Add That Signature Flavor to Your Food With One of These Best BBQ Smokers
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If you’re ready to bring some new flavor to your backyard barbecues this year, you may want to consider adding a barbecue smoker to your outdoor cooking arsenal. Smokers cook food slowly over low, indirect heat, imbuing barbecue staples like pulled pork, brisket and ribs with an unmistakable smoky flavor and incredible tenderness.
While purists prefer the iconic offset or “barrel” smoker, which reflects a wide array of regional barbecue traditions from Texas to Memphis to Kansas City and the Carolinas, there’s a wider range of smokers out there. There are easy-to-use electric smokers, classic hardwood charcoal smokers and low-maintenance wood pellet smokers. Some even have smart, connected features that let you control their internal temperature and monitor meat thermometers via an app on your smartphone, so you don’t have to hover over them for hours. If you’re looking for a smoker, we can help you pick out the right one for your home and skill level, whether you’re starting fresh or are an experienced pitmaster.
The Best Smokers
Best Overall: Traeger Pro 575 Pellet Grill and Smoker
Best Value: Royal Gourmet CC1830FC Offset Smoker
Best Charcoal: Masterbuilt Gravity Series 800 Digital Wi-Fi Charcoal Smoker
Best Vertical: Broil King Smoke Vertical Charcoal Smoker
Best Pellet Smoker: Traeger Ironwood 885 Pellet Grill and Smoker
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The Expert (Tony Carrick): Tony Carrick is a freelance writer who specializes in home improvement, DIY, home security, and outdoor recreation. He’s tested and reviewed everything from home security systems to power tools to gas grills for publications like Bob Vila, CNN Underscored, Angi, Field & Stream, and Pro Tools Review. When Tony isn’t writing, he can be found experimenting with his charcoal gravity smoker on the back patio of his home in North Carolina.
What to Consider in a BBQ Smoker
Types of Smokers
Offset: The traditional smoker design, offset or “barrel” smokers feature two parts–a large main cooking chamber for your food, and a smaller cook box for the fuel. The wood or charcoal burns, heating the main chamber and filling it with smoke, which slowly cooks the meat with indirect heat and infuses it with smoky flavor.
Offset smokers are beloved by barbecue aficionado, but they are also the most challenging to use. While they distribute smoke well for flavoring, learning how to control the temperature in an offset smoker takes practice. That said, we think the hard work is worth it: They yield the best results when done right.
Vertical: Vertical or “cabinet” smokers have a tall, closet-like design with a single door on the front and three to five racks for food inside. Its heat source (usually electric) sits in the base, allowing the heat and smoke to waft upward and fill the space. Going high instead of wide makes a vertical smoker more compact, so it’s a good option if you don’t have much room for a second cooker on your patio. That said, the narrow profile may limit your ability to cook large pieces of meat, such as a full rack of ribs.
Bullet: Like vertical smokers, the pill-shaped bullet smoker has a fuel area at the bottom with the main cooking chamber above. Vents on the bottom and top of the smoker allow you to control the temperature inside the chamber, and a water pan sits just below the cook area to keep food moist. Maximizing the benefits of a vertical, bullet smokers are compact, however, some models are stacked so tightly that you may have trouble accessing the food on the middle racks mid-cook, which may be a problem if you need to baste or adjust it.
Pellet: Pellet smokers, also called pellet grills, are defined by the small hardwood pellets that fuel their flames, rather than wood or charcoal. Most pellet smokers look more like a grill than a smoker, with a wide cook box and a clamshell lid that opens up to reveal a broad cooking surface. They also burn hot, up to 500 degrees, so most of them can double as a standard grill.
To generate smoke and heat, an electric auger feeds small hardwood pellets from a hopper on the back or side into a fire inside the cook box. The auger automatically adds fuel to the fire based on the temperature you dial in on the smoker’s digital thermostat. Having automated temperature maintenance makes pellet smokers easier to use than standard wood or charcoal units, since you don’t need to babysit the smoker to maintain the proper temperature. That convenience adds a couple of drawbacks, though: They require a power source, and tend to be the most expensive.
Kamado Grills: Kamado grills, like the Big Green Egg, are actually hybrid grill-smokers. These large, acorn-shaped ceramic cook boxes can maintain low temperatures for many hours, or build up scorching heat, with temperatures that eclipse 800 degrees. It’s an incredibly versatile option, which has made it a gateway device for new barbecuers.
Fuel Type
Smokers can rely on a variety of fuels, including hardwood, charcoal, gas, electricity, or wood pellets. The type of fuel you use will impact how your smoker operates, including the amount of smoke it generates, the work you may need to do to maintain a consistent temperature, and subtle changes to the flavor of what you cook.
Hardwood and charcoal are the fuel of choice for smoking purists. This combination creates a high smoke output that maximizes smokey flavor. Maintaining a consistent low temperature takes time to learn, though, and it makes more of a mess. Charcoal is typically used in tandem with chunks of hardwood to maximize the woodsmoke flavor in food.
Electric and gas smokers are convenient because they require little to no maintenance, but they don’t inherently produce smoke. Instead they rely on wood chip trays that aren’t as effective as wood, charcoal or pellets at instilling flavor into food.
Pellet smokers have become very popular because they’re a goldilocks option— wood pellets generate real smoke but minimize maintenance with automatic temperature regulation. As you might expect, that solution comes with a steeper price tag than that of other types of smokers.
Cooking Surface
Smoking meat can take eight hours or more, depending on the cut, so it’s important to look for a smoker with an efficient interior design that will have space for everything you want to cook. The average cooking surface size for a smoker is around 550 square inches, which is enough to fit five full racks of ribs, four whole chickens or five pork butts. That said, I’ve seen cooking surfaces range in size from around 250 square inches, up to more than 800 square inches.
Smart Controls
Some modern smokers can connect to your smartphone via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, allowing you to track their internal temperature, change temperature settings, and monitor meat probes remotely through an app. They can also send you alerts if the smoker’s internal temperature rises or falls, the food reaches a target temperature, or if it’s low on fuel, allowing you to keep tabs on your smoker without having to hover over it.
How We Selected The Best BBQ Smokers
I picked the smokers for this guide based on years of experience using many, many different models of all shapes and sizes. I supplemented that first-hand experience with hours of research, comparing specs and scouring through user reviews to find the top models. The winners, which span a wide range of designs and price points, offer strong performance, a durable build, and great value.
Our Smoker Reviews
Pro 575 Pellet Grill and Smoker
amazon.com
$799.95
Traeger has risen to be regarded as the gold standard for pellet grills and smokers, and the Traeger Pro 575 makes it easy to see why. Its digital controller can maintain precise temperatures automatically, so you can truly set it and forget it. Just load it with pellets, dial in the temperature on the digital thermostat, and let the smoker cook. You don’t even need to be nearby: It can connect to your home Wi-Fi network through Traeger’s “WiFire” technology, allowing you to monitor and control the internal temperature remotely on your smartphone.
The Pro 575 is compact enough that it won’t hog space on your deck or patio like other smokers, but still offers enough cooking surface to handle five full racks of ribs or four whole chickens. Add to that its excellent build quality, and the Traeger Pro 575 is indeed one of the best all-around smokers out there.
CC1830FC Offset Smoker
amazon.com
$139.00
Adding a smoker to your outdoor kitchen doesn’t have to set you back thousands of dollars. You can get into the game on the cheap with this Royal Gourmet offset smoker. It offers similar capacity to more expensive smokers with its 811 square inches of total cooking surface, giving you plenty of space to experiment with different meats. It also comes equipped with cool-touch handles and vent controls on the firebox for regulating temperature. There’s a front table that provides prep space and a lower shelf for storage. While it lacks the sturdy construction of our other picks, this is a solid entry level option if you want to try cooking traditional barbecue, but don’t want to invest big.
Gravity Series 800 Digital Wi-Fi Charcoal Smoker
amazon.com
$697.00
Masterbuilt’s Gravity Series 800 allows you to get that unique flavor from hardwood charcoal smoke into your barbecue without dealing with all the fuss of micromanaging your smoker. It pairs a large gravity fed hopper for hardwood charcoal with a digital thermostat that controls the smoker’s internal temperature. The hopper keeps your cooking fire fed, while an internal fan system regulates temperature to maintain consistency. That allows you to load it up, light it, and let it cook for hours with minimal maintenance.
As with our top pick, the Gravity Series 800 features Wi-Fi-enabled smart controls, which allow you to monitor the smoker’s temperature from your phone. It also includes a digital meat probe, and ports for up to four of them, allowing you to track many items at once.
With 800 square inches of cooking surface, you’re getting a lot of cooking space here. There’s plenty of room for ribs, whole chickens, and pork butts. At nearly 6 feet wide, the Masterbuilt 800 is a big boy, though. Possibly too big for some decks and patios. That said, it also functions as a standard charcoal grill and a flat top griddle, so you could ditch your standard grill to make space for it.
Smoke 28-Inch Vertical Charcoal Smoker
amazon.com
$549.00
The tall Broil King Smoke gives you plenty of cooking space, without hogging too much backyard real estate. Its 770 square-inch cooking surface is spread over four racks, offering room for multiple racks of ribs, chickens and pork butts, with room to spare for veggies. The smoker includes a separate door for the cook box, so you can add fuel or refill the water pan without compromising the temperature in the cooking chamber. Vents near the bottom and the top of the smoker serve as natural temperature controls, while double thick walls help it retain heat.
Given their space-saving design, vertical smokers often rely on more convenient fuel sources like electricity or gas. The Broil King Smoke gets extra credit for sticking with charcoal and bringing a little bit of convenience to cooks who want a traditional smoking experience.
Ironwood 885 Pellet Grill and Smoker
amazon.com
$1499.95
Traeger’s top-of-the-line smoker has a huge 885 square-inch cooking surface, enough to fit 10 whole chickens, nine pork butts, or seven racks of ribs. With its digital thermostat and large 20 lb. pellet hopper, the Ironwood 885 can smoke for a full day without the need for a refill. Add in the ability to monitor both the grill’s internal temperature and food temperatures using your phone, and you have a smoker that won’t tie you down for hours while it’s cooking.
Other notable features include a “super smoke” mode that cranks up smoke output for extra flavor, a sensor that alerts you when the hopper is low on fuel, and double-walled insulation that helps the smoker maintain consistent temperatures. The Traeger Ironwood 885 is expensive, but it’s a serious smoker for those looking to feed a crowd. If you want the best of the best and are willing to splurge for it, I’d say it’s worth it.
Longhorn Offset Smoker
homedepot.com
$599.99
The heavy duty construction of this offset pellet smoker, coupled with its massive cooking surface, make it a great option for BBQ purists who see offset smoking as the only way to go. It boasts some 1,060 square inches of cooking surface, enough room for six full racks of ribs, six pork shoulders, or three whole briskets. We like its heavy-gauge steel construction and sturdy frame, which give it a more durable feel than other smokers.
Other nice touches include a large temperature gauge, multiple dampers for controlling temperature and large wagon-style wheels for maneuvering it around. At more than 5 feet wide, it demands a sizable plot on your deck or patio. But, if you're after the purest form of smoking, the Oklahoma Joe’s Longhorn is worthy of a spot in your outdoor living space.
COS-330 Vertical Electric Smoker
amazon.com
$209.00
The Cuisinart COS-330’s simple design and reasonable price tag make it ideal for barbecue fans who may be intimidated by the art of low and slow cooking. Learning to maintain a fire with a consistent temperature inside your smoker for many hours takes time: Electric smokers like the COS-330 allow you to easily dial in a temperature that will never waiver.
That convenience comes with a compromise, of course: The smoke you get from an electric (or gas) smoker doesn’t offer the same distinctive flavor from specific types of hardwood like cherry and hickory. The COS-330 features a wood chip holder, which helps impart some wood essence into the smoke, but it will not achieve the same results as charcoal or wood.
So the COS-330 trades technique for convenience, but that’s a fair compromise for new and/or casual pitmasters. It’s a relatively small smoker–562 square inches spread over three shelves. It’s still enough room to experiment, though. Plus, it costs hundreds of dollars less than other full size smokers. It’s a perfect gift for the barbecue-curious.
Smokey Mountain 18-Inch Smoker
amazon.com
$345.91
Everybody knows the iconic Weber kettle charcoal grill, but the legendary grill brand also makes one of our favorite smokers. The 18-inch Smokey Mountain bullet smoker offers 481 square inches of cooking space divided over two racks, enough to hold four full racks of ribs. It’s a basic but extremely intuitive smoker: Vents on the top and bottom allow for temperature control, and there’s a removable door that makes it easy to add fuel when you need it. Plus, you can pop the top and use it as a charcoal grill when it’s time for burgers and dogs.
In addition to the 18-inch model, Weber makes the Smokey Mountain in a smaller 14-inch and larger 22-inch models, so you can size up or down to suit your needs and budget. Regardless of what size you choose, it’s built with that same rock-solid porcelain enameled finish found on Weber’s standard charcoal grills, so you can expect it to remain rust-free for a long time.
Classic Joe Grill Series I
amazon.com
$799.00
Sure, there are plenty of smokers out there that double as grills, but most keep your food far from the flames, which is the opposite of what you need for searing a good char on a steak or burger. Kamado grills, like the Classic Joe from Kamado Joe, bring the two together and are capable of intense, searing heat–up to 800 degrees. Thanks to its ceramic design, though, it can also maintain slow and low temperatures of around 200 degrees for smoking. This tremendous range makes it the ideal combination smoker/grill.
The down side to the Kamado is its limited cooking space, which maxes out at 250 square inches for grilling. Kamado grills are also pricey, though their ceramic construction means they will last far longer than steel grills that will eventually rust out.
Trek Prime 2.0 Portable Grill
amazon.com
$499.00
“Portable smoker” is, generally speaking, a contradiction in terms. Smokers are notoriously large and heavy, so it’s more challenging to bring them around to a campground or tailgate than a portable grill. Green Mountain Grills has a solution, though. The GMG Trek Prime 2.0 portable pellet grill can operate as a smoker, giving you a comparatively movable option. It’s still 64 pounds, and probably too heavy to carry far, but it’s compact enough to fit in a large car trunk, and light enough for two people to set it up on the fly.
Obviously the Trek Prime is a little smaller than most of our picks, with a 344 square-inch cooking surface. You won’t need to compromise on performance or features, though. It has a 9 pound offset hopper for pellets, which can keep the smoke going for hours without needing a refill.
There’s a digital thermostat for precise temperature control and a built-in meat probe, plus smart controls that allow you to monitor and adjust your settings remotely from your phone. One crucial note here, though. The grill needs a 12-volt power source to operate, so you’ll need to keep it in range of your car’s accessory port or bring a portable generator.
Smoker Basics With Our Expert
What’s the best temperature for smoking meat?
With a smoker, you want to keep the temperature low and cook for a long time. Depending on what you’re cooking, I’d recommend maintaining your heat between 190 and 225 degrees. In that range, you will cook your meat slowly enough to make it incredibly tender and infuse it with smoky flavor.
How long does it take to smoke meat?
It depends on what you’re cooking. Smoking a rack of ribs typically takes between four to five hours, but a pork butt may need eight to 10 hours. Brisket is well-known for needing an especially long smoke–around 12 to 18 hours.
Can I use my gas grill as a smoker?
Technically yes. You can add a smoker box to a gas grill, which holds wood chips to generate smoke. So long as you keep the top of the grill closed, that’s a smoker. Make sure to set up the grill so that the food is not sitting directly above the heat source, and set the burners so that the grill only heats to a max of 225 degrees with the lid closed.
That said, it’s far from ideal. It’s more difficult to maintain the consistent low temperatures needed for smoking with a gas grill than it is with a dedicated smoker. On top of that, flames from a gas grill will not impart the same distinctive taste as a proper smoker burning charcoal or hardwood. (Purists don’t even like gas as a fuel for dedicated smokers.)
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