We noticed you opened your Traeger’s lid before it finished preheating. It’s a common habit, but it gets in the way of perfect results. Your grill’s preheat cycle is important and should be allowed to complete without interruption. Here’s why:
Wood Pellet Grills Work Differently Than Gas and Charcoal Grills
If you’re new to wood pellet grilling, you’re probably not used to a hands-off cooking experience. First step: Treat your Traeger like an oven.
Your grill is designed with Set-It & Forget-It® ease, which means you can simply put on your cooks and monitor temperatures from your phone with WiFIRE® connectivity. Traeger Pellet Grills use indirect, convection-style heat to deliver delicious results. Charcoal and gas grills use direct heat, which requires more of a hands-on cooking style.
Preheat Complete: Why should I let my grill fully preheat before use?
Allowing your grill to complete its preheat cycle undisturbed is one of the easiest ways to have a successful cook. During the preheat cycle, try not to open the lid, adjust the grill’s temperature, or load food until after your grill has reached its set temperature. Interrupting this cycle might cause the following:
- More extreme temperature swings
- Overshooting set temps
- Not reaching set temps
- Longer preheat cycles
- Increased pellet consumption
Your grill is designed to give you real-time temperature updates, which means you’ll see some temperature fluctuations. You might notice your grill’s temperature changing after opening the lid or loading up your grill with food. That’s normal and intentional—your grill will find an average temperature on its own.
Here are a few grill behaviors you don’t need to worry about:
- Temperature stalls after loading up your grill with food.
- Temperature fluctuations after opening the lid. Quick drops in temperature are normal after you peek at your food, and you might notice your grill overshooting temperature in response. These swings will level out shortly after the lid is closed.
- Temperature fluctuations after changing set temps. It’s normal for your grill’s temp to fluctuate after a change, and it might take up to 15 minutes for it to even out.
- Temperature fluctuations within ±25˚F. Fluctuations are completely normal and intentional. Your grill is designed to adjust on its own.