What if you have a charcoal grill but you also want to enjoy the concept of flavoring meats with wood pellets? The thing is you also don’t want to invest in a full-fledged pellet grill. You are in luck–in the meantime, you can use your charcoal barbeque. Using pellets in a charcoal grill is a little bit tricky and unusual but you will be satisfied with the results.
Many people are unaware of using wood pellets in a charcoal grill to get a favorable taste from the steak. So, today we will go through the details regarding whether to use wood pellets in a charcoal grill or not. If we are able to use it on the charcoal grill then what will be the taste of the steak? The advantage of the pellets in a charcoal grill and the ways to use them.
Can You Use Wood Pellets in a Charcoal Grill?
Wood pellets are made of sawdust and wood chips therefore you can use them as an alternative to hardwood and charcoal. It can be challenging to manage the heat when using just these pellets in the charcoal barbecue because they are made for pellet grills. These pellets are so small that they stack on top of each other, making it difficult to keep them lit for long periods.
In a pellet grill, the auger helps to deliver them to the fire pot and you can easily grill steak on it. The other reason is that the charcoal grill is open and there is no internal fan to fan the fire for continuous grilling.
The easy and more preferable way in my opinion is to mix them with charcoal and use them for grilling. This mixing of pellets with coals has a great advantage the coals will make the grill hot enough and the pellets will add flavor to the steak.
Method to Use Pellets in Charcoal Grill
1. Add Pellets on Burning Charcoals
When your grill is heated enough try to add a handful of pellets of your choice. The red-hot coals will help burn the pellets, and when they start burning they will produce smoke. This combination of coal and flavored pellets will take the taste to another level.
2. Add in a Pan
Take the required number of pellets in a grill and cover the surface with an aluminum foil. Poke a few small holes in the foil so the smoke will disperse from the surface after getting hot. Place it on the charcoals and wait for the pellets to start smoking.
3. Cover the Pellets in Aluminum Foil
Take an aluminum foil large enough to cover the pellets you are going to use. Make small holes all over the foil so the smoke will easily find its way out. This method will produce the smoke for a longer time and make the food delicious with its smoke flavor.
Advantages of Using Wood Pellets in a Charcoal Grill
Pellets are not made for use in the charcoal grill but there are no restrictions to use them on such grills. When using those pellets, we found many advantages over using coals alone for getting flavorful smoke and it is way better for getting other benefits like budget friendly and also using it for cold smoking.
Easy to Smoke
The pellets are made by compressing the sawdust or wood chips to an extent to make them tightly held. When placed above the burning coals it makes them start smoking and produce a quick and heavy smoke in the grill chamber. It is an easy technique to add flavorful smoke to your meat without smoking it for several hours on charcoals.
Easy to Use
They are pretty simple to use. Place them on the charcoal when it is ready. You won’t have to worry about soaking these pellets in water to make them smoke more and to extend the burning time. Just add them and wait for a while till they get the heat from burning charcoals. You can buy the pellets according to the taste that you like from the many types of wood pellets.
Budget-friendly
In comparison to their counterparts, like wood chips and flavored briquettes, these pellets are relatively cost-effective. They will produce more smoke and heat per dollar than wood chips or wood chunks because of the way they are manufactured. This compressing makes them burn slowly and produce a large amount of smoke for a longer time.
Gives Consistent Temperature
Wood pellets are the heating source for pellet grills so we can get temperature from them as well while using with the coals. The different types of pellet grills make it easy to cook food on them with full of wood flavor. The pellets make the temperature of the grill stable and consistent with the release of smoke. They will burn for a longer time if you use them properly on the charcoal grill.
Making Less Mess
Using hardwood pellets has a great advantage then lump charcoal because they produce less ash and soot. You can use them for outdoor grilling without any hesitation as the hardwood pellets produce less smoke and they are not better for the environment as compared to lump charcoals.
How to Use Pellets in a Charcoal Grill
It is not rocket science to use pellets in a charcoal grill but it is also necessary to know the ideal way to get more some while using fewer pellets. In such a way you will get a smoky steak on a budget as there are so many misconceptions about using the pellets while lighting the coals that will waste those initially used pellets.
Basically, the wood pellets are used for getting smoke but you can also use them for cooking the steak. Here in this part, we are using our pellets for getting flavorful steak so we are using them as a secondary material.
Use a Chimney Starter
Using a chimney starter for making the charcoals is the best and easiest way. Just add the coals in the chimney starter and light them while adding the fire starter or a paper that gets fire instantly. However, there are many ways to use the chimney starter without using the lightning fluid or fire starter.
Add the pellets
When the coals are ready pour them on the grill and then spread them as you like with a tong. Now it’s time to add the wood pellets to the burning coals. The main idea is to get smoke from the pellets so add accordingly as they will produce heavy smoke that will make the food taste bitter if used in large quantities. A basic estimation is to use 1 cup of pellets for a pound of briquettes which will be roughly about 100 grams.
Open the Vents Halfway
When the setup is done and you have added the food on the grill as well then close the lid and open the vents. Closing the lid helps create heavy smoke within the grill, while the open vents will allow the air to enter the grill for burning the coals.
Use a Pellet Tube Smoker
If you don’t want to use the pellets again and again then the best option for you is to go for a pellet tube smoker. It is an ideal option for getting smoke from the pellets without burning them instantaneously. Add the pellets to the tube and place it on the burning coals that will heat up the pellets within the tube and it will start producing smoke.
Should you Smoke with Wood Pellets on a Charcoal Grill?
Using wood pellets and chunks is the correct approach for making smoke in grills. Pellets are primarily designed for pellet barbecues that automatically replenish wood pellets as needed. As long as the pellets are designed for cooking, they also give great flavor to the food due to the smoke they produce.
If you are smoking while using pellets you have to constantly re-add them because smoking needs a greater time. So, if you have wood pellets, utilize them. You will obtain excellent results and the flavor is fantastic. They smoke faster than wood chips but burn out more quickly.
You may efficiently utilize wood pellets for cold smoking using a pellet tube. It also does not require any charcoal for heat because it is cold smoking. It operates by loading the pellet tube with pellets and lighting one end of the tube on fire. The pellets will start to smoke after a few minutes. You can now do cold smoking by closing the lid.
Conclusion
In the article, we have discussed using wood pellets in a charcoal grill and its advantages. Wood pellets can alone be used in the grill but it is better to use them with coals to make the grilling more favorable. There are many ways to use the pellets in the charcoal grill but the easiest way is to use a pellet smoker tube.
If you don’t have that then use can use a grill pan or aluminum paper. These are effective methods for cooking food and they will help you get delicious food from the charcoal grill with heat from the coals and flavor from the pellets.