Best Pellet Grills

Which pellet grill is best?

Pellet grills are often overlooked in favor of gas and charcoal grills. However, a pellet grill’s ability to maintain a temperature automatically and impart a delicious smoky flavor is hard to beat. Most can also smoke foods without needing any additional equipment.

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The best pellet grill is the Traeger Grills Pro Series 22 Electric Wood Pellet Grill And Smoker. It can easily feed a family of four and offers expert assembly if you can’t, or don’t want to, build it yourself.

What to know before you buy a pellet grill

Benefits of a pellet grill

Pellet grills have several benefits that make them stand out from the crowd.

• Easy: Much of a pellet grill’s operation is handled automatically by its computer system. This includes setting and maintaining the temperature as well as starting the grill.
• Consistent: By maintaining a temperature automatically, often to within 15 degrees of what’s set, your meals will turn out perfectly with far less variation.
• Versatile: You can cook just about anything with a pellet grill, and you can even mix and match the types of pellets you use to impart different flavors of smoke to your food.

Size and cooking area

When shopping for a pellet grill, it’s important to consider how much space it takes up and how much food it can cook at once.

• Size varies greatly, and larger sizes don’t always mean larger cooking areas. Just make sure the pellet grill isn’t so big that there’s no room around it where you intend to put it.
• The cooking area is typically given as the total area of the main rack and additional smaller racks combined. A family of four typically needs 300-500 square inches of cooking area, with group gatherings needing 600-plus. A one-person household shouldn’t need any more than 300 square inches.

What to look for in a quality pellet grill

Temperature range

The temperature range of a pellet grill is paramount, as temperatures below the range aren’t possible and temperatures above it often automatically shut down the grill for safety reasons. Most offer a range of 180-425 degrees, with better models being able to reach 500-700.

Temperature controller

Pellet grills use a variety of temperature control systems.

• Three-position controllers only have three settings — low, medium and high. They have no system for choosing a specific temperature.
• Multiposition controllers let you set a temperature in 5- or 10-degree intervals, but they struggle to operate correctly in inclement weather.
• Proportional-integrative-derivative controllerslet you set a precise temperature, but they can be a little pricey.

How much you can expect to spend on a pellet grill

Pellet grills typically cost $200-$2,500. Budget models cost $350 or less, while the better midrange models run $350-$750. The best and biggest grills start around $800 and can cost several thousand dollars.

Pellet grill FAQ

Why do pellet grills need electricity?

A. Pellet grills need electricity to do things such as monitoring the temperature to feed pellets into the flames as needed, as well as running optional parts like an automatic ignition. Luckily, they don’t require any special gear — they just plug into any old outlet.

What can I cook with a pellet grill?

A. You can cook anything a gas and charcoal grill can, as well as anything a smoker can. This includes all manner of meats, vegetables and cheese. You can even bake foods such as cobblers and pizzas.

Does it matter what pellets I use with my grill?

A. Yes. You should use food-grade pellets, as non-food-grade pellets can contain filler materials that add an odd flavor at best or can be hazardous to your health at worst. Look for pellets marketed as “barbecue” or “smoker.”

What’s the best pellet grill to buy?

Top pellet grill

Traeger Grills Pro Series 22 Electric Wood Pellet Grill And Smoker

What you need to know: It’s roomy and effective.

What you’ll love: The small-sized 572-square-inch model can cook up to 24 burgers at once, but if you need more space, there’s a larger 884-square-inch model. It has a digital control that can keep temperatures within 15 degrees of what’s desired. Several accessory bundles are available.

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What you should consider: A handful of consumers had issues with parts arriving damaged from shipping. Others had problems with the smoker portion failing to maintain the desired temperature.

Top pellet grill for the money

Z GRILLS 2026 Electric Pellet Smoker & Grill

What you need to know: This upgraded grill is an excellent option for grilling, smoking, searing, roasting, baking and more.

What you’ll love: It has 697 square inches of cooking space and a temperature range of 180-450 degrees. You can monitor the temperature via an LCD screen, and you can smoke food continuously for up to 28 hours.

What you should consider: It takes about 1.5 hours to assemble.

Worth checking out

Traeger Grills Pro 780 Wood Pellet Smoker Grill

What you need to know: This pellet smoker grill is packed full of convenient features without being too complicated to use.

What you’ll love: You can control the temperature remotely via the Traeger app and Traeger’s proprietary “WiFire” technology. The 780-square-inch cooking space is more than enough for most households. It heats up quickly and has a built-in meat probe.

What you should consider: Some customers have had issues with the interior fan failing. It’s also pretty expensive.

Prices listed reflect time and date of publication and are subject to change.

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