Big Green Egg vs Traeger Lil Texas Elite

[bobbittle]

I cook pizza at 500*. I was able to control temps on the WSM but it required being watched pretty regularly, especially if the wind was blowing.

If you were trying to cook pizza on a WSM you were doing something wrong. Using a smoker to do high heat grilling/cooking isn't doing what it was designed for. An $80 Weber kettle will cook pizza just fine.

 

[IndyDave1776]

If you were trying to cook pizza on a WSM you were doing something wrong. Using a smoker to do high heat grilling/cooking isn't doing what it was designed for. An $80 Weber kettle will cook pizza just fine.

My understanding it that the kamado-style device is intended to be sufficiently versatile for all purposes. My Traeger, on the other hand, just doesn't run hot enough to bake pizza correctly. Given that the OP was planning to buy one or the other, it seems that versatility for purposes as this would be a worthwhile consideration.

 

[Vigilant]

I have a a Traeger Jr., a Lil Tex Elite, and a large BGE. I use the BGE more than either Traeger. It's just more versatile. The Traegers are great for low and slow, but the egg is just as easy, and I can run that bad boy up to 900 for some really seared steaks or a killer wood fired pizza.

 

[phylodog]

If you were trying to cook pizza on a WSM you were doing something wrong. Using a smoker to do high heat grilling/cooking isn't doing what it was designed for. An $80 Weber kettle will cook pizza just fine.

I wasn't. A BGE is a smoker, grill and an oven.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

BGE. Most accessories, more common, easier to find parts. I have a Large and couldn't imagine needing anything larger. I can get 2 large butts on there (~20-24 lbs total), 3 racks of babyback ribs with simple v-rack, 12 burgers, 5 steaks, etc... Only reason to go larger is if you are constantly feeding groups of 20 or more. I only cook that way once a year and just do 2 runs if that is the case.

Get the BGE - you will not be disappointed.

 

[jetmechG550]

I have a large and XL big green egg. I can easily fit four 9lb butts or a 14lb packer and a smaller 11lb packer on my large with my tiered setup or six racks of babybacks. My XL will easily fit 6-7 9lb butts or two packers on the lower and another up top on my tiered setup. I looked at the traeger before buying my BGE and since I cook year round, the availability and cost of pellets and the insulating ability of the traeger were the big down falls of it for me. I can get lump way cheaper and locally in the middle of winter but usually get 30-40 bags when it's on sale. If you can wait, get a demo egg at an Eggfest. Both of mine were "demo" eggs and neither was actually used at the fest I bought it at, my XL wasn't even taken out of the box and the best part was we made a weekend of it and went to one of the largest and best eggfests around and the cost came in for about $50 more than the large at local Eggfest demo prices. Yeah I spent gas money and hotel but it was a great weekend get away in the north Georgia mountains and with roughly 100 cooks it was a fantastic event. I use both the DigiQ and Stoker for draft systems to control my overnight cooks and a full firebowl will get me 18-21 hours at least. Of the other komado style cookers, the Komado Joe might have the most available accessories that would be compatible with BGE, but BGE by far has the most out there. Greeneggers.com and eggheadforum.com offer great support for techniques and recipes plus valuable info and assistance. I made tables or nests for both my eggs, something I enjoyed doing and they are tailored to my needs so if you are handy and or have the access to a table saw and a few other hand tools go that route and ditch the nest. Feel free to hit me up with any questions about the egg, I've catered a few parties so I have done some large scale cooks with mine, plus I've been egging for a number of years.

 

[Naptown]

Depends on what you want to do with it. I never had any issues controlling temps in my WSM when I had it. As far as versatility goes, you're not going to cook at high temps, but that's not what I intended to use it for. For the price, I prefer to cook more than 2 butts at a time though.

I have owned 2 WSMs and an Egg. Temperature control on the WSM wasn't too bad if you are around the house. You can check it every 45 minutes or so and make a minor adjustment. Not too bad.

Temperature control on the egg is almost always consistent regardless of the weather. My case in point - I cooked a rack of ribs on Monday, January 6th when the wind chill was like -30 degrees. I lit the egg, prepped my ribs, put them on and left the house. I came home 3 hours later and the temperature was right where I wanted it. There is NO way I could EVER do that on my WSMs. I tried and failed. I had times when the fire went out, and I had times when my butts were baking at 350+ degrees.

You simply cannot compare a WSM to an EGG, I'm sorry. The biggest issue with the WSMs is cleanup. I hated cleaning that thing after each use. My egg gets cleaned about once a month (about 8 cooks) and it literally takes me 3 minutes to clean. WSM took much longer, had to dump toxic water, ashes, etc... What a mess.

 

[ddavidson]

You simply cannot compare a WSM to an EGG, I'm sorry. The biggest issue with the WSMs is cleanup. I hated cleaning that thing after each use. My egg gets cleaned about once a month (about 8 cooks) and it literally takes me 3 minutes to clean. WSM took much longer, had to dump toxic water, ashes, etc... What a mess.

Don't look now but you're comparing them. lol I'm not sure why anyone is comparing apples and oranges. But anyway...

Kamado Joe - YouTube

I'd be more curious about the BGE compared to much less expensive Kamado Joe units I've seen.

Different strokes for different folks I guess because I don't think that cleanup is a big deal with the WSM. My hands get some dirt on them though. It's very icky.

 

[ddavidson]

I know there are some smoking/BBQ experts here and I need your help. My wonderful wife wants to get me a smoker for Christmas and let me pick it out. I've narrowed it down to the following

1) Big Green Egg Large

2) Traeger Lil Texas Elite

I considered a BGE for a while. The reason I didn't get one is the same reason you have. I only wanted a smoker. While the BGE CAN smoke, it's strength is high temp like when doing steaks. I've never seen the baking part of it but I'm sure it's nice too. I mean, it's basically an outdoor oven. Capacity was also an issue for me because I cook for a large number of people all the time. I would've had to have purchased an XL which is pretty expensive with all the accessories.

That Traeger is pretty nice. I went to their site and checked it out and think I'd consider the bigger one they offer. I don't know anything about pellet smokers but I'm sure that thing will hold temps nicely.

Here's just another option and something I'm looking at someday:

Lang BBQ Smokers® Cookers - Original Reverse Flow Design

 

[Cemetery-man]

I was able to control temps on the WSM but it required being watched pretty regularly, especially if the wind was blowing.

That's what makes cooking with them so fun.

From what the OP has stated, then the BGE is not really the best option. The BGE is way too limited by it's smallish cooking surface when compared to side box style smoker/cookers. Also the OP wants indirect slow cooking which is where the Traeger style cookers really shine. I have used a cheap side box smoker for years (and love it) because I prefer the ability to experiment with varied woods & charcoals as compared to pellets. Also the very large cooking surface is great for large combinations of ribs and ABT's!

 

[chezuki]

great for large combinations of ribs and ABT's!

ABT's FTMF'nW!!

 

[Naptown]

Don't look now but you're comparing them. lol I'm not sure why anyone is comparing apples and oranges. But anyway...

I'm just saying not a single person should ever say that a WSM is or can do what a BGE can do. You are right - apples and oranges.

 

[phylodog]

That's what makes cooking with them so fun.

From what the OP has stated, then the BGE is not really the best option. The BGE is way too limited by it's smallish cooking surface when compared to side box style smoker/cookers. Also the OP wants indirect slow cooking which is where the Traeger style cookers really shine. I have used a cheap side box smoker for years (and love it) because I prefer the ability to experiment with varied woods & charcoals as compared to pellets. Also the very large cooking surface is great for large combinations of ribs and ABT's!

My first smoker was a side box style Brinkman and if I'm honest with myself, I produced the best BBQ I've done on that critter. The problem was I didn't own a Forrest I could cut down to feed that fuel hungry pig lol. I then went to a WSM and while it was much more efficient it was just too temperamental, it seemed a slight breeze or the sun creeping over the house and hitting it would make the temp drop or spike too often. Then I bought a big offset barrel smoker and it just had too much volume and not enough insulation to maintain temps well, lots of leaks and was a fuel hungry pig like the offset.

I enjoyed babysitting some of them and working to keep the temps where I wanted them, provided I didn't have anything else to do. Unfortunately I don't have that kind of time often these days and the BGE allows me to leave it for hours on end. I've been able to maintain 225*F for 24 hours on one load of fuel and that ain't too bad.

Im glad I went through the other smokers before getting to the BGE, I learned a lot in the process. Pretty sure i could rig up a smoker with a couple of cardboard boxes and some dryer vent at this point if that's all I had available but I wouldn't willingly go back to anything else at this point.

 

[CountryBoy19]

OP, I don't own either, but based on what each of those does well I would say the BGE would "overlap" your current outdoor cooking tools and wouldn't cover the "low & slow" end of the spectrum as well as you want while the Traeger will fill the gap very well, and at a cheaper price too...

 

[Rookie]

That Traeger is pretty nice. ... but I'm sure that thing will hold temps nicely.

It won't.

 

[MJ06IU]

I'm just saying not a single person should ever say that a WSM is or can do what a BGE can do. You are right - apples and oranges.

+1 to Naptown

You really have to keep an open mind and cook on both before your opinion carries a lot of weight. I cooked on an egg 6 times before I bought it and 2 on a Traeger.....so just my opinion, I'd got with a BGE or Saffire. BTW, I save for my BGE for 6 months and now I'm saving for a Saffire.

 

[forgop]

It won't.

I don't have any issues holding temps in my Traeger. There's some fine tuning with regards to outside temp and feed rate, but it'll hold.

 

[Rookie]

Oh, it will hold, but you burn a lot more pellets when it's cold outside. I turned my Traeger into a double wall insulated smoker and eliminated that issue.

 

[Vigilant]

I bought the insulating wrap for the Lil Tex, and it has helped greatly with pellet consumption in cold weather. That said, I still prefer to cook on the BGE.