10 foods to smoke in your electric smoker
We got a smoker. And oh, we’ve been smoking everything. Truthfully, I knew I loved smoked cheese, but I didn’t realize how much I loved smoked foods until we began smoking them at home. We hope you will consider joining us in the food-smoking adventure. Here is a list of 10 foods to smoke in your electric smoker.
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Getting an Electric Smoker
I’m not really sure how it happened. One day my husband said something about wanting to a get a smoker. The next thing I know, he’s looking up smokers on-line. He finds a good price and we head out to purchase a Masterbuilt Electric Smoker. We took it with us to our Adirondack Cabin for out last two weeks of summer. That gave us plenty of time to play with it. We also started out with two books to get us rolling: Smoke Like a Pit Master with Your Electric Smoker by Wendy O’Neal and Franklin Barbecue–A Meat-Smoker’s Manifesto by Aaron Franklin.
The O’Neal Book is super if you are just starting out with smoking meat as we are. Truly, we are novices. We’ve never used a smoker to prepare meat prior to the purchase of our electric smoker. She has lots of great recipes and tips for the newbies. Franklin’s book is more about philosophy and traditional meat smoking. It’s good for the traditionalist, which we are not. He definitely goes the traditional smoking route and might look down upon the electric version. It’s well written and enjoyable, but did not enhance our smoking skills.
(Update: June 13, 2018). If you’re new to using an electric smoker, a super resource is The Electric Smoke Guy. He has all sorts of reviews, tips, even how to clean your electric smoker. Oh and a post on why the electric smoker is best for families. And we do love our electric smoker for our family.)
One: Bacon Wrapped Smoke Chicken Breast
Our first time out, we decided to go with chicken because it is something our kids will definitely eat. We used this recipe from Geniuskitchen.com. Oh my. I don’t know that I have every tasted anything quite like it. We brined, wrapped it in bacon and during the last half hour added barbecue sauce. It was juicy and smoky and barbecuey (if that is a word). If you have a smoker, this is definitely one that you should try.
Two: Smoked Salt
This is my husband’s toy, so he immediately purchased a cookbook specific to electric smokers called Smoke Like a Pit Master with your Electric Smoker. Since our plans the second day with the smoker did not allow us the time to have a full day smoking, we decided to give salt a try.
We had it on popcorn and sliced tomatoes. It gave just the slightest hint of smokiness. Fun and easy.
Three: Venison Steak
Of course, venison had to be on the menu early on. We were a little skeptical after a go at top round beef roast that ended up being very dry. Because venison is such a lean meat, we always prep it with some additional fat, so my husband rubbed it in olive oil and let it sit for a couple hours before we began smoking it. Then he patted it dry and put a dry rub of Montreal Steak Seasoning, salt and minced dried onion. He then smoked it at 225 for an hour. We let it rest about half an hour. It was super.
Four: Pork Shoulder (Pork Butt)
People usually use pork shoulder to make pulled pork. However, we decided not to make pulled pork, but to slice it. We injected the meat with an apple juice brine and used Sweet Carol Swine Yankee Apple Rub. It took about 7 hours to come up to 165 degrees smoking it at 225. We wrapped it in foil and a towel and let it sit for a couple hours in our cooler (no ice). It was perfect. It was super juicy and smokey. So far, this is my favorite.
Update 10/23/2019: We now have our own recipe for Smoked Pork Butt here.
Five: Tri-Tip Roast
Maybe I lied above. This one just might be my favorite. I don’t know anything about purchasing beef. In fact, I was a vegetarian for years until I met my husband and he convince me to try venison (because “there is nothing more organic than wild deer”). He sent me to the store to buy steaks to grill because it was supposed to be a beautiful day and perhaps the last good grilling day of the year (This was more recently, October, in fact). (Daylight becomes a real issue around here once we get into November.)
So I stare at the meat in the case. However, I have absolutely no idea what to get. I end up buying a tri-trip roast because it has nice marbling (that’s something you’re supposed to look for, right?) and it was marked down for use or freeze today. Turns it that this is not a good cut to grill. It wants to be cooked low and slow, so my husband says, “To me, that means smoke it.” It was so good, I bought another tri-tip, and we did it again the following weekend. The nice thing is it only takes about and hour and a half, so it is not an all day commitment.
Oh, and I’m getting a little braver. The second time around I played with making my own rub. Sunshine likes most of the meat we’ve smoked But, she can’t handle even the littlest bit of pepper and most commercial rubs are pretty peppery. I tried to make a rub that hit on the flavors we’ve found that we like, but has much less pepper. It still needs work. My version ended up being too salty. Once I get it, I will definitely share.
Update (1/26/2018): We have perfected the Smoked Tri Tip and we’re sharing the recipe for the rub and directions here.
Six: Pork Ribs
My father-in-law makes awesome smoked ribs. He slathers them with cheap yellow mustard and a rub and then smokes it on the grill. We followed suit and slathered it in yellow mustard and a A1 rub and let them sit for a few hours. Then smoked that at 230 for 5 or 6 hours until they started to pull away from the bone.
Seven: Bratwurst
Oh yes, and oh yum. We started with uncooked store brand brats. Smoked them at 225°F for about 3 hours. They were a glorious red color when they were done and super smokey in flavor. We just served them on New England style buns with mustard.
Eight: Nuts
Our local supermarket, Wegmans, has quite a variety of nuts. Our favorite is Smoked Almonds. When we realized could smoke our own nuts, I was super excited. We started small with a 5.5oz bag of mixed nuts.
We smoked them for about three hours after smoking some pork chops since the smoker was already warmed up. Then we left them in the smoker overnight. They could use some salt, but they were smokey and good. The softer nuts like pecans and cashews have a smokier flavor than the harder nuts like almonds.
Our second go was just almonds. This time, we used a little spray butter and kosher salt (the butter was to get the salt to stick) before we put them into the smoker. We smoked them for two hours. The butter -salt thing worked, although there was still a lot of salt in the bottom of the tray. We didn’t leave them in the smoker overnight this time because there was the potential of rain, so we had to cover the smoker
Nine: Pork Chops
Our little local supermarket in the Adirondacks only had boneless chops. We put cheap yellow mustard and Sweet Carol Swine’s Apple Rub on them and let them sit for a few hours before we smoked them at 225 for only about 45 minutes. And they were excellent by themselves and with the Windjammer Apple Finishing Sauce.
Ten: Potatoes
We smoked the potatoes which we sliced and tossed with olive oil, dried minced onions, and salt on the same day we smoked the pork chops. Unfortunately, the potatoes while they tasted awesome took a lot longer to cook than the pork chops. We ended up finishing them in the microwave so that we could eat! This one is a work in progress. We are definitely thinking that the next time, we will partially cook them up ahead of time.
Get Smoking
So, it’s time to get smoking–meat that is. We hope that you will try out one of these 10 Foods to smoke in your electric smoker.
(Update 7/27/2018) Oh and if you are looking for even more foods to smoke, check out 10 MORE Foods to Smoke in Your Electric Smoker. This page has 10 more ideas for foods to prepare in the electric smoker. All with links to recipes
If your not ready for a smoker, maybe the slower cooker is more your speed. Check out my slow cooker recipes like Lemon Artichoke Crock Pot Chicken and Dill Pickle Crock Pot Chicken.
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