The Otto Wilde Grill vs Traeger Grills- The Better Grill?

Grills are great, and they allow us to cook a variety of foods in them. The Otto Grills and Traeger Grills are two of the most well-known grills in the market that can do just that.

Otto grills are also salamander grills. Salamander grills apply heat from the top of the grill, which means it cooks downward.

This setup brings some benefits that we can all use when cooking. 

When grease drips down from the meat that we are cooking, they do not get burned, so they leave no marks like it would in the case of a grill.

On the other hand, the Traeger grills are a great combination of grilling power and technology that eases most of its users’ job.

They heat the food from the bottom of the grill grates, which is the opposite of the Otto Grills.

The Traeger Grill packs a lot of power and features that can make grilling fun and easy.

These two grills cook in two different ways, so it will not be fair to judge them with just the cooking capabilities alone.

That is why we wrote this post to see which one is better. This way, you get a better view of what to expect from both grills and what downsides they have, if there are any.

So without further ado, let us get to the comparison so you can decide which one of these two amazing grills you should choose for your cooking sessions!

 

Setting up the Grills

The Otto Grills are compact and lightweight, so there would not be a lot of trouble setting them up. Just find a durable tabletop and place the grill on it.

 

The Otto Wilde Grill

 

The Traeger Grills will be a little tricky since these grills are very heavy. You will need a helping hand to set these grills up.

The good thing is that they do not need a tabletop. Traeger Grills have their stand and can move with two attached durable wheels.

You can bring extension cords if you set the grills up in your backyard where there are no electrical sockets. Just make sure that the grills are far away from flammable objects.

Another consideration needed to be taken care of is setting up the Traeger Grills; you need to make sure that your WiFi connection can reach the area.

The Traeger grills offer many controlled digitally features, so aside from needing an electrical socket, you will need a WiFi connection to get the best performance front of the Trager grills.

 

The Main Difference

Aside from the size of the grills, which is obvious, the main difference between the two is their cooking style. They do, however, produce high-quality foods just in a different way.

 

Traeger Grill

 

The Otto Grills have stainless steel built, and the broilers are on the top part of the grill. Meaning it heats the interior of the grill from the top.

While this might sound a little bit off but the salamander grills are very effective. They make sure that they cook the food in no time and they come out perfect.

The Traeger grills are just like the common grills in the market. They have a firebox at the bottom, and they cook the food by producing convection heat upwards.

The Traeger grills also have unique features that we will compare with Otto Grills’ unique features.

 

Ease of Cleaning

As mentioned above, Otto Grill is a small grill that cleans itself up due to its powerful heat. However, this does not mean that it relies solely on that power for cleaning.

The Otto Wilde grill is a model from the same line that you can disassemble. You can easily remove the top part where the broiler is from the main body.

This way, you will not damage the broiler and get it wet when cleaning the grill. It is all stainless steel has a smooth surface so that you can wipe off any dirt.

The Otto Wilde grill, as well as the other models, has a dripping pan. This pan is usually filled with water not to create steam but to extinguish grease that falls on it.

There would not be marks of black, burnt grease on any part of the grill this way. It slides off easily when you need to clean it or replace the water.

The Traeger grill also has a cleaning process, and we have explained that in detail in the post on how you can clean your Traeger grill.

But to sum it up, you can easily clean the Traeger grill too!

 

Pellet Hoppers in Traeger Grills

While the grills are both using electricity, the Traeger Grills get their power source from a different kind of fuel.

That is right; they use wood pellets for cooking your food. The benefits of wood pellets include a smoky flavor on your food, ease of cleaning, and efficiency.

The Traeger Grills use a pellet hopper to feed the grill with the fuel that it needs. It uses technology to adjust the number of wood pellets fed in the grill.

Once you fire up the newer versions of the Traeger Grills, you can leave it behind by just adjusting the temperature. The grill will automatically feed the burner with wood pellets to reach the temperature you entered.

The Otto Wilde is an electric grill, so there are no wood pellets involved in it.

 

Meat-O-Meter in Otto Wilde Grill

Adjusting the grates of a grill either means that you need to change the space or you need the food in it to cook faster.

With the Otto Grill’s Meat-O-Meter feature, you can adjust the grill’s grate without removing it from the grill itself.

All you need is to move the removable lever on the side of the grill. You will find indications on the side of the grill as to where the grate is.

This way, you can put a steak near the broiler for it to cook faster or for foods that need more heat, while you can slide down the grate for vegetables and other foods that require slow cooking.

It all-electric in the Otto grill, and it ends up looking like a small oven.

 

WiFi Feature 

The Traeger Grills can connect to WiFi to get the best out of it. They use this to connect the grill to your phone so that you can manage it from afar.

The Traeger Grills come with a mobile app that you can install on your phone. The app includes many recipes that you can just click, and the grill will automatically set the right temperature and the timer.

You can also control the temperature with your phone. Just set up the grill, turn the power button on the grill, and take a break.

You will not find this on the Otto Wilde Grill, and you may have to adjust everything on the grill manually.

 

Meat Probe

Traeger Grills have meat probes that can read the exact temperature of the meat cooking inside them.

You can see the measured temperature on the digital screen on the grill. This way, you will know if your steak or other meats are cooked to perfection or in the way that you want it.

The Otto Grills do not have meat probes, so what you usually do is take the meat out of the grill and measure the temperature with an instant-read thermometer.

 

Powering the Grills

 

Otto Radiant Technology

Otto Grills use broilers or hot rods for cooking your food. They are  propane powered and will convert the fire to infrared waves to cook your food.

Otto’s Radiant Technology uses infrared waves to cook your food. This way, your steak or pizza will never come out super dry.

The moisture is kept inside the food while it gets cooked with amazing heat. The Otto Grills can reach temperatures of up to 1500 degrees Fahrenheit.

The water on the drip tray can also evaporate to create steam and help moisturize the food, but that is not the tray’s main purpose, so do not expect too much from it.

 

The Otto Wilde Grill

 

 

Pellet Power

The Traeger Grills, as mentioned before, are fueled by wood pellets. These pellets are automatically fed to the grill from the pellet hopper via an auger mechanism.

This auger mechanism continuously feeds the grill with fuel or slows down when the heat is too much for the food cooked inside the grill.

The pellet hoppers of the Traeger Grills can handle over 20 pounds of wood pellets. It is enough for a whole afternoon of grilling or a whole day of low-temperature smoking.

The Traeger Grills do not boast power as they can only reach 500 degrees Fahrenheit as their maximum temperature but can still sear steaks perfectly.

 

The Smoky Flavor

Since Otto Grills do not use wood or charcoal, they cannot produce a smoky flavor in your food. The Traeger Grills, on the other hand, can do this.

The Traeger Grills use wood pellets which are compressed wood. It means that they emit a lot of smoke that transfers to your food.

The grills also have a unique feature called D2 Drive. The D2 Drive is a mechanism that controls the fan in the grills.

With this feature, you can control the fan from 0 to 100 rounds per minute. So if you want your food to taste smokier, you can lower the fan speed.

Some Traeger Grills models have a chimney so that the smoke will get out after it has passed through your food.

 

The Otto Lite

 

 

Cooking in the Grills

The Otto grills have a cast-iron grate that can adjust in height. This way, they can cook steak and a variety of foods with the same heat.

They also heat up quickly with their two burners. The Otto Lite model has two burners that are ignited and controlled with one knob.

On the other hand, the Otto Wilde model has individual knobs that control each burner so you can cook different recipes simultaneously. You can fit two porterhouse steaks on the grate.

The Traeger Grills boast size and capacity. The large models of the grills can handle around 6 steaks or 20 burgers at a time.

The amazing capacity of the Traeger Grills is due to the innovative multi-racked grates that you can use to cook any recipe at different temperatures.

For example, you can sear steaks on the bottom rack while keeping your burger warm on the top rack.

Either way, these grills are amazing. They can cook any food that you want, and they will all cook to perfection.

 

Conclusion

The Otto Grills are powerful for small countertop grills. At first glance, you will not expect that this small grill will produce over a thousand degrees.

They have features such as the Meat-O-Meter to manually adjust the racks to cook your steak or even pizzas. They are perfect for pizzas since the heat comes from the top of the grill.

This way, the cheese in your pizza will melt perfectly while the vapor is moisturizing the crust from the drip tray.

The Traeger Grills are full of amazing features. They have smart technology, so if you are having a big party, you can attend to your guests while letting the grills cook your food.

You can cook a lot of food in the Traeger Grills simultaneously with its large capacity plus a bonus advantage on having that delicious smoky flavor in your food.

We think that the Traeger Grills win in terms of capacity, but it is obvious that the Otto Grills win when it comes to power. Otto Grill is perfect for looking for an indoor grill as you can set it up in your kitchen.

I would go with the Otto Grill for its compact size, but if you need a LOT of space where you can cook food, you might want to choose the Traeger Grills.

So if you want a grill that can cook a lot, then the Traeger Grills are the perfect fit, and the Otto for small family dinners and quick-cooking.

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