If you are lucky enough to own a Traeger grill, you may be wondering, what are the best Traeger accessories available to make your time using the grill/smoker just that bit easier? Some of these accessories could be regarded as essential, whereas others are purely optional. Which is the case will depend on how/where you personally use your Traeger grill and how frequently you use it. For instance, do you leave your Traeger outside and do you want to use it in the colder winter months effectively? Right, let’s get into this shall we?
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Introduction To The Best Traeger Accessories
Below I’ve created a list of the 7 best Traeger accessories I would strongly recommend you consider. However, I’ve also created a list of some no so great Traeger accessories where I think better value alternatives are available. Enjoy š
Accessory 1: Traeger Bucket Lid and Filter Kit
I think this is probably one of the best/most important accessories any Traeger pellet grill owner should own. I’ve discussed in the past that wood pellets can go bad and what happens if you don’t keep pellets dry.
I’ve also discussed how keeping fines/dust out of your wood pellets before you use them is very important. Fines can cause problems for feed augers on pellet grills/smokers. Fines/dust can also reduce the efficiency of the combustion process and increase the amount of ash produced.
Traeger does not advise leaving wood pellets in an open bag. They will absorb humidity from the air and, over time, expand. Therefore, with the Traeger bucket lid and filter kit, you can modify most 5-gallon buckets to be a suitable means to store your Traeger pellets.
With the bucket lid and lifting cap, you can easily pour just enough pellets into the hopper to top it off. The video below from Traeger discusses the benefits of the Traeger pellet bucket to keep your pellets in the best condition possible.
Accessory 2: Traeger Custom Grill Covers
While you can leave your pellet grill outside, if you are going to do so, you need to protect your investment with a cover to protect it from the elements.
Now there are lots of grill covers on the market, you don’t have to purchase a Traeger-specific cover. However, I think they are a couple of reasons why you might want to.
First off, not all grill covers are breathable, and breathability is very important. If you cover your grill/smoker with a plastic cover when you come to use your grill again next season, you are going to have a nasty surprise.
The grill will be covered in mould due to the damp environment around the grill. All Traeger grill covers provide breathability to let moisture escape.
A Traeger pellet grill/smoker is a pretty heft investment. Therefore, you don’t want to skimp on a cheap, low-quality cover that leads to mould and accelerates corrosion damage.
Another reason you might want to consider a Traeger cover is they produce different covers which specifically fit different models. Why is that important?
Well, when it gets windy, a fitted cover is less likely to tear and come off the grill. Furthermore, with a fitted cover, its going to be much easier to move the grill around.
A large/oversized cover will drag on the ground and get trapped under the wheels or your feet. If you do wish to opt for a Trager grill cover, just make sure you purchase the correct size for your specific grill.
Accessory 3: Traeger All Natural Grill Cleaner
When it comes to keeping your Traeger grill clean and in a good condition, you really do have to be careful. I’ve seen videos and forum posts in the past of people recommending various products for cleaning grills which just aren’t safe to use.
Sure, there are some very powerful household cleaning agents out there that will strip burnt food/grease from the grill bars. However, most of those cleaning agents are not food safe.
Therefore, for cleaning inside your grill and any surface which comes into contact with your food, you really want to be using a non-hazardous cleaner.
The all-natural grill cleaner from Traeger is worth considering. Reading various reviews online, it does appear to do a respectable job of being able to keep the grill clean without too much work with a grill brush.
Some people also use this all-natural cleaner on the outside of their Traeger pellet grill. Its obviously not as essential to clean the outside of the smoker with a food-grade cleaner, however, its still not a bad idea.
You never want to use a cleaner that is too abrasive and is going to damage the paint finish on your Traeger. Using the all-natural Traeger grill cleaner with a cloth and some warm water will be able to remove grease from the outside of your grill without damaging the paint finish.
I discuss this topic more in my post on how to clean a pellet grill.
Accessory 4: The Traeger Front Folding Shelf
Now you may be thinking to yourself two questions. First, why was this shelf not included with the Traeger grill in the first place? Second, is a shelf really a necessary accessory to even bother considering?
Both are valid questions. In terms of why the shelf isn’t included, well, some models do actually already come with this front folding shelf fitted.
For instance, the shelf is included on the Traeger Pro Series. However, some lower-spec models do not come with a self. Hence, the option to purchase the self is an optional accessory.
The second question is, do you really need a front folding shelf? Personally, I would not describe this accessory as essential, but it does have its merits. For instance, when you are preparing a piece of meat/fish and applying sauce or rubs, having a shelf right next to the grill has its advantages.
With the shelf directly in front of the grill, once the food is prepared and ready to go on the grill, there is virtually no chance of the food falling on the floor before you can get it on the grill.
The advantage of the shelf folding down is that when you are actually monitoring the cooking process, you are able to stand much closer to the grill with the shelf folded down. Also, when you are putting the grill in storage or with the cover on, the shelf is obviously in its folded-down position.
Accessory 5: The Traeger 12V DC to 110V AC Power Inverter
For camping or tailgating in the past, being able to experience the great flavour from cooking with wood pellets ‘on the go’ had been quite tricky.
First, many of the original Traeger grills were quite large and heavy. Hence they couldn’t easily be described as ‘portable’.
However, after getting a lot of feedback from their customers on this issue, Traeger released their portable/tailgate wood pellet smoker and the Ranger. I discuss these grills more in my post on the best portable pellet grills.
Once portability had been catered for, there was a second issue that needed to be addressed, a source of power. A Traeger grill requires 110V AC power for the ignitor, wood pellet feed auger, fan and control panel.
So to provide 110V AC power while camping and tailgating, Traeger now offers a 400W 12V DC to 110V AC power inverter.
You could take a separate 12V DC battery with you to run this power inverter. However, depending on the capacity and condition of the 12V DC battery in your car/truck and how long you wanted to run the Traeger, you could just connect this power inverter to your vehicle’s starter battery.
You do need to be careful though. You obviously don’t want to drain the vehicle battery and get stranded in the middle of nowhere! There are also other portable power solutions to consider.
Accessory 6: Winter Insulated Cooking Blanket
As any Traeger owner knows, purchasing a pellet grill is a significant investment. Therefore, its not unreasonable for you to want to use your grill for cooking some delicious meat, fish or vegetables even in the colder months of the year, around Thanksgiving, for instance.
However, just as you wouldn’t want to stand outside during the winter months without a coat on, neither does your Traeger. Using the grill during cold weather will significantly increase pellet consumption.
Therefore, if you do want to use your Traeger during the colder months of the year, you should seriously consider an insulated blanket.
Couple of things to note. Traeger doesn’t recommend using the insulated blanket when the outside temperature is above 35 degrees.
Furthermore, please note this insulated blanket is not designed to be a weather-resistant cover for the grill. When the smoker is not in use, you should still be using a suitable breathable cover, as referenced above.
Finally, please do not use your pellet grill inside your home/garage during the winter months. It is not safe to do so. You would create a toxic environment due to the smoke coming from the grill. Therefore, you should only ever use your Traeger grill in an outside well-ventilated environment.
Accessory 7: Pellet Level Sensor
If you are lucky enough to own a Traeger Timberline Gen 1 or Timberline Gen 2, you will already have this pellet-level sensor accessory installed.
However, if you own a Gen 2 Pro Series or an Ironwood pellet grill, you can also now add a pellet level sensor to your WiFire D2 Controller. I’ve got a separate post on the Traeger pellet sensor detailing the installation and calibration process if you’re interested.
Not So Great Traeger Accessories
Ok, just to make it clear, I don’t believe the Traeger products below are ‘bad’. I just think there are better value alternatives which you should consider which will do the same job or better for less money.
Traeger Pellets – There Are Better Value Options
Traeger’s pellets are widely available, which is their best feature. If you need more bags, there is pretty much always stock available through Traeger.com or the local big box store or other online retailers.
While Traeger will encourage you to use their own branded pellets in their products, its not essential to do so. There are many pellet brands available that are producing pellets to the same density/durability. However, with all brands of pellets, you still want to pass them through a sieve/filter.
All Traeger pellets are currently blends, a mixture of the branded flavour Applewood, for instance, and then a percentage of Oak pellets. Around 60% of Oak pellets are typical for blended pellets.
I’ve previously written about how Traeger pellets are made, and despite the claims by some about the use of ‘flavoured oils‘, the Traeger pellet production process is very similar to that used by other brands.
Traeger pellets typically cost around $1 per lb of pellets. That’s not a bad price, but its also not the best price per lb of pellets on the current market. You can now get blended hardwood pellets for between 33 and 50 Cents per lb.
Check out my article on the best value grilling/smoking pellets to learn more.
Traeger Grease Bucket Liners – There Are Better Value Options
So just to make this clear, you should definitely be using grease bucket liners. Otherwise, you’re just making extra work for yourself. My point here is that at the price point Traeger is selling their grease bucket liners, you can get a much better deal elsewhere.
It should be pretty obvious that $1 per grease bucket liner that’s not a great deal. It will take you very little time browsing around on sites like Amazon.com, Walmart.com or HomeDepot.com to see you can get much better deal on your grease bucket liners.
StayDRY Pellet Bins – There Are Better Value Options
Now, I regard proper pellet storage as a serious issue that I think many pellet grill/smoker manufacturers don’t properly convey to their customers, and I tell them as such.
Well, Traeger has developed the StayDRY pellet bins as their solution for pellet storage. However, after reading quite a few reviews on these pellet storage bins their design is not ideal.
The shape of the StayDry bins appears to be causing issue with the bins buckling at the sides. Therefore, owners are reporting issues getting the lid to line up properly against the seal.
As such, some have reported that rain has been getting into their StayDRY bin which is obviously not ideal as it defeats the whole point of purchasing a ‘StayDRY’ pellet bin in the first place.
However, I have another issue, these pellet storage bins also have no sieve/filter to separate the pellets and dust!? You would be better off with a round 5-gallon bucket and the Traeger bucket lid/filter kit.
Conclusions On The Best Traeger Grill Accessories
Traeger does produce a massive range of other optional accessories, as you can see through this link to their accessories page. However, many of them, such as the utensils, aprons and magnetic hooks etc are just the same type of products from any other brand/supplier.
I feel the accessories I’ve referenced above do have some specific benefits. For instance, the covers and insulated blankets that will perfectly fit your specific Traeger grill, and the cleaner is an approved Traeger product. Hence you cannot get into warranty trouble for using it and damaging the paint finish on the grill.
If you are having trouble with your Traeger, I’m writing several troubleshooting posts. For instance, how to change a Traeger temperature probe or how to replace/upgrade a Traeger control panel.
Anyway, I hope you found this post interesting/useful. If you are curious to learn more about BBQ wood pellets/grills, please check out my Wood Pellet Grill/Smoker Guide, which has links to lots of my other articles. š
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