This Traeger Pellet Grill Made Me Fall in Love With Grilling

I don’t love grilling. I always feel more comfortable in front of a stovetop than a grill, so unless I’m testing Webers for work, I do my cooking indoors, where there’s no guesswork about temperatures and cooking zones. At least, that was my routine until earlier this year, when I got a Traeger Woodridge. Now, I cook on it so often, it gets more play than my oven. 

Traeger Grills Woodridge Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker

$899 at Amazon

The Traeger Woodridge, like all Traegers, is a pellet grill. Unlike gas or charcoal grills, pellet grills use wood pellets that are automatically fed into the grill from a hopper. To use a pellet grill, you just need to set your target temperature, load it up with pellets, and get cooking. The grill will maintain the temperature for you. It functions a lot like an indoor oven, and that’s why I’ve become a convert.

Traeger has a great reputation when it comes to pellet grills (sometimes called pellet smokers, because they’re really good at low-and-slow grilling). And after cooking on mine for three months, I know why: It’s dead simple to use, and it consistently turns out amazing grilled fish, chicken, and vegetables. The Woodridge is a new offering from Traeger, and it's proof of how far pellet grills have come in the last few years. The Woodridge has a digital touchscreen and a helpful app, and its heat retention capabilities are amazing. Trust me: I grilled on this thing throughout a bitterly cold Vermont February and was impressed with how well it held my target temperature every time.

This sounds wild from an avid cook and kitchen gear tester, but I rarely use my oven anymore. My roomy Traeger Woodridge has more than enough space for a couple of chicken breasts, a pan of sweet potatoes, and some zucchini, and all of it comes off the grill with a kissed-by-smoke flavor. Cleanup is easy, too. (I keep a bottle of this grease-cutting cleaner nearby.) The only thing I wish the Traeger Woodridge did better was sear: It doesn’t get hot enough for a great Maillard reaction, but if that’s important to you, you may want to check out the Traeger Ironwood 885, which is better at achieving that gorgeous crust.

But that’s a quibble. I can’t imagine cooking without the Woodridge. I don’t need any grilling skills to use it, but lately I’ve been browsing more complicated recipes on the app, like these gochujang-marinated ribs and this salt-encrusted prime rib. Now that I’m confident in the basics, I’m excited to see what the Traeger can really do.

Why We’re the Experts

• Rochelle Bilow is an editor at Serious Eats.
• Previously, she worked at Bon Appétit and Cooking Light magazines. Before that, she was a baker and a line cook.
• At Serious Eats, we’ve reviewed almost every Traeger grill you can buy, and regularly update our reviews with new findings.