Silicone Mats as a Pellet Grill Drip Pan Liner?

[BillinStL]

I recently bought a Camp Chef Woodwind 24 Wifi pellet smoker and have liked it a lot these first few weeks. Like a lot of people, removing the grease and burnt-on gunk off the drip pan is a pain and I would like to minimize this. I have wrapped the pan with foil when doing low and slow cooks, but it too is a bit of a pain getting it to stay on just right.

I know they now make aluminum drip liners (like Drip EZ) ... I am sure they work well but are a bit on the pricey side. So I was thinking, why not use a silicone baking mat like is used for baking cookies, etc. They are reusable multiple times and can be washed clean easily. From everything I have read they have been proven to be safe if you keep them under 450 F. Seems like this might be a good alternative. Thoughts?

[MBMorgan]

Just be careful about doing anything that might disrupt grease drainage and airflow ... neither of which is a good thing.

[BillinStL]

Absolutely ... would be very conscious of both drainage and airflow. This model has that sliding grill feature so the drip pan has raised slots in it to enable grilling, but still promote good grease drainage. I like the feature but because of this it's even more of tedious to scrape off the gunk (not like a nice smooth flat sheet of metal that can be more easily scraped). When purely in smoking mode the slots don't come into play.

[Jfrosty27]

I used to wrap my drip pan in foil. A pain as you mentioned. For the last year or so I just leave it naked. To clean I just lift it out and scrape it off with a very wide putty knife. Like 5-6” wide or so. Scrape right into the garbage bin. Easy peasy. Takes about 30 seconds.

[Andrrr]

I would think if it’s small enough and you cared enough you could throw it in the dishwasher after scraping it right?

[BillinStL]

Andrrr, I think the great benefit and appeal of silicone or the oven mat material Uncle Bob mentioned is that they are super easy to clean ... nothing really sticks to them so there is no real scraping involved. You just take the liner and pretty much wipe and hand wash it in the sink which will take moments ... and to your point, some can be thrown in the dishwasher (but may be a little too big to fit and clean properly). Either way it, if they will work it will sure beat the scraping.

[jerrybell]

Yep, what Jfrosty said.

[Uncle Bob]

Baking mats are generally small enough you'll probably need to use more than one which would then have seams between them that will allow grease to seep underneath which might be less deposit prone, but still.... And potentially could mess with drainage. There's another product intended for oven bottoms and stove tops that comes in rolls long enough you'd have a solid sheet end to end. Good to 500 degrees. I've used the material on charcoal cooker drip pans for instance. Here's one example: Amazon.com: Oven Liner Roll for Various Ovens StoveTop Grills: Home & Kitchen

[BillinStL]

Thanks for the suggestion Uncle Bob, I will check that out (looks like that would certainly work). FYI, I have found silicone baking mats that are large enough that I could trim a single one to fit perfectly. The only reason I was looking at them is that they are thicker so I was thinking they might hold up longer.

[Dadof3Illinois]

I have the WW36 and do the vast majority of my cooking on the upper grate and put a cheap aluminum pan on the bottom grate directly under what i'm cooking to catch all of the grease.
I also wrap my drip pan to help keep everything clean.....I'm a little bit of a clean freak sometimes!! As far as blocking the heat flow goes, as long as you don't have something out over the edges you'll be fine.

[BillinStL]

Thanks for the info Dadof3Illinois ... been think about trying that as well. Question for you ... curious if you think there is much of a difference temp / cook time-wise when you cook on the upper grate?

[Dadof3Illinois]

BillinStL yes there can be a big temp difference. If you have a good leave-in temp probe set the grill to like 275 and set the probes in different places and document the difference. My hottest spot is right at the grills probe and coolest is at the chimney outlet. Maybe 20 degrees difference at times running 275. The WW24 may not have that much difference due to being a little smaller.

[glitchy]

When I had my Woodwind, I ordered a flat drip tray from a non slide and grill model and had to cut one end to fit the SnG rails, using the original WW drip tray as a guide to mark the new tray. Then I lined it with wide 18” heavy duty foil. I never had any issues, but always made sure I had it wrapped tight around the edges so airflow was not obstructed. I changed the foil just about every cook.

The upper rack cooking with a pan on main grate also works well, I have done that on many cookers and usually cook that way on my MAK. I just adjust the grill temp so my Fireboard probe is where I want to be on the upper shelf.

[BillinStL]

Thanks for the info glitchy.

[JasonS]

Will Drip EZ pan move around much when the blower starts? I just started using my CC Woodwind 24 and am still sort of experimenting.

[BillinStL]

Don't think it will move JasonS. It's heavier than aluminum foil and foil haesn't moved on my CC Woodwind 24 the first few times I have lined my drip pan with it.

[BillinStL]

UPDATE ... Thanks to all for your thoughts on the topic. Based on some of the feedback, I did some additional research on various products and landed on these oven liners to try ... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XCCQHWC

They seem to check all the boxes ... large enough size, easily cut to fit, high temperature threshold (500 F.), a food safe material (BPA and PFOA free), and super easy to clean and use multiple times (which is the whole point anyway). I even contacted the seller detailing the specific drip pan liner use I had in mind and they replied that it should be perfectly fine to use this way.

I went ahead and bought a 2-pack (certainly cheap enough), cut one to fit and put it in place (photos attached). I have not smoked anything that would drip yet ... but last night I did smoke some shrimp low and slow in a pan and can confirm to JasonS that the liner does not move ... and the liner did not curl or change in appearance in any way. FYI, covering the grilling slots in the pan are not an issue when using this Camp Chef Woodwind pellet grill in smoker mode (the slots only come into play if using the direct fire grilling feature ... in such cases the liner would be pulled out).

So I am very optimistic that this is going to work great. I will send out a final update once I have put it through its paces cooking something that does a fair amount of dripping to see how it drains and cleans up.

[Dadof3Illinois]

When I use my WW I try and cook on the top grate and put a drip pan under the meat on the lower grate to catch everything.

[BillinStL]

Think I will be doing quite a bit of that technique as well ... just wanted to have the bases covered for any lower grate cooks in the future.

[Michael_in_TX]

Your find is really intriguing. I may have to try this out!

[Redwng]

When I had my Rec Tec I started putting disposable cookie sheets below whatever I was cooking on top of Traeger pan liners and that made cleanup very easy. In fact, my grease bucket never did see grease in 8 years. I found this a lot easier to keep things clean.

[BillinStL]

FURTHER UPDATE - It's been a couple more months and I have to tell you that the oven liner material I bought via Amazon has worked like a champ as the drip tray liner. I've cooked now more things that drip like burgers, brats, pork steaks, etc. and the liner is still going strong. Also does a very good job in draining off the grease to the grease trough of the smoker. Here's a couple before & after photos ... took the liner and put it in the kitchen sink and just did a hot water rinse and scrub with a dish washing brush and the gunk slid right off. Didn't really feel the need use dish detergent on it since very little residue remained. Easy peasy ... I'm sold on this thing.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

Wow that is great! I seriously didn't expect it to work that well! Congrats!