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Any Big Green Egg you buy comes with the promise of it being the ultimate cooking machine. However, out of the box, you can only cook at high temperatures. That means smoking, baking, or roasting is out of the question.
That is where the Plate setter or Conveggtor comes in. This first-party accessory can turn your BGE into an indirect-heat cooking monster.
They are very expensive, yes. And that expense could be listed as a one-time investment if not for their horrible fragility.
For that reason and more, it is always a good idea to look for Big Green Egg Plate Setter Alternatives. Today I will feature the 15 best replacements and some DIY ones.
“Sometimes, the best recipes are born out of necessity, and a Plate Setter alternative for your Big Green Egg can be the catalyst for your next grilling masterpiece.”
Papa J.
15 Big Green Egg Plate Setter Alternatives You Can Go For
The job of the plate setter is simple. It sits right on top of the coals and creates a heat barrier so that the direct heat can not go up and has to find an alternate path around the plate setter.
This alternative path is around the sides of the plate and up into the dome, creating a convection method of cooking. Perfect for smoking or roasting.
So you do not really need a specialty-made “Conveggtor” to redirect the heat. Get one of these 15 products instead:
Good Quality Pizza Baking Stone
Any pizza stone should work as a fine alternative to a ConvEggtor, but this one from Lava Lock happens to be my favorite. Among a sea of pizza stones, I personally recommend this one because of the fantastic material choice and the price.
Top Features:
- Fits the Large Green Egg
- Made from Earthenware Stone
- 9/16” inches thick and 14” round
Unlike brittle ceramic, earthenware stones are a lot more durable and can survive a couple of inches of fall into concrete.
It is also extra thick so will deflect the heat inside your BGE perfectly (of course given that you aptly control the coals for the right temperature).
Half Moon Ceramic ConvEGGtor Pizza Stone
If you already own the conveggtor basket or the eggspander kit, taking a look at this half-moon ceramic pizza stone may be a good idea. It fits those accessories like a glove and can often offer a more versatile experience than full-sized pizza stones.
Top Features:
- Made from Ceramic
- Comes in packs of 2
- Available in 15” or 18”
Either size of this accessory will come with 2 half moon shaped plates that you can use separately to have one indirect and one direct heat cooking zone inside your BGE. Or, you can put both of them together to bake pizzas and use your entire grill to smoke meat.
Also Read: Best Rotisserie For Big Green Egg (Top 4 Picks)
Ceramic Flat Pizza Stone With Crust Cutter Wheel
Let’s get all the pizza stones listed first. This is yet another ceramic stone that I love due to the included metal rack.
Top Features:
- 13” in size
- Made with ceramic
- Included Metal Rack and Pizza Cutter
Safe to say that the included metal rack here is my favorite feature. It was designed to use as a rack that keeps the hot stone from touching your countertop but I used it to lift the stone off the grill grates inside the BGE and they worked really well for that purpose.
The pizza cutter is also a nice additional bonus here. Overall great product on a budget.
Also Read: 5 Big Green Egg Accessory Storage Ideas You Can Go For
Durable & Non-Stick Pizza Pan
If you do not need to smoke in super low temperatures, this pizza pan wrapped in foil can be a great alternative as aside from being used as a convector, you can utilize it in other tasks around your kitchen.
Top Features:
- 14” in size
- Dishwasher safe
- Comes with a nonstick coating
Using a thin pizza pan might not seem like a very good plate setter replacement but I have had great results by wrapping it in a foil and using it like just any other pizza stone.
It will not redistribute the heat well enough to smoke the perfect brisket, but in a pinch, any existing pizza pan like this one should give you adequate results while roasting or baking inside your Green Egg.
Also Read: Big Green Egg Charcoal Storage 101 You Must Know
Cast Iron Plate Setter
To a lot of us, the expense of the Big Green Egg plate setter is not the issue. The issue is that it is shockingly fragile and breaks without even that much force. This cast iron plate setter is the perfect replacement for us.
Top Features
- Built-in grill grates
- Made from heavy-duty cast iron
- 19.5” cooking surface and 24” total diameter
Cast iron is the god-king of all materials in the kitchen and that is why this is my personal favorite. It is shaped exactly like a ConvEggtor and can fit in with all XL BGE Accessories.
The Oilgai Cast Iron Plate Setter does the intended purpose of deflecting the heat and a lot of lot more.
However, while slow roasting or smoking, you might want to wrap the cast iron in aluminum foil as this kind of material is susceptible to rust and will turn ugly on you if you do not take appropriate care.
Also Read: How To Clean Big Green Egg Conveggtor Easily In A Few Minutes
Non-Stick Enameled Steel Paella Pan
Using a steel pan to deflect the heat from coals might seem like a bad idea. But don’t knock it till you try it. A good quality enamel-coated steel pan like this one can absolutely do the job and a lot more.
Top Features
- Two years of warranty
- 15” to 28” available sizes
- Non-stick for easy cleaning
Once you set this pan right on top of the coals and then use a top grate to keep the meat/veggie you are cooking a good bit away from the cooking surface of the pan, you will get perfect results.
Again, it might not be the right option for hardcore smokers, but anyone looking to grill or bake in a pinch will be satisfied by this method and product.
Also Read: Big Green Egg Conveggtor Broke/Cracked – Fix It Now
Grill Grates & Stacker Combo
How about using no heat deflector and just cooking a good bit away from the burning coals? With this Smokeware Stacket & Grill Grate Combo, you can do just that.
Top Features
- 18” cooking surface
- Can fit almost any regular Grill grate
- Made from 304-grade Stainless Steel
With the included stacker, these 18” grill grates can be set around 7 inches away from the normal cooking surface.
With this distance, your food will not get the high heat of the burning coals straight away and as long as you control the temp inside your BGE, you will get good results!
Thickened & Durable Plant Saucer
Before we move on to a few really creative options, here is one last straightforward alternative. Plant Saucers wrapped in aluminum foil.
Top Features
- 1.1” deep
- Available in 6” to 19”
- Long-lasting and sturdy
Okay, so do not just buy and use any random plant saucer for sustaining the high heat of the coals, it needs to be thickened & durable like this one.
Other than that, once you use a good bit of tinfoil to wrap them up, you can use them just like a pizza stone and deflect heat from burning charcoal all day any day!
Also Read: Big Green Egg Conveggtor Legs Up Or Down For Pizza?
Heavy Duty Stainless Steel Cooking Grill Grates
If you have a method of choice to raise it up a bit higher than the regular height, a Heavy duty stainless steel cooking grate can work a lot like the adjustable rig sold by the BGE.
Top Features
- 15.5” in diameter
- Machine washable
- Made from 304-grade stainless steel
The principle in theory is the same as the stacker. You do not use a heat deflector but take the cooking surface far away from the coals so that your food does not get direct blasts of heat.
That can also be effortlessly achieved with these heavy-duty grill grates. If you have a pizza stone, you will get even better results in conjunction with this.
Stainless Steel Food Safe Round Cooking Rack
Again, same concept as the previous one. But I am including this too as I really love the small metal legs built into the racks. There is nothing really new to say here. If you are already going the ss rack route, I suggest you check these ones out.
Top Features
- 1” elevation feet
- Made with stainless steel
- 7.5”, 9”, or 10.5” options are available
The feet are quite unique and can be a great asset in many applications. It also makes these racks versatile enough to use in other applications around the kitchen and not just inside your Big Green Egg.
Big Green Egg Large Leg Spider
The large leg spider with 3 or 5 legs from the Big Green Egg can also be used for a great plate setter replacement.
If you want your cooking grates a good bit away from the burning charcoal, you can use the spider upside down with the legs facing downwards, resting on the fire ring, and set your grates down on top of the circular ring.
This method will not give you the best grill grate stability but it is the next best thing to shelling out for the expensive adjustable rig.
Roasting Pan And A Roasting Rack
Don’t want to spend any money at all and want to make do with whatever’s in your kitchen? Do you have a quality roasting pan and a roasting rack or its alternative for Thanksgiving turkey? Bring them out.
Setting the roasting pan down on the cooking grate and the rack on top of the pan will give you a great makeshift indirect heat cooking method.
The pan will soak up the majority of heat and due to the rack, your food will also be elevated and away from the direct flames.
As a cheeky bonus, the pan will work as a drip tray or you can fill it up with water for a nicer smoky flavor.
Woo And Stone Is Another Great Option
Much like the Big Green Egg spider, Ceramic Grill Store or other shops sell the PSWoo. It is a bit more expensive than just the spider and similar to the spider you also need a pizza stone, but the added functionality more than makes up for it.
It will work shockingly similarly to the real thing and for that reason, if you want to replicate the real ConvEggtor results in a budget, this is my suggestion to you.
The Woo has 3 heightened shelves. One for your ordinary pizza stone, that can sit right on top of the flames and give you ConvEggtor-like results. One a bit higher than that to hold your plate setter even more than normal indirect heating.
And finally, the top is made to bring your cooking grates from close to the flames to almost above the hinge of the Big Green Egg.
With a combination of these 3 things, you can replicate the results of a ConvEggtor and even get more options than just that. It is a bit more expensive to buy both a Woo and a stone, but it still is cheaper than what the BGE Plate Setter goes for.
Adjustable Rig with Double Pizza Setup
The adjustable rig for the BGE is a better alternative to the Woo, but it also comes with a heftier price tag. This rig utilizes multiple height options so that you can use the entire vertical length inside your BGE dome for a lot of direct and indirect cooking zones.
Much like the Woo, you will need a pizza stone here. Half moon or full moon depends on what you want, I suggest getting 2 half moons.
Either way, you can use the stones to create a heat barrier and have 2 different grates on 2 different heights for your cooking surface.
That is what we call the double pizza setup but even if you do not have 2 extra pizza stones, you can use this setup for fine-tuning how far you want your food away from the firebox.
Spider And Stone In The Basement For Indirect Setup
We talked about the spider a couple of sections back. Here is a better way to utilize the spider. Get an accurately sized-pizza stone with it!
With the pizza stone, you can set the spider with the legs facing upward so that the circular ring is really close to the open flames (that is the basement). And then just get your stone and set it in this basement.
This method is also really close to the real results of the Plate Setter and thus is recommended by many barbecuing enthusiasts like myself.
Big Green Egg Plate Setter Vs Its Alternatives
Whew! That was a long list of 15 different things you can do if you do not want to buy a Plate Setter. Since all these methods made onto this list, they all have some merit and can be the right option for the right user.
However, it is easy to understand that you can not replicate the results you get from a real Plate Setter using all of these methods. I have created 3 tier lists for these 15 alternatives to the Plate setter.
Exactly The Same
In this tier are the methods that will give you around 90 to 95% of the same result as the real Big Green Egg Platesetter. None of your guests will ever know the difference.
Of the aforementioned 15, to get exactly the same results, you should use:
- Woo and Stone
- Cast Iron Plate Setter
- Good Quality Pizza Baking Stone
- Spider with Stone in the Basement
- Thickened and Durable Plant Saucer
- Adjustable Rig with Double Pizza setup
Somewhat Similar
This category is reserved for the methods where your process will not be exactly the same as the real thing and the most seasoned critics can tell the difference in taste. But for the majority of people, it will be similar enough.
For somewhat similar results as the real Plate Setter you should use:
- Ceramic Flat Pizza Stone
- Durable & Non-Stick Pizza pan
- Half Moon Ceramic Pizza Stone
Not Similar At All
In this tier are the methods that are not similar at all, they will not work nor taste the exact same. However, there still are unique ways that you can utilize your BGE for indirect heat cooking and their results are nothing to scoff about either.
They are:
- Large Leg Spider
- Non-stick Enameled Steel Pan
- Grill Grate And Stacker Combo
- Roasting pan and Roasting Rack
- Stainless Steel Food Safe Cooking Rack
- Heavy Duty Stainless Steel Cooking Rack
Conclusion
And that wraps things up! Every alternative method and product to the Big Green Egg Plate Setter is all in one neat place. Always keep in mind that by proper improvisation and utilizing what you have in hand, you can really achieve wonders when it comes to cooking.
