Direct and Indirect Grilling on your Yoder Smoker.
Now that you have a couple of cooks under your belt, it’s a good opportunity to expand your horizons and start honing your grilling skills. On a Yoder Smokers pellet grill, this capability is made possible by either removing the heat diffuser door from the heat diffuser plate or removing the diffuser plate altogether, which provides access to the flames from the firepot.
Grilling Directly Over The Flame
Grilling involves cooking directly over an open flame or hot coals at higher temperatures, typically ranging from 400°F and including up to well above 700°F. Primarily used to prepare smaller, thinner foods, grilling utilizes direct heat to quickly create a delicious seared crust on the outside while maintaining juicy tenderness on the inside.
Thanks to its versatility and speed, direct grilling is excellent for daily meal prep. Whether you're cooking burgers, steaks, vegetables, or seafood, direct grilling allows you to achieve that coveted char and grill marks in a matter of minutes. The high heat caramelizes the food's exterior, sealing in juices and creating a flavorful crust.
The standard hard chrome grates included with a Yoder Smoker work well enough, but those looking for a performance upgrade when cooking over direct flame will want to add a set of GrillGrates to their arsenal. Made from hard anodized aluminum, GrillGrates trap and radiate heat, providing professional-level searing capabilities while at the same time helping your food develop a nice char. They do all of this while offering protection from flare-ups, ensuring your food doesn’t get over-charred.
But there’s more going on below the surface in your grill as the Variable Displacement Damper redirects the air to develop and intensify the heat as air flows through the cooking chamber. This heat buildup under the anodized aluminum grill grates will not only beautifully sear direct-grilled food but also take advantage of the Maillard reaction, which is what browns food and adds more flavor.
Another option for direct grilling on a Yoder Smokers pellet grill is to place a cast-iron griddle over the firepot instead of GrillGrates. A griddle will offer full-contact cooking for a complete sear, which is great for a dish like smash burgers. But the tradeoff is that foods won’t have access to direct flame. Griddles are also excellent for grilling sandwiches or preparing foods prone to falling through grates, like scrambled eggs, thinly sliced vegetables, and fried rice.
Here are a handful of direct grilling recipes to try out:
- How To Cook Chicken Breast on a Pellet Grill - If you're new to the pellet grill game, knowing how to grill chicken is essential. Chef Tom will share his favorite tips & techniques and even the most seasoned veterans will find it helpful. This is one you don't want to skip!
- Tahini Glazed Chicken Wings - With a perfect balance of savory and slightly sweet, these wings are crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and smothered in a rich sesame sauce that’s bound to be a crowd-pleaser. If you're looking to surprise your taste buds and elevate your wing game, this recipe is your new go-to!
- Grilled Pineapple Barbecue Chicken Skewers - These skewers combine the smoky allure of grilled chicken with the bright, tropical sweetness of caramelized pineapple. Marinated in a tangy barbecue sauce, each tender piece absorbs a perfect balance of savory and sweet flavors that are enhanced by the charred grill marks.
- Coffee Crusted Ribeye Steak - This perfectly cooked ribeye coated with a fragrant coffee crust made with Cattleman’s Grill Smoky Chipotle Coffee Steak Rub & Texas Olive Ranch Extra Virgin Olive Oil is as simple to make as it is delicious to eat.
Indirect Grilling on the Yoder Smokers YS640S
You have already done some indirect grilling on your Yoder Smokers pellet grill using Setup #1 used for smoking and baking. But you can do additional indirect grilling with Setup #2 when you want to cook foods at a slightly lower temperature and with a bit more airflow than with high-heat direct grilling. In these instances, you’ll cook foods on the right half of the grill so that they aren’t directly over the firepot.
Much of your indirect grilling will likely fall under the umbrella of roasting, a cooking method that uses hot, dry air, typically at temperatures ranging from 350°F to 500°F. While similar to baking, roasting often involves cooking on a rack to allow for more air circulation. Roasting can be used for larger cuts of meat, whole poultry, and vegetables.
One of the advantages of roasting is that it utilizes gentle heat throughout, keeping the interior moist and tender while at the same time creating a crispy exterior for a best-of-both-worlds experience. This is achieved by cooking at a higher temperature that allows for browning to occur, but not so hot that you burn the exterior before the interior has a chance to come up to a safe temperature.
There will also be instances where you use indirect grilling to keep foods warm as you continue to cook on the left side of the grill. For instance, when cooking the aforementioned smashburgers for a large gathering, the right side of the grill is the perfect home for cooked burgers while you continue to make more on the griddle.
As you start experimenting with indirect grilling, consider checking out:
- Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus - Add a savory and salty touch to asparagus, with just enough browning to really wow your dinner guests.
- Multi-Zone Cooking on the Yoder Smokers YS640s - When preparing a quick meal for around 4 people, set the grill up to deliver multiple heat zones, including direct cooking over the flame and indirect cooking to the side of the flame.
- Easy Flame Kissed Grilled Chicken Asparagus with Garlic Butter Pasta - When time is scarce, simplicity reigns supreme. Get as much flavor as possible using just a few ingredients and easy techniques that take advantage of multiple heat zones.
For more grilling tips, check out the ATBBQ guide to Mastering the Grill: How to Perfectly Cook Common Grilling Items. For nearly twenty years, we’ve been building a knowledge base on how to get the most out of Yoder Smokers, and we are happy to share that experience.
And if you haven’t already, make sure to sign up for our loyalty program to receive a free gift, and join our email newsletter to stay in the loop on all the new recipes, tips, and techniques we are using to cook delicious meals for our family and friends.
