Believe it or not, there was a time when the first bite of a slow-cooked BBQ brisket was not automatically guaranteed to be perfectly mouth-watering and the best thing on Earth. Then along came high-tech remote temperature control devices that let you monitor and even manage the heat inside your Big Green Egg ceramic cooker so all of us are undefeated pitmaster gods.
Life is good thanks to so many of these products, usually featuring a stainless steel probe inserted into the meat while you enjoy more pleasant time outside the kamado grill as the low-and-slow BBQ happiness goes on. You invested in a Big Green Egg because you wanted to raise your BBQ game, and temperature control is the key to truly doing that.
Today you have so many choices of how to manage your food temperatures, from the Flame Boss era of fans with wifi mobile apps that control the fire’s oxygen intake to more simple Bluetooth monitoring to more old-school meat thermometers. You can look on Amazon in the grill thermometer category and see user reviews and rankings there as well, and as always we’ll note that this site does not derive affiliate income from any links to products.
Why You Need Savvy Temperature Control
Before we get to the top 10 picks for Big Green Egg temperature control, let’s look at some of the reasons why you need one of these devices as part of your BBQ game:
Rare, medium rare, medium, done, well done. It’s a basic fact of life and there are important people counting on you for getting this right. Don’t take chances, whether you’re smoking the turkey for Thanksgiving or just wanting the perfect Saturday ribeye or cheeseburger.
Hot spots and flare-ups could happen if you have no idea what’s going on inside your ceramic smoker. Fortunately, you can know everything that’s going on. I like to cook in the 220-230 range most often, and any day could mean hot and fast up to 600-plus. It pays to be stable.
Life is busier than ever and you’re probably multitasking like everyone else. Maybe you are also monitoring multiple cookout stations inside and outside your house or restaurant, so you need to rely on technology to ensure exactly the right temperature settings every time you cook.
Who wants to spend all their time fiddling with the bottom and top vents in hopes that the combinations are right and the air circulation and oxygen levels are where they should be? Worry-free tech is the way to go.
The 2-inch or 3-inch thermometer on the outside of your Big Green Egg lid is beautiful in itself, an easy way to see the temperature of your EGG. But there is so much more to know inside the oval smoker, and especially inside the meat. You can have fun in the process and even walk away, in some cases a lot farther than with others.
You just have to be a part of it, because it’s cool and you’re the pit boss.
10 Big Green Egg Temperature Control Devices
New BBQ thermometers and temperature controllers keep coming as technology gets better and better. Who knows, AI might be doing this for you soon. Here are 10 of the best products available in a range of different technologies, according to user reviews, industry experts and some personal experience:
1. Flame Boss 500 WiFi Controller
“If you’re looking, then you’re not cooking.” That’s how the old saying goes, and it’s the main reason this brand grew up as the market leader in the iPhone era. Flame Bosses spend their time checking an app as they not only monitor but also MANAGE the temperature. The Flame Boss 500 kamado smoker controller kit enhances any kamado cooker with a larger LCD display showing four lines, so you can use your Flame Boss mobile app to monitor up to three meat temperatures without needing Y-cables. Just attach the variable speed blower to the draft door, insert the 6-foot cable probes, and manage everything from a distance.
Get phone alerts if the temperatures are out of range or if your meat is done. Sync with Alexa to ask her for pit or meat temps, and use charts to track how the temperature has changed over time and what kind of fan speed you are blowing. If there’s any downside it’s just that the whole rig looks like a patient in ICU with hookups everywhere, so we have lots of options in this list. It’s also pricey at $379, compared to $249 for its predecessor, the Flame Boss 400.
2. Big Green Egg Genius
If you like the first choice on our list, then you’ll love this one as well because it is “Powered by Flame Boss” and co-developed by the two brands. It’s an example of how a half-century of Big Green Egg cooking has spawned feeder businesses. Some people just gotta be green, and that’s the actual color of this wifi device. Prices are all over the place so shop around online and look for the best sales, keeping in mind that shipping costs might offset the value of ordering online vs. your local Big Green Egg dealer. The EGG wifi Genius works best when you are smoking meats low and slow and when you slightly open the rEGGulator or daisy wheel on top. Monitor up to three different foods by using combinations of available Y cables and thermometers.
3. Big Green Egg Dual Probe Remote Thermometer
How can you resist a green egg-shaped device? Measure core temperature of your food and the EGG’s interior with this wireless dual probe remote BBQ thermometer. It features two probes and a receiver that you keep with you. Once you reach your desired temperature, the receiver automatically alerts you at a distance up to the length of a football field. It comes with pre-programmed temperature settings for beef, lamb, poultry, pork and nine types of game including venison and duck. These BBQ probes measure food temperature up to 716 Fahrenheit.
4. Big Green Egg 4 Probe Meat Thermometer
Same as above, but this one’s more powerful and more expensive. You can measure the internal meat temperature within a range of 1,000 feet, so you can stray over three times farther than the dual version. This model features four color-coded stainless temperature probes for various food readouts and the EGG’s internal temperature. Probe temperature ranges from 14 to 572 Fahrenheit. Like looking for a good Big Green Egg cover, you need to find just the right Big Green Egg temperature management device.
5. ThermaPro Tempspike
ThermoPro has a wide range of temperature controls and probably one that’s just right for you. The brand’s TempSpike is unique in that it has a probe inside the meat but no wires attached, which sounds just right. That single probe has two sensors, and its Bluetooth signal is picked up by a nearby base to let you control it via a mobile app. The stainless steel end, standard in other devices, tells you internal food temperature from 14 to 212 degrees Fahrenheit. But the other end is a ceramic handle that monitors ambient temperature (14 to 572). The brand’s Amazon page offers good deals, but many user reviews there scoff at the brand’s “500 foot” range, lucky to just take a zero off that number. It can easily lose connection with the app, so unless you get the boost box and have good luck with it, you might have to hang around the EGG more than you expect. I’d rather have the BGE version with the wire coming out of the lid, but this one’s still pretty cool in theory.
6. Norpro Mini Steak Thermometers
I saw these cute little guys during a Lodge Cast Iron foundry store tour in Tennessee, and for just 17 bucks it was worth the pickup. These Steak Mate thermometers are grill, pan and oven safe, working up to 572 degrees Fahrenheit with a 2-inch stainless steel probe. Of course, it is a tradeoff of expense vs. efficiency. The obvious downside for Big Green Egg BBQ chefs is the need to lift the EGG top and check these thermometers, but color coding makes it quicker to see it and close it, and you’re a master of fire.
7. Big Green Egg Instant Read Thermometer
Similar to the NorPro Mini models, this brand version provides quick, high-accuracy food temperature readouts immediately as long as you lift the lid. There’s an auto on/off function, a foldaway steel probe, and maybe best of all it includes a handy bottle opener as you lift beers while lifting the lid.
8. Big Green Egg Bluetooth Temperature Gauge
The standard Big Green Egg 3-inch Temp Gauge can be easily removed and replaced with this Bluetooth version that is weatherproof and capable of mobile monitoring. Just remove the bracket inside the EGG lid, swap out the gauges and replace the bracket, ideally using the original bracket instead of the one that comes with this product. It features backlit LCD display for readability, settings for high and low temperature alerts, a timer, and a rechargeable USB battery that reaches full charge in an hour and lasts long enough. The app doesn’t support more than one thermometer, so it’s limiting if you cook with more than one EGG as many cooks do. It also needs something that easily shows you are actually connected, and reviews show it may have trouble getting the signal through some windows. But it gets the job done pretty well and fits all EGG sizes.
9. Big Green Egg Infrared Cooking Surface Thermometer
We humans use these kinds of devices to quickly take our own temperatures at the doctor’s office, so why not give it a try on the outdoor grill? This BBQ infrared thermometer safely measures the temperature of grill surfaces with no contact. It works hand-in-hand with your actual food thermometer choice, by just aiming the Big Green Egg laser light beam at cooking grids, pizza stones and griddles to quickly see surface temp before adding meats and vegetables. It tracks temps from 32 to 800 degrees.
10. Alpha Grillers Thermometer
This brand destroys every other BBQ temperature watcher on Amazon, with about 53,000 ratings for its instant read thermometer. It’s better suited for oven or gas grill and pellet grill use, but if you want one device that’s all purpose for every kind of cooking, baking and grilling station in your home, then it might be what you want. It has a great backlit digital display and is totally handy as a chef. Alpha Grillers’ meat thermometer with temperature probe and exterior readout display might be better suited to a kamado barbecue.
Spend more time enjoying the process of making your food and less time worrying about whether the temperature inside your EGG and your food is on track. Then the only hard part is deciding which of all the options is right for you. It makes you appreciate the times we live in.
