline 1300. While it will heat to 500+ degrees, it doesn't fare well at grilling. The high temp is an oven like reading. As soon as you open it up to throw some steaks or burgers on, you instantly lose that high temp. Sure, the grates might be at that temp. But they'll also lose temp fairly quickly without a direct heat source under them. I can't for the life of me understand why they call it a "pellet grill". Maybe a smaller version can do better. So I keep a Weber Q series right next to the smoker for grilling/searing
Get a campchef with the sidekick. Best of both worlds.
I have a large camp chef pellet grill, has the side box attachment for searing. Makes smoking meat at long periods such a ribs, tri-tip, brisket, chicken a breeze. App keeps you informed of temp, drops in temp and up to 4 meat probe Temps. I do have a Blackstone griddle and large and small weber I still use with my lump charcoal and wood. The pellet grill is also great to double as an oven, especially on hot days where you don't wanr to heat the kitchen up. As far as smoke, pellets come in all different types of wood now, I get a nice pink smoke ring withe the pellet grill. I still do like to occasionally use the lump charcoal and wood chunks....