Your pellet grill offers plenty of surface space to make lots of food at once. For instance, a Silverbac All-Terrain features nearly 700 inches of total cooking area. Yet you might not be sure whether you can safely and consistently smoke multiple types of meats at once.

Let us be the first to tell you that you absolutely can. You just have to follow these seven simple pitmaster rules to guarantee a mouthwatering outcome every time.

1. Clean Off Your Pellet Grill First

A clean grill is always your best bet no matter what you plan to smoke or grill. Spend some time scouring the grill racks to ensure that your cooking surfaces are primed, pristine and prepped.

2. Lay Out Your Various Ingredients on Separate Platters

Just because you’re going to cook steaks, chicken quarters and a whole trout in one pellet smoker doesn’t mean you should slap all your meat, poultry and seafood on the same plate. Keep everything separate to avoid safety issues related to uncooked foods and cross-contamination. Don’t share utensils among the different ingredients, either.

3. Strategically Add Your Foods to the Grill

You know your brisket is going to require a longer grill time than your T-bone, so plan accordingly. Create a chart to identify when you should put each piece of meat on the grill. This helps you smoke multiple kinds of meats at once without charring one to a crisp or leaving one underdone. 

4. Make Sure Your Meat Doesn’t Touch

Never overlap pieces of meat when you put them on the grill. Always leave about a 1 or 2-inch space between each ingredient. That way, flowing juices from raw meats won’t become an issue. Besides, when you squish your meat together, you limit the air and smoke that can circulate around it. The result? Undercooked or under-flavored spots. 

5. Keep Cleaning Your Utensils and Tools

The minute you use a thermometer to test a meat’s temperature, rinse it off with soap and water. The same holds true for spatulas, tongs and other grilling equipment. Spotless tools lead to happier, tastier outcomes. Who wants their smoked ribs to taste like shrimp or vice versa? The point is to be safe and also preserve the flavors of each dish.

6. Baste Only Clean Marinades on Your Meats

We all like to baste meat from time to time. You should clean your baster and never use the same marinade that touched your raw fowl, meat or fish. Instead, create new marinades if you’re smoking meat such as ribs and chicken at the same time. Maintain a sanitized baster that you only use on one meat rather than everything on your grill.

Add Some BBQ Flavor

7. Practice Varying the Temperature With Larger Meat Batches

You need to accommodate your temperature based on how much meat is in your smoker. The more meat, the longer it may take to heat everything since cold meat saps the overall temperature of the grill. Some spots may be hotter than others, which you can regulate through a mixture of temperature control and ventilation. When you’re smoking multiple types of meats simultaneously, come back often to check on your delicious foods.

Start Cooking Lots of Meat

The next time you contemplate cooking two pieces of meat at the same time in your pellet grill, go for it. The best way to become the most versatile pitmaster in the neighborhood is to stretch your wings a little — and cook them, too.

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