The Best Pellet Grill of 2023

We love pellet smokers here at the Barbecue Lab. These machines have taken the guesswork out of smoking and given great success to the most inexperienced barbecuer.

With traditional offset smokers, you’d have to add wood or manage charcoal every 45 minutes. But with pellet smokers, you can get great results without having to babysit a temperamental flame. Not only that, but the temperature range on these pellet grills also give you the ability to smoke, barbecue, grill, and even sear.

How we picked and tested

In the world of pellet grills, there are far more grills available than we could ever include in this post. Please understand that we are well aware that there are many "contestants" missing from this contest. What we have done here is collected first-hand data from all the grills we were able to get in our possession. Some of the grills were provided to us by the manufacturers. Some of the grills were borrowed. Some of the grills were purchased by us.

As with most products out there, pellet grills run a wide spectrum when it comes to price and quality. In order to best be able to determine which is the best wood pellet grill while still comparing "apples to apples", we've broken the entire wood pellet grill population into 5 categories: Under $599, Under $1199, Under $1999, Over $2000, and Portable.

We have also compiled a list of 20 criteria in which we tested and compared the grills within each category. Some categories were very black and white as to how the grills ranked, whereas other categories rely upon personal preference. 

In the end, out of all of the pellet grills personally tested by us, we can tell you which grills ranked highest for us, earning the title "best wood pellet smoker" in their respective categories.

Ready to see how it all shook out?

Best Pellet Grill Winners

Ok, now that you've seen the winners, let's take a look at how each of the wood pellet grills tested performed against the competition.

Best Pellet Grills under $599

We took 5 different grills from 5 different manufacturers and ran them through 23 different tests to help you decide which pellet grill is right for you.

At the time of our testing, every pellet grill in this roundup was priced at $599 or less. Between testing and editing, we're seeing inflation take a toll, and a couple prices have fluctuated up and down a bit. Unfortunately, our best intentions are still slave to the market.

The grills we compared at this price point included (pictured above L-R) the Pit Boss 820D3, Cuisinart Oakmont, ZGrills 7002C2E, Lifesmart 2000B, and Expert Grill Commodore.

Do pellet grills give good smoke flavor?

Most pellet grills have a reputation for lacking in smoke flavor.

Some pellet smokers include features like a super smoke mode or smoke boost that allow the user to select the level of smoke desired for a particular cook. Typically what that does is allow for more swings in temperature that will then produce more smoke flavor.

Typically, pellet grills holding more consistent temperatures, particularly those with a PID controller will produce less smoke flavor than those with a wider swing in temperature.

However in our smoking tests at both price points we detected minimal difference from grill to grill in actual smoke flavor while we did see more of a visual difference in the outside bark, color, and smoke ring.

Pellet smokers: what makes them different? 

Pellet smokers are designed to be all about convenience, and they are by far, the most convenient smoker on the market. What makes them convenient? You don’t have to babysit. You can fill up the hopper, plug in the grill, and let it do most of the work for you.

You don’t have to worry about managing the flame or air flow or maintaining consistent temperature with pellet smokers. The grill does all that for you, and you get pretty dang good barbecue. Beginners and pit masters alike get great results with a wood pellet grill.

Wait, is it ‘pellet smoker’ or ‘pellet grill?’

Every industry has its quirks, and the barbecue world is no exception. While some experts believe that these machines should only be called pellet smokers, and not pellet grills, really the words are used interchangeably. 

Since you’re not traditionally cooking with direct flame the way you would with a gas grill, technically you aren’t grilling, per say. But you are cooking at grilling temperatures on a product that’s designed to cook outside. So we here at the Barbecue Lab say that you can call it either a pellet smoker or pellet grill. Trust us, if you’re making great food on it, no one really cares what you call it. 

The Importance of Materials and Construction 

When you’re choosing the best wood pellet smoker for you, you’ll need to consider what the weather is like where you live, what type of environment you’ll be cooking in, and where you’ll be storing your grill. 

You want to choose materials that are resistant to the weather and can hold up to extreme temperature fluctuations. Not only will it affect the longevity of your unit, but it will also affect your cooking.

Some grills have cold rolled steel, which is fine, but it has little ability to stand up to the elements. You have to keep the paint intact with touch ups. The repeated heating and cooling of  the unit will also weaken and thin the paint and allow rust to get through. 

We like grills that are made of stainless steel. 304 stainless steel is the industry standard that won’t rust, and is made to be uncovered. 

If you can afford the double walled chamber models, even better. The double walled construction helps keep heat in and weather out. Keeping a stable, even cooking temperature will let you have more consistent results and remove some of the frustration of cooking with cheaper models. 

If nothing else, make sure you have an oven gasket around the chamber. They are relatively inexpensive and easy to install. 

Hopper: Size matters…. Maybe

Not sure what size of hopper you need? It depends on how long of cook you plan to do and your availability to refill it if it runs low. 

Most pellet grills we're looking at have a hopper capacity of 18-22 lbs of wood pellets, or roughly one whole bag. While, our portable picks have smaller hoppers for obvious reasons, longer cooks are definitely possible. You’ll just have to refill the hopper - set it and forget it overnight cooks aren’t possible on the smaller models. 

Pellet consumption

One 20 lb. bag of wood pellets can run about 20 hours at smoking temperatures. The general rule of thumb is 1 lb of pellets used for 45 minutes - 1 hour of cook time. So if you’re doing shorter cooks, one bag of wood pellets will last you quite a while, about as long as a tank of propane. 

What size of pellet smoker do YOU need?

What do all the square inches of cooking space translate to for you? What size do you need? Think about what you want to cook and how many people you want to be able to cook for on your grill. 

Here at The Barbecue Lab, we recommend that you buy a grill or smoker based on whether the main grate itself can support what you’re generally wanting to cook. For a family of 4, a bottom grate of around 500-600 square inches would be enough of a cooking area for about 90% of what you want to do, including cooking for a crowd. 

How to choose a pellet smoker

If you’re going to be mainly smoking on the road or have limited space, then a portable pellet grill like the Green Mountain Grill - Davy Crocket or Asmoke AS300 will be a good choice.

Just make sure you choose models that have stainless steel construction on the parts where it matters - which is anywhere water would potentially sit and pool. Make sure to get the right stainless steel (316) if you live next to an ocean. If you choose not to get stainless steel, make sure to keep up on maintenance so the paint doesn’t chip on it. 

If your backyard patio or garage/driveway grilling area is prone to breezes, then make sure your pellet grill has an oven gasket or similar feature to keep the heat in your smoker where it belongs and help regulate pellet consumption. A thermal blanket can also help if you're cooking in cold and breezy temperatures. 

Other Grill Types To Consider:

While pellet smokers offer plenty of options when it comes to the types of food that they can cook, other grills may be your preference for different styles of cooking.