The Biggest Pellet Grills In The Market (1000 – 2000 SQ. Inches!)

When it comes to barbecue, I’m like a shark in the water – sniffing out that divine smokiness from a mile away.

Queue Jaws theme.

In my time I’ve gone through more than half a dozen pellet grills, from Traeger to Pitboss, to some of the newer smaller players like Z Grills.

For those like me who love to smoke up a storm, you’ll want to be equipped with a big enough smoker to handle the load. That’s where XL pellet grills come in clutch.

So, if you’re in need of a plus-sized pellet grill, here’s the literal biggest pellet grills in the market today, from 1000 square inches to 2000 square inches of cooking space.

Lifesmart 2000

Cooking Space: 2000 Square Inches
Hopper Capacity: 30 Pounds

Traeger Ironwood XL

Cooking Space: 924 Square Inches
Hopper Capacity: 22 Pounds

Pit Boss Pro Series 1600

Cooking Space: 1600 Square Inches
Hopper Capacity: 32 Pounds

What To Look For In XL Pellet Grills?

Woah woah woah, cowboy, where do you think you’re going?

Sure, we could tell you what the biggest pellet grill is, but surely you want to know what we’re classifying as the “biggest”. 

Exactly right, it’s not JUST that cooking space that’s important in an XL pellet grill, but it’s the hopper capacity and ensuring it’s got the right relevant features on it too.

Cooking Space

Whenever you hear cooking space on any kind of smoker, it’s not simply measuring the actual size of the grill grates.

Instead, the cooking space is the total measurement of both the main grilling surface as well as any additional grilling or warming racks too.

In all honestly, I’m not a big fan of including the warming rack, as you hardly use it for smoking meat! So, we’ve been sure to highlight both the total cooking space, and the primary cooking space available on these XL pellet grill models.

Hopper Capacity

It’s inevitable. The larger the pellet grill, the more energy it’s going to take to heat up and maintain it’s temp.

What good is a large cooking space if you don’t have a grill that holds enough wood pellets to adequately smoke your meat long enough in the first place!?

So, we’ve made sure to also include exactly how many pounds of wood pellets the grill can hold so you can get an idea of it’s total possible run time before needing a refill.

Features and Functions

Although any ole’ pellet grill is capable of smoking meat, we wanted to highlight some of the special features and functions that come with these larger, plus sized pellet grills.

Some of these additional features can add to the perceived “bigness” of the grill, including additional storage, extra attachments, or extra cooking racks/space. 

What Is The Biggest Pellet Grill?

Alright, no more dilly-dallying. If you’re on the hunt for the absolute largest pellet grill out there, then look no further than the Lifesmart 2000

It has a whopping 2000 square inches of cooking space – all of which is considered primary cooking space too – not just warming racks!

This is because the Lifesmart 2000 comes with a 3 tier grill grate design, absolutely maximizing the huge space inside the barrel.

  • Cooking Space: this pellet grill offers an almost unbeatable 2000 square inches of primary cooking space, equally distributed between it’s three grilling racks.
  • Hopper Capacity: you’re not going to run short of pellets with a whopping 30 lb wood pellet capacity (lasting up to around 24 hours at 225°F depending on the pellets).
  • Features and functions: 5°F temperature increments for precision grilling, fully functioning workstation to hold essential tools, and four-wheel cart with easy lock-in-place setting.

What a beast.

If you’re not needing the Godzilla sized model, you can always look at the 1500 square inch model too, or their normal sized, 510 square inch model. See a quick demo below.

What Is The Biggest Traeger Grill?

If you’re wanting an XL pellet grill from one of the industry-leading brands out there, then Traeger do have a tempting offer of their own.

I personally rate the Traeger Ironwood XL highly, but there’s an even bigger playing out there. If you haven’t yet heard about Traeger’s Timberline XL then I’m about to blow your mind.

  • Cooking Space: Traeger’s biggest model to date, boasting a total 1320 square inches of cooking space (up from 880 square inches on the standard Timberline). This cooking space is evenly divided over three tier grill grates which can easily be shifted or removed depending on what you’re cookin’.
  • Hopper Capacity: Ya’ll know your going to be needing a larger pellet hopper to heat this bad boy up. Traeger’s Timberline XL comes with a capacity to hold up to 24 pounds of wood pellets, and it comes with a sensor so you’ll never run out of pellets during the cook!
  • Features and functions: Amazing induction side burner for all your hot and fast grilling needs – including completing the reverse sear without needing to change cooking units!
    It comes with both your traditional temperature probes, but it also comes with two of it’s own wireless probes too.

Of course, this beast does come with a premium price tag which makes it less suitable as a low-key backyard pellet grill. But, if you’re looking for the last pellet grill you’ll ever need, well, I think you’ve found it. 

Watch the unboxing and review:

What Is The Biggest Pit Boss Pellet Grill?

If you’re a fan favorite of the mighty Pit Boss pellet grills (which we all are, even us Traeger lovers), 

The Pit Boss Pro Series 1600 is the biggest current model for Pit Boss Pellet Grills, boasting a total of 1598 square inches of cooking space, between the primary cooking racks and the upper cooking rack.

Here’s it’s beefy big boy stats.

  • Cooking Space: Now look, I made a promise to separate out primary cooking space from secondary cooking space. After all, you’re not likely to fit a whole brisket on a warming rack, right?
    Pit Boss Pro Series 1600 has a primary cooking space of 1,280 square inches across two primary grill grates, and a smaller additional rack of approximately 300 square inches. In saying that the addition warming rack is robust and can certainly hold smaller meats like ribs or chicken.
  • Hopper Capacity: You’re not likely to run short on pellets with a whopping 32 pound hopper capacity here. Plus, it’s got a pellet viewing window so you can see exactly how much is left! That’s a win. 

Although the Pit Boss Pro Series 1600 isn’t cheap, it’s at a much more reasonable price for the everyday barbecuer looking for an XL pellet grill.

One More Beast: Yoder Smokers TS620s

If you’ve been in the game for a while you must have heard of Yoder Smokers. The American made Yoder Smokers YS620s is notably incredible and certainly gives all other top pellet grill brands a run for their money.

  • Cooking Space: The heavy duty Yoder Smokers YS620s gives you 1070 square inches of cooking space over two primary grill grates. Certainly nothing to scoff at for this beauty.
  • Hopper Capacity: A rather standard 20 pound hopper capacity here. Nothing special, but enough to get the job done. If you’re going for your longer 12+ hour smokes you’re going to need to top it up though!

This Yoder Smokers TS620s is literally built like a truck, and it’s gotta be one of the most heavy duty, industrial strength pellet grills out there. 

Check out this full unboxing and review:

Is Big Always Better?

It’s clear that having a larger sized pellet grill has it’s benefits, from being able to smoke more at once to impressing all the dads in the neighbourhood.

But big also means, more cleaning, more fuel, and it can be seemingly overkill when you’re just wanting to smoke something small on it’s own like a chicken or a rack of ribs. 

In my experience, a standard sized pellet grill (500-800 square inches of cooking space) will perfectly do 1-2 large meats at a time, enough to feed at least a few families.

But, if you’re wanting to cook say, multiple briskets, turkeys, or pork butts (or a range of meats all at once) then an XL pellet grill really is required.

And There You Have It

What is the biggest pellet grill? 

Well, if we’re only including primary cooking space then the Lifesmart 2000 has the rest beat, with 3 evenly tiered grilling racks totaling 2000 square inches of primary cooking space.

As for XL pellet grills over 1000 square inches (still huge), you’ve got top-of-the-line models from Traegers Timberline XL, to the Pit Boss Pro Series 1600, to the lucrative Yoder Smokers TS620s.

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