I did a lot of research before getting a pellet grill, so I thought I would share what I learned. Of course, depending on the brand, how fast the pellet grill heats up varies.
Knowing and using a range of smokers through work, gave me a bit of a comparison, I like to be analytical (yes I am a spreadsheet, facts and numbers guy) so I did my research (didn’t find much online so thought I could help others on the topic).
Here’s is the short answer, then also a bit of a breakdown on heating up, cooking steak, etc..
How Fast Does a Pellet Grill Take to Heat Up?
The time it takes to heat up a pellet grill depends on if you are smoking indirectly or grilling directly without defusing the heat. For smoking, it can take 10-15 minutes. For direct grilling, it takes 15-20 minutes. Ambient temperature will affect these times.
When I want to get a good grilling barbeque on, I prefer to give a lot a little longer on the heat-up phase. The current trend/fad is reverse searing, I saw this also inside the restaurant scene and it can work well if you have something to hold the heat like a cast iron pan.
When I was 15 years old and had to sear steaks or slow cook a big chunk of meat for 20 guests (we have a simple 3 burner – learned about searing/grilling early since my father loved to entertain the guests and I did the cooking on the gas grill!), I got the handle of it pretty quickly. We got a hood for the BBQ early on and did quite a lot of indirect chunks of beef which came out great (not temp probes either!)
25 years on, I reckon both the single flip or turning often works (it’s the resting that makes such a huge difference – gas grill or pellet grill).
Anyway, enough reminiscing back to the topic at hand.
Different Brands and How Fast They Heat Up
All pellet grill smokers will have a start-up sequence to feed pellets via the hopper through the auger into the burnpot, where ignition happens and smoke/heat is produced.
These will of course depend on the ambient air temperature also!
How Fast Does a Traeger Take to Heat Up?
8-12 mintues to get to 200°F or 95°C
How Fast Does a GMG Take to Heat Up?
8-13 minutes to get to 200°F or 95°C
How Fast Does a Z Grill Take to Heat Up?
Since all pellet grill smokers have to go through a start-up sequence, you can always expect at least 7 minutes minimum in my experience.
Another factor is, of course, the ambient temperature, if it’s cold out and snowing it might take a little longer!!!
I’ve used Traeger, GMG, Z Grill, Pit Boss, and a few others – they have all been around the same to get to a Low and Slow temp of 200F approximately.
Heating Up Pellet Grills Vs Other Smokers
Let me dive into the smoking comparison from what I have found using different smokers.
Heating Up Charcoal vs Pellet Grill Smoker
Whether you have a chimney starter or are just piling the charcoal up and using firestarters, it takes a bit of time and effort.
Being a borderline pyro, I use to not mind this (also when I had a lot more free time).
But you have to pay attention and keep an eye on it for up to 30 minutes I find. Some brands of charcoal tout light faster, and they do. They also burn faster I found!
There are a bunch of techniques and you can walk away once you get the charcoal lit. But that 30 minutes and mucking around is quite a contrast compared to the trusty set and forget pellet grill!
Heating Up Gas vs Pellet Grill Smoker
I use a gas grill 5 burner (quite a high-end expensive unit, bought for commercial purposes) as an indirect smoker, 10 years ago – when I bought it, this grill was the hottest, by BTU (heat) on the market. It can get up to temp in 5 minutes for low & slow smoking or searing steaks.
But for most other gas smokers it’s pretty straightforward, though there is only one I have seen that has a gas thermostat.
Nowadays, I use a pellet tube in the gas grill for smoking if I have to – if you haven’t seen a pellet tube they are awesome easy smokers I use for cold smoking, boosting the smoke, or low & slow smoking – this is the one I got from Amazon – pretty cheap too.
(Like the square or polygon shape, so they don’t roll around)
12″ – Polygon Pellet Tube
12″ – Square Pellet Tube
Anyway, that’s a gas grill with a tool to turn it into a smoker.
Back to Gas Smokers vs Pellet Grills
Dedicated gas/propane smoker take 10-20 minutes, a friend uses one of those masterbuilt ones that are super popular.
From all the gas smokers I have seen, they are generally quite a simple concept compared to a pellet grill. In a tray where wood smokes from a direct gas heat source, there is a metal defusing tray so the heat is dissipated – making the heat and smoke reach the meat indirectly.
Depending on the temperature outside and time of year it seems to vary as well logically.
Heating Up Ceramic vs Pellet Grill Smoker
My brother just bought a Kamado Egg, it’s early days but we have found it takes about 15-20 minutes to get up to temp for smoking.
But, once it’s at the temperature it takes much less micro-managing than good old charcoal and even gas I think.
You do have to fiddle with the airflow a little to get it set, so compared to pellet grills it takes a bit longer.
Derived from the Japanese style of ceramic efficient cooking – it’s all about insulation and also control of airflow.
Some other Thoughts on Pellet Grills
Related to heating up here are some other observations I have made.
The Big Question – Can a Pellet Grill Sear?
This is something I did heaps of research on, basically yes, any decent brand can. However, getting a cast iron hot plate of some description can help hold the heat produced as well.
What About Steak, What Temperature on a Pellet Grill?
First, the trick is with a pellet grill to ‘pre-smoke’ the steak before cooking it. Now, you can skip this, but I just love giving the steak another flavor angle.
So you just put it on a ‘smoking’ temperature (generally as low as possible) and let it absorb the smoke for 5-25 minutes. Take the steak off, get the pellet grill to maximum temperature and slap it on the grill (tends to cook a little but I don’t mind this).
Pro Tip – Salting/Seasoning beforehand and then letting the steak sit uncovered to form a pellicle for 20-60 minutes in the fridge, will mean more smoke adheres to the meat (you want a stick feel to the outside, its the proteins binding supposedly).
If you want a full rundown on forming a pellicle for various meats and the time it takes – check out this post here on eatcuredmeat.com.
Ambient Temperature Will Vary Heat Up Time
It kinda goes without saying, if it is snowing outside it gonna take a whole lot longer and vice versa. For the really cold areas, heat blankets designed for pellet grills can be obtained.
Ease of Setup
When I first got into pellet grills, this was something that I just loved. You turn it on, walk away, come back and it’s ready to go. It gets to whatever desired heat you want to cook at.
You can say electric and gas smokers are similar, but you still have to feed them quite regularly and there is some mucking around at the start for sure.
Pellet Grill Smokers – it’s all automatic.
It takes the hassle out when you just want to kick back!
Flare-Ups Avoided Due to Design
Because there is a piece of metal between the burning area and the cooking area – you can’t really get flare-ups when smoking.
For some pellet grills, you slide it across for direct searing. Depends on your pellet grill rig.
Under Smoking and Over Smoking
I have over smoked quite a lot of meat in the early days, mainly with some form of direct portable smoker, but also with a charcoal pit smoking session.
Haven’t had issues with a pellet grill, some folks complain that a pellet grill is limited in the amount of smoke flavor. If I want to give the pellet grill a boost, using a pellet tube that I mentioned earlier does the trick.
But to be honest, under smoking is way better than over smoking. Also, heavy smoked foods have more carcinogens, so that isn’t something I want a lot of either.
The advantage of the pellet grill is you are always burning clean thin blue smoke.
Heating Up Performance of Pellet Grill Smokers
I think it’s fair to say, many smokers heat up in a similar time frame.
The difference is, the pellet grill is a ….set & forget design.
In this day and age, I like that a lot.
For other pellety things you may be interested check out: