To get the best results from smoking your favorite meats, you will of course need to know how to use your smoker box properly. Otherwise, you won’t be able to get that signature smoky flavor that you’re after!
If you’ve never used a smoker box before, it can be confusing knowing where to start.
Especially if you’ve got different types of grills! Gas grills, charcoal grills, and other types of outdoor grill may need you to use slightly different methods with your smoker box to get the best results.
Today, we’re going to cover everything you need to know about using a smoker box on a BBQ so that you can get the tasty smoked foods that you’re after.
We’ll walk you through the smoking process so that you can make the best use of the smoking boxes on your grill of choice.
So let’s take a look at how to use smoking boxes!
How To Use A Smoker Box
It’s surprisingly simple to use your smoker box for smoking your favorite meats.
All you need to do is add dry wood chips to your smoker, then place them next to the direct source of heat in your preferred grill.
This may differ depending on the type of grill that you have selected. We will cover the ideal place for your smoker box in a propane grill and a charcoal grill in more detail below.
It will always be best to opt for dry wood chips over wet wood chips. This is because you should only soak your wood chips to prevent them from burning too quickly.
However, as the smoker box prevents the wood chunks from being in direct contact with the heat source, there is no need to soak your chips in water beforehand.
Once you have placed your smoker box with wood chips inside your grill, you will need to set it on the highest heat. This is to get the wood chips hot enough to produce the smoke you need for the indirect cooking process.
Once the smoke starts to come out from the smoker box, you can then reduce the heat to regular cooking temperatures. It should take around 10 minutes for the smoking chips to start producing the intense smokiness you need to flavor your food.
It’s important to note that soaked wood chips will take even longer to produce that flavorful smoke that you’re after. So you should ensure that you use dry wood chips to get the intense smoke flavor that you are after from your cooked meat.
If you soak your wood chips before you add them to your smokebox, this will just lengthen the time that you need to smoke your food.
When the smoke starts coming out of your stainless steel smoker box, you can then place your food on the grill grates ready for smoking.
How Do You Use A Smoker Box On A Gas Grill?
It is super simple to use your smoker box on a gas grill. You will need to ensure that you get the placement of your simple smoker box just right so that the propane grill can do its job.
The smoker box will need to be placed on top of the gas burners.
This will get the smoker box hot enough to produce the right amount of smoke flow, and therefore give you the intense flavor that you are after from this whole process.
How Do You Use A Smoker Box On a Charcoal Grill?
Just as the placement of your smoker box is essential in a propane grill, it will be just as essential in a charcoal grill. This will mean placing your smoker box in a slightly different position.
You will need to place your smoker box on top of your hot coals. This will then start to produce the smoke flow that you need to properly flavor your meat.
Remember that to avoid a mild flavor, you should avoid soaking your wood chips.
However, to prevent the wood smoking chips from catching fire, you will need to avoid piling the charcoal around the smoking box.
Your smoker box should sit on top of the hot coals, rather than be buried in them. This allows your charcoal smoker to impart the strong flavor that you are after.
How Do BBQ Smoker Boxes Work?
A smoker box works through indirect cooking. This is used to slowly cook your white meat or red meat over a lengthier period of time, allowing the intense smoke flavor to permeate the meat itself.
You will generally place your smoker box on one side of your barbecue grill, with your cooking grate on the other.
This method allows your meat to slowly cook, and take in that smoky flavor that you are trying to impart with your food.
Which Smoker Box To Choose?
These smoker boxes are all highly rated by Amazon reviewers.
Cave Tools Grill Smoker Box
Weber 7576 Universal Smoker Box
Char-Broil Stainless Steel Smoker Box
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We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you.
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you.
What Are The Best Wood Chips To Use In A Smoker Box?
Choosing the best smoking chips for your grill can be a real challenge. There are so many types of smoking chips to decide from, all featuring different types of smoky wood flavors.
Ultimately it will come to personal preference as to which smoking chips you should choose for your smoker box. However, the best smoking chips for using in your smoking box are hickory, oak, maple, pecan, as well as a variety of fruit woods such as apple, and cherry wood.
You may even find that the type of wood chips that you use will depend on the type of meat that you wish to smoke.
In Summary
So there you have it! You now know everything there is to know about using a smoker box in your charcoal grill and gas grill.
All you need to do is place your dry wood chips into your stainless steel smoker box, then place your smoker box next to the direct source of heat.
With propane grills, this will mean placing the smoker box directly on the grill burners. With charcoal grills, it will mean placing the smoker box directly onto the hot coals.
You will need to set your smoking grill on the highest heat setting so that the dry smoking chips start to smoke, and produce the additional flavor in your food that you are after.
Once the smoke has started being produced, you can then lower the heat to a more regular cooking temperature.
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