All pellet grills have the ability to sear or grill effectively, however, the grill needs to have the ability to retain heat.
After writing articles and reviewing many brands/models of pellet grill smokers. Including Traeger, Green Mountian Grill, Yoder, and many more. I’ve attempted different methods of searing steak and other foods.
I’ve been smoking and grilling for nearly three decades now.
Here I will give you information so you can set up any pellet grill smoker properly for searing. And, you can do this on the lowest-temperature pellet grill smoker, you don’t need a side searing plate. However, I will cover off on searing plates and pellet grill options as well.
Cooking and caramelizing work fine on just about all the pellet grills I have seen. Even the ones that are hitting the lower end of the temp range (400°F/205°C) with these little tweaks and a heavy bit of metal to retain heat.
Let’s also go over the steak searing crust and mayonnaise technique!
Can Pellet Grill Smokers Sear?
What I will cover in this article:
- Which Pellet Grill Smokers Can Sear
- Ways to Retain Heat on a Pellet Grill Smoker
- In-built Searing Options with a Pellet Grill Smoker
- Links to Searing on a Pellet Grill Techniques
A few pellet grills have searing side plates. Yet, with heat retention, any pellet grill smoker set to the maximum temperature and left to heat up can perform searing. Metal griddles, cast iron pans or grill grates that hold heat can work effectively.
Since it’s gas-powered, you, of course, need a dedicated cylinder for this tool. But if it’s a searing station you want on the side this is the higher-end solution.
Which Pellet Grills Smokers Can Sear
Any pellet grill smoker can sear steak or other foods to create grill marks.
Whether it’s a GMG, Traeger, CampChef, Yoder etc..
Some do come with cast iron grills, these are often the mid to upper end of the market. I’ll cover those options for searing below.
The key is to hold the heat that is being produced, here are the ways you do this.
Ways to Retain Heat on a Pellet Grill Smoker
They are:
- Grill Grate Upgrade
- Heat Retention using a Heavy Cast Iron Pan or Dutch Oven Enamel Pan
If you can hold the heat on the grill, then the temperature keeps rising to a point where the searing becomes more effective.
TIP – if you don’t need to swap out the existing grills. You can just put it on top of the grill if you want, and make sure it’s up to the max temperature on your pellet grill smoker.
Grill Upgrade (Grill Grates)
This really depends on your existing setup or the setup you are going to buy.
Heat Retention is awesome and the marks these leave are top-notch, these are the go-to for most grills even if it’s gas or charcoal. It’s an investment for the ‘real’ Grill Grate, made from aircraft-grade hard anodized aluminum.
You can get way smaller than your full grill area plate size and just put them on top for easy searing.
Heat them up, and you’re ready to go, they heat up x2 fast as a caste iron griddle or pan.
The interlocking system is self-explanatory.
They use aircraft-grade hardened aluminum. Just watch out you get the right size you want for your grill.
Check out the fantastic reviews on Amazon here.
Cast Iron or Heavy Oven Proof Skillet
Here is a video using a portable pellet grill, which can get to a temperature of 450°F/230°C – which is pretty much the lowest temperature for most pellet grill smokers on the market.
Having a heavy chunk of metal helps a lot to hold the heat. You might already have one in your kitchen.
I have used the flat lid of my dutch oven (ceramic Le Creuset also used for high water content sourdough) or a few different cast iron pans that work a treat.
I’ve used a griddle like this:
Here is the result on a Traeger Pro22, very old – ex-display demo – didn’t really get up to max temperature anymore, here is the result:
HOT TIP – Don’t grab the handle without protection, I’ve done this more than once
Being heavy and thick, you need to give it some time to heat up on the pellet grill. I like to go at least 10-15 minutes with cast iron if I want maximum searing ability.
If you get a cast iron pan, you need to season it with oil before you use it the first time and after cleaning it every time.
Cast iron can come with a ‘factory’ seasoning, but you need to keep the oil seasoning going so it creates protection from rusting and sticking. By caring for it you develop a multi-layered barrier that helps the cooking process and it will last a very long time!
Canola or vegetable oil are the common ones, any oil can be used.
A few suggestions from Amazon below of decent Iron Pans to put on top of your pellet grill:
In-built Searing Options with a Pellet Grill Smoker
Many Experts and Pellet Grill business retailers I’ve spoken to, say just get a simple Traeger or GMG for smoking low temperatures and get a gas/propane grill 3 burners for searing and grilling.
It does mean 2 setups that take up more space.
Here are a few models that do provide both hot smoking indirect / Low and Slow as well as searing capability.
CampChef
One of the first companies to add a side searing station that can replace the right shelf on 24 and 36″ models.
“180 square inches of cooking space, a 16,000 BTU propane burner, enamel-coated cast iron, and specially designed heat diffuser plates to vaporize grease dripping.“
CampChef Sear Box
https://www.campchef.com/blog/sidekick-vs-sear-box.html
Weber SmokeFire
A different technique, the first generation has a sliding system to open the flame up to be more direct. That wasn’t a good idea, the next generation has got a high-temperature heat of 600°F/315°C, but more importantly flavorizers.
I call vaporizers, V-shaped bars, these act as a form of heat retention which assists the searing as well.
Most pellet grill smoker has a deflection shield as well as a grease-angled drip tray, so that heat is always dissipated more like an oven baking in a way.
Cast Iron Grill High-Temperature Pellet Grills
Which Pellet Grills Come with Cast Iron Grates?
- Broil King Regal 500
- Broil King Baron 400
- Louisiana Grills LG900C
- Louisiana Grills LG700
- Char-Griller Wood Pro
- Oklahoma Joe Rider Deluxe
- Monument Pellet Grill Pony
I wrote an article on the list above which covers the Cast Iron options.
Searing on a Pellet Grill Techniques
It’s when we get to the ‘reverse’ sear for instance that people want that extra heat to do some quick sizzle marks. Most of the time, I like to cook a steak the traditional way and flip it until it’s done. I’ve done it this way for a long time and it works for me.
Searing does mean leaving it for long enough to caramelize some of the natural sugars in the meat.
It’s a fine line between caramelizing brown crust on a steak and going over the top with it going black-charred. Many times on the gas grill, going to max heat is not always best (depends on the thickness of the meat of course).
My Steak Basics
The simple grilling/BBQ way always applies, this is the “classic” approach and the guide I go by.
There is reverse searing which is baking/smoking/cooking first, then putting some sear marks on the outside – different altogether I think.
This is the non-marinading or no-rub way I like to use for just pure red meat or pork. I harvest a fair bit of wild red meat and some other bits of wild boar on occasion as well which gets turned into a premium-grade steak.
With the red meat be it deer or beef, it all starts with quality meat from a sustainable source (no grain feed, they just weren’t designed to eat grain I think, grass-fed free-roaming beef).
Simple Searing Process:
- Heat up as much as possible the grill
- Salt, pepper & oil the meat, I like to lightly rub this in
- Leave for 5-10 minutes
- Medium hot grill – (depends on the thickness of the steak as well)
- Straight on
- Either keep flipping once sealed or flip once if thinner cut
- Resting is important after all that intense direct heat
Note* this is where people differ a lot, I find outcomes are similar, as long as you are hitting the doneness you are aiming for. Some believe in just a single turn of the meat, and some don’t.
Resting is what too many people skip, at least 5 mins or more for thicker +1″ cuts.
For searing on a pellet grill to get higher heat onto the meat, it all comes down to heat retention.
I wrote both methods I use in detail, How to Cook a Steak Pellet Grill Smoker.
Mayonnaise for Coating and Searing Steak
The oil and emulsifiers help create a crust on the seared steak, here is some links to get more info:
