I get asked a lot about the hottest temperature for a pellet grill and the maximum temperatures for different brands. It’s often related to grilling and barbequing steaks or cooking pizza, for instance.
I review and write for some pellet grill distributors, having tested many, I’ll give you my experiences since you’re probably looking at getting one of the smokers.
I also discovered quite a bit more about the functionality behind effectively searing on a pellet grill smoker. Remember, it’s primarily a smoker.
Any pellet grill I have seen you can cook a steak on. But!
Some folks get really into the sear marks and the higher temperature is definitely needed for this. Well, actually it’s also about heat retention – I’ll go into a hack about this as a ninja tip as well.
I will add some steak-grilling pictures on standard grills below vs the hack I use.
Pellet Grill Smoker Maximum Temperatures & Ranges
| Memphis Pellet Grill Smokers | 180-650°F |
| Weber Pellet Grill Smokers | 200-600°F |
| Louisana Pellet Grill Smokers | 170-600°F |
| Green Mountain Grill Smokers | 150-550°F |
| Traeger Pellet Grill Smokers | 150-500°F |
| REC TEC Pellet Grill Smokers | 180-500°F |
| Camp Chef Pellet Grills Smokers | 160-500°F |
| Pit Boss Pellet Grill Smokers | 180-500°F |
| Z Grill Pellet Grill Smokers | 180-450°F |
Searing options with direct flame has also been an addition – which can increase temperatures rather then dispersing heat – which is what most pellet grill smokers are designed to do.
Pellet Grill smoker models with cast iron grills as standard will always perform better at hot temperatures.
Since reverse searing has become popular, high temperatures get sear marks on the outside. However, a standard pellet grill or any of the above aren’t designed for this.
I am not a fan of pellet smokers, which have a sliding protector that opens up the burn pot directly to the grill. If you Google the first Weber SmokeFire Gen I, you will see that it caused many patio fires. Gen II has improved this, but I am not a fan of this model at all.
From all my research, all these pellet grills can sear to some degree when a pellet grill can get to 450°F.
Ways To Get The Hottest Temperature From a Pellet Grill Smoker
What Helps Achieve Maximum Temperature:
- Clean Burning Fire Pot
- Heating Up – Give it Time
- Cast Iron Griddle or Frying Pan
- Pizza Stones for Heat Retention
Clean Burning Fire Pot
Neglecting to clean after each cooking session can lead to inefficiencies in the pellet-burning process. Ash will cover the fan, making it less efficient. Airflow is used to control the burning and temperature. If you create a blockage, you will stop the system from working properly, which can cause other issues as well.
Heating Up – Give it Time
I have found that patience is the first point. You can help a lot by giving the grill time to heat up. I find you need about 15 minutes at least, and then add another 5 minutes to be sure.
Get your grills or pan in early to lock the heat in.
Also, remember that the temperature range is based on ‘under the hood’ temperature. With +350°F needed to caramelize, it’s at the grill grate level, where you want the action to happen and that heat to be reached—if we are talking searing steaks!
Pizza Stones for Heat Retention
Pizza dough varies a lot, I have been lucky enough to travel to Naples, Italy – the epicenter of Napoletana pizza they say.
It was amazing.
What I learned from that style of pizza is that less is more in terms of toppings.
Secondly, you need a filthy hot oven (woodfired, ideally) that can crank to 300-350°C/570-660°F. Now, that is some severe heat, but I want to mention that this is only one kind of pizza style. Pan-crust style doesn’t need this crazy hot temperature.
You can go super-thin crust and smash out excellent pizzas at lower temperatures as well.
Pizza Stones can retain a lot of heat, which is why they are used to help crisp up the base of the pizza dough.
On my high BTU gas grill, to date, I have broken 2x, it’s my own fault, I didn’t buy stones that could handle more than about 500°F/250°C.
It’s the same principle as having a water pan in the smoking area, you are using it for moisture but also for maintaining more even heat inside the cooking area (always add hot/boiling water for the low & slow, or you will pull down the temp).
Cast Iron Griddle or Frying Pan
Yeah, these are all about holding heat and getting up to a decent temperature.
Placing the cast iron directly over the fire pot will also get the most heat.
Just be careful, too many times I have burned my hand on a cast iron handle – carelessly forgetting that it’s going to be super hot.
I have a flat lid on a Dutch oven. This works amazingly for heat retention. It is one of those Le Creuset ones. I bought it actually for high-moisture sourdough.
Searing Techniques & Temperatures
The BBQing community discusses reverse searing (indirect cooking until internal target temp is reached, then sear marking outside). I’m a purist and go the old-school way, but it can work nicely for thicker cuts.
The grill grates are another point that will make a big difference on a pellet grill for searing, and I would suggest them if you are a searing kind of guy.
The grates can hold more heat, which is advantageous when searing steak. Another option is a heavy pan, such as cast iron or enamel-coated Dutch oven style.
Protein and sugars start to brown on the meat when the temperature goes above 350°F. The chef calls this the carmelizing of the sugars in the protein.
With the lower temperature range like Z Grill or Traeger, adding a cast iron grill or hot plate will help hold and maintain the heat better when doing a direct heat BBQ grilling session.
Wrote a guide to this and steak searing here.
There are Traeger-branded grill grates, and for Z grill pellet grills, you can also look at third-party generic grill grates.
There are some cool interlocking ones, so you can customize the size you need.
Here are a handful I can recommend on a page going into a bit more detail on grills and hot plates.
Check out the Comparison Chart I did here – enjoy!
Discussion on Reddit, too, about the hottest supports my info on the table!
Recteq bullseye 380x pellet grill gets to 987 degrees. I just temped one yesterday in my backyard. How did you miss this on your list?