Pellet Grill Steak: How to Cook the Perfect Steak on Your Pellet Grill

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Do you love steak but don’t know how to cook it on your pellet grill? You’re in luck!

In this blog post, we will teach you how to cook the perfect steak on your pellet grill. We’ll go over everything from choosing the right cut of meat to seasoning it perfectly. So, whether you’re a beginner or an expert at cooking steak, this blog post has something for you.

How to Choose the Right Cut of Meat?

When it comes to cooking steak, there are a few things you need to consider before you start. The most important thing is to choose the right cut of meat. Not all cuts of meat are created equal, and some will cook better than others on a pellet grill.

Here are a few tips for choosing the right cut of meat:

  • Choose a cut that is at least an inch thick. thinner cuts will cook too quickly and will be over-cooked by the time the center is cooked to your liking.
  • Choose a steak that has some marbling. Marbled meat will have more flavor and will be more tender than meat with less fat.
  • Avoid lean cuts of meat, such as flank steak. These cuts will be dry and tough when cooked on a pellet grill.

How to Season Your Steak?

Once you’ve chosen the right cut of meat, it’s time to season it. There are endless ways to season steak, but here are a few tips that will help you create a delicious, flavorful steak:

  • Salt and pepper are a must. Be sure to season your steak generously with salt and pepper both before and after cooking.
  • Try using a spice rub or marinade. A simple spice rub or marinade can add tons of flavor to your steak.
  • Add some herbs. Fresh herbs like thyme, rosemary, and parsley will add a delicious flavor to your steak.

Once you’ve chosen a seasoning combination, sprinkle it generously on both sides of the steak.

What is a Pellet Grill?

Before grilling the meat, it would be better to understand the pellet grill. Before buying one, you should understand its function, different parts, and heat source. A pellet grill is an electric or gas grill with a wood chips tray. The grill burns these wood chips to infuse the smoke flavors into the steak.

The pellet grills are perfect for indoor kitchens as they use electricity or gas, effective for steak grilling. They give users options such as non-smoky flavor meat and the smoke flavor. You would include the wood chips if you like the smoky flavor and avoid the chips when you don’t want a smoky steak.

You may consider the grilling space as it affects how much meat you would grill over a given time. Moreover, you may consider buying a well-built grill as it determines how long the grill will last.

The grill should emit enough indirect heat to the food giving it nice grill lines. Although the food taste is everything, having an appealing steak boosts food presentation, boosting a chef’s confidence and making the consumer feel good.

How to Cook Steak on Pellet Grill?

· Preheat the Pellet Grills

You can start by cleaning the grill, especially if it is new, as you would not want to expose your food to contaminants. Then crank the grill to the highest temperatures possible, as it makes grilling possible. Your grill would achieve 500 degrees Fahrenheit within 15 minutes, depending on the grill type and heat source.

The grease on the pan might start a fire at high temperatures. It is better to ensure the drip pans are clean before heating the grill to high temperatures. Your steak will absorb burnt flavors from old grease if the grill is not sufficiently clean.

· Remove Excess Fats

Although some people prefer their steak with fat, this might be a useful step for people who enjoy steak free from fat. You can remove the visible fat from the steak as it prevents steak burning during cooking; the burning fat might make the meat have the burning taste. Thus, you can incorporate this important step into the grilling process.

· Seasoning

When you have the right grill and the steak, you will season the steak with salt, pepper, and other ingredients of choice. You can start by patting the steak with a towel to remove excess moisture. This is a critical step, especially for meat that had been in a freezer and collected moisture.

You may avoid steaming the steak as it would be hard to get the right seasoning due to the excess moisture. After achieving the dry finishing on the steak, you would sprinkle it with salt on the sides and edges and apply pepper and other ingredients.

You may infuse fresh herbs, but you should be cautious to avoid seasoning overload, making your nice steak cuts a hero of the flavor profile.

· Monitor the Grill Temperatures

After seasoning the steak with the desired ingredients, place it in the pellet grill with the meat thermometer probe, making it possible to read the temperatures you cook your food. The temperature gives you a constant reading on the internal temperature, and this is important if you want to grill the steak at a constant temperature.

Grilling the meat at a high temperature for a minute can easily turn it from medium-rare to medium or medium-well done. Thus, you can achieve the right grilling with the temperature checks and flip the steak whenever possible.

· Remove the Steak

You can achieve the desired grilled steak. For instance, you may cook the grill to medium rare at 125 degrees Fahrenheit.

However, the steak thickness would affect the steak’s doneness, and you may consider the thickness and appropriate temperature before grilling the meat. Once the grilling is done, you let the grilled steak rest for two minutes and slice and serve it to your family.

· Try Reverse Searing

You can try reverse searing after mastering the traditional searing as it is a delicate method. The method is the opposite of traditional grilling as you would cook the inside of the meat first and sear the outside last. You will achieve reverse searing within a short time, and you may follow steps similar to the traditional grilling.

You would remove the excess moisture from the steak using your towel and place it into the pellet grill at the desired temperatures. Then let it cook to the desired doneness, remove and let it rest for about three minutes and give it a searing job.

Reverse sear gives the meat a smoky flavor as the smoke from the wood pellets directly infuses into the steak. This method takes more time, but they result in a heavenly taste; thus, you can try it to achieve a tasty steak.

How Long to Cook Steak on Pellet Grill?

The steak would take about 15 minutes to 1 hour to cook well in a pellet grill, but the time might vary depending on the thickness of the steak. A thick steak might require a longer time than a thin steak.

Moreover, cooking the steak at a high temperature shortens the time needed while low internal temperatures would elongate the cooking time. Your doneness might impact the cooking time, and it would be better to adjust the cooking time to meet your needs and cook the smoked grill steak well.

What Temperature Do You Cook Steak on a Pellet Grill?

Most chefs would cook their steak at 500 degrees Fahrenheit, but this gives the medium well-done steak. If you want to achieve medium-rare, cook it at 125 degrees Fahrenheit.

You can determine the steak temperature with a thermometer, but if you don’t have the thermometer, you will use the pellet grill temperature readings. The steak temperature would be half of the pellet grill’s temperature. This may not be true all the time, as other factors would affect the grill temperature.

Tips to Smoke a Steak on a Pellet Grill

The pellet grill uses smoke as an ingredient, and you would taste the beef together with the smoke when enjoying your dinner. The smoke makes the steak taste better, and the pellet grill has an in-built tray that holds the wood pellets.

If you want to incorporate the smoke flavor into the meat, you would ignite the wood pellets in the tray. The pellets let smoke into the grilling chamber and attach themselves to the steak. The pellet grill offers controlled smoking.

For instance, you would determine the amount of smoke you would release into the food. If you like medium smoky flavors, you need to put fewer wood pellets or pull out the pellet tray when you feel the steak is smoked enough.

Here are tips for smoking a perfect steak on a pellet grill:

· Explore

Since you achieve the smoky flavor with wood, you would play with the wood type to give the steak a distinct flavor. You may use different wood pellets on other meat cuts as it is easy to find the combo which speaks to your soul.

The cherry wood pellets give a mild smoked flavor with vibrant color. The steak would taste good and look good. Apple, maple, and pecan wood pellets have mild flavors, and they may be the best wood pellets for beginners. On the other hand, hickory, oak, and mesquite wood have bold smoky flavors suitable for smoked steak enthusiasts seeking new experiences. You can explore these wood types to enjoy unforgettable flavors.

The wood pellets look like compressed sawdust, and they effectively release the flavors into the steak. On the other hand, wood chips are wood pieces that give the steak the smoke flavor. However, the pellets are effective as they burn easily and leave smoke released into the grill.

· Choose the Right Steak Size

You can achieve better smoky flavors based on the steak you choose. For instance, the 1 ½ thick steaks would be the best for smoking.

Some people might go for the ribeyes, strip steaks, and tenderloins as they are easy to smoke. However, if you choose a too thin steak, it will cook through too quickly, and you might not achieve the slow-smoked flavors.

· Cook the Steak at Lower Heat and for an Extended Time

You can achieve the best smoky flavor by cooking the steak at low temperatures and for an extended time. Since good smoking would stop at 135 degrees Fahrenheit internal temperatures, it would be better to turn down the smoker’s temperatures to increase the cooking time.

You can buy the pellet grill with adjustable temperature control for optimum grilling. The steak would not cook very quickly when you put the grilling temperature down. The meat would get smoky flavors over an extended time.

· Do Not Open the Grill Lid

You should not open the pellet grill lid after infusing smoke from the wood pellets into the smoker as it is important to wait. You would want to let the smoke infuse into the steak. Opening the grill lid would impact the internal temperatures leading to poor grilling outcomes.

You may set a timer that guides when to open the grill lid as it allows the meat to cook better, leaving the smoky flavor on the steak.

You may also wish to wait before cutting the meat after it achieves the right smoking. Let the steak rest for about 5 minutes before cutting it. You need to take the steak off the grill, wrap it, and put it in the fridge as it speeds the waiting time and infuses the smoked flavor into the meat.

However, you should not let your meat freeze as you need to rewarm it. The freeze should only speed up the resting time before you cut the steak.

How Do You Know When to Flip a Steak?

The internal steak temperatures would guide you to flip the steak. You will get the perfect readings with a thermometer, but the built-in pellet temperatures will guide you if you don’t have the thermometer. The internal pellet grill temperature might be twice the steak’s temperature; this may be an estimated temperature.

Are Pellet Grills Good for Burgers and Steaks?

The pellet grills are good for burgers and steaks as they act like ovens, and you can choose whether to infuse the smoke into your food or not. The pellet grills are better as they give consistently. Although cooking burgers in the regular ovens would be the priority, you can try the pellet grills for the smoky flavors and enjoy a tasty meal.

Is It Better To Sear or Reverse Sear Steak?

Both traditional and reverse methods effectively cook your steaks, but they have limitations and advantages. The reverse searing would work for you if you enjoy smoky steak, as the method infuses thick smoke flavor into your meat.

You can control the smoky flavor by reducing wood pellets and the method would still cook the steak to your liking and retain the right moisture. On the other hand, the traditional approach might not infuse the amount of smoke you want in your meat, but the technique leads to correctly done steak.

What Are The Benefits Of Cooking Steak On A Pellet Grill?

There are many benefits to cooking steak on a pellet grill. First, pellet grills offer even heat distribution, which means that your steak will cook evenly all the way through. Second, pellet grills are smokeless, so you won’t have to worry about any unpleasant odors or flavors.

Finally, pellet grills are very easy to use, making them perfect for beginners.

Conclusion

Achieving the proper steak on a pellet grill requires skill. However, the grill is suitable for beginner chefs. You should choose the right wood pellet types which give the desired smoky flavor as different woods have different flavors.

You will feed the wood pellets into the pellet tray on the pellet grill and let it burn to release the smoky flavor, similar to the traditional smokers. The pellet grill is suitable for your indoor kitchen as it uses electricity or gas for cooking the steak.

Good luck finding the right pellet grill which meets your needs.

Bobby Johnson

When he's not writing about barbecue, you can find Bobby smoking meat for friends and family. He's been a backyard pitmaster for roughly half his life, and has worked with nearly every cut of meat. Not everyone has a hands-on guide to teach them BBQ, but that's what Bobby hopes to do with Electric Smoker HQ. He wants to help people create amazing food that they can be proud of.