Electric Smoker vs Pellet Grill: Masterbuilt 30 vs Pit Boss Carbon 700

Most electric-versus-pellet comparisons argue about smoke flavour, which neither manufacturer publishes anything about. The numbers they do publish tell a simpler story.

710 against 718

Masterbuilt publishes 710 square inches for the 30-inch Digital Electric, across four chrome-coated racks. Pit Boss publishes 718 square inches for the Carbon Series 700.

That is eight square inches apart — about one percent. On the question of how much food fits, these are the same size.

The shape is where they differ. The Masterbuilt is a vertical cabinet, and its 710 is split four ways — which suits anything that portions: ribs, sausages, jerky, fish laid out in layers. Whether one large cut fits depends on the size of a single rack, which Masterbuilt does not publish. Its own capacity claim is six chickens, two turkeys, four pork butts or four racks of ribs, in a cabinet 20.5 inches wide, 19.9 deep and 33.3 tall. Pit Boss gives one figure for the Carbon 700 without breaking it into levels, so we will not guess at a split either.

The overlap is where barbecue lives

Masterbuilt publishes 100 to 275°F. Pit Boss publishes 180 to 500°F.

They overlap from 180 to 275°F, and that overlap contains almost all of ordinary low-and-slow cooking, which sits between 225 and 275°F. For brisket, pork shoulder and ribs, both dials go where you need them.

The difference is at the ends, and it runs in opposite directions:

• Below 180°F, only the Masterbuilt. A published floor of 100°F is the one figure on either spec sheet that the pellet grill cannot match.
• Above 275°F, only the Pit Boss. Its ceiling is 500°F, and its product page lists searing, roasting and baking among what it is for. Pit Boss does not publish a direct-flame feature or temperature for this model, so we cannot tell you how well it sears — only that the dial goes there.

Whether the high end matters is a cooking question. Poultry is the usual case: our chicken and turkey figures start at 275°F, for the reason the turkey chart gives — low and slow leaves the skin rubbery — and 275°F is exactly where the Masterbuilt stops.

What each costs to run, and why nobody will tell you

Neither manufacturer publishes a consumption figure.

For the pellet grill, the conventional figure is about 0.75 to 1.25 lb of pellets an hour at 225°F, rising with temperature. That is barbecue convention rather than a Pit Boss number — Pit Boss publishes the 13.5 lb hopper, not what empties it. Run a long brisket through our fuel arithmetic and the long end needs more than one hopper.

The electric smoker runs on electricity and a tray of wood chips, loaded through a side port that Masterbuilt says lets you add chips without opening the smoker. Masterbuilt publishes no chip consumption figure, so the running-cost comparison is real but not one either spec sheet lets us put numbers on.

Smoke ring, and what it does not measure

You will read that electric smokers produce a weaker smoke ring. The usual explanation is combustion chemistry: gases from burning fuel react with the myoglobin at the surface of the meat, and a smouldering chip tray in a closed cabinet produces less of them than a fan-fed firepot.

Neither Masterbuilt nor Pit Boss publishes anything about it, so we are not going to put a size on the difference. It is also worth being clear about what a smoke ring is: a colour. It tells you about the fire, not about how the meat tastes.

Which one to buy

Buy the Masterbuilt 30 Digital Electric if you want the low end of the dial — the only published range here that goes below 180°F — and a cabinet of four racks for things that portion. It sits in the lower price band and runs on electricity rather than a hopper you have to keep fed. Note the one-year warranty.

Buy the Pit Boss Carbon 700 if you want one cooker that smokes and also roasts hot: its published range runs to 500°F, and its warranty is three years against Masterbuilt's one. Budget for the hopper on long cooks.

What should not decide it is the size of the cooking area. At 710 and 718 square inches, that is the one thing they agree on.