Traeger Pro Series Grill Review: Beef and Pork on the Traeger Pro 22

[FTC Standard Disclaimer] Traeger Grills provided me with a Traeger Pro Series 22 Blue model to review. No monetary payment was issued for my thoughts or opinions on its performance.

Thanks for taking time to read this Traeger Grills review. I used Traeger Pro Series 22 Blue model to do a competition style pork ribs cook as well as a traditional Texas style beef rib 3 bone cook. Note: the 3 bone rack of prime Angus beef ribs were provided to me at no cost courtesy of Cooper’s Meat Market in San Antonio, Texas. (Be sure to catch the Podcast I did with Andy Lugo of Cooper’s!)

Traeger Grill Review: Pro 22 Specifications

The Traeger Pro Series 22 (and its companion, the Traeger Pro 34) represents the flagship level pellet grill from Traeger. The next step up for home and competition use would be the new Timberline Series, which is a big step up from these models.

Rather than a PID controller, which I do not feel is necessary at all, the Traeger Pro uses a Digital Pro Controller equipped with Advanced Grilling Logic to automatically maintain its temperature within 15°F.

Total cooking area for the Traeger Pro Series 22 when using the secondary cooking rack comes to 572 square inches. This is enough space to cook 4 pork butts if you’re not using pans, and two if you are. You can fit about 5 racks of ribs using the top cooking rack. (The Pro 34 holds 8 pork butts out of pans and 6 in pans. Rib racks go up to eight if using the top cooking rack.)

To power the Pro 22, simply plug it into a standard 110 volt outlet. The specs on the Pro Series 22 from the Traeger Grills website are as follows.

• 572 sq. in. grilling area
• Main Rack: 22″ x 19″, Extra Rack: 22″ x 7″
• Digital Pro Controller with Advanced Grilling Logic and Dual Meat Probes
• 18 lb. Pellet Hopper Clean-Out, change pellet flavors on the fly
• Main Rack easily holds 16 burgers | 4 chickens | 24 hot dogs | 5 rib racks
• Extra Rack easily holds 8 burgers | 12 hot dogs

As with any pellet grill, be sure to purchase a cover and use quality pellets. This ensures you get a nice long life of use out of your smoker.

Traeger Grill Review: My Experience with the Traeger Pro 22

I’ve enjoyed cooking on my Traeger Pro Series 22. Put simply, its a solid cooker, it maintains steady and predictable heat, and it turns out a good quality smoked product.

I ran the Pro 22 through its paces cooking competition style pork ribs and Texas style beef ribs. These are two very different preparations, requiring two very different cooking methods.

Pork Ribs on the Traeger Pro Series 22

I live in Florida. Despite what you might think, Florida is in the south. I know. So much of the state seems like a transient appendix of the US. But all the same, when you talk BBQ in Florida you’re talking pork. The Pig Still Rules.

This being the case, I set about cooking some comp ribs on the Traeger Pro Series 22. Well, I was very pleased with the results. This smoker produced great even smoke flavor using a fruit and hardwood blend of pellets. You can see from the color on the ribs from the side view that there was good smoke penetration, and the ribs turned out nice and moist.

Preparation on these ribs was easy. I used the competition prep outlined in my post covering how to cook competition ribs. I used blend of Rub’s Original Rub from Swamp Boys and Lakeland BBQ Company Perfect Score Rub – both available at Whiskey Bent BBQ Supply.

Beef Ribs on the Traeger Pro Series 22

Though I do love the pig, beef also plays a starring role in my household. Low and slow smoked beef ribs are a special favorite, and down here – it’s sort of hard to find beef short ribs in their “dinosaur” state. Too often, they’re chopped up into what I call “beef short riblets” that are more suited for Chinese short ribs.

Thanks to my good friend Andy Lugo of Cooper’s Meat Market in San Antonio, Texas, I was able to put some legitimate Prime grade Angus beef ribs to work on the Traeger Pro Series 22. Here’s how that went down…

Preparation on these beef ribs was dead simple. I used a blend of Meat Church Gospel All Purpose Rub and Meat Church Holy Cow Beef Rub  on the ribs after trimming all of the fat off the top. I left the membrane on the back, as I cut the meat off the top of beef ribs when eating them, rather than attacking them caveman style. I put a metal water bowl in the Traeger, set it at 275 degrees, and let the ribs run all the way unwrapped until they got to about 203 degrees F.

That’s it. And the results for these beef ribs on the Traeger Pro Series 22 were great. Really great. It was like eating beef burnt ends when I cut the meat up into little squares. (See the photo above).

Traeger Pro 22 Grill Review – Final Thoughts

On price, durability, and quality of customer service offered by Traeger Grills, I find the Traeger Pro Series 22 pellet smoker to be a great buy. Though I do use my ThermoWorks Smoke meat thermometers for remote temperature monitoring, the built in dual probe feature on the Pro Series grills from Traeger is a nice feature. They do include the meat probes as well, so you’re set to monitor your meats from the grill’s display at the outset.

This grill is sturdy, and I find that the Pro 22 maintains temperatures very well. Two caveats where temps are concerned do need to be mentioned.

I found that I needed to put a wad of paper towels between the grill’s internal temperature probe and the wall of the grill in order to achieve an accurate reading. Additionally, the grill doesn’t have a lot of internal insulation under the grates. If temperatures dip and the wind kicks up, this will cause it to struggle a little bit to maintain temps.

Overall, I give the the Traeger Pro Series top marks. The company does a phenomenal job with customer support. There are tons of great recipes and videos available to help you get up and smoking regardless of your experience level.