Best Big Green Egg Accessories: What You Actually Need Before Your First Cook

2026 – Best Big Green Egg Accessories

There is a moment, somewhere around your 50th cook on a budget kamado smoker, where you stop blaming the charcoal and start wondering if the equipment is the problem.

That was me and my Akorn.

The Akorn is not a bad grill. But temperature control on that thing was a negotiation I was losing. I would get the dome up to 250, walk away to grab a beer, come back to 310, adjust the vents, and somehow end up at 190 twenty minutes later. It was less like smoking a brisket and more like babysitting a toddler in a trench coat.

After 100 cooks — which sounds like a lot until you realize most of them were me course-correcting — I bought a Big Green Egg. And the first thing I learned is that the Egg itself is only part of the story.

The ceramic holds heat in a way that genuinely changes what you can do on fire. But without the right accessories, you are leaving most of that potential on the table. Or more accurately, burning it.

Here is what I would tell anyone standing in front of a Big Green Egg for the first time, which is more or less what the guys at Whitefeather Meats told me before my first smoke. They steered me right, and the Bearded Butchers who were there that day filled in the rest.

*This post may contain affiliate links which means Pints, Forks & Friends may receive commission for purchases made through links. We only recommend products that we personally believe in and use. Learn more on our Privacy Policy page.

1. The ConvEGGtor: The One Piece You Cannot Skip

If you buy one thing before your first real cook, make it the ConvEGGtor.

This ceramic plate sits between your fire and your food and turns the Egg into an indirect cooker. Without it, you are cooking over direct flame, which is fine for a steak or some burgers. But the reason people pay what they pay for a Big Green Egg is what it does low and slow. Ribs. Brisket. Pork shoulder. The stuff that takes six, ten, twelve hours and comes out of the dome ready to fall apart.

The ConvEGGtor is how you get there. It deflects the heat, sends it circulating around the dome like a convection oven, and keeps your food from charring while the collagen breaks down. Without it, you have an expensive charcoal grill. With it, you have a smoker that can also bake a pizza.

2. Cast Iron or Stainless Grill Grates: Because the Stock Grates Are Fine, But Fine Is Not the Point

The grates that come with the Egg do the job. The cast iron grates do it better.

Cast iron holds heat more aggressively than the standard chrome option, which means better sear marks, better crust development on a steak, and more even cooking across the surface. They are also heavier, which means they take longer to preheat — build that into your timing.

Stainless is the low-maintenance option if you do not want to season and dry cast iron after every cook. Both are upgrades worth making before you are six months in and wondering why your steaks are not looking like the photos.

3. The EGGspander: When You Want to Cook Three Things at Once

The EGGspander system is what happens when someone looked at the Big Green Egg and thought, “What if we turned it into a multi-rack smoker?”

Multiple cooking grids. A basket that holds the ConvEGGtor. The ability to run two-zone cooking, direct and indirect at the same time, at different levels in the dome. If you are cooking for a group — which, if you are reading Pints, Forks & Friends, you probably are — this is how you get the ribs, the vegetables, and the chicken thighs done at the same time without pulling your hair out.

It is not a beginner purchase. But once you are comfortable with the Egg, this is the thing that makes your backyard feel like an actual outdoor kitchen.

4. A Proper Nest and Stand: Because the Egg Is Heavy and Your Patio Is Sloped

The Big Green Egg does not have feet. It needs a home.

The official Egg Nest gives it a stable platform and locks with casters so you can move it without recruiting your neighbor. If you want something with a little more utility — side shelves, storage, the ability to roll it across a deck without worrying — the Dracarys Rolling Cart is worth a look.

This is not the flashiest purchase on this list, but dropping a ceramic cooker because the stand rolled is a very expensive mistake.

5. A Wireless Thermometer: Stop Opening the Dome

This is the one where I will say it plainly: if you are opening the dome to check your food’s temperature, you are cooking wrong.

Every time you lift the dome, you lose heat, you release moisture, and you add time to your cook. A wireless digital thermometer with a probe that stays in the meat while the lid stays closed is how you actually cook to temperature instead of to guesswork.

Set your alarm for 195 on a brisket. Go drink a beer. Come back when it tells you to.

6. A Pizza Stone: Because the Egg Makes Better Pizza Than Your Oven

Get the dome to 600 degrees. Put in a pizza stone and let it preheat for 20 minutes. Slide in a dough you made from scratch or bought from the grocery store and do not tell anyone.

The result is a pizza with a crust that has char, structure, and the kind of bottom that a home oven simply cannot produce. The stone absorbs heat and radiates it upward, mimicking what a wood-fired pizza oven does.

You can also use it for bread, flatbreads, and cookies, though the cookies feel slightly less impressive after the pizza.

7. The Ash Tool and Grill Gripper: Maintenance Is Not Optional

Nobody wants to talk about cleaning, but here it is.

The Ash Tool is a long handled device that lets you rake ash out from the bottom of the firebox without putting your hand near 400-degree ceramic. Ash buildup blocks airflow. Blocked airflow means temperature problems, and temperature problems on a kamado are how you ruin a 14-hour brisket on hour 13.

The Grill Gripper does what it sounds like. It lets you move a hot cast iron grate without burning yourself. Both of these are $20 to $30 and the kind of thing you only forget once.

Related: Kamado Joe vs Big Green Egg: Ultimate Grill Showdown

Browse the full Pints, Forks & Friends Amazon Shop for everything we actually use.

#PintsForksFriends | #BackyardBBQ | #BigGreenEgg

The Latest…