How often do you go to an appliance store to buy a grill? Not often, am I right?
We often make way for grilling whenever we’re off from work or school, or a special holiday comes up and there’s a celebration, a big gathering, or a feast with family and friends.
Well, the smart consumer in you goes hyper mode when purchasing a grill – you certainly want to pick the most efficient one which may cost a little but may prove to be a great investment in the long run. Of course, you’ll also want one that makes the perfect juicy and tender meat.
What kind of grill should you purchase and where should you begin your search for the perfect grill? Fear not, we’ve rounded up 5 of the best Traeger renegade grills here in our list to help you narrow down your selection.
5 of the Best Traeger Renegade Elite Reviews
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TYPES OF GRILLS
There are two ways to categorize grills. First, you could categorize them by the fuel requirement. For instance, there are charcoal grills, gas grills, wood-burning grills.
But the best way to categorize grills, from a grillers perspective, is by looking at the configuration of the fire and where to place the food when grilling.
1. Open Grill
This is the simplest grill type. It uses a stone box or metal with burning charcoal, wood, or propane at the bottom wherein the food is directly placed over the fire.
- North American and European table grills, South American parrillas, Australian flat top grill, Asian bucket grills, Indonesian saute grills, the Italian fogolar, the Balkan mangal, etc. are just a few of the many types of open grill.
- For high-heat direct grilling.
- Quick-cooking foods like kebabs, steaks, fish, vegetables are some examples best-suited foods to cook on the open grill.
2. Covered Grills
Add a tall lid on the open grill and you have yourself a covered grill. This may sound like a boring innovation, yet the covered grill can give you two important methods of cooking to your repertoire: smoking and indirect grilling.
- Covered grills include the steel-drum grill, gas grills, and kettle grills.
- For direct grilling of large or thicker grills.
- Thick steaks as well as veal chops, double thick pork, whole chicken and duck, pork shoulder, and baby back ribs are examples of food you may cook on covered grill.
3. Vessel Grills
Vessel grills are deep, ceramic grills with thick walls that use radiant heat off the side walls as well as the direct heat from under the grill, to cook foods.
- India’s tandoori, kamado-style cookers (Komodo Kamado and big green egg) are some examples of vessel grills.
- For high-heat roasting, grilling and smoking.
- Some great examples of foods you may cook on vessel grills are flatbreads, beef or pork kebabs, barbecue chicken, and fish steaks.
4. Rotisserie Grill
This grill adds motion to the process. It features a slow and gentle rotation which even out the cooking process, melts out fat, and browning the meat’s exterior for that perfect roasted flavor.
- Wood-burning rotisserie grill, gas wall rotisserie of France, charcoal-burning rotisserie, and the high-end infrared rotisserie in America are just a few examples of a rotisserie type grill. In the Mediterranean they use a vertical rotisserie to make gyro, doner & shawarma.
- Combines direct and indirect grilling. The food faces the heat for direct grilling, as for indirect grilling, the food cooks next to, not directly to the heat.
- Specialty foods such as roasted whole chicken and beef roasts smothered with herbs and spices are best cooked using rotisserie grills. Also, whole hogs will render a crispy skin and juicy meat when cooked in this grill.
5. Smoker
Smoking is one of the oldest forms of cooking meat, even dating back to cavemen ages. Americans today have perfected the art of portable backyard smoking.
- Offset barrel smokers just like what the Americans use for tailgates are examples of smokers. Upright water smokers is another smoker grill used for tender meats like smoked salmon, box smokers are used for sausages or hams.
- Smoking slow and low is the way smokers cook the food.
- It’s perfect for seed tough, flavorful cuts of meat such as ribs and brisket. When smoking poultry, I suggest you use indirect grilling at high to make the skin crispy.
6. Open Pit and Campfire-Style Grills
Even cave dwellers had to start somewhere before they could smoke. An open pit was their only option to cook food during the ancient era. You just pierce the meat and directly cook it in the flame (no complicated methods!). This method is very popular in America.
- Argentina’s Asado and Brazil’s Fogo de Chao meats that are grilled in front of the fire and the popular chocolate-marshmallow biscuit snack called s’mores are often cooked using campfire-style grills.
- Radiant-heat roasting is used.
- Whole lamb, pig, goat, salmon, tuna, rack of ribs are just some of the examples you can cook open pit style.
What makes the traeger renegade elite grill unique?
Unless you’re a barbecue fanatic, you probably have no idea what is a Traeger Renegade grill is.
The Traeger Renegade boasts an elite digital controller. This feature will help you cook anything to perfection, monitor the cooking time of the meat, and helps you adjust the temperature to your liking.
The wire front prep rack located on the side can hold plates and tools steady tools as you work on the grill. You can also open the hopper clean-out door to change wood pellets — no more hassle emptying out and reloading wood pellets.
Worried about excess fat? Ha! Forget about it! The Trager Renegade Elite Grill discards excess fat and meat drippings through a bucket via the EZ Drainage System.
The Traeger Renegade also has a Tool Caddy Rack and All-Terrain Wheels to make it easier to move and transport if needed.
Using The Traeger Renegade Elite Grill
If it bores you to read the manual and you want grill right now, watch the video clip below to learn how to setup and use your Traeger Renegade Elite Grill.
An Overview Of The 5 Best Traeger Renegade Elite Grills
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A Detailed Review Of The 5 Best Traeger Renegade Elite Grills
1. Traeger Pellet Grill
With a 292-square inch of cooking surface, the Traeger Pellet Grill is perfect for big amounts of foods to grill, not to mention how eye-catching it is because of the bronze led finish. It also boasts a state-of-the-art digital control to monitor cooking time and temperature for that perfect barbecue!
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I love and adore this grill! It’s perfect for burgers, steaks, fish, chicken, lobster, clams, scallops, crabs, prawns, and so on. The only downside is it’s not large enough to fit a whole turkey. I was assigned to cook our turkey last Thanksgiving but unfortunately, it didn’t fit.
On a brighter note, it can hold a whole chicken. In a nutshell, it’s large enough for almost everything except for turkeys and larger food items.
With Traeger’s Pellet Grill, you may replicate an actual smoker but you have to use wood pellets instead of blocks of wood. This may cost you in the long run if you often smoke because pellets burn easily than blocks of wood, so you have to constantly buy bags of wood pellets instead of smoking with two to three pieces of wood.
Cleaning is breeze! You just have to wait for it to cool down and rinse, brush with soapy water, and rinse again with cold water.
Pros:
- Versatile with grilling any medium to small sized foods
- Durable and has superior quality
- Easy to dismantle for cleaning
Cons:
- May not fit large foods (turkey or whole hog)
- Smoking may cost you a lot of money because wood pellets burn easily
2. Traeger Texas Elite 34 Series
The Traeger Texas Elite 34 Series has an auto-start ignition, so you don’t have to worry about placing your hand with a match in the ignition. The Digital Elite Controller with LED display lets you maintain a precise temperature just like your oven. With a 646-square inch grilling area, it can grill large meats such as turkey and whole hog.
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I have owned lots of grills over the years but none can surpass the quality of Traeger’s Texas Elite Grill. I highly recommend this grill to those who want to have a smoker and grill at the same time.
On the eve of Christmas of 2015, I used this grill in our backyard barbecue celebration. Anyway, I was assigned with grilling the burger and chicken, so I decided to use my Traeger Texas Elite 34 Series. They came out the best-tasting and juiciest burgers and chickens my family has ever tasted!
What really amazes me with this grill is it works like a big convection oven. I smoked 1 ½ inch t-bone steak to break it in for 1 ½ hours then grilled them. Oh my word! They were so good, the meat falls off the bone, and they’re wonderfully tender.
Pros:
- Versatile with grilling any small to large sized foods items
- Durable and has superior quality
- Easy to dismantle for cleaning
- Ideal for grilling huge food items
Cons:
- Bulky and may be hard to transport from place to place
3. Tailgater Traeger Pellet Grill
The Tailgater Traeger Pellet Grill has an advanced digital control to monitor cooking time and cooking temperature for quick and easy grilling. It has a automatic ignition just like the other Traeger products on this list.
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With a 300-square inch grilling surface, grilling medium to small size food items is a breeze. Also, it’s compact and easy to store — just fold the leg accessory and voila! It fits effortlessly in the kitchen cupboard.
Moreover, it’s easy to install and use. Actually, it’s very easy to store inside my small RV when we go camping and fishing.
This is a great little smoker! However, it’s not very ideal if you’re going to grill for a large group of people. I had issues with grilling because the surface was too small, so we decided to grill hot dogs and hamburgers instead of chicken.
Pros:
- Versatile with grilling any medium to small sized foods
- Durable and has superior quality
- Easy to dismantle for cleaning and storing
- Small, portable and easy to transport from place to place
Cons:
- May dry up huge portions of meat when grilled
- Not ideal to use if you’re grilling for a large group of people
4. Traeger PTG+ Wood Pellet Grill
Don’t be fooled by the appearance of the Traeger PTG plus grill; it may be small but it packs a huge grilling punch!
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It features an induction fan that circulates rich, hardwood smoke throughout the machine for even distribution of heat and flavor. With an energy economy feature, it only consumes 300 watts for the first four minutes and only 50 watts for the rest of the cooking time — talk about saving electricity and money!
The fire pot ignites the hardwood, keeping the fire going during the cooking process so you can relax and have a cold beer while waiting for your food. Simply load the hopper with any wood of your liking for hours of smoking and grilling.
This machine is excellent for grilling and smoking and surprisingly, baking as well. With first attempt with this machine, I baked cornbread and it came out moist and chewy!
Furthermore, the Traeger PTG plus is convenient and portable, perfect for use during camping and fishing trips. It can also be stowed away easily because of its small size. However, the grilling surface is small as it can only fit up to six medium sized burgers at a time.
Pros:
- Versatile with grilling any medium to small sized foods
- Durable and has energy economy feature to save electricity
- Easy to dismantle for cleaning and storing
- Small, portable and easy to transport from place to place
Cons:
- May dry up huge portions of meat when grilled
- Not ideal to use if you’re grilling for a large group of people
5. Traeger Junior Elite Grill
The Traeger Junior Elite Grill may be small in stature, but don’t be fooled as it’s an intense grilling machine.
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With a 300-square inch grilling area, it can effortlessly hold up 12 medium burgers, 4 chicken quarter leg, 18 hot dogs, and 3 racks of ribs. It also boasts a LED digital, multi-position thermostat control to easily monitor the temperature and the cooking duration.
This grill gets the job done — you just have to make sure you don’t run out of wood pellets as it will automatically shut down. I would absolutely recommend this smoker for a small household.
This grill is convenient and portable. I can easily pack it in my car whenever we would go to our grandma’s house for our monthly barbecue lunch.
Pros:
- Versatile with grilling any medium to small sized foods
- Durable and made with quality material
- Easy to dismantle for cleaning and storing
- Small, portable and easy to transport from place to place
Cons:
- May dry up huge portions of meat when grilled
- Not ideal to use if you’re grilling for a large group of people
- You may need to buy more wood pellets because it automatically shuts down when there’s no heat source
Verdict
Based on our reviews above, The Best Traeger Renegade Elite Grill Award goes to Traeger Pellet Grill. This super durable grill has a bronze lid and stainless steel body to prevent rust over time.
Moreover, the grill inside is also rust and corrosion-resistant. Its electronic auto-start feature helps you ignite the grill without hurting yourself. This grill also features a functional digital control to monitor temperature and cooking duration.
Did you find this article useful? Have you had any experience with other brands of Traeger Renegade grills? If you can recommend other Traeger Renegade grills, feel free to comment below. Don’t forget to share this post. Take care!