The Best Pellets for a Pit Boss

You do not need Pit Boss pellets in a Pit Boss

Pit Boss grills take standard 1/4-inch BBQ pellets from any brand. Traeger, Camp Chef, Bear Mountain, Lumber Jack and CookinPellets all state compatibility with all pellet grills. Brand matching is a marketing preference, not a technical requirement.

That said, Pit Boss’s own 40 lb bags happen to be the best cost per pound we track — so the brand-matching answer and the value answer coincide here, which they do not for Traeger owners.

What a Pit Boss specifically changes

The 30 lb hopper changes the economics

Navigator barrels carry 30 lb and the vertical cabinets carry 50 lb and 75 lb. That means you are loading substantially more pellets per session than a Traeger owner, so cost per pound matters more.

Buying 40 lb bags rather than 18 lb bags is therefore a bigger saving for a Pit Boss owner than for almost anyone else. Pit Boss Competition Blend at 40 lb is the obvious everyday choice; CookinPellets at two 40 lb bags is the enthusiast option.

Ash and the burn pot

Ash accumulation in the burn pot causes temperature swings, and on the Pit Boss models without a removable burn pot, clearing it means an ash vacuum. Low-ash pellets therefore buy you real time.

Camp Chef states kiln-dried low moisture; Bear Mountain states low ash on every bag. Both are worth paying slightly more per pound for if you cook often. The Advantage 850SL has a removable burn pot, which makes this much less of a concern.

Hopper cleanout and flavor swapping

Most current Pit Boss models have a hopper cleanout, so switching woods takes a minute. That makes it practical to run a cheap bulk blend most of the time and a single wood when it matters — the three-bag system.

The Pit Boss pellet range

Pit Boss does not publish the wood ratios in either blend, which is a mark against them next to Lumber Jack. What they do publish is the absence of additives, and the price per pound is unbeatable.

What we would buy for a Pit Boss

1. One 40 lb bag of Pit Boss Competition Blend as everyday fuel. Lowest cost per cook we track, and a 30 lb hopper takes most of it in one load.
2. One 20 lb bag of a low-ash single wood — Bear Mountain hickory for beef, or apple for pork and poultry.
3. A sealed container for each. 40 lb bags only save money if the pellets stay dry.