We jettisoned our old Weber kettle recently because we thought we were moving. However, we stayed put and now we have no grill. I’d like to buy a new one.
I’m intrigued by the Big Green Egg, but it’s a lot more expensive than a Weber kettle. Does anyone use a BGE and can give me any input on whether it’s worth the money?
If you like brisket or ribs or any meat that must be cooked low and slow, the BGE (or any Kamado cooker) is hard to beat.
For burgers, hot dogs, fish, most (all?) chicken, steaks cooked hot and fast, the BGE is a waste of time and money.
Also, I lusted after a BGE for a long time, but I never would have purchased one and wouldn’t have one now if it wasn’t a gift.
YMMV.
I haven’t used a BGE, but I have a Weber grill and a Weber smokey mountain smoker. My vote is for you to get both, for the reasons MindsEye_Watering has already enumerated.
If I had nothing at all and was told I could have only one, I would choose a kettle-type charcoal grill with a propane coal starter.
What are you planning on cooking?
Kamado pots, such as the Big Green Egg require a lot of practice, but you can’t beat them for smoking meat.
If you’re just doing hotdogs and hamburgers, save your money.
We mostly cook steaks and kebabs, and I like chicken cooked with indirect heat on a grill. But I also like to do a low-and-slow tri-tip roast and am thinking of learning how to do St. Louis ribs. I did dry rub ribs in a low oven recently, and they were good, but they’d have been better on a real smoker/grill.
I have a Pit Boss kamado pot, and it does all that very well. One thing I haven’t tried yet is a pork shoulder.
Have you considered a Smoker Grill?
Way less expensive than the BGE.
Years ago my wife worked for a patio furniture store and managed to buy the large Big Green Egg for half price. It weighs a ton, but it’s worth it. I just got an Inkbird thermostat blower which automates keeping the temperature steady. This last weekend I smoked a 10 pound brisket.
They’re expensive and heavy as hell, but I do enjoy it.
I’ve been eyeing one of those. It almost feels like cheating. 
I mean, it really kind of is. I smoked the brisket for 12 hours at 225, then realized it wouldn’t be done until after midnight… so I told it to lower the temperature down to 160 overnight, so it wouldn’t be overcooked when I got up. In the morning, the temperature was perfect. I’m not used to getting a good night’s sleep when I’m smoking something that big. The only thing I don’t like about it is that it’s not waterproof, so I have to make sure it’s covered if it’s going to rain.
The BBQ Guru has some excellent temp controllers too.
I also do not have a BGE so can’t comment on it, but I have a 14" Smokey Joe kettle, a 22" kettle and an 18" WSM and have yet to find anything that I can’t cook with one of the three. Charcoal takes a bit of learning curve to master, but if you’ve had a kettle before then you’ve learned much of it already. The 22" kettle has several accessories you can get to expand its functionality, such as pizza chamber and a rotisserie attachment. I don’t have any them, but they exist.
I do occasionally wish I had the 22" WSM, but that’s my only nitpick.
I have a friend with a Weber Kamado, the Weber version of the BGE. He says the big advantage is it can get hotter than the regular OG kettle and keep its temp longer and with fewer fluctuations.
I’m a Kamado Joe guy (Classic 3, to be exact). The superpower of a Kamado grill is that, after some practice, you can dial in a very precise temperature and maintain it for a long time with very little fuel. You can also get truly raging heat going on it for searing or doing pizza.
It’s no more complicated to get going than any other charcoal grill, and in fact once you learn what you’re doing it doesn’t take much more time or effort to get going than heating up a gas grill (or your oven, for that matter). I regularly use it to do burgers or chicken on weeknights.
The biggest downsides are cost and portability. (It’s on casters, but I wouldn’t move it far even on those.) Also, unless you bump up to the biggest size you’re not getting as much grilling real estate as you do with something like a Weber Kettle, which is a problem if you’re regularly doing burgers for 20 or something.
So bottom line: if you can afford it, you’re willing to get up a learning curve, and you’re not planning to move for a while, it’s a great addition to the outdoor cooking arsenal.
(Of note: I also own a Weber gas grill, a Weber Kettle, and a Kudu. The KJ gets most of the love these days, though.)
When I was young, my dad flew cargo planes in the Air Force, mostly Pacific routes. On one of his trips to Japan, he brought back some heavy, round, barbecue grill thing. He built a stand for it, and we used it for years in our backyard. I think he even brought a few back for friends, too. And we had a small one we could take on our boat.
Forty years later I start hearing about Big Green Eggs. If he’d thought of importing and selling them, I’d be rich now.
My brother had one for a few years. I asked if I should get one. He said that, while he liked it for some things, most often it was too much of a hassle to get started and bring up to temperature. Unless you had a grandiose plan, in advance, to smoke 10 lbs of beef, it wasn’t a very good option when you had friends over and want to cook up some steaks and roasted veggies.
It would depend on what kind of cooking you want to do.
About 20 years ago when living in Shanghai, I really really really wanted a BGE. Which was so impractical, unavailable and a complete non-starter. However, I did buy my brother in Boulder one and have used it multiple times on visits.
BGE is an event. You’re not going to roast weenies on it. The whole advantage it has is a giant thermal mass. It takes time and effort to heat the whole thing up, and once up to temperature it does not take much to keep it steady. And you can get it really frickin’ hot and combined with the pizza grill, go for your 90 second pizza. But, IMHO, it is a lot of work. That said, thanksgiving goose one year was the bees knees. Whole turkey really nice as well. Full disclosure, I’ve probably only used it a dozen times. No idea if there are new hacks or a way to use gas to heat the whole thing that make it more convenient???
FWIW, my brother uses his natural gas Weber off the house pipe for at least 95% of his grilling. 12 years ago when had a custom build done, it included a natural gas connection to the covered patio. Not saying it’s the best grill, but the convenience of firing up the natural gas Weber was really valuable for me. I still have a weber charcoal kettle. Don’t really use either any more.
Again, my point being, the BGE is an event. Results are great for a lot of things, but will you keep using it after the novelty has worn off?