Not looking to buy a separate fire pit for your backyard and wondering if you can just burn wood in your Weber Grill can double as a fire pit? You are not alone!
As humans, we like gadgets that can do more than one thing, right? I know I do. Most people won’t even consider an air fryer nowadays unless it can bake, cook, grill, and boil too!
So it’s no wonder then that people in the grilling world are starting to wonder what else our precious grills can be used for. After all, if your grill can handle cooking with coal, surely it can handle other things?
Surely we can use wood, either as a method of cooking for additional flavor, or simply to turn out grills into fire pits.
Well, I’m not sure about the answer to those questions right now, but if you stick with me for today’s post we can find out together. Really, what I’m asking is, can you burn wood in a Weber grill?
Is It OK To Cook In A Weber With Wood?
This might seem an obvious question to answer for many of you in the grilling community, but to some, it isn’t so obvious. So, if you’re wondering if it’s even safe to cook with wood to begin with, then the answer is yes, it is safe.
So long as you don’t burn your food and eat it, then there is no risk of increased carcinogens (which is what most people worry about when cooking over flames).
Just be as careful with your food as you already are cooking over coal, and there’s absolutely no additional risk.
Remember, before we discovered coal, we were cooking everything over wood fires, so don’t worry about that.
We get it, when some fire pits are this expensive, who wants to buy a whole new device?
Can You Burn Wood In A Weber Grill?
But just because you can cook with wood, doesn’t necessarily mean you can cook with wood in a Weber grill, right? So can you use wood in a Weber grill?
Yes, you can. It’s perfectly safe to do so. There’s really no difference between cooking with wood or coal in your Weber grill. Neither one has a higher burning temperature than the other or anything like that, so the integrity of your Weber grill won’t be compromised in any way.
In fact, the steel Weber makes their grills out of is so well treated for high temperatures that it’d be almost impossible to damage it accidentally by burning fuel in it to cook your food.
You might even find some benefits to using wood instead of coal too.
For example, the smell of a wood burning fire is much more pleasant than coal burning fires, and many people see the resulting flames and smoke as being much ‘cleaner’ than the ‘dirty’ coal smoke and flames.
Not to mention, starting a fire with dry wood is much easier than with coal, because it burns much more easily, naturally.
Starting a fire with wood in your Weber grill couldn’t be simpler:
- Make sure you use wood smoking chunks rather than logs – as logs are too big and more difficult to get burning anyway
- Add kindling to the bottom of your grill with the wood chunks
- Use natural fire starters such as newspaper and then set it alight
You may find that wood burns much quicker than coal, though, so many people opt to use both.
If you prefer to use just wood, that’s fine too, but just make sure you have more wood chunks on hand to throw into the grill to keep the fire burning long enough to get everything cooked.
To sum up, yes, you can burn wood in a Weber grill, and you might actually find you enjoy the food you cook more with it, too.
There’s no denying that food cooked over wood takes on a mouthwatering wood-smoked flavor, which is another benefit to using wood.
But maybe you wanted to know if you could use wood in a Weber grill for another reason besides cooking?
Can You Use A Weber Grill As A Fire Pit?
It sure would be convenient if you could. Just imagine taking a Weber grill out with you on a camping trip and being able to double it up as a fire pit in the evening so everyone can gather around it to keep warm when the sun goes down.
That sounds like bliss to me. But I suppose the reason you, like me, are wondering whether or not you can use a Weber grill as a fire pit really boils down to whether you can burn wood in it for long periods of time.
After all, we already know from above that you can use wood in a Weber grill to cook, but this usually takes much less time than if you’re planning on burning wood recreationally for a fire pit in the evening.
So, can you use a Weber grill as a fire pit?
Yes, you can! Burning wood for a longer period of time doesn’t have any additional effects on your Weber grill. It won’t increase the risk of it being damaged, because not only is the steel designed to deal with high temperatures, it’s also designed to deal with high temperatures for long periods of time.
Weber doesn’t know how many people you have to cook for and how long you’ll be using their grills, so it has to be able to burn for long periods without being compromised.
That’s good news for those of you looking to use your Weber grill as a fire pit, because it’s absolutely fine to do so.
Takeaway Message
With all that being said, I still need to mention air pollution. I’m not saying not to use your Weber grill as a fire pit or to avoid using wood at all. I’m just saying to be mindful of it.
If you can, maybe opt to wear a blanket outside every once in a while, rather than burning wood for the sake of burning it, you know?
Either way, your Weber grill is capable of burning wood and you didn’t come here for a lecture on the environment, so yes, you can use your Weber grill as a fire pit and it’s absolutely fine to use wood as your fuel source when cooking with your Weber grill too!