Explore the Traeger Pro Series 22 Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker A pellet grill and a good piece of beef are a natural match. The grill holds a steady temperature without you babysitting a fire, it pushes clean convection heat and wood smoke at the same time, and it gives you the room to run anything from a quick reverse-seared ribeye to a sixteen-hour brisket. I’ve cooked beef over charcoal, wood, and pellets for over fifty years, and I’ll tell you plainly: pellets won’t out-sear a screaming charcoal bed, but for controlled, repeatable, smoke-forward beef, they’re hard to beat.
This is a working collection of beef recipes built for a pellet grill — the cuts I keep coming back to, the temperatures that matter, and the small things that separate a good cook from a great one. Read the wood and temperature sections first. They apply to every recipe below, and they’ll save you from the two mistakes I see most: over-smoking and pulling meat at the wrong number.
Picking Wood for Beef
Beef stands up to stronger smoke than pork or poultry, so you have room to work. Here’s how the common pellet woods behave on beef:
Oak is the backbone. It’s the Central Texas standard for a reason — clean, steady, medium smoke that complements beef instead of fighting it. If you only keep one bag of pellets for beef, make it oak.
Hickory hits harder than oak. Good on brisket and ribs when you want more punch, but it can turn bitter if you bury the meat in heavy smoke for hours. Use it with a little restraint.
Mesquite is the most assertive wood you’ll commonly find. It’s a classic Texas pairing with beef, but it’s easy to overdo, especially on long cooks. I run it as part of a blend more often than straight, or I save it for shorter cooks like steak and tri-tip where the meat isn’t sitting in smoke all day.
Pecan is milder and a touch sweet and nutty. It’s a good choice for long, low cooks where you don’t want the smoke to take over.
Competition or fruitwood blends (cherry, apple mixed with a hardwood) lean sweeter and help with color. They’re a fine choice if you want a deep mahogany bark without aggressive smoke flavor.
A blend of oak with a little hickory or mesquite covers most beef cooks. Don’t chase a “secret” wood. Smoke is seasoning — too much ruins good meat.
Beef Doneness: The Numbers That Matter
Temperature is the one thing you can’t eyeball. Buy an instant-read thermometer and use it. There are two completely different temperature games with beef, and confusing them is how people ruin a brisket or overcook a ribeye.
Tender cuts (steaks, roasts, tri-tip, prime rib) are cooked to a doneness level. You pull them based on the internal temperature you want, accounting for carryover cooking — the meat keeps climbing several degrees after it comes off:
- Rare: pull at 120°F (finishes around 125°F)
- Medium-rare: pull at 130°F (finishes around 135°F) — the target for most beef
- Medium: pull at 140°F (finishes around 145°F)
- Medium-well: pull at 150°F
- Well-done: 160°F and up
On a small steak, carryover runs about 3 to 5 degrees. On a big standing rib roast, it can run 5 to 10 degrees, so pull those even earlier.
Tough, collagen-rich cuts (brisket, short ribs, chuck) play a different game entirely. You blow right past doneness and cook into the 200°F range so the connective tissue breaks down into gelatin. You don’t cook these to a number for tenderness — you cook them until a probe slides in with almost no resistance. The temperatures below are guides; the feel is the truth.
Smoked Brisket (Central Texas Style)
This is the flagship beef cook, and the one most people overthink. The Central Texas approach is simple on purpose: salt, pepper, smoke, time.
What you need:
- 1 whole packer brisket, 12 to 14 lb (Prime grade if you can get it, upper Choice is fine)
- 1/2 cup coarse kosher salt
- 1/2 cup coarse 16-mesh black pepper
- Optional: 2 tbsp granulated garlic
- Oak pellets
Trim: Lay the brisket fat-side down and remove the hard, waxy fat and any silverskin from the meat side. Flip it and trim the fat cap down to about a quarter inch — thick enough to render, thin enough that rub and smoke reach the meat. Square off thin, dried edges that will overcook.
Season: Mix the salt and pepper (and garlic, if using). This is the “Dalmatian” rub. Coat all sides evenly. Let it sit while the grill comes up to temperature.
Cook: Set the pellet grill to 250°F. Place the brisket fat-side up. On a convection pellet cooker, the orientation matters less than people claim, but fat up gives you a little insurance against the radiant heat coming through the deflector. Smoke it undisturbed for the first three hours so the bark can set. After that, you can spritz hourly with a 50/50 mix of water and cider vinegar if the surface is drying out — skip it if the bark looks good.
The stall: Somewhere around 150°F to 170°F internal, the temperature will stall for hours as moisture evaporates off the surface. This is normal. When the bark is dark mahogany and firmly set — usually around 165°F to 170°F — wrap the brisket tightly in butcher paper to push through the stall and protect the bark.
The finish: Pull the brisket when a probe slides into the thickest part of the flat with no resistance, like going into warm butter. That’s usually around 200°F to 205°F, but it varies brisket to brisket. Trust the feel over the number.
Rest: This is non-negotiable. Rest the wrapped brisket at least one hour, ideally two or more, in an empty cooler. The rest is when the juices redistribute and the texture sets. Slicing early dumps all that moisture on the board.
Slice: Separate the flat from the point at the fat seam. The grain runs different directions in each. Slice the flat against the grain in pencil-width slices, then turn the point and slice it against its own grain.
Plan on roughly 1 to 1.25 hours per pound at 250°F, but cook to feel, not the clock. A 13-pound packer can run 12 to 16 hours including the rest. Start early. A brisket that finishes ahead of schedule rests happily for hours; one that finishes late ruins dinner.
Smoked Beef Plate Short Ribs
If brisket is intimidating, plate short ribs are the easier path to the same beefy, smoke-rich reward. Folks call them “brisket on a stick,” and that’s about right. They’re rich, forgiving, and they make an impression on the table.
What you need:
- 1 plate of beef short ribs, 3 bones (look for thick, meaty plate ribs)
- Coarse kosher salt, coarse black pepper, granulated garlic in equal parts
- Oak or oak-hickory pellets
Prep: Trim the silverskin off the top of the meat and pull the membrane off the bone side if it’s still on. Coat all sides with the salt-pepper-garlic rub.
Cook: Set the grill to 275°F. These cook hotter and faster than brisket. Smoke them bone-side down, undisturbed, spritzing with water after the bark sets if the surface dries. You generally don’t need to wrap plate ribs — the fat content carries them through.
Finish: Pull them at 203°F to 205°F, when a probe slides between the bones with no resistance and the meat has pulled back from the bone tips. This usually takes 6 to 8 hours.
Rest: 30 to 45 minutes, then serve the ribs whole — one giant bone per person is the point. Slice between the bones at the table.
Reverse-Seared Ribeye
This is the technique that turned me into a believer for thick steaks. A pellet grill’s steady low heat is exactly what reverse searing wants, and the payoff is edge-to-edge medium-rare with a hard crust and real smoke flavor — something a hot-and-fast sear alone can’t give you.
What you need:
- Thick-cut ribeyes, 1.5 to 2 inches (bone-in or boneless)
- Coarse kosher salt and coarse black pepper
- Oak or mesquite pellets
- A cast iron pan, a sear box, or a grill that runs hot
Salt ahead: Salt the steaks at least 40 minutes before cooking, ideally the night before, uncovered in the fridge. This dry-brine seasons deep and dries the surface for a better crust. Pepper them right before the cook.
Smoke: Set the grill to 225°F. Lay the steaks on and smoke until the internal temperature hits 110°F to 115°F for a medium-rare finish. This slow climb is where the smoke gets in.
Sear: Pull the steaks and rest them while you crank the grill to its highest setting or heat a cast iron pan rippin’ hot — 450°F to 500°F or hotter. Sear each side 60 to 90 seconds until you’ve got a deep brown crust and the internal hits 130°F to 135°F. If you’re using cast iron, drop in butter, smashed garlic, and thyme at the end and spoon it over.
Rest: 5 to 10 minutes, then serve. The two-stage cook means the inside is evenly cooked from edge to edge, not a gray band around a pink center.
Smoked Tri-Tip
Tri-tip is a West Coast cut that deserves more attention everywhere else. It’s beefy, affordable, cooks relatively quickly, and takes well to a reverse sear. There’s one trick to it that, done wrong, makes a tender roast eat tough — I’ll get to that.
What you need:
- 1 tri-tip roast, 2 to 3 lb (from the bottom sirloin)
- Coarse salt, black pepper, granulated garlic; add a little paprika for a Santa Maria lean
- Oak or mesquite pellets
Prep: Trim the roast of silverskin, leaving the thin fat. Season all over and let it sit while the grill heats.
Cook: Set the grill to 250°F. Smoke the tri-tip until it reaches 115°F to 120°F internal.
Sear: Crank the heat and sear all sides until the internal hits 130°F to 135°F for medium-rare. Pull and rest 10 minutes.
The trick — slicing: A tri-tip’s grain changes direction in the middle of the roast. If you slice straight across the whole thing, half of it will be chewy. Find the point where the grain shifts, cut the roast into two pieces at that seam, then slice each piece against its own grain. Do this and a cheap cut eats like a steakhouse.
Poor Man’s Burnt Ends
Real burnt ends come from the brisket point, which means buying and cooking a whole brisket first. This is the shortcut: chuck roast, cubed and candied, gives you the same rich, jammy bite for a fraction of the cost and effort. It’s forgiving enough for a first-timer and good enough for a crowd.
What you need:
- 1 chuck roast, 3 to 4 lb
- Coarse salt, black pepper, granulated garlic
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 1 cup of your BBQ sauce
- 2 tbsp brown sugar (optional)
- Oak or hickory pellets
Cook: Set the grill to 250°F. Season the chuck roast and smoke it until the bark sets and the internal reaches about 165°F.
Wrap: Move the roast to a foil pan with the beef broth, cover tightly with foil, and return it to the grill. Cook until it probes tender at 200°F to 205°F.
Cube and sauce: Rest the roast 20 minutes, then cube it into 1-inch pieces. Toss the cubes in BBQ sauce and the brown sugar if using.
Set the glaze: Spread the cubes in the pan or on a rack, return them to the grill uncovered, and cook 30 to 45 minutes until the sauce tacks up and the edges caramelize. That sticky exterior is the whole point.
Smoked Prime Rib (Standing Rib Roast)
When you want to feed a table for a holiday or a celebration, this is the cook. A standing rib roast over wood smoke, reverse-seared to a crust, sliced thick — it’s a showpiece, and a pellet grill makes the temperature control easy.
What you need:
- 1 bone-in standing rib roast, 4 to 6 bones (or a boneless ribeye roast)
- Coarse kosher salt and black pepper
- 2 tbsp granulated garlic
- Optional: chopped fresh rosemary and thyme, plus a thin coat of Dijon or oil to help the rub stick
- Oak or pecan pellets
Salt ahead: Salt the roast a day or two in advance if you can, uncovered in the fridge. This seasons it deeply and dries the surface. At minimum, salt it several hours ahead.
Season: Before cooking, coat the roast with a thin layer of Dijon or oil, then the pepper, garlic, and herbs.
Smoke: Set the grill to 225°F. Smoke the roast until the internal temperature reaches 120°F to 125°F for a medium-rare target. Because this is a large piece of meat, carryover will be significant — pull it early.
Sear: Rest the roast while you bring the grill to 450°F to 500°F, then return it to develop a deep crust on the outside. Pull it for good when the internal hits 130°F to 135°F.
Rest and carve: Rest 20 to 30 minutes before carving — a big roast needs it. If you cooked it bone-in, run your knife along the bones to remove them, then slice the roast as thick as you like. Save the drippings for an au jus.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
A few errors come up again and again, and every one of them is avoidable:
Over-smoking. More smoke is not better. Heavy smoke for hours, especially with mesquite or hickory, turns beef bitter and ashy. Use a clean-burning fire and lean toward less.
Cooking by time instead of temperature. Every brisket, roast, and rack is different. The clock is a planning tool, not a doneness gauge. Buy a thermometer and trust it.
Skipping the rest. Cutting into beef too soon spills the juices you spent hours building. Rest steaks 5 to 10 minutes, big roasts 20 to 30 minutes, and brisket a full hour or more.
Slicing with the grain. Cutting along the muscle fibers instead of across them makes even tender beef chew like rope. Find the grain and cut across it — and remember tri-tip and brisket change grain direction within a single cut.
Trimming too little fat — or too much. Leave enough fat cap to render and baste the meat, but remove the hard fat that won’t break down. A quarter inch is the rule of thumb on brisket.
Frequently Asked Questions
What temperature should I run my pellet grill for beef? It depends on the cut. Low-and-slow cuts like brisket run 225°F to 275°F. Tender cuts being reverse-seared smoke at 225°F to 250°F, then finish at 450°F and up for the sear.
Can a pellet grill sear a steak? Most pellet grills don’t get hot enough for a true steakhouse sear on their own. That’s why reverse searing pairs so well with them — smoke low on the pellet grill, then finish the sear in a hot cast iron pan or sear box. Some newer pellet grills have a high-heat or open-flame mode that closes the gap.
Do I need to wrap a brisket? Wrapping in butcher paper helps push through the stall and protects the bark, and it shortens the cook. You can run a brisket unwrapped for a harder bark, but it takes longer and risks drying the flat. For most cooks, paper wrapping is the steadier path.
What’s the best wood for beef on a pellet grill? Oak is the most reliable all-around choice. Hickory adds more punch, mesquite is the most assertive and best used in moderation, and pecan is milder for long cooks. A blend of oak with a little hickory covers most beef.
How long does a brisket take? Roughly 1 to 1.25 hours per pound at 250°F, but cook to internal feel, not time. A 13-pound packer can run 12 to 16 hours including a rest of an hour or more. Always build in buffer time.
The Bottom Line
A pellet grill gives you the one thing beef cooking rewards most: control. Steady temperature, clean smoke, and the patience to cook to feel instead of the clock will do more for your beef than any gadget or secret rub. Start with the brisket or the chuck roast burnt ends if you’re new to it — both are forgiving. Move to the reverse-seared ribeye when you want something fast and impressive. Get the wood and the temperatures right, respect the rest, and slice against the grain. Do that, and you’ll put beef on the table that people remember.
