Skip to content
Grow In Backyard
Grilling & BBQ

Is It Cheaper to Cook With Pellets or Charcoal? Pellets, Per Hour

Pellets cost less per hour of cooking because the auger feeds only what the fire needs. Charcoal wins on a short sear and on upfront cost.

By Zakaria 3 min read Save to Pinterest — opens Pinterest in a new tab
A close view of compressed wood fuel briquettes stacked together
Photo: moses, Pixabay Content License, via Pixabay
On this page

Pellets, per hour of cooking. The auger feeds only what the set temperature needs, while a charcoal grill burns a fixed load whether the food needs it or not. Charcoal wins on a short sear — and overwhelmingly on the purchase price.

Per hour of cooking

This table answers the question on its own
PelletsCharcoal
Fuel metered to demandYes — auger feeds the fireNo — fixed load
Low and slow, 8 hoursCheaperDearer, plus refuelling
Quick 30-minute searWasteful — full ignition cycleCheaper
Wasted fuelLittleA lot on short cooks
Cold or windy dayConsumption can doubleBurns faster, same load
Grill purchase priceHighLow
Needs mains powerYesNo

The numbers to plan with

  • Pellets: about 0.5–1 kg/hour at 110–120°C; two to three times that running hot. Cold, wind and lid-opening all push it up — a cold windy day can double it.
  • Charcoal: a chimney load burns usefully for 45 minutes to 1.5 hours, and a bag gives several loads.

The charcoal saving most people skip

A charcoal grill burns its load down whether or not you are cooking on it. Shut the vents to extinguish the moment you are done and reuse the part-burnt charcoal next time — that recovers a real share of the cost of every short cook.

Lump or briquettes

  • Briquettes — cheaper per kilo, burn longer and more evenly. Better value for long cooks, and steadier.
  • Lump — lights faster, burns hotter, less ash, burns through quicker. Worth the premium for searing.

The electricity question

Small but real: a pellet grill needs mains power for the auger, fan and controller — a few hundred watts during ignition, well under a hundred once running. Over a long cook that is a modest addition.

The practical consequence is not cost

A pellet grill cannot be used where there is no power. That rules out camping, a remote plot and anywhere an extension lead is not realistic. Charcoal goes anywhere.

Overall

Charcoal, by a wide margin, once the grill is included. A good kettle costs a fraction of a pellet grill and has almost nothing to go wrong. The pellet grill’s running-cost advantage on long cooks needs years of heavy use to repay the purchase difference — so buy one for the convenience and temperature control, not as a saving.

Common questions

Is it cheaper to cook with pellets or charcoal?

Pellets, for anything longer than a quick cook, because the auger feeds only as much fuel as the set temperature requires. A pellet grill typically burns around half a kilo to a kilo an hour at smoking temperatures and considerably more when running hot, while a charcoal grill is loaded with a fixed amount at the start and burns it whether the food needs it or not. For a thirty-minute sear charcoal is cheaper, and for an eight-hour smoke pellets usually win clearly.

How many pellets does a smoker use per hour?

Roughly half a kilo to one kilo an hour at low smoking temperatures around 110 to 120°C, and two to three times that running hot. Outside temperature, wind and how often the lid is opened all push it up noticeably, so a cold windy day can double consumption. The practical planning figure most owners settle on is about a kilo an hour, which makes a long cook easy to budget for.

How long does a bag of charcoal last?

A standard chimney load burns usefully for roughly forty-five minutes to an hour and a half depending on the charcoal and how much air the grill is getting, and a typical bag gives several loads. The variable people underestimate is that a charcoal grill is loaded once and burns down whether or not you are cooking, so a short cook on a full load wastes most of it. Shutting the vents to extinguish and reusing part-burnt charcoal next time recovers a good share of that.

Are lump charcoal and briquettes different on cost?

Briquettes are usually cheaper per kilo and burn longer and more evenly, which makes them better value for long cooks. Lump charcoal lights faster, burns hotter and produces less ash, but burns through quicker so the cost per hour is higher. For searing, lump is worth the premium; for a long low cook, briquettes are the economical choice and the steadier one.

What about the electricity a pellet grill uses?

It is small but real. A pellet grill needs mains power for the auger, fan and controller, drawing a few hundred watts during the ignition cycle and typically well under a hundred once running. Over a long cook that is a modest addition rather than a meaningful cost. The more practical consequence is that a pellet grill cannot be used where there is no power, which rules out a lot of camping and remote use.

Which is cheaper overall once you include the grill?

Charcoal, by a wide margin on the purchase. A good kettle grill costs a fraction of a pellet grill with a controller, auger and hopper, and it has almost nothing to go wrong. Pellet grills have real running cost advantages on long cooks but need years of heavy use to repay the difference in purchase price, so buy one for the convenience and temperature control rather than as a saving.

Backyard Weekly

Know what to plant, week by week

Join the weekly email for seasonal jobs, fixes for what is going wrong, and gear worth buying.

Not ready to subscribe? The planting calendar is free and needs no email.

By subscribing you agree to our privacy policy. Grow In Backyard will never sell your address.

Keep reading