Breeo’s fire pit is my new favorite piece of summer gear. From grilling to chilling, it’s the best smokeless backyard option I’ve tried thus far.
I’ve long been a fan of grilling. And, as a hunter, it’s my preferred method of cooking the wild game I procure for myself each year. Game meat is already flavorful, but infusing it with the perfection of open fire transforms it into something delicious, ancient, and complex.
I’ve cooked on many an open fire platform, in smokers, and on propane grills. I love each of them, but it’s hard not to lean into the simple perfection of cooking over a real wood fire.
Enter the latest to hit my yard: Breeo’s X Series 24 Smokeless Fire Pit ($579). I’ve combined it with Breeo’s Sear Plate ($170) and its Outpost Grill 24 ($140).
In short: The Breeo X Series is one of the nicest smokeless fire pit systems we’ve tested. It’s built like a tank, works perfectly, and looks pretty cool too. The only downsides are the price and weight. But if you want the best, made-in-USA fire pit on the market, this is hard to beat.
Looking for a portable grill? Check out our Best Portable Grills Buyer’s Guide.
Review: Breeo Fire Pit X Series 24 With Sear Plate and Outpost Grill
Fire pits are likely the oldest human meeting place. And cool summer nights here in Montana still beg a fire. Thanks to Breeo’s X Series 24, I have a safe and easily contained option for friends and family to enjoy this summer.
The Breeo X Series offers three different sizes for its X Series pits, and each is big enough to accommodate a comfortable group of people. Buyers have two choices of finish: Corten steel that develops a rustic patina, or stainless steel that maintains its shine with a little effort. I chose Corten steel, as a rustic patina suits my personal style. As the pit sits on my lawn, it’s already developing that lived-in feel.
It’s plenty big in my opinion, big enough to contain what I’d deem a normal-sized campfire.
Is the Breeo Fire Pit Truly Smokeless?
Breeo uses secondary combustion to create its smokeless fire pits. I’ll lean on the brand’s website for an explanation.
“Basically, when the fire is burning well, the walls heat up and the hot air rises through the gap between the two walls. The air exits the wall cavity through the line of holes around the rim. This pressurized, heated oxygen mixes with the smoke and causes it to reburn,” the brand says.
This double-walled technology in action is impressive. But the reality is that it’s mostly smokeless. There is certainly a small amount of smoke output when using a Breeo. And smokeless doesn’t mean that you can light this thing in a place like a garage or even a covered space. It’s still a fire; it’s just a much easier fire to stand around, utilize, and cook over.
And it should be noted that you’ll want to use it on a flame-resistant base like dirt or gravel. The fire pit does get hot, and it will emit heat out of its base as you use it.
The Breeo Fire Pit Live-Fire Cooking Setup
Breeo offers a few options for cooking platforms. You can buy a Breeo with a Sear Plate built into it, but I opted for the removable sear plate, as I’m not sure I’ll always want it to be hooked on.
I’ll add that the Outpost Grill might be my favorite piece of all three, mostly because it’s an easy traveler. The grill easily attaches to your Breeo fire pit. Or, it can be used on its own over an open campfire with its Anchorpoint system that sticks in the ground.
Managing the height of the grill is easy. Lower it to get close to the heat source or swivel it to the side of the pit, removing it from the heat entirely. It comes with its own travel bag as well, which I love and plan on using for both camping and hunting trips this year.
You can use both the sear plate and the grill on the fire pit simultaneously. However, if you were going to just buy one piece for cooking, the grill is extremely versatile. To be honest, I’m not sure why you’d buy a Breeo without it.
Cooking With the Breeo X Series System
This past weekend, the local rodeo gave me the perfect opportunity to cook for friends. And with a late night of post-rodeo fun, a morning fire and campfire brunch seemed like the perfect option. The air was still cool enough to want to be by the fire, and we clamored to get it running.
The boys fired up the pit, and we had hot coals surprisingly quickly. The double combustion system burns the wood with ease, and we found ourselves adding more wood to get to the right cooking temperature.
We cooked pronghorn steaks and Texas wild boar in a buttered-up cast iron pan on the grill, and we finished each over the smoke for a solid bit of that live-fire taste.
From there, we added the sear plate and gave it time to heat up. The metal turned blue with the heat, and after watching a quick video on how to best use this griddle, I jumped in with cheesy tortillas.
I’d baked some cinnamon rolls with sliced bananas in my kitchen oven in a cast iron dutch oven. Then when almost finished, I threw them open-faced on the side of the sear plate to let them capture a bit of smokiness and some caramelization on the bottom from the hot, hot heat.
The silence post-cooking was the kind that’s priceless. It was a meal not well done, but done perfectly — thanks to the live-fire excellence before us.
Breeo Fire Pit: What Could Be Better
The Breeo X Series 24 is not a lightweight system. I can move it on my own, but not without a lot of heaving and huffing. The pit — on its own — weighs an impressive 62 pounds. That’s without the sear plate and grill attached.
And the sear plate is heavy as well. At 22.5 pounds, it alone is a bit of a lift. The Outpost grill itself weighs nearly 13 pounds. This is light enough for car camping, but it’s probably not going anywhere further than that unless you’re packing in on horses.
Altogether, this puts the pit within 3 pounds of 100. This, my friends, is in my opinion a stay-at-home backyard fire pit.
The other side that’s a bit hard to swallow is the pricing. You can save money by going with the Corten steel, but even with just the three pieces I’ve tested, you’re looking at $949 altogether.
However, go down to the smaller 19 system, and you can save nearly $300. At $659, you can do the whole thing not only on a tighter budget but also with a more versatile system that can travel much easier.
Final Thoughts on the Breeo Fire Pit X Series System
There’s a lot to love about this fire pit and its accessories. There’s no giant learning curve to figuring out how it works or even how to set it up. It’s simple, intuitive, and straightforward. In a matter of minutes, a team of us rolled into using the Breeo like it was old hat.
This ease makes the Breeo and its cooking components a slam dunk for folks who might not always grill over an open fire. And the smokeless secondary combustion system ensures that, though smoke follows beauty, people will rarely have to move from a prime spot near the heat.
Though expensive, having the Breeo makes cooking at home both fun and easy. The amount of money one might save on big nights out could easily be swapped for luxurious nights at home, with great food and warm company.
And this is a system that looks to last for the long haul. Beyond the X Series, Breeo has options that can easily be built into a permanent fire pit outside of your home. And with the X Series, you have a fire pit that will be a home base in your backyard, wherever you end up.
I’ve cooked up a few great meals since setting up the Breeo. And I’m excited to have the Breeo in my lineup for the nights I want to be outside. For me, that’s most of them.
