We made four racks of ribs on the Traeger Woodridge Elite Pellet Grill — it cooked as well as smokers twice the price

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The Traeger Woodridge Elite Pellet Smoker is a new full-featured model from one of our favorite grill companies. The Woodridge Elite has a large cooking area of nearly 1,000 square inches and includes a side burner so it can handle full meal prep. There are three Woodridge grills, and While the Elite is the most expensive in the line, it's still beginner-friendly.

All the best Traeger grills are worth considering, but the Woodridge Elite has that special sauce: a $1,600 price tag. That's an incredible value for a WiFi-connected and Super Smoke-enabled Traeger grill that can fit eight racks of ribs.

After spending weeks cooking with the Woodridge Elite, I think it's a fantastic smoker. Its temperatures stayed constant, and its side burner was convenient. There are some quirks, but overall, I confidently recommend this grill.

Design

Of the three Woodridge grills, the Elite is the only one with an electric cooktop, full body insulation, and a cabinet enclosure. The grill insulation allows you to cook year-round, no matter the climate. Plus, it keeps the temperature more consistent when smoking over several hours.

I did notice that the cabinet doors on my grill are misaligned. They function properly, latching onto the magnets and swinging open without any squeaks, but they don't align precisely. I triple-checked all the screws and even switched the spacers on each door to see if that would address the problem, but it didn't. Ultimately, it doesn't affect function, but I did consider the connection between a budget-friendly price and minor design flaws.

Frankly, I only noticed the door alignment because of another design peculiarity. On the Elite, the grease and ash keg is offset just enough that you need to pen both doors to pull it out. We still love the keg and the cabinet enclosure that hides it.

Assembly

For assembly, Traeger does a very good job of packaging parts in a way that sets people up for success. There are two well-documented instruction books in English and Spanish, plus video instructions.

From start to finish the Woodridge Elite took me about three dedicated hours to fully assemble. I was able to do everything myself, including flipping it from upside down to right side up halfway through the assembly. It took me two hours to fully assemble the entry-level Woodridge grill — the cabinet, extra wheels, and side burner added more time to the Elite's job.

Cooking

Feeding pellets into an auger isn't always the most consistent because temperatures can vary during a long smoke, but I had minimal fluctuation cooking on the Elite. Across five different smoking sessions, from 180 to 450 degrees, I've only noticed a plus or minus of five degrees.

This consistent performance is likely thanks to the better insulation on this model. I saw more variance in raising and holding temperatures on the entry-level grill. Living in warm southern California, I wasn't bothered by the difference, but anyone in cooler climates should think about splurging for maximum insulation.

The 970-square-inch cooking area was large for my family of four. Some of the meats I smoked, like a single rack of ribs and a small turkey breast, nearly disappeared. Traeger says the Elite can do up to eight racks of ribs or eight pork butts at once. I didn't go to that extreme, but I comfortably fit four racks of ribs.

Side burner

The Elite's side burner is a standard electric burner, so there are no restrictions on what pots and pans you can use. It did take five or six minutes for the pan to reach medium heat, which is a little slower than I would have liked. The more annoying aspects were the touch-sensitive temperature buttons and the indicator lights, which were challenging to see in sunlight.

Utilizing the burner to make meat in combination with the smoker means no more running back and forth to a kitchen stove.

WiFi cooking and Traeger app

One advantage of a modern smoker grill like the Woodridge Elite is its WiFi connectivity. I never had connection issues, but you will need a decent wireless router at home that reaches wherever you plan on grilling. On the Elite model, the hopper has a sensor that shows in the app the amount of fuel left.

The app's background changes color from grey to bright orange to reflect the grill's temperature. So, when you open the app, you can see if it's hot or not, even before your eyes find the exact number. If you're using Super Smoke, the background also becomes hazy.

There's an Apple Watch app that will show temperature, timer, and a Super Smoke button. I would love to see Traeger adopt Apple's Live Activities so it can show a live timer countdown right on your Lock Screen or Dynamic Island.

Control panel

Another thing that keeps the cost of this grill down is using single-purpose buttons to select different modes instead of a touchscreen.

I ended up liking the big blocky text used to show the temperature because it's easy to see from a distance. More importantly, the controller is responsive: when you twist it, the temperature changes immediately. The Timberline touchscreen might be more interactive, but I always found it to be a little sluggish when jabbing at the screen.

Clean up

The EZ-Clean Grease & Ash Keg system is making its way to all Traeger smokers and continues to be a thing of beauty. It's a single location for both those by-products; tucked underneath the grill, it remains hidden and safe from accidental bumps. The handle grip makes it easy to remove and slot back into place. If there's anything to complain about, it's the aluminum liners that you'll want to buy; it's annoying, but they make cleanup a snap.

Cons to consider

I loved the Woodridge Elite, but the grill isn't flawless. I saw some cosmetic issues like misaligned cabinet doors, which tells me there might be some variance in construction. In terms of design, I would have preferred the side burner lid to be bolted on and hinged, instead of being a loose cover. Additionally, the pellet sensor works as advertised but isn't always 100% accurate since the pellets siphon off unevenly.

The Woodridge Elite features a 970-square-inch cooking area, and the entire grill is 67 inches wide. It's a good mix of usable space and physical size, but it's still not small and might feel too bulky for city dwellers or those with small patios.

What are your alternatives?

There are two other Woodridge models. The entry-level grill is the smallest and cheapest, and it cooks just as consistently as the Elite. Unfortunately, it only has two wheels and doesn't have Super Smoke abilities.

If you live in a warm climate or plan to use the grill only in the summer, I think the Woodridge Pro is the best value of the new grills. The Pro has the same dimensions and cooking area as the Elite, plus the Super Smoke Feature, for $600 less. However, it has less insulation and doesn't have a side burner or cabinet enclosure.

Beyond Traeger, we have ranked the best pellet smoker across all brands. The Camp Chef Woodwind 24 is comparable to the Woodridge Elite for right around $1,000.

The bottom line

Overall, the Traeger Woodridge Elite was dependable and consistent through all its cooks. The Elite is a compelling value: you get almost a full outdoor kitchen for $1,600 including an electric side burner, cabinet enclosure, and access to the Traeger app and library of recipes. It was so easy to navigate the controls and cook on that I'd recommend it to newcomers and experienced smokers.