Pit Boss Austin XL Onyx Edition: go big or go indoors
There are barbecues, and then there are pieces of outdoor cooking equipment that make you start mentally redesigning the patio.
Our Pit Boss Austin XL Onyx Edition review comes at just the right time for anyone refusing to pack away the barbecue simply because summer is technically over. With the UK still enjoying plenty of mild days as September draws to a close, there’s no reason outdoor cooking has to stop with the first fallen leaves.
Big, black and unapologetically chunky, the Austin XL is made for dads who want to keep the grill going well into autumn and look like a total badass whilst doing so. With more than 6,500cm² of cooking space, it has room for everything from burgers and sausages to ribs, chicken and slow-smoked joints, making it as useful for a family Sunday lunch as it is for feeding a crowd.
More smoker than standard BBQ: the Pit Boss Austin XL flex
The main attraction is versatility. The Austin XL uses hardwood pellets rather than gas or charcoal, automatically feeding them into the fire pot to maintain the temperature you’ve selected.
That makes it particularly appealing for low-and-slow cooking. Set the temperature, add a brisket, pork shoulder or racks of ribs and the grill does much of the temperature management for you, rather than requiring constant fiddling with vents and charcoal.
Its electronic controller runs from 82°C to 260°C, adjustable in five-degree increments, while two included meat probes let you check internal temperatures without repeatedly lifting the lid and losing heat. A sizeable 13.6kg pellet hopper also means you can embark on a long cook without hovering nearby with another bag of fuel.
It isn’t limited to smoking, either. Pit Boss describes the Austin XL as an eight-in-one cooker capable of smoking, baking, roasting, braising, barbecuing, grilling, char-grilling and searing. That sounds like marketing bingo until you see the Flame Broiler lever, which exposes food to direct flame and can deliver searing temperatures of up to 535°C.
In other words, you can spend six hours gently smoking meat and then still give burgers or steaks the properly charred finish that some pellet grills struggle to achieve.
Built for entertaining
The XL in the name isn’t decorative. This is a large grill aimed at families who entertain, enthusiastic BBQ cooks and anyone who would rather cook once for ten people than do endless small batches.
There are two cooking tiers, plus a side shelf and lower storage shelf for utensils, trays and pellet bags. Wheels make moving it possible, although at this size it is much more likely to acquire a permanent home than be wheeled in and out of a shed every weekend.
The matte-black Onyx finish helps, because for something this imposing it looks surprisingly smart. There is even a built-in bottle opener, which is arguably the sort of detail more BBQ manufacturers should prioritise.
Is it easy to use?
Compared with traditional smoking, very.
That is really the point of a pellet grill. You still get genuine wood-fuelled cooking and the ability to experiment with different pellets and smoking times, but the electronic temperature control removes much of the fire-management learning curve.
There are some compromises. This is not a small or particularly portable barbecue, and pellet grills need electricity as well as fuel, so positioning requires a little more thought than with charcoal.
Cleaning is also more involved than simply tipping ash from a kettle barbecue. The Austin XL doesn’t have the removable ash-management systems found on some newer premium pellet grills, so periodic access to the fire pot requires a bit more effort. Some owners also report hotter areas around the centre of the cooking surface, something worth learning your way around if you’re filling the entire grill.
And while pellet smokers produce plenty of wood-fired flavour, people chasing the extremely heavy smoke of a traditional offset smoker may find the result more restrained.
FQ verdict on the Pit Boss Austin XL
At an RRP of £749, the Pit Boss Austin XL Onyx Edition is a serious purchase, but you are getting an enormous amount of cooking space and a machine that can replace several pieces of outdoor kit.
Its biggest strength is that it makes ambitious BBQ cooking considerably less intimidating. You can smoke a brisket through the afternoon, roast a chicken, cook enough burgers for a small army or unleash the direct flame when only a properly scorched steak will do.
It is probably overkill if your idea of barbecuing is six sausages on a sunny Sunday. But for dads who have discovered the dangerously absorbing world of smoking meat, or families who regularly feed a crowd, the Austin XL feels appropriately named.
RRP: £749
Cooking area: 6,503cm²
Temperature range: 82–260°C
Maximum direct-flame searing temperature: 535°C
Pellet hopper: 13.6kg
Warranty: 5 years
RRP: £749, currently £719 at Amazon UK at the time of writing.
More information: Pit Boss Grills UK
