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- Smoked meats are tender, flavorful, and sure to please the crowd.
- Smoking takes more time than just about any other cooking method, but it's always worth the wait
- The cooking process is relatively hands-off, allowing you to enjoy the day with only occasional checks on the BBQ smoker
- The $4 is our top pick because it doesn't take up too much space, yet offers a large 1,890 square-inches of cooking surface.
Back in 2012, a friend stayed at my house for a few weeks while he looked for an apartment. Along with helping us install a sprinkler system and lay sod in the back yard, my buddy did something else that seriously improved life at the homestead: He got me into smoking meat.
My friend had gone to school in Texas, where barbecue - smoking, in particular - are a matter of state pride. I had a grill/smoker combo out on the patio that got regular use as a regular charcoal grill, but not to smoke meat. That all changed the first time our guest spent three hours smoking a rack of ribs. One bite and I knew that offset firebox was going to see a lot of action over the next few years.
Once you have eaten perfectly smoked ribs, brisket, or pork, you may never want to eat meat prepared any other way. Smoking produces flavorful and tender meat thanks to the extended exposure the meat gets to flavor-imbuing smoke and the low cooking temperatures.
And far from being a bastion reserved for the diehard barbecue devotees, anyone can smoke up a great meal as long as he or she has a fine smoker, a recipe or two to follow, and several hours of free time. Because while smoked meats are delectable, they're certainly not efficient.
You could (and probably should) spend hours finding the best marinades and rubs for your smoked meats, but as for finding the right smoker for your household, that will only take you a few more minutes. We put together a list featuring a great smoker from each of the categories of meat smoker available. Depending on how hands-on you want the process to be, where you'll use your smoker, your budget, and the number of mouths you have to feed, one of these smokers will surely be a perfect fit for you.
Here are the best BBQ smokers you can buy:
- Best BBQ smoker overall: $4
- Best pellet smoker: $4
- Best electric smoker: $4
- Best propane smoker: $4
- Best BBQ smoker under $100: $4
Read on in the slides below to check out our top picks.
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