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What Types of Wood Pellets are the Best for Your Pellet Grill?

Food grade barbecue wood pellets come in many different "flavors" based on either the actual hardwoods they are made from, or artificial flavors, which are frequently added by many manufacturers. The most common flavored pellets are mesquite, hickory, applewood, cherry, pecan. Which type of pellets should you buy? 

The best option is to always choose barbecue wood pellets made from natural woods, with no artificial flavors added. 

The problem for consumers is that, because BBQ wood pellets are not regulated, the label may not accurately represent what you are buying. For example, most wood pellets classified as "Mesquite," are usually made up of more available woods such as oak or gum tree. Flavoring oils are then added into the conditioning chamber of the pellet mill, which infuses artificial flavors into the pellets. So, when you open a bag of pellets with a Mesquite label, they may smell like mesquite, but most likely will not contain 100% mesquite.

What Types of Wood Pellets are the Best for Your Pellet Grill?

The most important question you should ask when selecting wood pellets is, "What raw material is the manufacturer using"? If pellets are made from natural, green hardwood wood chips (oak, maple, hickory), you are likely to get better flavor. Generally, most hardwood pellets are a blend.

Manchester Barbecue Pellets are 100% natural, made with only fresh, green wood chips, direct from our forestry partners. We minimally process our pellets, to make sure that you are getting natural smoke flavor.

Pellet Grill or Gas Grill?

If you are looking for a grill that is easy to use, the choice may come down to a pellet grill or gas grill. Do you want a grill that is excellent at smoking low and slow and also capable of searing at high temperatures? Or are you more likely to want a grill that performs best at high temperatures that will leave you with great sear marks on your steak?

Pellet Grill or Gas Grill Overview?

Both pellet and gas cookers offer speed and convenience in a very user-friendly package. But how are they different? Some people refer to pellet grills as outdoor ovens that can also grill and smoke. While they both have the word “grill” in the title, they are actually quite different cookers.

A gas grill is perfect if you want to sear meat at high temperatures. Pellet grills can be used to cook and bake pretty much any of your favorite dishes that you cook in your stove at home plus they have an option to smoke low and slow. They impart a subtle smokey flavor to your food by burning wood pellets. They use wood pellets created from green woodchips and there are a lot of flavors to choose from, so lots of room for experimenting with your food flavor.

Probably the best feature of pellet grills is “set and forget”. They do a great job cooking low and slow, and you can set up the temperature on the digital controller and walk away.

Is there a difference between pellet smokers and pellet grills? No, they are simply different ways to refer to the same thing.

Pellet grills could cost more than gas grills, so if speed, cost-effectiveness, and great sear marks on your steak mean more to you, you may want to take a closer look at gas.Gas grills really come into their own when cooking at mid-high range temperatures but don’t perform as well as pellet grills at lower temperatures. The insulation on the gas grill is not designed for the optimal smoking.

Pellet Grill Overview?

Pellet grills are becoming more and more popular and the pool of manufacturers offering these cookers is growing. Among barbecue enthusiasts, RecTec, Yoder, Traeger and ZGrills are all brands that come highly recommended.

Pellet grills use indirect heat to cook food, with the help of a convection fan, somewhat like an oven. To power the fan, and other features of the grill, pellet grills need to be plugged in to your electricity.

Pellet Grills Advantages:

Very convenient – Once you have filled up the hopper with pellets, and set the temperature, all you need to do is kick back, relax and wait for your dinner.

Fuel efficient – cheap to run – Pellet grills have a convection fan, meaning they run very efficiently. This means you can expect to spend less on pellets than you would on charcoal.

Easy to maintain – Unlike charcoal grills, pellet grills don’t make much of a mess. Aside from the cooking surfaces themselves, you may need to clean out the fire pot occasionally, but that is it.

Versatile– Pellet grills allow you to smoke, roast, bake, barbecue and grill (although the sear won’t be as good as you can expect from a charcoal grill) all within the one unit.

Quick –Quick – You can expect your pellet grill to be up to temperature and ready to cook within 15 minutes.

Gas Grills Advantages:

Great for grilling – Gas grills really come into their own when grilling at higher temperatures. While they can be used as smokers, they will not do as well as other types of barbecues when cooking low and slow.

 Cheap– You can find a gas grill that suits just about any budget. While the higher end gas grills will obviously offer more features, there are still quality offerings at the lower end of the price range.

Speed – Gas grills should only take around 10 minutes to reach the desired cooking temperature.

Clean burning– Gas is a clean burning fuel, so you will not be left to clean up the remains of burnt wood or coals. The downside is that gas grills do not add any flavor to your meal. 

Pellet Grills and Gas Grills Go Head-to-Head:

Now that you understand the main differences between these types of cookers, let’s look at how they compare across a few key areas.

Fancy Features:

Both gas and pellet grills offer fancy bells and whistles, especially as the price gets higher.  But at this point pellet grills are more likely to come packed with technology.

Pellet grills are, by design, high-tech units. As such, manufacturers have been quick to include features such as WiFi and Bluetooth capability, integrated meat probes and LCD screens.

Grills like the Louisiana Grills Black Label allow you to control them via an app on your phone. Some can even be programmed to hold meat at a certain temperature once the cooking is done.

Gas grills don’t come with automated temperature control features.  Usually, gas grills come with more traditional features, such as side burners and rotisseries. Some models also offer little luxuries like internal lights and illuminated knobs.

Summary:

Both pellet and gas grills offer a great level of convenience and efficiency. It comes down to personal preference as to which grill is better suited for your needs and style of grilling. Basic difference between them comes down to this – a gas grill is familiar and also produces the good grill marks on the food you grill at high temperatures, while a pellet grill is a relatively new but very popular grill smoker that not only allows you to cook, grill and bake but also has a slow cooking smoking feature that allows you to set up a temperature and walk away from the grill until your food is ready. Perhaps most importantly, to add extra flavor to your food, pellet grills use natural wood pellets that are made from maple and hickory, just to name a few.

Are you planning a barbecue with your friends or family but aren't sure which barbecue sauce to choose? Well look no further, because we’re going to save you lots of time by providing a quick description of every major American regional barbecue sauce along with the key ingredients that drive the flavor of each sauce category.

We hope this helps you quickly determine what sauce will suit your taste buds by understanding what the key ingredients are in each barbecue sauce category: 

• North Carolina – cider, vinegar and cayenne
• Piedmont / Lexington – vinegar, ketchup and spices
• South Carolina – mustard, vinegar, honey and spices
• Texas Mop - beef stock, vinegar, Worcestershire, and spices
• Kansas City - ketchup, molasses and liquid smoke
• Alabama White Sauce - mayonnaise, vinegar and pepper

Keep on Grilling! – The Manchester Barbecue Pellets Team

Welcome to Manchester Barbecue Pellets where we make wood pellets for barbecue grills.

Looking for that great barbecue smoke flavor?

Manchester Barbecue Pellets manufactures super-premium barbecue wood pellets for use in all wood pellet  grills.

Our wood pellets are super premium and the best available on the market today.

Premium Hardwood

Manchester Barbecue Pellets starts with fresh green wood chips from oak, hickory, cherry and maple hardwood trees in New England.  

We then dry these wood chips and put them through our manufacturing process to create our super premium product.

Our product is a blend of premium hardwoods.  Wnever add any artificial flavors to try and simulate the flavor of other woods.  Some people may debate cooking with a blend of woods as compared to individual woods. For more on that check out our article here.

Why our Wood Pellets are Better

Manchester Barbecue Pellets is different from many competitors for two reasons.

First, some competitors use other types of trees that technically count as hardwood trees but do not have the flavor of traditional hardwood trees like the oak, maple, cherry and hickory that we use at Manchester Barbecue Pellets. 

Second, we go directly from wood chips to wood pellets.  Some competitors use the sawdust of trees from lumber mills. While there is nothing wrong with this process, this sawdust can sometimes dry out and lose much of the flavor of the wood. 

Wood chips are 40% to 50% water before they go through our drying system at the start of our manufacturing process.  Correctly drying wood before pelletization is key to our process.

Many people wonder what makes wood pellets stick together and not just fall apart.  The answer is lignin.  During the pelletization process, our wood chips are subjected to high pressure that causes the wood to release lignin.  Lignin is a polymer that helps wood stick together and means that no additives are needed.

We manufacture our product at our facility in Manchester, Connecticut.  Our company Manchester Wood Pellets is a member of the Pellet Fuels Institute.  Read more about how our company got started.

When you choose Manchester Barbecue Pellets in your pellet grill, you can rest assured that our product is pure and will deliver superior flavor and smoke.

Try them today!

Pellet grills (such as Traeger, Pit Boss, Weber, etc.) are the fastest growing grilling segment in the United States. People who use propane or natural gas for grilling can control their cooking temperature easily, but they pretty much give up a lot of flavor because there is no wood smoke flavor when you use a gas or electric grill. Let's face it - who wants a steak that tastes like gas? Pellet grills, on the other hand, offer a superior grilling experience vs. propane and electric grills because pellet grills use wood pellets to smoke or cook your meal. Because you can accurately and easily set the temperature on your pellet grill, you have the same level of control that you get from a propane grill, but with more smoke flavor. Barbecue wood pellets for pellet grills are available at most local hardware stores and big box retailers. An increasing number of pellet grills give the ability to sear meats on direct flame or use the indirect cooking method by covering the flame box. With both methods, you get the smoke flavor that just isn't there with propane and natural gas grills.

Have you noticed that American grillers are starting to buy pellet grills more instead of traditional gas grills? Gas grills have been the most common type of grill on folks' decks and patios for many years, but now this trend is changing , with gas grill sales starting to decline as consumers look for better grilling options. Wood-fired pellet grills are becoming the top barbecue choice in the backyard and even at tailgate pareties. Pellet grills' user-friendly design and superior wood-fired flavor are loved by pellet grill owners and the best cooks. You can be come a BBQ Pit Master with a pellet grill.

People love pellet grills for a variety of reasons, but below are the top 5 reasons why buying a pellet grill will elevate your outdoor cooking experience to the next level, with very little effort.

1.  Pellet Grills Are Easy to Use and to Clean

One of the greatest features of a pellet grill is the fact they are very easy to use and to clean. Simply fill the hopper with the food grade wood pellets and select your desired temperature and smoke level. The pellet grill takes over from there as an electric auger feeds the burn pot with wood pellets from the hopper.

Once you set the temperature, the pellet grill automatically maintains it and feeds wood pellets as needed. Pellet grills are highly precise with temperature control from their lowest to highest settings (180-500 degrees on many grills). Most pellet grills can hold the target temperature within a 5-degree range, so they are very precise.

Pellet grills are also easy to clean when you’re finished cooking. Whether it’s a quick clean-up or a deeper clean, no effort takes longer than 15 minutes to maintain your grill.

2.  Set It & Forget It

With pellet grills, you can set the temperature and walk away. You get a wood-fired taste and there’s no need to constantly check the grill temperature or level of smoke. So, unlike a Kamado grill (which requires the periodic adding of charcoal to maintain temperature), the pellet grill runs on its own, once you fill the hopper.

Newer models even monitor temperature levels from your mobile phone. Traeger and Camp Chef now both feature, easy-to-use, WiFi controlling technology. Change the temperature, adjust smoke levels, and receive notifications from your phone. You can even remotely monitor the internal temperature of the meat you are cooking when using a pellet grill.

Have you noticed that American grillers are starting to buy pellet grills more instead of traditional gas grills? Gas grills have been the most common type of grill on folks' decks and patios for many years, but now this trend is changing , with gas grill sales starting to decline as consumers look for better grilling options. Wood-fired pellet grills are becoming the top barbecue choice in the backyard and even at tailgate pareties. Pellet grills' user-friendly design and superior wood-fired flavor are loved by pellet grill owners and the best cooks. You can be come a BBQ Pit Master with a pellet grill.

3. Versatility To Cook Anything

One might even say that pellet grill is like an outdoor stove. A pellet grill is great for smoking and grilling, but it’s also great for all your favorite dishes that are usually cooked or even baked inside your kitchen oven.

Barbeque

Pellet grills are now recognized for their quality and are even sanctioned in contests sponsored by the Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS), winning many bbq competitions in recent years. The combination of smoke quality and convenience with pellet grills is unbeatable.

Pick your favorite wood pellets created from green woodchips (rather than low-quality pellets made with sawdust from sawmill waste), set the grill on low and barbeque. You’ll love the beautiful smoke ring, tenderness, and delicious flavor you get from home-cooked ribs, pulled pork, beef brisket, chicken quarters and wings. Fresh salmon, trout, and even sides such as mac and cheese are wonderfully smoky and tasty as well.

Bake

The beauty of a pellet grill is in its convenience of use. Anything cooked in an oven can also be done on a pellet grill. Pellet grills primarily work like a convection oven powered by natural wood fire. Indirect heat and smoke are produced from the grill's burn pot and then circulated around the pellet grill for a perfect, evenly cooked finish.

Bake bread, cakes, pies, breakfast casseroles, and delicious, wood-fired pizzas. Plus, when you bake your favorites outside in the summer months, you avoid heating up your house and kitchen.

Grill

Pellet grills used to only have an indirect heat option, but that has changed in recent years.

To improve the grilling feature, many manufacturers now offer models with perforated drip trays, direct heat over the burn pot, and/or temperatures exceeding 500 degrees. This allows your burgers and steaks to sizzle and get those beautiful grill marks and a good crust on the outside, while still preserving a medium to rare center, if desired.

Roast

Try your family's favorite oven-roasted or crockpot recipes in a roasting pan or Dutch oven, or new techniques such as a spatchcock roasted chicken. Winter holidays will also never be the same. Oven-roasted and fried turkeys are great, but – in our opinion – neither matches a brined and smoked turkey for the holiday season. Consider trying a pellet grill when cooking up that holiday turkey!

Braise

Braising creates melt-in-your-mouth comfort food by tenderizing the meat and enhancing the flavors of everything in the pot. Give your favorite cut of meat a sear, and then simmer it on low heat in a covered roasting pan or Dutch oven with vegetables, herbs, and a little liquid (recipes with stock or wine provide the boldest flavors).

4. Great Wood-Fired Flavors

All of your favorite dishes are simply better on a pellet grill. While there are many grilling options out there, nothing produces better tasting food than a pellet grill.

With pellet grills, you also have flavor options when choosing wood pellets for your grill. Each pellet flavor, or type of wood, has a unique taste that naturally complements and enhances your favorite foods. Specific hardwood blends are also available. Note, however, that "single-species" wood pellets such as pecan or apple may contain perfumes and other additives and usually contain lots of other woods like oak.

Experiment with different food-grade wood pellet options and find the flavors you and your family enjoy the most. Make sure that you never use heating pellets in a pellet grill. Heating pellets are usually cheaper than grilling pellets because heating pellets are frequently made from construction waste or other types of wood materials that could be hazardous.

5. The BBQ Community

With a pellet grill, it’s simple and so easy to make all of your favorite meals! They will only taste better, and options now available will improve evening dinners and weekend get-togethers.

 Pellet Grill Barbecue Party

The versatility and easy-to-use pellet grill features allow you to have more time on your hands to spend with your family, on your hobby or to watch that game you have been looking forward to.

There’s a barbecue community on social media you can be a part of! Look for #bbqlife, #bbqnation or #traegergrills on Instagram and follow some of your favorite bbq masters and home cooks. Pick up tips and recipes and share your own experiences.

Let your new pellet grill lead you to new flavors and cooking with ease and confidence.

Wood-fired pellet grills are very popular on the West Coast and now they are becoming the new backyard go-to on the East Coast as well. They are user-friendly and produce superior wood-fired flavor that comes in a variety of natural woods that pellets are made from: hickory, cherry, maple just to name a few. It’s hard not to love a grill that gives you so much variety of flavor, is easy to use and clean and gives you a wonderful new hobby if you are looking for something new to try. We only listed 5 reasons people love pellet grills and we hope your next delicious barbeque comes from a pellet grill in your backyard.

Pellet grills provide superior flavor when cooking meats and vegetables. Many people ask if wood pellet grills are cheaper to operate vs. other grills. Specifically - are barbecue wood pellets cheaper or more expensive than propane grills? We hope to give you a rough idea of the cost differentials.

Grilling with propane costs about $1.25 per hour of use (based on the March 2021 propane retail price), for a 62,000 BTU grill running at ~75% capacity, which would mean cooking at medium heat level for most grills. An average propane tank used for grilling has 20 pounds of capacity. One pound of propane contains 91,502 BTU's of heat Because propane infuses zero flavor, many people add wood chips, which further increases the cost.

Pellet grills set at 225 degrees burn pellets at about one pound per hour.  So, the cost of pellet grilling is about $0.77 per cook. So you get more flavor for less money if you barbecue with a pellet grill vs. a traditional propane gas grill.

Barbecue wood pellet fuel is much cheaper than cooking with propane, offers superior flavor and is much easier to handle. Most barbecue wood pellets are available in 20 pound bags, so they are easy to carry. If you switch from propane to a pellet grill, it also eliminates that annoying trip to the gas station for a refill. After all, who wants to carry around a 40 pound propane tank on a Saturday afternoon?! Barbecue wood pellets can be ordered on Amazon and many other sites for easy home delivery.

To conclude - pellet grills are cheaper to operate, more convenient and offer better flavor than a propane grill could ever hope to. If you cook with a pellet grill, you will get the best flavor for the lowest price.

What Types of Wood Pellets are the Best for Your Pellet Grill?

Food grade barbecue wood pellets come in many different "flavors" based on either the actual hardwoods they are made from, or artificial flavors, which are frequently added by many manufacturers. The most common flavored pellets are mesquite, hickory, applewood, cherry, pecan. Which type of pellets should you buy? 

The best option is to always choose barbecue wood pellets made from natural woods, with no artificial flavors added. 

The problem for consumers is that, because BBQ wood pellets are not regulated, the label may not accurately represent what you are buying. For example, most wood pellets classified as "Mesquite," are usually made up of more available woods such as oak or gum tree. Flavoring oils are then added into the conditioning chamber of the pellet mill, which infuses artificial flavors into the pellets. So, when you open a bag of pellets with a Mesquite label, they may smell like mesquite, but most likely will not contain 100% mesquite.

What Types of Wood Pellets are the Best for Your Pellet Grill?

The most important question you should ask when selecting wood pellets is, "What raw material is the manufacturer using"? If pellets are made from natural, green hardwood wood chips (oak, maple, hickory), you are likely to get better flavor. Generally, most hardwood pellets are a blend.

Manchester Barbecue Pellets are 100% natural, made with only fresh, green wood chips, direct from our forestry partners. We minimally process our pellets, to make sure that you are getting natural smoke flavor.

Are You Looking for a Good Pellet Grill Recipe Cook Book?

You can use a wood-pellet grill as a smoker, grill, barbecue, oven, and broiler to cook virtually any food outdoors There are certain tricks one should know about, and these are presented in these cookbooks. These cookbooks teach you how to cook juicy, delicious meat and bring along a smoky flavor.

“Vegan” may not be the first word that comes to mind when you think “barbecue,” but one of the books on this list provides a collection of more than 80 savory, smoky recipes that anyone can enjoy.

Additionally, these books provide practical tips on how to use the wood pellets properly so that the flavor of your food is enhanced.

Another amazing feature of these cookbooks is that you don’t have to be an expert or need the help of an expert when trying out these recipes.

These cookbooks are going to teach you that wood pellet grilling is the easiest way of grilling and is quite simple. When you follow a good recipe, you will find cooking to be less time-consuming and more result oriented. Getting the right cookbook is your key to outdoor cooking success.

 

Healthy Wood Pellet Grill & Smoker Cook Book by Nancy Loeske 

If you’re looking to fire up your grilling game, then you need a wood pellet grill and smoker. Not only does it grill foods perfectly every time, but it also infuses them with a smoky flavor that enhances the texture and taste of your BBQ dishes.
With Healthy Wood Pellet Grill & Smoker Cookbook as your go-to guide for healthy, competition-level results, you’ll be making lower-carb versions of all your BBQ favorites for summer picnics, backyard BBQs, and family pitch-ins.

This book features:

• 100 recipes for appetizers, beef, lamb, game, pork, poultry, seafood, soups, salads, and sides

• Full-color photography of mouth-watering recipes

• Expert advice on how to choose the best wood pellets for grilling and smoking

• A temperature guide to help you cook foods to the desired doneness

• Nutritional data that includes carbs, calories, total fat, fiber, and protein

 

The Complete Wood Pellet Barbecue Cookbook by Bob Devon 

Mouthwatering, tender, and scrumptious--that's what you can expect from food that's prepared on a wood-pellet grill. This complete guide and cookbook provide all the information you need to create taste-tempting meals on this unique and amazingly versatile outdoor cooker.

Bob Devon, barbecue master extraordinaire, begins by explaining how you can use a wood-pellet grill as a smoker, grill, barbecue, oven, and broiler to cook virtually any food outdoors. He then kicks off the recipes with a medley of barbecue rubs, marinades, and sauces designed to transform even the most mundane food into a culinary treat. Following this are recipes for steaks; burgers, dogs, and sausages; pork; chicken; turkey; seafood; vegetables; breads and pizzas; and even desserts. And from slow-cooked, fall-off-the-bone meats to crispy pizzas, every dish is easy to make and even easier to enjoy.

If you think that an outdoor cooker is just for grilling franks and burgers, get ready to learn a whole new way of preparing your favorite foods. The Complete Wood Pellet Barbeque Cookbook is your key to outdoor cooking success.

 

 

VBQ – The Ultimate Vegan Barbecue Cookbook by Jorg Mayer 

“Vegan” may not be the first word that comes to mind when you think “barbecue,” but those who eat a plant-based diet deserve more than fake-meat patties and black bean burgers when gathering around the grill. Vegans can now enjoy the ‘cue, too, with this collection of more than 80 savory, smoky recipes including seitan ribs, zucchini steaks, tandoori tofu skewers, eggplant hot dogs, and pulled mushroom sandwiches, as well as sides like crunchy coleslaw and grilled potato salad. And you don’t have to be a vegan or a vegetarian to enjoy “VBQ,” either. Anyone who wants to eat more veggies and likes to cook outside will enjoy this take on the traditional barbecue cookbook.

Wood Pellet Smoker & Grill Cookbook by Adam Jones 

This is one of the best pellet grill cookbooks. The reason for that is this cookbook consists of recipes for not just grilling but also smoking. Now you can easily grill and smoke on the wood pellet and reap the benefits of delicious meat.

The best part is that it is suitable for all kinds of meat. It is not just limited to beef but also chicken, pork, seafood, lamb, ham. That’s not all… You can also grill and smoke veggies and taste something new and different.

Another amazing feature of this cookbook is that you don’t have to be an expert or need the help of an expert when trying out these recipes. The instructions are clear along with directions. These directions are given step by step to make it easy for the reader to catch up on and grill. This guide will give you the experience of how to cook meat like professionals.

This cookbook also consists of photographs of each finished meal. Plus, it has temperature charts so that the reader can easily adjust the right temperature. This makes sure that the meat is not undercooked or overcooked. Furthermore, it also has a few tips and tricks to make your job much easier. This book is for everyone from beginners to experts.

Conclusion 

This short list only contains 5 books, but whichever book you find the most appropriate to your current level of interest in wood pellet grilling and smoking, we are sure it will both educate and entertain you as well as will provide you with a lot of delicious meals and valuable practical tips to share with your family and friends. Wood pellet grilling and smoking is something that is very easy to incorporate into your daily cooking practice or your weekend barbecues and special occasions.