There is nothing quite like the taste of a carefully smoked meal. From racks of ribs to chicken and vegetables, there are few things that don’t taste especially amazing when they have been prepared in a smoker.
Some people who are dedicated to their grill may disagree, but once they have a taste of something that had been smoked, it’s hard to find fault with the quality of food from a smoker.
Grills are wonderful when the occasion calls for it, but smokers are becoming easier and easier to use and are rising among the ranks of the best way to prepare food.
You may find yourself thinking that smoking food is a complicated process, or only professionals should attempt to do it with hot charcoal. That just isn’t the case.
There are now many different types of electric smokers perfect for your home. You have the option to choose a pellet smoker (similar to a wood pellet grill), an electric smoker, a charcoal smoker, a gas smoker, or a smoker that runs on wood chips to buy to use at home.
Whatever your wants or needs are in a smoker grill, you should be able to find the best option that is right for you after seeing the list we have put together.
It is important to figure out what is important to you in a smoker grill. Do you lean toward something easy to use with a set it and forget it type of capability? Do you need a lot of cooking space? Do you want a combination grill and smoker? Is it the price? Do you want the best portable grill?
Once you see all the options available to you and what sort of features they include, the only thing left to figure out is what type of smoker is the one you want to buy. Decide on a price point, whether you want to use charcoal to smoke your food or another source of heat, what you are smoking, and how often, how many options or features smokers should have and get smoking! Are you interested in brands like the Big Green Egg, Camp Chef, or the Weber Smokey Mountain? Are they even available? Let’s find out.
Having so many options can be overwhelming, which is why this list includes the best smokers for each category. Our list of smokers is one that promises to help you find what you like, even if you don’t know what that is going into this.
What do you plan to be cooking with your smoker? How much do you plan to cook at a time? Is it important to have more square inches of cooking space, or is it more important to you to have the smoker with the best capacity as the best charcoal smoker or the one that is a top pick among users?
It is important to consider ahead of time what you plan to be cooking, how much, and how often to make sure you select the smoker the capability to fulfill your desires.
Read before you buy to save yourself some hassle and stress when choosing which purchase to make. We have a good feeling that something on our list should catch your eye.
back to menu ↑Our research is based on the hard statistics of each of the smokers that we mention as well as user reviews from all over the internet. Our buying guide is meant to be taken as a suggestion, so bear that in mind while browsing through our selection.
We provide you with everything you need to know to pick the best smoker for you. Here are our top picks for the best smokers, the best grills, and the best smoker combos available to you.
If you are looking for a smoker that is smarter than all the rest and automates most of the smoking process for you, this Camp Chef Woodwind is perfect for you.
This is one of the best pellet smokers available.
This great smoker may look small to the naked eye, but it has an impressively sized cooking area. It comes with a tell-all app that allows you to control the temperature at the touch of a button, or in this case, the tap of an app.
This smoker can connect to wi-fi to work with the app. The app can tell you everything from the current temperature to when to flip or remove the meat from the heat.
Features
Kamado means ‘Place for the Cauldron’ in Japanese. The Kamado Joe is the best portable place for the cauldron available. If you are looking to grill or smoke, you can do both with the Kamado Joe. You can even bake bread or cook a pizza once you buy the proper attachment. The Kamado comes as a pellet smoker, a gas smoker, a wood smoker, an electric smoker, or a charcoal smoker. The KamadoJoe is a grill and smoker combo, so if you’re looking to take your smoking on the go, you may want to get this one!
Features
While it may be a more expensive kamado smoker on our list of electric smokers, the Big Green Egg is also the best smoker in terms of value. This popular brand of kamado smoker features seven different sizes for all of your cooking needs, but the top pick among buyers is the Large size. This charcoal smoker is easy to clean, easy to get, and can make it easy to smoke a wide variety of foods and dishes.
With this charcoal smoker, you can grill, roast, smoke, bake, and sear with ease and confidence. This is among the best smokers and grills on the market, and you might just like it!
Features
Smokey Mountain is known for its pellet smokers. You are never going to be let down by a Smokey Mountain cooker. With temperature control, the ability to heat and smoke quickly, the use of wood pellets, and good results, the line of Weber smokey mountain pellet smokers might be the best grill and smoker for you.
The Weber Smokey Mountain Smokefire EX4 Woodfired pellet grill is a perfect grill and smoker for anyone to try. This Smokey Mountain cooker delivers satisfaction time after time and brings pride to its brand.
Features
If you want the most out of your pellet grill and smoker, look no further than the Green Mountain Daniel Boone Grill. This incredible machine boasts 458 square inches of cooking surface and is among the best smokers available for your money. You can grill and smoke at the same time with this incredible work of engineering.
Other charcoal smokers and electric smokers seem like a thing of the past when you feast your eyes on this incredible grill and smoker, and you see how easy it is to maintain a low and slow cook on the best smoker grill that Green Mountain has to offer.
Features
Everything you make is going to be so good; a line might even form beside this grill and smoker so people can get their hands on some of what’s cooking! People can even line up for seconds with its 458 square inches of space for food.
You’ve never seen anything quite like this stainless steel beauty before. This Char-Griller combines the flavor and quality of charcoal smokers with the ease and simplicity of gas smokers. This is among the grills that might change the face of easy to use smokers for years to come. Smoking your food may never be the same with this one.
Features
Electric grills are less expensive than charcoal grills by design, and this digital electric smoker is no exception. While other smokers on this list include a grill feature, this one is designed to only smoke. If you are only reading this list for smoking machines, you are in luck with Smoke Hollow.
The Smoke Hollow is the best electric smoker for the best price. For the best smoke you can hope to get, other grills are just going to let you down.
Features
Traeger is a leading name in grills and smokers. Traeger grills are best known for being the best wood pellet grills available for purchase. Traeger has been deemed the ‘King’ of wood pellet grills, so they must be doing something right. This middle of the line priced grill allows you to have the Traeger name without the standard name brand markup that many companies are known for.
You’re going to like the standard features available for the cost of this incredible name brand grill.
Features
Having a full-sized smoker grill is exciting, but trying to find a place to keep it when not in use is less exciting for some users. Not everyone who wants to take up smoking has a shed or large garage to store a massive smoker conveniently.
This is where the NOMAD comes in. This little smoker packs a mean punch in the flavor department and isn’t much bigger than a standard briefcase. Gone are the days of trying to figure out where to store a massive smoker with this tiny model.
Features
Smokers have been an outdoor cooking method up until now. In addition to the size restricting these cookers for indoor use, the level of smoke produced is generally unsafe for a standard kitchen. Some electric smokers are not the best for use on a rainy day, so what do you do when the weather doesn’t cooperate, but you are in the mood for a nicely smoked meal? You use a stovetop smoker! This gadget makes smoking food indoors a breeze!
Features
A gas grill is best for cooking food at either a very low or very high heat. The temperature is very easily maintained and there aren’t fluctuations, which is why it’s ideal for cooking something that needs a steady, single heat level. There is usually no smoky flavor profile produced when using a gas grill.
A charcoal grill is best for food that needs to be cooked at medium heat or higher. With charcoal, maintaining a consistent temperature is still pretty simple, but it takes a little more monitoring and control. Due to the nature of charcoal, a moderate amount of smoky flavor can make its way into your food.
A smoker is ideal for cooking something at a low or medium temperature for long periods of time. It leaves the meat with a robust, smoky flavor and fall-off-the-bone tenderness. It may take longer to cook meat with a smoker, but the end results are well worth the wait. This method of cooking meat is often referred to as the ‘low and slow’ method.
This is a matter of opinion, so it’s hard to say. It all depends on the type of food you want to be cooking, how much of it you want to cook at once, how long you’re willing to wait for food to be done, and how you want it to taste.
If you want a simple and quick way to cook, a grill might be the right tool for you. If you are prepared to have patience and allow food to cook for a good portion of the day, a smoker might be better suited to you.
Many of the items on our list can double as both, so if you’re still undecided on which thing is ‘better’, you might want to opt for the best overall grill smoker combo with all the features included.
There are five different types of heat sources to choose from with a smoker.
A pellet smoker is fueled by compressed sawdust pellets that come in a variety of flavors to add an extra kick to whatever you’re smoking. A pellet smoker is usually one of the best smokers for people who are new to smoking food since they are usually also automated smokers.
The next type is a wood smoker. A wood smoker is run only on wood logs instead of wood chips or pellets. This type is not usually recommended for newbies since you need to have good fire management skills and the ability to know how to manage airflow and the amount of wood needed to maintain a consistent temperature. A wood smoker requires more regular management during cooking since you have to check on and add wood to the fire at regular intervals.
A charcoal smoker uses the same basic principle as the wood smoker, just with charcoal briquettes or an actual lump of charcoal. You still need to check to maintain and monitor the temperature when cooking, but rather than wood or wood pellets, you choose your form of charcoal.
Electric smokers are run on a bar powered by electricity that is used to heat the cooking chamber. You can still add flavored wood chips to produce an array of flavors, but this is not a requirement. Since it’s electric, make sure to be careful with it around water or using it in the rain. This is another best smoker for someone just starting out or for someone concerned with price.
The final type of smoker on our list is a gas or propane smoker. In these, natural gas or propane is used to ignite the source of the smoke.
There are six different styles of smokers.
With so many incredible grills and smokers competing for the title of best electric smoker, best charcoal smoker, best gas smoker, best digital electric smoker, or best smoker combo, you may now be able to imagine why someone might need a list like this in order to decide. If you want a grill or smoker of great quality that smokes mouth-watering meat or vegetables and can heat and smoke easily, an electric smoker on this list may be the best option for you.
Outdoor cooking isn’t just about grills anymore. Smokers are changing the game by making smoking food easy for any chef of any experience for any price.
Check out these incredible grills and smokers to see what is right for you! Happy smoking!
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