I've searched and read many different articles. So does a Kamado need a drip pan or water pan? For long cooks I use a drip pan and fill it with water or some other sort of liquid. If you've read some of my cooks you will notice it pop up a few times.
Many choose to use a disposable foil pan which is great for the job but over time $$$ adds up. I don't know about you but my BBQ hobby is not cheap. For a nice low and slow cook, I'm spending around $20 on average depending on the cut of meat. That doesn't include a brine or injection, rub, peach paper etc. Oh and gloves.
So what is my solution? The Winco Round 16" Cake Pan is what I found on the interwebs.
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Just like those oven pans some things are hard to clean off even with those little scrapper things for my cast iron pans.
I'll just flip it over burn some of those crustys off.
As you can see it will still allow for airflow and fits perfectly on the accessory rack.
Just add water! Or you liquid of choice!
Compare the Winco pan vs. the #1 best seller in disposable cookware on Amazon
They now make the smokeware stainless steel for the Kamado. Shown below. It's stainless steel and the same price as the Winco!
This is a 30 pack and a great alternative if you don't want to clean your pan after every cook. After about 45 cooks it will pay for itself vs the aluminum pans. I'm not sure how many times I've used mine but you can see it's still holding up well.
The choice is yours for using a water pan. The Kamado's are designed not to need one. This will catch all drippings and help prevent them from burning on the heat deflectors or spilling over into the fire box into the lump.
I use the Kamado Joe Classic II and the Pit Barrel Cooker! Check out flavorflamebbq.com for more information on the Kamado Joe, accessories, fuel, meats and more! FFBBQ participates in some affiliate programs so by purchasing from links you are helping support the site! So far FFBBQ has made a few dollars! Thanks for helping to keep the flame going!