Smoking on a tailgate grill allows you to enjoy flavored meals with your friends and family while engaging in fun discussions. However, several things are considered when picking up the ideal smoker. 

Fortunately, our grilling pros rounded up the best tailgate pellet grills and all the features to look out for your cooking convenience. 

Reviews of the Top Tailgate Pellet Grills

1. Memphis Elite 69” Stainless Steel Freestanding Wood Fire Pellet Grill

This pellet grill from a top brand like Memphis is top of the list for wood pellet smokers. Designed in the USA, this pellet grill comes with the features to enhance your outdoor cooking experience.

With over a thousand–inch cooking surface, this grill is one of the largest out there. It can handle a large number of guests at once. Accompanying it is a 24lb hopper, large enough to contain a large quantity of wood pellets. So, you don't have to refill the hopper many times.

It has a temperature range of 180 – 700 degrees, with intelligent control to avoid overcooking.   

Pros

Cons

2. Cookshack Fast Eddy 56” Stainless Steel Pellet Grill and Smoker

Cookshack is a reputable grill brand with one of the best durability. What makes the Fast Eddy pellet grill great is the charbroiler technology, which improves the cooking flavor much like the higher-end ones. 

The construction is also good. It’s made with stainless steel that guarantees the best durability. Although the cooking capacity is barely 800 inches, it is still reasonably large to cook a full turkey for a family of four. 

Economic-wise, the grill burns an average of 1.2 lbs per hour, despite having a 22lbs hopper. The temperature maxes out at 700 degrees but can be electronically controlled to regulate the heat for the best grilling experience.  

Pros

Cons

3. Memphis Pro 57” Stainless Steel Freestanding Wood Fire Pellet Grill

Memphis grill is of the most remarkable quality due to its double-walled, stainless steel design. However, that's not the only good thing about the grill.

It comes with high-quality convention systems that direct and regulate airflow to keep the grill at an optimum level. In addition, it comes with in-built temperature control over Wi-Fi for your convenience.

Our experts weren't too satisfied with the cooking area and hopper as they are small. This makes cooking for large people unsuitable. Since the hopper is also small, refilling it will be more frequent.   

Pros

Cons

4. Louisiana 4-Series Black Label Freestanding Vertical Smoker

The Black Label Series lets you have the most memorable grilling experience. Not only is this grill and smoker unique, but it’s innovative. 

This product includes a technology that enables you to control the grill using the Smoke iT application on your phone. This means you can operate the grill at your convenience and comfort. 

Aside from that, it has a good temperature regulator. It adjusts well between hot and medium heat. So, your meal isn’t overcooked or undercooked. 

Finally, our cooking team was impressed with the large cooking surface, considering the relatively low price. 

Pros

Cons

Tailgate Pellet Grills Buyer’s Guide

Cooking Capacity

The cooking capacity is a crucial factor to consider because it determines how much food can be served at once. If you have a multitude to feed, you should consider getting bigger capacity grills. 

Temperature Range

These days, almost all tailgate pellet grills and smokers come with an electronic thermal sensor that keeps the temperature in check. 

This feature ensures that the grill operates within a medium heat temperature window. However, you must pay attention to the sensor’s quality to maximize safety [1].

Hopper Capacity

You'll also want to pay attention to the hopper capacity. A larger one will contain more wood pellets, meaning you won't have to be loading the pellets whenever the hopper is close to being empty. 

Clean-up and Maintenance

The best tailgate pellet grill shouldn’t give you any headaches during cleaning. The good thing is all the grills reviewed by our experts are designed with cleaning convenience in mind.

Our Top Pick for a Tailgate Pellet Grill: Memphis Elite 69” Stainless Steel Freestanding Wood Fire Pellet Grill

The Memphis Elite 69” Stainless Steel Freestanding Wood Fire Pellet Grill is an excellent grill with good quality features that delivers an awesome cooking experience.

It’s well constructed, has a large cooking surface and hopper, and above all, has an intelligent control system. Overall, our team finds this pellet grill a fantastic purchase.