Traeger Pro 575 barbecue review: up your BBQ game with this outdoor grill, smoker and oven

In the market for buying a wood pellet grill? Then the Traeger Pro 575 is the ideal grill to give you an introduction to this easy and delicious way of cooking outdoors.

Despite being a big name in barbecues in the US, Traeger isn’t as well a known brand in the UK. Unlike the majority of barbecues in the UK, all of Traeger’s grills are fuelled by wood pellets, via indirect heat. So essentially your barbecue is less grill, more oven - yet it still will, and can, cook a wide variety of food brilliantly.

Having always cooked on a charcoal barbecue - for both speedy grilling and slow roasting - I was keen to see what all the fuss about cooking with wood pellets was about. 

As a cooking medium, wood pellet grills are becoming more widely available, in part due to their convenience (they’re extremely easy to use) but also because they add a welcome hint of smokiness to food as it cooks. 

A keen cook and always up for a challenge, I tested out the Traeger 575 Pro on a wide range of food, both roasted and grilled, to ensure I put it through its paces. Keep scrolling to see how I got on, then head to our best BBQ guide for more grill options to help hone your outdoor cooking skills. 

Traeger Pro 575 product specifications

• Fuel type: Wood pellets
• Power type: Mains operated
• Control: Either manually or via WiFi (Traeger WiFire app)
• Dimensions: H135xW104xD69cm (assembled)
• Weight: 58kg (assembled)
• Oven temperature: Up to 260˚C
• Hopper capacity: 8.1kg
• Grill size: 3709 sq cms
• Use: Outdoor use only

Traeger Pro 575 - First Impressions and assembly

Clearly marked on the large and heavy box, the grill requires two people to build it. As tasks go, it’s one that you’re guided through with ease, thanks to a number of cute and clever touches that can't help but make you smile.

For starters, the instructions suggest a couple of cold beers would help while you worked, while providing a handy storage tray for the bottles so that they don’t get knocked over.

The build instructions, too, are incredibly clear and well thought through, from providing you with a screwdriver, Allan key and wrench to assemble the lot, as well as numbering everything clearly.

The trickiest part of the build is attaching the legs, which involves flipping the main body of the grill over, and while this was a bit fiddly, it really didn’t take that long to finish.

If, like me, you have a six year old who is keen to get stuck into helping, the company has come up with a pretty ingenious distraction.

Printed on the inside of the main box, you’ll find a cabin design, so once you've emptied everything out, just turn the whole thing inside out, tape it back together and you have an instant playhouse that delights little ones and - more importantly - keeps them out from under your feet while you assemble the grill.

Designwise, the body of the grill is drum-shaped. Lift the lid of the and you’ll find double shelf porcelain-coated grill grates - a large one at the bottom and a smaller, half depth one above it.

The box-shaped hopper is on the left hand side - this is where the digital controls are located, too. On the right hand side, you’ll find a grease run off that leads out of the drum into a small bucket.

If you plan to leave it outdoors the whole time, you will need a waterproof cover to protect it from the elements. Traeger provided me with a cover which is normally priced at around £70. The cover is really well-made, durable and fits snugly around the grill. 

I also received three bags of Traeger hardwood pellets in three different flavours (more on those later).

Traeger Pro 575 - getting started

If you’ve ever had to faff about lighting a charcoal grill, you’ll LOVE the Traeger. Simply fill the hopper with pellets, plug it in, switch it on at the back, select the temperature you want it to reach, press the ignite button and you’re sorted. 

The hopper automatically adds more pellets when it needs more heat. The pellets are heated below a metal tray so the food never comes into contact with a naked flame.  

Obviously it depends on what temperature you want to preheat it to, but the grill should be hot enough and ready to cook on in less than ten minutes. 

The grill pumps out a bit of smoke from its cartoon-cute chimney at the beginning of each use, but that quickly dissipates and the grill is virtually smokeless after that.

Cooking in the Traeger Pro 575 

The grill can be controlled in two ways - manually, via the digital display and a dial/button on the right hand side, on the front of the hopper. Alternatively, you can link it up with your WiFi signal and control it using the (free) Traeger app. 

This is ideal if you're slow roasting something, as - together with a meat probe - you can set a temperature and timer, leaving the grill to do the rest. 

This leaves you to get on with your day, whether it’s entertaining friends or having a midday nap on a sun lounger. The app will alert you when your food has reached the optimum temperature. The app also provides you with a wide array of recipes and cooking suggestions - perfect if you're feeling a little uninspired.

In the interests of full disclosure, I found the app and connectivity to my WiFi signal to be quite temperamental - dropping in and out constantly - but this, as I understand it, is due to the grill’s distance from my router. 

To be honest, not using the app didn’t hugely affect how I used the grill. Personally, I would see this as a bonus if it worked, rather than a hindrance if it didn't. 

The grill is fuelled by hardwood pellets. You can use plain unbranded ones which are easily found online, or you can go for the branded Traeger pellets which come in a choice of up to nine types of wood.

As the pellets burn, they will infuse the food with a unique smoky flavour, each type suited to a different kind of food. For instance, apple wood is great for chicken and pork, while oak makes beef taste amazing, and mesquite is the perfect match for fish. 

Available to buy online from a variety of stockists, expect to pay around £18 for a 9kg bag. Unlike charcoal or gas, it’s unlikely you’ll find your local corner shop selling wood pellets, so remember to stock up so you’re ready to cook or if you tend to have impromptu barbecues.

In the time that I had to review the Traeger Pro 575, I cooked as much on it as I possibly could, weather permitting. I roasted chickens, grilled rib-eye and cooked sausages and hot dogs, as well as grilling loads of new-season asparagus and plenty of corn on the cob.

I roasted the chickens both in a roasting tray and propped up, beer can-style. For the rib-eye and asparagus, I used a (seasoned) cast-iron skillet which I preheated first and placed directly on the grill grates, while the sausages and corn were cooked straight on the grill shelf.

While the chicken skin didn’t get as crispy as I would normally like, the meat was some of the most succulent I had ever made at home. The steak was seared to perfection and the veggies were delicious, too.

I found the whole cooking experience to be so easy and effortless - there’s no guesswork, no burning and thanks to the handy meat probe, no cooked-on-the-outside-raw-on-the-inside experiences either.

How easy is it to clean the Traeger Pro 575?

With a little bit of prep, cleaning will take you mere minutes. First, inside the grill, the burning wood pellets are covered with a metal tray. Any grease that drips down from the food will land on this metal tray, so it needs to be covered if you’re cooking on the grill shelf.  

The grill comes with a single use foil drip liner that covers the metal tray completely. These can be bought separately, or failing that, a few sheets of strategically placed tin foil will do the trick.

The grease then runs off this liner, out into the small bucket that hangs from the exterior. The bucket also comes with a couple of foil liners, making it really easy to clean after use.

Finally, the two grill plates can be removed easily and washed in a sink with soapy water.

How does the Traeger Pro 575 rate?

If you’re a burgers-and-sausages kind of barbecue cook, then the Traeger Pro 575 really isn’t for you. Save your money and plump for a simple gas barbecue instead. 

If however, you’re looking for a step up from your standard barbecue, and are keen to discover new and interesting ways to cook a wide variety of dishes outdoors, then this grill is absolutely worth investing in. 

Priced at around the £1,000 mark, it’s a high-end grill and one that is meant to be used often. 

Where to buy the Traeger Pro 575

You can buy the Traeger Pro 575 at Amazon. The Traeger website also lists local stockists for the grill and wood pellets. As with a lot of barbecues right now the Pro 575 keeps selling out online. Anywhere it's in stock will pull through in our handy widget below, but you can take a look at where to buy barbecues in stock with our guide. 

About this review and our reviewer

Ginevra Benedetti is Associate Editor across the homes titles at Future. This means that she spends her days writing about all areas of the home, inside and out, as well as reviewing gadgets and appliances to ensure that you get the best products for your needs. 

She lives in a Victorian terrace with a 40ft long garden that backs onto a peaceful council allotment, so thankfully not that many neighbours are disturbed by her six-year-old’s endless trampoline antics. 

As with all our reviews, the Traeger Pro 575 has been tested first-hand in her garden, using it just as you would so you know exactly what you are buying.