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The Traeger Renegade Elite is a wood pellet grill. In this article, we are going to take a quick look at what a pellet grill is and then tell you more about the Traeger.
Table of Contents
Overview of the Traeger Renegade Elite
The Traeger Renegade Elite is easy to use. It has digital controls and a simple temperature display. It is made from durable steel so you can expect to have this grill for a long time. It can stand up to all sorts of weather, but to ensure longevity, buy a cover for the winter months or store it inside.
The hopper holds 18 pounds of wood pellets which is a good amount. It means that the pellets will last for around 18 hours. You won’t have to keep filling up the hopper which can get tedious. In addition, the hopper has a clean-out system.
The actual grill is a reasonable size at 380 square inches. There is storage space for tools and food waiting to be cooked.
The grill has wheels, so it is easy to move around your yard to suitable spots. After all, you don’t want to be cooking with the sun in your eyes.
Core Features
To the left of the main cooking area, you will find the digital controller with an LED display, making it easy to read. This controller allows you to set the temperature in 20F increments. The display will tell you the temperature, so you don’t need to open the lid and let out precious heat and smoke. This can lower the temperature inside the grill and as a result, will lead to longer cooking time.
The grill has a ‘smoke’ setting which you can switch on if you want to smoke long and slow.
The only disadvantage with the controller is that it is set quite low so taller people will probably find it not as comfortable as it could be. Still, it is a small price to pay with all the benefits this grill offers.
The Renegade Elite has automatic ignition which makes life so much easier. You don’t have to struggle with firelighters, lighter fluid, or matches to get it lit. All you have to do is simply press the auto-ignite button.
There is a food probe included in the package which you can insert into the meat. However, it is a good idea to invest in a dual probe thermometer. Many of these come with a transmitter and receiver so you can simply attach the probes to the transmitter and read the temperatures on the receiver from the comfort of your home. Some of these thermometers connect to your cell phone via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
As we’ve said, the grilling space is 380 square inches so it’s not enormous. However, you could cook quite a few burgers and sausages on it or roast a whole chicken.
The Renegade Elite has non-stick grates so you can rest assured that your food won’t stick to them. You will want the delicious juices to stay with your meat not stuck on the grates. You can just wipe the grates down on the grill, but for a thorough clean, you can take them out and wash with warm soapy water.
The grill has a drip tray, so any grease is carried away to a small bucket at the right-hand side of the grill. You can hang the bucket on the lip of the drain edge, so you won’t have to worry about drips on your patio floor. With the bucket, it makes it easy to get rid of the grease or you can keep it for future use. For example, if you are roasting a chicken, you could use the fat as the base of a delicious gravy.
The Renegade Elite comes with a useful caddy rack. Here you can store your tools, plates, and so on. You don’t want to be rushing indoors every five minutes to get something you need. There is also a wire preparation rack on the front of the grill. Here you can prepare your food to be cooked and it’s also a good place to let the meat rest.
- Never use gas or charcoal again: cooking with wood tastes better and adds more flavor to every meal. Traeger created the original wood-pellet grill as the ultimate way to achieve wood-fired taste.
- Versatile barbecue cooking: hot and fast or low and slow, the Traeger renegade Pro pellet grill offers 6-in-1 versatility to grill, smoke, Bake, roast, braise, and BBQ food to juicy perfection.
- Features over 80 incredible wood-fired recipes to try on your Trager grill
- Includes an additional pellet, sauce, and spice guide to help you navigate your cooks
- It has a Led display which makes it easy to see.
- The controls are simple to use. All you do is set the temperature you want the grill to heat up to.
- The non-stick grates and grease drain make it easy to clean.
- Large roller wheels for easy mobility.
- It comes with a 3-year warranty.
- There isn’t an option for direct grilling. Some pellet grills do offer a direct grilling feature and yes, a lot of people do enjoy the taste of flame-grilled food. If so, they need to buy a different grill. The Renegade comes with a heat shield, without any option of altering it.
- The auger can sometimes clog with the wood pellets.
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The pros outweigh the cons and if you are looking for a small pellet grill to smoke and roast on, you won’t go far wrong choosing this one.
What Is a Wood Pellet Grill?
A wood pellet grill is simple and easy to use. You have a hopper full of wood pellets that are fed into the firepot by an auger and they catch fire. This produces heat and smoke to cook your food with.
It is as easy to use a wood pellet grill as it is an oven. Pellet grills have digital controls and all you have to do is set the temperature you want. They generally keep to the correct temperature, but if you want to be doubly sure you can invest in a thermometer with probes. Many have two probes, one to measure the air temperature in the grill and the other to measure the temperature of the food. Most pellet grills keep the temperature within +/- 20 -25F, although the more expensive grills can be more accurate.
You don’t get flare-ups or hot spots with a pellet grill because the heat is indirect and there is a diffuser plate between the food and the fire. An induction fan circulates the heat evenly throughout the cooking chamber.
Pellet grills work best on a low heat between 200F and 350F and are ideal for smoking, roasting, and baking. They can’t reach the high temperatures you need to sear steaks, but you could still grill burgers and sausages on them.
You get a smoky flavor to your food from a wood pellet grill. You can buy different flavors of wood chips for example oak, hickory, mesquite, apple, and cherry. You can mix and match the flavors to make your own distinctive taste.
Comparisons with Other Grills
Of course, you’ll want to look at the competition before you make a final decision as to which grill you are going to go for. Traeger has an excellent selection of grills and we’ll first compare the Renegade Elite to the Trager Lil’ Tex.
Both the Renegade and the Lil’ Tex have easy controls, auto ignition, and an easy-to-read LCD display. Both can smoke, grill, roast, and bake, but neither can produce enough heat to sear a steak.
The main difference between the two grills is the size of the cooking space. Compared to the Renegade Elite, which has 380 square inches of grill space, the Lil’ Tex has 418 square inches so you will be able to cook more food at the same time.
Other similarities include the grates. Both grills have non-stick grates so you can be assured that your meat won’t stick to them. Also, both have the same wood pellet capacity of 18 pounds, a caddy rack, and a grease drip tray and bucket.
The Lil’ Tex has an optional list of accessories that you can buy to enhance its usefulness. You can get a folding shelf which you can put in front of the grill to make more room for food preparation or to store utensils. You can also purchase an insulation cover which will protect it from the elements.
The accessories and the Lil’ Tex cost more than the Renegade Elite so those on a budget might go for the Renegade.
The next grill to compare the Renegade to is the Traeger Tailgater. It is similar to the Renegade in that it has digital controls, auto ignition, and an LCD display. However, a disadvantage is that it only has a 10-pound hopper, meaning that you will have to fill the hopper more frequently. Another disadvantage is that it only has 292 square inches of cooking space, so you won’t be able to cook as much food at the same time. Of course, it all depends on how many people you are catering for. If you just have a small family, it’s fine.
However, the Tailgater has folding legs so it’s easy to store it as it won’t take up as much space as the Renegade Elite. In addition, it makes it easy to take this grill to the beach or the campsite.
The Tailgater is a good choice if you like the wood-smoked flavor but are on a tighter budget.
The last grill we will compare the Renegade Elite to is the Traeger PRO Series 22 Pellet Grill and Smoker. This grill is similar to the Renegade except that it has extra features and also a higher price tag.
The biggest difference between the two is the size of the grilling area. The PRO Series has a massive 572 square inches of cooking space. This is big enough to cook 5 racks of ribs, 24 hot dogs, 4 chickens, or 16 burgers at the same time. It also has a rack above the grilling area on which you can cook an extra 12 hotdogs or 8 burgers. This is impressive, especially when you consider that it has slightly smaller dimensions than the Renegade Elite. Another difference is that the PRO Series comes with 2 meat probes, unlike the Renegade which comes with 1.
There are, however, plenty of similarities. Both grills have a digital controller, an LCD screen, an automatic ignition, an automatic auger, and the same grease drainage system. The Pro Series holds 18 pounds of wood pellets as does the Renegade so it will work for 18 hours without refilling. Both have 2 all-terrain wheels so you can move it around your yard, and 2 steel legs which keep the grill stable when you have found the place that you want to put it. Maintenance is easy on both as they have non-stick porcelain grill grates and a pellet hopper clean-out. They are both made of durable and strong steel. The one thing that the PRO Series doesn’t have, however, is a caddy rack so there isn’t anywhere to store your utensils.
As can be seen, the 2 grills are remarkably similar but if you have a large family or entertain big groups of friends, the POR Series is probably a better bet.
Final Thoughts
We hope that you have found this article about the Traeger Renegade Elite Grill informative. Yes, you might find bigger grills out there, but it’s all relative as to how many people you want to cook for. The Renegade has many advantages. For starters, it has a digital controller. You can set the temperature you want to cook at, and it will stay at this temperature within 20F.
It has a large LCD display so even those with dodgy eyesight will be able to read it. It has automatic ignition which is simple to use. There’ll not be any more fiddling with matches trying to get your grill lit. It is made of strong and durable steel and the porcelain-coated grates are non-stick and removable for easy cleaning. The hopper holds 18 pounds of pellets, giving you 18 hours of cooking time. Also, a wood pellet grill is more economical than a charcoal or gas grill so even though the grill may cost more initially, you will save in the long run.
We hope that you have a great time smoking, roasting, or baking with the Traeger Renegade Elite grill.
