There are no significant differences besides the amount of grill space and a small price hike. We’ve looked at size, features, and budget to help shortlist the best grill for people with different needs. These are all full-sized pellet grills (with one exception), so check out our guide to the best portable pellet grills if you need that feature.
While you won’t win any points with old-fashioned pitmasters, the ability to produce excellent barbecue without fussing over a fire makes buying a pellet smoker very tempting. If you don’t need a large cooking area and can look past a few inconsistencies, the 440 delivers good results at an unbeatable price. While it lacks built-in connectivity, an add-on device is available for purchase.
That is because the surface area will determine how much food you can cook on the griddle at one time. The largest Blackstone griddlehas a surface area of close to 720 square inches. Both these griddles will last you a long time and prove to be effective for tailgating, camping, barbecue parties, and much more. However, if you require stainless steel, then both companies are excellent. In the culinary world, the debate between griddles is as heated as the grills themselves.
The grill has an LCD display for controlling settings, and we found its app quite useful. Connected to probes, the app let us monitor and adjust the heat, and it prompted us when the time came to turn the meat. Finally, the EX4 costs about as much as the average pellet grill, which makes it a great value overall. Speaking as someone who’s been voted most likely pit boss electric smoker to dig a pit, build a fire, and slow roast meats on a spit on a random Tuesday, just because I can, and have, doesn’t mean I want to. Sometimes, I just want to grill some food quickly with the wood fire taste that’s unachievable with a gas grill. Sometimes, I want to slow-smoke food and control the level of smoke imbued without being tied to the pit for hours.
A great thing about Pit Boss is that it is ideal for cooking thick cuts of meat. On the other hand, Blackstone is ideal for sautéing veggies and cooking pancakes, eggs, sausages, and much more. Blackstone griddles are perfect for making breakfasts, vegetables, and much more. However, it will take you a little bit of a learning curve to cook thick mean on it. That is because the surface is stainless, which is a little thin for such meat. This is one of the top advantages if you are trying to cook various foods at one time.
While the grease trap is in the front (which I’m a huge fan of), I don’t particularly like the design. In my experience, the grease trap cup area gets “yucky” because the grease funnels down the side of the opening in the griddle surface and sometimes it doesn’t all make it into the cup. Properly monitoring the temperature can help you when smoking whole chickens. A multi-probe wireless meat thermometer like the ThermoWorks Signals can be your best friend, especially when you want to monitor both the chicken breast and the chicken thigh of your whole chicken. That said, the Camp Chef Woodwind has consistently impressed us with its temperature control, searing options and level of smoke flavor. While some old timers claim they’re little more than an ‘expensive oven’ for more amateur to enthusiast smokers the convenience of use and quality of the food they produce is hard to beat.
These fluctuations gave pork shoulder a somewhat astringent taste. Our shorter smoking and grilling sessions, however, left meat with a smoky-clean pit boss electric smoker flavor and nice sear. The stainless steel grill has a front push-button-ignition control panel, and a generous 784 square inches of cooking space.
There are plenty of long, pleasant days ahead that are ideal for dining under the stars. And with so many end-of-season discounts, Labor Day weekend is actually an excellent time of year to buy a grill. To prove it, we’ve curated some of the best Labor Day grill sales that are still live right now.
In fact, I find that the cool spot really cuts down on the size of the usable cooking surface, and I tend to only use the right 2/3rd’s of the griddle. On the flip side, the left side does allow you to keep food warm and do more “zone cooking” with hotter and cooler zones. And with so many different griddles on the market, you may be wondering what outdoor griddle to buy.