Traeger Junior Elite Review – (Should You Buy It Or Not)

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traeger junior elite

The Traeger junior elite review shows it is very easy to use this smoker/grill. Fill it with pellets, turn it one and watch the convection blower and auger do all the work for you.

Set it on smoke or the desired temperature and the Traeger digital controller will take over from there.

In the Traeger junior elite review, it is called a lazy man smoker. Easy to use and although I have done many reviews of Traeger grills this has really impressed me.

I think I am putting it on my wish list. Read my Traeger junior elite review and let me know if I have to add something to it from your experience as a user of the Traeger junior elite.

Read the rest of the Traeger Junior Elite review:

Here you can read all the things I found out doing this review and all the pros and cons I found to help you make a well-informed decision about this pellet grill

Grill surface of the junior elite

This Traeger junior comes with a 292 square inches grill surface.
Large enough for 2 whole chicken or 3 full-size slabs of ribs.

If you go by the general rule of 72 square inches per person (this is the size of an average dinner plate) you can cook for 4 people at once. I call this a family-size pellet grill.

Material of the grate

The grate of this Traeger junior smoker grill is porcelain coated. This is a very popular material to coat a grate and works very well.

Features of this grill

  • MODEL BBQ155
  • 19500 BTU’s
  • 292 sq. in. (20 X 15) Grilling Area

Dimensions & Weight

  • Height: 38 inches
  • Width: 36 inches
  • Depth: 16 inches
  • Weight: 68 lbs.
  • 8 lb hopper

Customer Reviews of the Traeger Junior Elite

I found several buyers that talked about problems with the Traeger junior elite. Many of them talked about the pellet grill not working and they had to call customer service.

“There is a learning curve with the Traeger. The good news is there are so many websites and videos on youtube about how to cook with a Traeger you can become an aficionado in no time at all. That said for the best results I recommend following the directions on the Traeger site for some of your first attempts to get used to it. we use our Traeger about 2-3 times a week all year long. It is great for smoking as you can set it with the pellets and walk away without much maintenance. As long as the auger is working and there are pellets in the box the temperature will remain low and only smoke the meat on the grill surface….”

“If your’e getting this grill to set and forget it not the case you have to keep monitoring so the temp doesn’t go way up causing a ton and I mean a ton of smoke coming out.You also need to keep an eye make sure the fire doesn’t die while smoking I’ve had the whole thing shut off a few times since using.iI really had high hopes for this grill and not sure if I got a bad grill or what I’ve gone thru the instructions on starting to a T and still have issues. When its working the way it should its awesome!! but its not like that 100% of the time…(read more :here)”

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Pros & Cons of the Traeger Junior Elite

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Pros:

If I would put all the pros in here that I found I need more room in this review.
The pros overshadow the few cons I found about this grill.

The set-and-forget consistent quality of the food, the fact that you just have to plug it in and it works, and overall the easy assembly was just some of the pros I found.

Most users are very pleased with this Traeger junior elite smoker/grill and for questions, there are a ton of forums about this and other pellet grills.

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Cons:

In the cons I found a lot of people mention the bad manual. There is not enough information in there on how to set the so-called P-settings.

Another point I found is that it is recently made in China and people regret that and someone even had the idea that the quality of steel was not the same anymore, but I can not find any proof of that.

There are a high number of people who gave it a low rating and one of the reasons was the bad experience with Traeger customer service.

Cooking on the Traeger comes with a learning curve, but is that not the case with any other grill also? That you have to buy the shelf separately was also mentioned and taking the price into consideration I can relate to that in some way.

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Traeger junior elite price

Traeger junior elite grill review – My Opinion

To be honest I had never really done a lot of research on pellet grills because I thought it was for people who do not know how or do not want to watch the temperature of their smokers. After reading more and doing research on many forums I found out I was wrong.

This Traeger junior elite pellet grill has its learning curve and you might have to play with the so-called P-settings and get them at your desired temperature, but after that, it is a great smoker and grill.

With its thermostat settings, you can decide in no time if you want to grill or smoke.

Although in my opinion, this is more a smoker than a grill, many people used it as both and were satisfied with the results.

It seems to me it was a hit after doing the whole Traeger junior elite review. Some people love it and have no problems with it and others run from one problem to the other.

29 % gave it a one-star review and I think you should pay attention to that if you are still interested after reading my Traeger junior elite review.

The pellets are a subject of discussion on many forums. Is it real mesquite, oak, or any other wood, or just grind-up wood pressed into pellets with oil that gives the smoke flavor?

I did a lot of reading and found that in most cases it is the real wood you buy and it is just pressed under high pressure with not adding any glue or oil.

Overall I think this pellet grill is a great addition for any backyard smoker or griller and is very easy to use on a daily basis.

Recommended

As always I recommend a good cover for your Traeger smoker gill.
You can click on the picture or here to find the price.

If you live in a colder climate or use this pellet smoker I highly recommend the insulation blanket to help keep the heat in the grill instead of losing it through the body.
Click here to have a look at it and find out the price.

There are many Traeger junior elite accessories besides the grill cover and the insulation blanket that you can add to this pellet grill.
There are smoke shelves to create more grill space, a Traeger pizza kit, Folding shelves to attach to your smoker, and a lot more.
Click here to find all Traeger junior accessories.

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Eddie van Aken

Eddie van Aken has years of experience in running his full-service restaurant and with this came working with using and dealing with all types of kitchen equipment. With his experience, he can find all the pros and cons of grills and add them to the grill reviews he is doing. You can read more on the about page for Eddie van Aken

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