Best Pellet Grills of 2024
Consumer Reports highlights three of the best smokers in our ratings
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At Consumer Reports, we test more than 17 pellet grills to see if they live up to the promise of blending the flexibility of a charcoal grill and a smoker with the convenience of a gas grill. We found that they cost more on average than those varieties, partly because you can adjust the heat to a precise temperature with the aid of a thermostat. The nature of pellet grills makes them more expensive than many comparably sized gas or charcoal models.
Best Pellet Grills From CR's Tests
The three pellet grills below score the highest overall ratings among all the models we’ve tested. All three rate well for smoking and cooking evenness, and they’re very easy to clean.
How CR Tests Pellet Grills
In CR’s tests of pellet grills, we assess a number of features, the most important being a grill’s ability to maintain an even temperature. For that, our test engineers wire each model’s grate with thermocouples to see how well it heats up and map how evenly the heat is distributed across the grill.
We rate grills on two other primary metrics. First, we judge how effective they are at indirect cooking, which involves smoking or cooking food at the lowest possible temperature. This is particularly important for a pellet grill because they’re chiefly designed to apply a woody taste to food. We also test how easy it is to clean ash from the grills and remove pellets from the hopper.
The overall test results vary widely, and our tests show that a pricey pellet grill isn’t always a better one. You can read our grill buying guide to learn more about how CR tests various types of grills.
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