8 Surprising and Mouth Watering Recipes you can Make with your Pellet Grill
I love to bake. But baking in the summer is awful! I need my pellet grill to bake when it’s too hot to heat up my kitchen.
I live in the Northeast, and it gets HOT in the summer. We’ve had above 90-degree weather for the last several days, and the next four days are the same thing; a heat wave.
I cannot bake inside in the summer. My air conditioning can barely compete with the heat outside, let alone when I fire up my oven to bake scones and cookies.
I also love to cook. But again, the same problem.
So I use my pellet grill almost exclusively in the summer. (well, year-round, if I’m being honest).
Ribs, brisket, and seafood are all incredible on the pellet grill—but we’re not going to talk about typical meat and smoker recipes today. We’ll talk about all the baking and roasting you can do with a pellet grill!
Cooking outside is fun, especially when you can experiment with recipes you typically use an oven for!
So join me while I help you adapt some of my favorite recipes for your pellet grill!
Why can’t you bake on a gas grill?
The key to any oven recipe is a consistent oven temperature. It’s almost impossible to maintain a consistent temperature on a gas grill. But electric pellet grills let you set an exact temp, and the grill maintains that temperature for you. You don’t have flare-ups and super hot spots on a pellet grill like you would a gas or charcoal grill.
So if you want to bake a quiche at 350-degrees, you can do that on a pellet grill!
Won’t my food taste smoked?
Yes and no.
Pellet grills burn wood pellets as the heat source. The intense smokey flavor comes from the “low and slow” grilling method, where your meat simmers for hours and hours in the smokey environment the pellet grill creates.
Yes. You are smoking these recipes, but the flavor isn’t super intense. It’s mild, and I haven’t found a recipe I haven’t loved yet. Cheese dishes and baked goods take on a beautiful subtle smoke flavor that perfectly compliments all the flavors used in the recipe—especially if you match the flavor profile of your wood pellets to what you’re cooking on the pellet grill!
SO without further adieu, let’s get to some surprising recipes you can make on your pellet grill!
Mouthwatering recipes you can bake on a pellet grill.
I might bounce around between sweet and savory, but let’s start with a classic…
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies on the Pellet Grill:
Sally’s Baking Addiction recipe for chewy chocolate chip cookies is my FAVORITE chocolate chip cookie recipe of all time. I’ve used this recipe for years, and it’s always a hit.
Try to plan ahead enough to chill the dough overnight. I also follow Sally’s tips for rolling the dough into tall dough balls so the cookies don’t spread out too much. I also love underbaked cookies, so depending on your preferences, you’ll have to play around with the cooking time.
Adapting this recipe for the smoker is easy.
Step 1: Set your pellet grill to the same temp the recipe calls for!
That’s it! It’s super easy.
If you want to take this recipe to the next level on the pellet grill, you can add a few things to compliment the smoke flavors.
- Sprinkle some chunky salt on the top of the cookies
- Add toffee chips
- Use high-quality Bourbon vanilla extract.
You can put the baking sheet directly on your pellet grill for chewy, smokey, and delicious chocolate chip cookies. The baking time should be about the same.
*This recipe is purposefully chewy; your cookies might look slightly underbaked, but they’re delicious!* Allowing them to stay on the cookie sheet for ten minutes is important to allow the cookies to finish baking.
Pellet Grilled Mac and Cheese:
Most everyone has a family recipe for baked mac and cheese. You can adapt your favorite recipe for the pellet grill or use the one I’ve linked here.
Mac and cheese is one of those dishes that does nicely with the low and slow method. The cheese takes on a beautiful smokey flavor if you let it go for a few hours at a lower temperature to soak in all that flavor.
We’ve done baked mac and cheese for three hours at 275 degrees. The only tip I would add is to cover it with tinfoil or an oven-safe lid until the last 30 minutes. If you leave it uncovered, you’ll get a pretty dark (but tasty) crust.
Option 1: Follow the recipe directions for temp and time.
Option 2: Low and slow: 275 for 3 hours on the pellet grill—covered until the last 30 minutes.
Pelled Grill Quiche:
Quiche is by far my favorite on the pellet grill. I’m not sure I’ll ever cook one in my oven again—no need to pre-bake your crust either!
I follow my favorite recipe’s directions. The only thing I don’t do is cover my quiche with tinfoil. As the quiche rises, it can get stuck to the tinfoil and ruin the beautiful look of the top of your quiche.
My pellet grill can fit 2-3 quiches at a time, so I usually make a couple! Quiche freezes nicely, although it always gets eaten in my house.
Here are some of my favorite mix-ins for smoked quiche, but any of your favorite flavors will turn out amazing on the pellet grill!
- Sausage and onion
- Feta and asparagus
- Ham and cheese
- Broccoli and cheese.
My favorite thing about smoked quiche is how crispy and delicious the bottom crust turns out! No soggy bottoms to this eggy dish!
Pies on the Pellet Grill!
Pies are another recipe that I probably won’t cook inside ever again. Smoked pumpkin pie with homemade spiced whip cream is too good!
I haven’t found a fruit pie or savory pie I don’t like on the pellet grill yet. You’ll have to let me know if you do.
Most of the time, the pellet grill doesn’t require a pre-baked crust. But if you’re getting soggy bottoms on your pies, you might first try pre-baking (or grilling) your pie crust.
Pies to try on the pellet grill:
- Apple pie
- Cherry pie
- Pumpkin pie
- Blueberry pie
- Pecan pie (yum!)
- Strawberry Rhubarb pie
I suggest following your favorite recipe’s cooking time and temperature on the pellet grill. I wouldn’t cover a pumpkin pie, but I might cover a pie with a top crust until the last 15 minutes of baking time.
Thanksgiving with the Pellet Grill:
You can cook an entire Thanksgiving dinner on a pellet grill. Smoked turkey is divine, smoked pies are delicious, and even the side dishes are fantastic on the pellet grill.
Smoked green bean casserole is one of my favorites on the pellet grill. The mushroom and the cream take on a hint of smoke, putting the perfect modern flair on a traditional side dish.
Green bean casserole is one of those dishes I would bake on the pellet smoker uncovered. Follow your favorite recipes for time and temp.
Brownies:
Whether making these from scratch or a box, they come out incredible on the pellet smoker.
The only time I wouldn’t make these on the pellet grill is if you like cakey brownies. But who likes cakey brownies, anyway? The heat of the pellet grill comes from the bottom, and if you leave the brownies on the grill too long, you’ll end up with a crusty bottom to your brownies.
If you’re team #fudgybrownie, try them on the pellet grill next time! Take them off a little early to keep your bottom from getting too hard of a crust.
Baked Ziti:
Baked Ziti or even a lasagna are recipes you can do low and slow. Again, if you’re going “low and slow,” I would cover the dish until the last half hour so you don’t get too dark of a crust on top.
Any baked cheesy pasta dish is an excellent candidate for the pellet smoker—smoked provolone and mozzarella, anyone? Yes, please!
Minnesota Hot Dish or a Casserole:
Hot dishes are a perfect candidate for the pellet smoker. The meatier and cheesier the better.
Tater tot casserole is one of my favorites, especially in a cast iron skillet directly on the grill! I’ve used glass casserole dishes with no problems on the grill.
Bread or dinner rolls:
Bread is another one I love cooking on the smoker in the summer. Sometimes it’s just too hot to fire up my oven, especially for those crusty loaves that require a 500-degree oven for the first 15 minutes.
Bread recipes to try:
- Country loaf
- Sourdough
- Corn Bread
- Dinner rolls
- Banana bread
- Cinnamon Raisin Bread
- Cinnamon rolls
- And more!
