What is the Traeger Keep Warm Feature?

It’s happened to all of us before. You just finished cooking up an epic feast for your friends and family, but your guests are still on the way. Or maybe they’re still working on drinks, and you’re not sure when it’ll be finally time to sit down and eat. Either way, you don’t want your food to go cold during the waiting game. That’s exactly what our Keep Warm feature is made for—the unexpected. With the push of a button on your pellet grill, you can keep your wood-fired food ready to eat wherever you are.

The Traeger Keep Warm temp feature is an innovative function that allows you to pause the cooking process and maintain your food at a safe serving temperature of 165°F. This feature is handy for situations when you’re expecting guests at your BBQ or during the holidays and need to ensure your food is ready to serve without overcooking. With a wood pellet grill like Traeger’s, you unlock incredible wood-fired flavor along with the convenience of having that food kept at the perfect serving temperature. Whether it's game day or a casual family gathering, this handy feature helps to ensure your food never goes cold.

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Traeger’s Keep Warm mode is designed to pause the cooking process while maintaining a steady temperature of 165°F, ensuring your food stays warm without overcooking it. However, it’s important to note that this function is not intended to cook food to proper food safety standards. In other words, it’s made to keep your food warm once it’s cooked, not to cook it in the first place. It’s important to note that not all Traeger grills have the Keep Warm Mode available, and using the Keep Warm feature looks a little different depending on the grill model you’re using.

Here’s where you’ll find this setting on different Traeger grill models:

• On the Traeger Ironwood and Traeger Timberline® models, the Keep Warm mode feature is accessible via a dedicated button on the controller. This easy one-button feature is part of what makes the Ironwood and Timberline grills some of our most innovative and user-friendly.
• For the Traeger Pro Series, it’s the third selection on the main menu. All you need to do is simply press the Keep Warm button to activate it. Please note that pressing it again will resume cooking, and your food may become overcooked.
• For the Traeger Woodridge Series, you use the Keep Warm feature differently depending on the model. On the Traeger Woodridge Pro and Woodridge Elite models, use the dedicated button on the grill’s face. If you’re using the basic Woodridge model grill, you’ll need to navigate through the Traeger app. The app will guide you to a temperature setting shortcut, and once activated, you'll see an animation on the grill screen while it lowers to 180°F. While the feature remains active, you’ll see a keep warm animation on the screen.

The Keep Warm feature comes in handy in various scenarios. Here are just a few ways that it can help make your life easier:

• When guests arrive late and you need to hold the food at a warm temperature without overcooking it.
• For BBQs, holidays, and tailgates, where timing can be unpredictable. Need help getting game day ready? Check out our recipes, pro tips, and more here.
• This feature helps prevent food from drying out or overcooking, preserving that delicious wood-fired flavor.
• It's also great for batch cooking, allowing you to prepare multiple dishes in advance while keeping them warm. Run out of oven space in the kitchen? Your Traeger is ready to tap in and do the job.

Tips for Success

There are a few things to keep in mind when using the Keep Warm mode on your Traeger grill. This applies to the kind of dishes you’re cooking, as well as information to keep in mind to ensure you’re using the Keep Warm mode correctly for best results.

1. Use foil or insulated covers to retain moisture and prevent dryness during the warming process. The key to getting the best results depends on how tightly you're wrapping in foil. If you're loosely tenting your food in foil, it shouldn't hold enough warm air in to continue to cook your food. If you're tightly wrapping it in foil, it becomes like a mini oven, and you run the risk of overcooking. If you’re cooking brisket, ribs, pork butt, or other low and slow cooks where your finished internal temp (200°F +) is so much higher than 165°F (the keep warm temperature), you don’t need to be too concerned about it going over. If you were, for example, cooking a prime rib to medium rare, the finished internal temperature (130°F) is significantly lower than the holding temp of 165°F, so it could continue to rise while using the Keep Warm mode feature.
2. If you're hesitant about temperature control, especially for meats like brisket or turkey, consider the finished internal temperature compared to the Keep Warm temp.
3. Ensure your grill has reached the Keep Warm temperature before placing food inside to avoid sudden temperature drops that could dry out the food.
4. For dishes like pulled pork or baked beans, stirring or rotating while using the Keep Warm mode function ensures even heating and prevents hot spots from forming.
5. While it uses fewer pellets, the Keep Warm feature still consumes wood pellets, so make sure your hopper is stocked to avoid interruptions.
6. When using this feature to rest your meat, consider consulting your Meater for precise cooking and resting times. For instance, if you're planning to utilize the Keep Warm function, set your Meater to notify you a few degrees shy of your desired finished temperature, accounting for the internal temperature rise during the resting period.
7. Make sure to account for your warming time in calculating your finished internal temperature (the temperature at which I would switch over to keep warm) and rest time. For example, when setting up your cook, if you knew you were going to be gone or wanted to utilize that function, set your Meater or grill to notify you a few degrees shy of where you actually want it to finish. Then, you’ll know during the rest period, the internal temp will continue to rise for a period before it levels out and then begins to fall. Read our article on how to use a meat thermometer for more info.

Try out these tips on your Traeger and grill smarter, not harder, with the Keep Warm mode. From game day gatherings and holidays with family to easy weeknight dinners, it’s the ultimate cooking sidekick to help you manage cook times easily and efficiently.