Traeger Grill Reviews – Everything You Need To KNOW

Summer is here, which means one thing:

BBQ Season!

Get your Traeger grills and accessories ready —

ModelNotesPricing & Availability
Traeger Junior EliteRecommended if you're new to TraegerReview
Pricing & Availability
Traeger BTU Pellet GrillA step up from the Junior lineReview
Pricing & Availability
Traeger TailgaterPerfect for pre-game BBQ and shenanigansReview
Pricing & Availability
Traeger Natural OrganicA popular brand with a blue exteriorReview
Pricing & Availability
Traeger Lil'Tex EliteIntroductory line for the pro seriesReview
Pricing & Availability
Traeger Texas EliteFor large BBQsReview
Pricing & Availability
Traeger Pro SeriesDesigned for professional BBQ cooksReview
Pricing & Availability
Traeger Portable GrillFor the mobile BBQ pitmaster!Review
Pricing & Availability

Nothing is more American than grilling burgers and hot dogs on the grill, and I wouldn’t do it without a Traeger Grill. As a retired American, I do have a lot of time on my hands now – from walking my Scottish terrier Chuck to grilling hot dogs on my favorite pellet grill to starting blogs!

My aim is to provide a “grilling expert’s” take on the Traeger grill (easily my favorite BBQ tool), and hope that my honest and in-depth reviews of the Traeger grill will help you choose why they are simply cool (as my grandson would say) and which one would work best in your backyard.

We can all agree the grill is the “real sauce” behind BBQ magic —

Yes, we can slap on exotic sauces and slather the meat with tabasco to fire up a good ‘ol Texan BBQ. But you know what is the real secret of the pitmasters?

It’s all about how you cook it not what you’re cooking!

I remember in my young days I watch Star Wars and I saw how Luke Skywalker in Episode 3 with his Aunt and Uncle. They were cooking their meals by stuffing them in a machine, they blend it and out pops their meal. Well, boys (and girls), in the real world, good American BBQ just doesn’t work that way.

It involves a mix of alchemy and just knowing what darn well tastes good. Take a look at this salivating video on making Brisket with a Traeger:

You just don’t grab a bunch of stuff that tastes good on its own and slap it all together. You gotta prime the meat right. You gotta “wash it” in the sauce overnight. You gotta set the temperature right. And most of all —

You need the right grilling machine!

In my ignorant (youthful) years, I was addicted to charcoal grills. I’d got to Costco to buy my BBQ tools and stock up on the charcoal. Did this for years. And although the charcoal cooking process is quite popular (because Americans can get lazy and uninformed about their BBQ), the burgers and hot dogs were at best… meh …

Finally, when I said Aloha to my desk job, I had all this free time to investigate on how to really make good BBQ. This is when I discovered Traeger and the wood pellet flavor magic. There’s a reason for that charcoal aftertaste when you cook with charcoal. Do you know what that is?

You’re eating coal!

It doesn’t take a genius to understand that if you cook with coal, you’ll get that stuff on your meat. But when you cook with a wood pellet, you might be asking yourself, doesn’t that taste like wood? Yes, my Padawan, you are correct! It will taste like wood. Here are the different flavors available to choose from:

  • Apple pellet
  • Cherry pellet
  • Hickory pellet
  • Maple pellet
  • Mesquite pellet
  • Oak pellet
  • Pecan pellet
  • Tennesse Whisky pellet

There’s only one flavor to charcoal. Yup you guessed it – COAL!

Now my great, great grandaddy might have been chuckin and jivin coal for a livin’ in the 1870s, and it has been good to America. Thanks to patriots like my great, great grandaddy, we’re blessed with coal and railroads, but that doesn’t mean I’d want coal on my burgers.

The beauty with the Traeger is the ability to pick and choose the pellet flavor. Along with different cooking techniques, I can show you what you’ve been missing out if you don’t got a Traeger grill.

A grill is the best appliance to cook your food in the open, adding the smoke flavor to the meats, sandwiches, burgers, sausages, and other baked stuff. A grill is a big investment for any household, and we hope these honest Traeger Grill Reviews will help you make an informed choice.

Among the variety of grills available in the market, a Traeger grill has shown growing demands from food lovers. Traeger is a well-known brand engaged in manufacturing quality grills ignited with pellets.

So let me tell you about this BBQ beast I got in my garage —

Traeger Grills Reviews

Benefits of a Traeger Pellet Grill

Only a gourmet can really understand the role of a precise temperature to cook a dish to perfection. Traeger knows its foodie customers well, so it offers an amazing range of pellet grills that fits the needs of all kind of customers.  Traeger gives all credit to these grills differing on a variety of features with the following benefits.

Retains and enhances taste

The wood pellet based grills are well appreciated by the users since the wood pellets burnt with control, cooks the meats while retaining the juiciness. The wood fire also cooks the meats tenderly, so a Traeger pellet grill enhances the epic flavors.

Versatile cooking

A pellet Grill from Traeger is a means to an end. Its versatility is its USP. Whether you have grilling on the mind, just want to lightly smoke your burgers, or bake rustic tasting brownies, roast the bacon or barbecue some veggies,  the Traeger pellet grill does all. Its versatility comes from the control over the temperature offered in this amazing grill range.

Ignite, set and forget

This is the mantra that is the core of Traeger Grills. You hardly have to keep an eye on the temperature or pellets or food being cooked for that matter. Fill the pellets, ignite the fire, set the cooking temperature, lay your recipe on the grill and enjoy what you were doing. These grills do a consistent and uniform cooking with no risks of burning or under cooking. Even if you are an amateur in the world of grills, your cooking will definitely be rated with a pro score.

Widespread and growing community

Cooking is a community activity; this is what you will interpret from the large and infectious community of Traeger grills. You will never be alone with a Traeger grill. A huge count of its die hard customers share major solutions to the minor issues, recipes and of course joy of eating fresh and delicious smoky food.

Now, when making an investment in a Traeger Grill, it’s important to be mindful of your budget and needs. This Traeger grill review wouldn’t be complete without going over what what to look for in your investment.

Pay attention to these details —

Look for these features for your next purchase

Dimensions

We consider it an important feature since it is good to know which appliance is fit for your home. If you live in an apartment and have a limited space as a balcony to keep the grill, then it is best to buy a small grill. But if you have spacious lawn or plan to bring along the grill while vacationing or camping, a bigger one is the wise decision.

Cooking area

A bigger grill doesn’t essentially mean a large cooking area. While buying a grill does not assume a bigger cooking area. Take a deep look into the chosen grill and ask for the amount of food you can place in one go.

Range of temperature

If you are going to use the grill quite often and love to grill anything between veggies to meat, you must see that you should be able to get a wide range of temperature settings.

Thermal Insulation

Check for thermal insulation in the Traeger pellet grill, since it will let you help in cooking slowly to get the right tenderness in your smokey meats and perfect smoking of your snacks.

Ease of installation and setting

A complicated and hard to set up appliance always takes a back place in your garage or basement. Get a Traeger pellet grill that promises ease of installation. It must also be easy to fuel and remove the ash.

Kind of meats to be cooked

All the pellet grills do not cook all the meats perfectly. If you are fond of a specific meat then buy a grill that suits it. But if you love to cook any kind of meat under the sky, then get a grill that allows temperature and smoke ranges of all those meat types.

Traeger Prices

What we get depends directly on what we pay. After reading the Traeger Grill Guide, It is not recommended to buy a cheap grill with limited features since these low priced products might draw a lot of power or prepare overcooked or undercooked meals. So you might end up spending more in the long run.

Advanced features

Many grills come with advanced features like Wi-Fi connectivity, direct grill (2-zone grills), meat probes, and additional cooking racks. If you are ready to pay more, you can too enjoy these premium features.

How the pellet smokers work

As soon as you switch on the grill or smoker, the ignitor rod in the burn pot at the bottom of the grill gets ignited and draws high wattage of power. The auger mechanism pushes the required wood pellets in the burn pot. The moment, pellets start to burn, the fan blows and provide the necessary oxygen to pellets and the ignitor rod is turned off and power consumption also drops.

Over this burn pot, there is a large deflector plate that absorbs this generated heat and transfers it to the cooking surface.

The temperature controller consists of heat probes that detect the temperature inside and feedbacks this information to the controller and if the inside temperature is below the set temperature, the controller then feeds more pellet and air in the burn pot.

How to clean a Traeger

There are two areas in the grill that need to be cleaned on regular basis to enhance the performance and life of the unit. The first area of concern is the deflector plate where soot and grease gets deposited from the drippings from grill grates.

To remove the carbon-build-up on the deflector plate, you can remove it along with grill grates and clean them with hot water and a brush. It is advised to use gloves while removing and cleaning them.

The other area that needs attention is the burn pot. Although the wood pellets burn completely and there are very fewer chances of creation of ash, you cannot rule out the building of ash entirely. So do have a look at the bottom of the unit for any residual ash and suck it with a vacuum cleaner.

Any ash left in the burn pot can deter the automatic feeding process. As written in Traeger renegade elite grill review by various customers, Traeger grills are not a mess if cleaning is what you are worried about.

Let’s now choose the perfect Traeger…..

 

Junior Elite Grill

Traeger-TFB29LZA-Junior-Elite-Grill

The Traeger TFB29LZA Junior Elite Grill is a good grill for small family get-togethers offering 300 Sq. in. grilling area that you can use to cook 12 Burgers or 4 Chickens or 18 Hot Dogs or 3 Rib Racks. It can give you the best assistance for the last minute planned party at home or a picnic in woods.  You can smoke a turkey as well which turns out a lip-smacking dish and maintains moisture in meats and add that special smoky flavor.

Its advanced features include a LED Digital, Multi-Position Thermostat Control. You can maintain the perfect temperature needed for any delicacy you wish to relish. You have a good control over the smoke as well so that the right amount of smoke is used to create the right flavor to your grilled dishes.

Just a hint to its efficiency is that it can burn slowly for 12 hours. It is highly convenient to assemble and move around at the place of your choice. If you are in the search of an economically priced grill, your search ends here. The only disadvantage that you have to be around this grill while cooking since you have to keep a close tap on its pellets. It doesn’t have an automatic system to monitor.

With an overall rating of 4.0 evaluated from Traeger pellet grill review by 154 Amazon customers, Traeger TFB29LZA Junior Elite Grill leads compact, convenient and cost-effective pellet grills.

Read the full review here.

The Tailgater 20 Series Freestanding Grill (Bronze)

Traeger-TFB30LZB-Tailgater-20-Series-Freestanding-Grill,Bronze

For the ones who love to travel and enjoy self-cooked food, owning Traeger TFB30LZB Tailgater pellet grill is the greatest convenience. Its innovative design with Ez-foldable legs makes it a great tailgater and a good companion on balconies, small patio or tiny garden area to enjoy freshly smoked delicacies.

It offers 300 Sq. In. Grilling area good for a small to medium family.

You have full control over your favorite grill recipes since you can control the temperature with its digital Elite controller and a LED display to know the current settings. It gets its heat from 100% pure hardwood pellets and the grill can be ignited with its electronic auto-start ignition. All you get is wood smoked flavored food that you will keep asking for more.

Cooking is the art mastered by those who know how to manage heat while cooking. With Traeger TFB30LZB Tailgater 20 Series Freestanding Grill in the awesome bronze color, you can set the heat between slow simmers to high quick and hot grill.

Your grilling skills will escalate with this handy, movable and easy to set Traeger grill. The Traeger wood pellet grill review indicates a 4.4 rating by 18 Amazon buyers. Forget the charred meats or flare-ups when you can enjoy juicy and perfectly cooked food with Traeger TFB30LZB Tailgater 20 Series Freestanding Grill.

Read the full review here.

BTU Pellet Grill

Traeger-Pro-Series-22-Wood-Pellet-Grill

 

This mid-sized, grill from Traeger is an excellent example of efficiency married with state of the art pellet grill for those peppy parties at your home. It comes with a 292 square inch cooking surface that can hold and cook smoke flavored meat and other snacks for your best buddies and small family.

Its Bronze lid finish gives it an awesome appearance that goes well with your neatly manicured lawn. It is easy to operate with a fully automatic auger and electronic auto start. No need to worry about when and how much of wood to be fed to cook your food to perfection since its innovative digital control with a dependable thermostat that carries all the stress to maintain the temperature and smoke your dish needs.

Its pellet hopper can store up to 10 lbs of pellets to cook the food to completion and flavor. It is a great pellet grill cum roaster for cooking smoked chicken or a small sized turkey. You can also do a very good job with small foods like ribs, brownies, bacon, salmon fillets, sausages, and burgers.

If you need to cook pork you have to cut it into small pieces. This compact grill that helps you in cooking a wide range of yummy & smoky snacks gets 4.4 rating from 154 trusted Amazon customers.

Read the full review here.

Natural Organic Style

Traeger-Pellet-Grills-TFB30LUB-Natural-Organic-19.5K-BTU-Pellet-Grill

Are you a master chef that need nothing less than a master cookware? If yes, then you will get the best assistance from TFB30LUB Natural Organic 19.5K BTU Pellet Grill by Traeger. Get this blue covered pellet grill home and amaze your family and guests with the wonderful flavor of smoky meats, grilled burgers and nutty brownies. It can grill anything on earth!

Once you get this wonderful grill home, you will no longer touch your gas grill. The ability to control temperature makes it a perfect outdoor cooking tool for an expert as well as a beginner. Its 300 Sq. in., fully automatic auger and electronic auto start does all the temperature management. It is easy to use since you don’t need to hover around while your meats are cooking to juicy grilled delicacies.

It hardly needs any elaborate setup. It can be easily installed and heated in the least time. Since control of temperature is on your fingers, you have no fear of burnt or undercooked meat. If you need quick meal then this Traeger grill is your savior.

It has been rated with 5 stars from all the five Amazon customers, who vouch for its efficiency and tailgating feature.

Read the full review here.

Lil’ Tex Elite Pellet Smoker

Traeger-Lil'-Tex-Elite-Pellet-Smoker

It is a well-known fact that Traeger has pioneered the concept of hardwood pellet smoking. Although there are more companies that offer pellet grills, Traeger is still the market leader as far as pellet are concerned. More than 80% of the barbecue lovers in the USA use Traeger grills owing to its robust design and precise temperature control.

The temperature controller consists of a dial with different temperature settings to choose from. The temperature is controlled by a high-quality thermostat that automatically cuts off the heating once the desired temperature is reached. The grill temperature is displayed on a bright LED panel on the front of the control box.

The material used to build the Smoker body is stainless steel and finishing of bronze prevents it from getting rust. The size of 418 Square inches is enough to cook 26 burgers. This multifunction smoker offers you six cooking options that include a grill, roasting, barbecue, braise, bake, and smoke.

This compact, wood-fired grill from Traeger comes with a three-year warranty to support any of the malfunctions. Apart from Amazon, the Traeger products are also available from national chains Cabela and Costco. This elite pellet barbecue smoker has bagged 3.6-star rating from 26 Amazon customers.

Read the full review here.

Texas Elite (Black and Bronze)

Traeger-TEXAS-ELITE-34,-Black-and-Bronze

This pro-size, griller from Traeger is perfect for those looking for a large cooking space. With 646 Sq. Inches of grilling area, you can feed a large family or a get-together without any hassles. Traeger who invented the wood fired cooking 25 years back is continuously updating the technology with time.

The new features added in this model include two number of probes to read the temperature, the addition of hooper cleanout for refueling pellets, wider legs to enhance the stability, and a new rack on the upper side is provided for extra space.

The new changes are remarkable but Traeger is still using the same ten-position temperature controller in the knob form. Although the precision is being maintained, Traeger should have upgraded the mechanical temperature controller to much advanced touch button technology like other grill brands.

Having said that, Traeger, known for commercial smokers is still the most popular brands among barbecue lovers.

Weighing 150 pounds, the body has a steel construction and the outer finish is provided by bronze powder coating. The grill grates are made from porcelain and are easy to clean.

Reasonable priced, the Texas Elite 34 wood pellet grill is highly recommended for cooking enthusiasts. It has got 3.1 stars from 181 satisfied Amazon users.

Read the full review here.

Pro Series Wood Pellet Grill

 

Having a Traeger name on the Grill is enough to boast of a quality smoker at your place. Isn’t it? Everyone who wishes to buy a BBQ grill expects some basic needs from the best smoker in the market.

Some of these needs include reasonable price, consistent cooking over the time and readily available grill parts. Traeger does not disappoint in delivering prompt customer support and budget smokers without compromising the quality.

In the Traeger Pro series 22, you get 572 Sq. inches of the cooking area, multi-position temperature control unit with a digital LED display, auto- start ignition and auto shut down cycle control.

This freestanding grill comes with extended temperature range from low to as high as 400 degrees. To optimize the flavor and taste of meat, this grill comes with two meat probes. The unit comes with clear instructions manual and all the tools needed are also provided in the package.

The best part of this amazing wood fired grill is that it consumes lesser energy compared to grills from other brands in the same category. Traeger also offers you additional grill rack and a pan for cleaning the drippings, free of cost. Riding high on quick customer service, The Trager Tailgater has managed to bag high rating of 4.4 stars from its users on Amazon.

Read the full review here.

Portable TFT Wood Pellet Grill, Black

Traeger-TFT17LLA-PTG+-Wood-Pellet-Grill,-Black

This is a portable wood pellet grill that does not require any hassles of assembling. Buy it and use it! This is a portable model from Traeger and is best suited for picnics, outstation parties and is easy to move in the house.

The grill features auger control for slow or fast grilling, shut down cycle to remove ash residue, convection technology for even heat flow. The low energy consumption saves a lot on electricity bills.

The grill weighs only 40 pounds, making it one of the lightweight grills in this list. The grilling area is only 12” x 15” but the size is enough to feed a small family and a perfect size for RV owners. So whether you are smoking or baking, Traeger PTG+ will never disappoint you in flavor and consistency of the meal.

The grill is powered by a standard 110V household outlet. The grill features digital temperature gauge with a large LED display. The smoker is made from durable steel and the color of this model is black. Talking about the handle, it is perfectly shaped and ergonomically designed for better grip.

The grill is economically priced mainly due to its small size but believe me, the unit is pretty big on features. So order this portable grill now and rock the party with epic charcoal flavors of BBQ. The unit has got 3.6-star rating from 67 Amazon customers.

Read the full review here.

Is the Traeger Brand Worth the Price?

The grills and smokers are the essential appliances in the homes of people who enjoy vacations and outdoor activities. So before plunging ahead to buy a pellet grill for your gourmet endeavors you must know how it works. It is essential to read about the features of a suitable pellet grill for your home.

To be an informed customer and make an intelligent investment, also check out our individual Traeger Renegrade Product guides.

We hope that we were helpful. Do share your experience with this amazing grill.

 

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