Grilling is the first thing that comes to mind when people talk about backyard barbecues. A charcoal grill or a gas grill is what most of us have at home, after all. As great as our favorite grilled foods are, there’s just something special about food that’s cooked low and slow on a smoker. Maybe it’s the low and slow cooking method’s ability to break down collagen and melt fat. Perhaps, it’s the complex flavor it develops from all that smoke. Whichever the case, the best smokers can create a BBQ experience that’s unlike anything you can get on a traditional grill.
From ribs and briskets to pork belly and whole turkeys, the best smokers leave food incredibly tender while soaking in all those smoky flavors. This is true whether you use a traditional offset smoker, a vertical smoker, a pellet smoker, or a bullet smoker like a kamado grill. Sure, they each have their own advantages and disadvantages, but they all typically lead to the same delicious results.
Traditionally, the best smokers will use charcoal or hardwood for fuel. Those two fuel types produce a lot of smoke that let you maximize the smoky flavor you can impart to the food, after all. However, they also require a good load of hands-on maintenance. Wood pellet has also become a popular option, as it’s able to generate a good amount of smoke while requiring comparatively less maintenance. Gas and electric smokers, on the other hand, are the tricky options in the bunch. They require very little maintenance, but don’t produce any actual smoke themselves, instead relying on additional wood chips to impart the smoky flavor.
These are the best smokers to bring low and slow cooking to your backyard.
Cuisinart Vertical Propane Smoker
Pros
- Small footprint
- Maintains stable temperatures
Cons
Cooking area: 784 square inches
Smoker type: Vertical
Fuel type: Gas
If you’re intimidated by smoking, the best smoker to ease you into the low and slow world of barbecue will be a gas or electric model. We recommend this one if you prefer a gas model, as we found it to offer enough cooking room for large families (even with guests in tow), while maintaining stable temperatures the whole time. It has 784 square inches of vertical cooking space, as well as four chrome steel racks to maximize every inch of it. The racks are removable, so you can take out a couple if you need the extra headroom for whole turkeys or other large meats, while vents around the back can be adjusted for controlling temperature inside the space. Both the water pan and wood chip tray can be accessed from a separate door, so you can add wood chips without messing up the temperatures on the main cooking area, with a built-in temperature gauge letting you check whether it’s maintaining your desired heat levels at all times. We particularly love the small footprint it takes up, too, which makes it easy to find room for it in the backyard.
Masterbuilt 40-Inch Digital Electric Smoker
Pros
- Easy to use
- Clean smoke flavor
- Large cooking area
Cons
- Short power cord
- Temperature not as stable as we’d like
Cooking area: 970 square inches
Smoker type: Vertical
Fuel type: Electric
We love how much space is available in this electric smoker. It’s big enough to fit a whopping eight racks of ribs (or 16 chickens), all while taking up a relatively small footprint. While it doesn’t heat up as fast as other options, it does get to the desired temperatures eventually and maintains relatively stable levels most of the time, although we’ve seen it go up or down up to 10 degrees, which we didn’t like. There are vents around the back for quickly letting some heat out, while having the controls up top were very convenient when making adjustments (no need to bend down). although we do wish they put a shade over the display, since it’s hard to read during the day with sun out. We found the smoke flavor it imparts to be very clean, with none of the odd aftertaste you sometimes get in smoked meats, which we really appreciate. Home pitmasters will also love the fact that it comes with wheels, so you can easily move it around, although we do wish the power cord was longer, since you’ll almost certainly have to get a power strip for this thing because the cord is so short.
Pit Barrel Cooker Classic Package
Pros
- Easy to set up
- Minimal footprint
- Maintains temperature well
Cons
- Hard to add fuel mid-cook
- Damper doesn’t fully close
Cooking area: 240.5 square inches
Smoker type: Bullet
Fuel type: Charcoal
Is there anything more classic-looking than a drum-shaped charcoal smoker? There’s plenty to love about that design, too, from the small footprint it takes up to the simple assembly it requires. The simple assembly is, largely, because it’s designed for simple function. Your charcoal, basically sits at the bottom, then you put your grate or rods on top. That’s it. There’s no option for putting a water pan, so it might not the best choice for extended smoking sessions (the food could dry out), although in our tests, it consistently delivered juicy ribs and chicken with very complex smoky flavors. The same simplicity that made us love it, though, may also be its biggest weakness. For instance, there’s no way to easily add charcoal in the middle of cooking, requiring you to lift up the grates and pour the fuel inside, which isn’t the safest. They also seem to have designed it so that the damper doesn’t fully cover the inlet, which seemed odd, although it did maintain temperatures really well during our four-hour cook. Regardless, it’s not something you’ll want to use if your completely new to smoking, as we think it requires a little more experience than most.
Weber 18-Inch Smokey Mountain Cooker
Pros
- Easy to manage heat
- Side door for accessing water tray and fuel chamber
- Dual layer grates
Cons
- Thin gauge steel walls
Cooking area: 481 square inches
Smoker type: Bullet
Fuel type: Charcoal
Another bullet-type smoker, this model is very reminiscent of Weber’s kettle grill, albeit one that’s redesigned for smoking. And it’s fitted with elements that make it an excellent smoker, from the dual sets of dampers that enabled easy temperature management and a large water pan directly above the coals to the dual cooking grates for those times you need to cook more food. The porcelain-covered walls retain heat very well, although the walls felt thinner compared to other bullet smokers we’ve seen, so it might not hold heat as efficiently as others. They added a thermometer on the lid for this version, by the way, which really helps in managing the heat levels. It’s also very easy to add both fuel and water as needed, since there’s a door right on the body for easily accessing both. They also have smaller (14 inches) and larger (22 inches) versions of this, so you can find one that’s more suited to your individual needs.
Oklahoma Joe Bronco Pro Drum Smoker
Pros
- Solidly-built with heavy-gauge steel
- Large charcoal basket
- Easy to manage heat
Cons
- Hard to add fuel mid-cook
Cooking area: 366 square inches
Smoker type: Bullet
Fuel type: Charcoal
First thing you notice with this smoker is the heavy gauge steel construction. It’s thick as heck, inspiring confidence that it’s going to stick around for a long time. We’re also fond of the big wagon-style wheels, which makes it feel like a vintage design. You can cook using the included grill grates or the nine meat hooks, so you get a good set of options for different types of meats, while the oversized charcoal basket can fit enough fuel for up to 15 hours of smoking, which is very convenient. Fine-tuning the heat is easy enough to do using vents at the bottom and the smokestack on top, while a built-in thermometer on the body makes it easy to check on how stable it’s going. Suffice to say, this is a solid, well-made smoker with plenty of thoughtful elements, with only one real sticking point: the fact that you can easily your fuel mid-cook. Seriously, it’s even more laborious to add fuel compared to the Pit Barrel above, since it comes with a deflector plate that you’ll also need to remove to get access to the charcoal basket. Like we said, though, the basket is big, so you might want to throw in a bit more charcoal to save yourself the hassle.
