What to Buy Grilling & BBQ The Best Smokers for 2023, Based on Over 200 Hours of Testing Find the right smoker for your backyard, and let it take the sweat out of home barbecue. By Greg Baker Updated on October 6, 2023 In This Article Expand Jump to a Section Our top picks Reviews Our Favorite The Tests Other Smokers We Tested Factors to Consider FAQ Our Expertise We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more. Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore There are many ways to smoke food, and I’ve witnessed many of them. Some are off-the-shelf solutions. Others are... more esoteric and practical. My father-in-law smoked in an old pink oven in the backyard that he’d torn out of the kitchen. I’ve even watched someone smoke mullet in an old filing cabinet. I’ve had barrels and offsets and electric models for restaurants. But we’re here to guide you through the more conventional consumer options. Charcoal or pellets will get you the closest to wood-fired smoking. Charcoal smokers, however, require more hands-on time than other models. Gas smokers offer a more reliable means of heat regulation, at the sacrifice of some flavor and texture. Electric smokers involve no flame, so they’re safer and can produce good results, albeit with the same concessions as gas versions. So, how do you navigate this heavily populated field? We exhaustively tested 55 gas, electric, charcoal, pellet, and kamado smokers, including some smoker-grill combos, to find the best of the best. Read on to learn about the pros and cons of each, plus what to look for in a smoker. Our Top Picks Best Overall: Dyna-Glo Vertical Offset Charcoal Smoker & Grill at Amazon Jump to Review Best Gas Smoker: Camp Chef 24-Inch Vertical Gas Smoker at Amazon Jump to Review Best Pellet Smoker: Traeger Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker at Amazon Jump to Review Best Electric Smoker: Masterbuilt 40-Inch Digital Electric Smoker at Amazon Jump to Review Best Smart: Kamado Joe Digital Charcoal Grill and Smoker at Amazon Jump to Review Best Overall Dyna-Glo Signature Series Heavy-Duty Vertical Offset Charcoal Smoker & Grill Amazon View On Amazon View On Walmart View On Build.com Our Ratings Ease of Use 5/5 Performance 5/5 Ease of Cleaning 5/5 Assembly/Setup 4.5/5 Pros The Dyna-Glo is easy to use, highly responsive to heat adjustments, and easy to clean. Cons Assembly was a stumbling block, and it uses a considerable amount of fuel, which can be challenging to restock when following the manufacturer’s directions. The Dyna-Glo is a study in “don’t judge a book by its cover.” The outward appearance of this sizable charcoal smoker could put off a smoking neophyte. But after getting through the assembly process (a second set of hands is advised), this smoker took just a gentle learning curve. After grasping the ventilation baffle arrangement, the heat control was very responsive, producing tender ribs with just enough pull. An experienced smoker will be pleased with the results, and a beginner won’t be intimidated from learning. Given its size, it can cook for a crowd, but keep in mind that it will burn a lot of fuel. As a bonus, it also has a grill surface over the firebox so that you can grill and sear, too Price at time of publish: $320 Dimensions: 46 x 25 x 59 inchesWeight: 124 poundsCooking Area: 1,382 square inches Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Best Gas Smoker Camp Chef SMV24S 24-Inch Smoke Vault Vertical Gas Smoker Amazon View On Amazon View On Walmart View On Wayfair Our Ratings Ease of Use 4.8/5 Performance 5/5 Ease of Cleaning 5/5 Assembly/Setup 4.5/5 Pros The Smoke Vault is very beginner-friendly and has a large cooking capacity. Cons We wish the assembly instructions were more precise. The Smoke Vault was a very easy-to-use gas smoker, but we advise taking the time to familiarize yourself with the baffle system because, at times, it was almost too responsive to slight adjustments. After that, the Smoke Vault produced some nicely smoked chicken wings, salmon, and ribs with no acrid flavor. The assembly instructions gave us some challenges, and it sometimes required two people to align some elements properly. Once it was together, it ran smoothly. We’d recommend a gas smoker like this to experienced and inexperienced smokers alike for its control and lack of mess. Price at time of publish: $400 Dimensions: 24 x 16 x 30 inchesWeight: 75 poundsCooking Area: 780 square inches Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Best Pellet Smoker Traeger Pro Series 780 Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker Amazon View On Amazon View On Walmart View On Academy.com Our Ratings Performance 4/5 Ease of Cleaning 4/5 Design 4/5 Value 3.5/5 Pros It has multiple connectivity and app options and a high-capacity hopper, which means less refilling. Cons It’s heavy, and despite its wheels and casters, it can feel cumbersome. Also, some may find the smoke flavor it produces too subtle. Traeger made its first wood pellet smoker/grill in 1988 and has led the field since then. They’re not without competition, but the Pro 780 holds its own, with a fair price for its features and performance. On top of the auger-driven pellet hopper, which regulates fuel and temperature, the Pro 780 offers multiple connectivity options, including Bluetooth, WiFi, and Alexa integration, on top of its proprietary app. It produced a slightly more muted smoke flavor than Traeger’s more expensive models, and it consistently ran about 10 to 15 degrees hot during our long smoke test. Those points aside, the pork butt developed a nice bark and a noticeable smoke ring. The Traeger also grills and bakes, so there’s some nice multifunctionality for those who don’t want a single-purpose appliance. Price at time of publish: $1,000 Dimensions: 55 x 27 x 49 inches Weight: 150 poundsCooking Area: 780 square inches Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Will Dickey Food & Wine / Will Dickey Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore Food & Wine / Will Dickey Food & Wine / Will Dickey Best Electric Smoker Masterbuilt MB20072918 40-Inch Digital Electric Smoker Amazon View On Amazon View On Wayfair View On Walmart Our Ratings Ease of Use 4.8/5 Performance 5/5 Ease of Cleaning 4.8/5 Pros The Masterbuilt has an intuitive control panel, and it’s easy to operate and clean. Cons It’s bulky, so ensure you have enough space to operate it safely. You’ll also want to enlist an extra person to make setup easier. The Masterbuilt was a very easy to use smoker with consistent heat that produced some good results in our smoke tests. The ribs and chicken came out equally moist, with a good smoke flavor. The control panel is straightforward to learn, and the racks were sturdy and had stops to prevent them from sliding all the way out when loading food. The chip tube was easy to access and fill, which was good because it did require two refills over the course of the cooking tests. The construction was sound, with no smoke escaping from places not intended for that purpose. Some minor annoyances came up. Assembly would have been easier with a second set of hands, and we would have liked to see more bark development on the foods we smoked. Price at time of publish: $320 Dimensions: 26 x 41 x 20 inchesWeight: 73 poundsCooking Area: 970 square inches Food & Wine / Will Dickey Food & Wine / Will Dickey Food & Wine / Will Dickey Food & Wine / Will Dickey Food & Wine / Will Dickey Food & Wine / Will Dickey Food & Wine / Will Dickey Food & Wine / Will Dickey Food & Wine / Will Dickey Food & Wine / Will Dickey Food & Wine / Will Dickey Best Smart Kamado Joe Konnected Joe 18-Inch Digital Charcoal Grill and Smoker BBQ Guys View On Amazon View On Abt.com View On Ajmadison.com Pros The Konnected Joe has excellent heat control and retention with a strong seal to retain heat and moisture. Cons It’s heavy, and adding charcoal is difficult. The Konnected Joe is your typical kamado grill, turned up to 11. It has a thick, ceramic construction that heats quickly and retains that heat, but it also has a digital control panel (and Bluetooth and wireless app connectivity) to regulate the temperature via a fan while providing instructions on manipulating the damper system. Because of that, the Konnected Joe was fantastic at maintaining a steady temperature throughout a long smoke, using surprisingly little fuel. The fuel consumption part is good because adding more charcoal involved removing grates and diffusers and wasn’t a pleasant operation. But, I ran pork butts for 10 hours on the Joe without the need to restock the charcoal, so that minimized that issue. Like the Traeger 780, you can also do high-heat grilling and baking on the Joe, but our focus was on smoking. One of the key pieces of that was the seal around the lid, which closed in heat and moisture, keeping the ambient humidity up and minimizing the dreaded “stall” when smoking. It’s a great set-it-and-forget-it smoker, but you can always go analog with it and get highly involved in the cooking process if you’d prefer. Price at time of publish: $1,699 Dimensions: 47 x 48 inchesWeight: 216 poundsCooking Area: 255 square inches Our Favorite We really like the Dyna-Glo Signature Series Vertical Offset Charcoal Smoker for its ease of use, quality of results, and value for the money. It stood out in all areas of our testing, and while assembly would be easier with a second person, that does nothing to negate the results it produced in a model that’s great for beginners and experienced smokers. The Tests We put all the smokers and grills we tested through the same tasks that you, as a consumer, would face after purchasing them. First, we rated them on the ease or difficulty of assembling them. Then we took general impressions of their construction, including whether they seemed flimsy and sealed tightly. We noted how easy or difficult it was to access vital components (water pans, chip trays, or refilling charcoal or pellets) and how easy they were to move. Then, we tested how well the smokers did their job with food, using a short smoke and a long smoke test. The short smoke test was chicken wings, and the long smoke test was either ribs or pork butts, both taking considerably longer than chicken wings. For our pellet grill/smoker tests, we loaded each with chicken wings and covered them for smoking, noting the amount of smoke the grills produced. The grills that did the best moved on to a long smoke test with pork shoulder. After each test, we rated the meat for taste, texture, appearance, smoke level, and any acrid aftertaste. For the long smoke tests, we also took bark development and smoke penetration into account. Finally, as all projects end, we cleaned the smokers, rating them on how easy or difficult they were to clean and if there were any particularly stubborn pieces to clean. We rated each category on a scale of one to five and then averaged the category totals to arrive at our final score for each smoker or grill. The one exception to these tests was the Konnected Joe, which I tested at home. Although I used similar procedures and considered the same factors, this kamado grill was not pitted against others. Instead, we felt that it deserved a spot on this list and the title of Best Smart Smoker based on home testing. Other Smokers We Tested Strong Contenders Pit Barrel Cooker Classic Package 18.5-Inch Drum Smoker ($400 at Amazon)The Pit Barrel was our runner-up in the charcoal smoker testing. It produced excellent results in our smoking tests, but it is not something we’d recommend for beginners. The Pit Barrel has a steep learning curve for temperature control because of its single damper and charcoal capacity. It took us a few attempts to find the proper airflow and fuel load balance to achieve and maintain the desired temperature. But, again, it produced very good ribs and chicken wings once we mastered those issues. Char-Broil Analog Electric Smoker ($200 at Amazon)The Char-Broil Analog is a good entry point for electric smokers. Once you understand the heat controls, it provides reasonably steady smoke and fairly moist, lightly smoked meats. Dyna-Glo 30-Inch Digital Bluetooth Electric Smoker ($253 at Amazon)The Dyna-Glo is a good entry into app-connected electric smokers, and it produced some of the best food in our electric smoker testing. Our concerns were about safety; the cord is very short, making it difficult to place at a distance from a building for fire prevention, and the chip pan got very hot to handle when it needed refilling. Pit Boss 3-Series Gas Vertical Smoker ($330 at Amazon)The Pit Boss is a good gas smoker for someone who likes to take an active role in smoking food. You’ll be monitoring the temperature, chip consumption, and water usage throughout, but in the end, it produced well-cooked food, even if we’d prefer a bit smokier flavor. Factors to Consider Heat Source Are you an electric, gas, or charcoal fan? Do you have limitations on what fuel you can burn where you live? Electric is a good, consistent choice for even temperatures. Gas provides an equivalent amount of heat and control without the need to be near an electric outlet, but a gas line or propane tank has its restrictions as far as ventilation and space go. Cooking with wood or charcoal requires a learning curve to find the "sweet spot" for temperatures. Fuel Type Chips are easily obtainable but require soaking and frequent refilling of the chip box during smoking. Pellets are versatile across the spectrum of heat sources but may require special ordering from the manufacturer, decreasing the likelihood of spontaneous barbecues. Charcoal generates considerable ash. Wood generates an equal amount of ash and requires more storage space and occasional log splitting. Construction Construction materials can vary, but the most critical thing to look for in a smoker is its ability to retain heat. Thin construction radiates the heat out of the smoker, which means that it is not cooking the food inside. Temperature fluctuations from the heat escaping can result in dry, tough smoked foods, or worse, the food is still half-cooked, tough, dry, and you're out of fuel. Size How much room are you willing to give to your smoker? Don't forget that you might also need to store wood, pellets, or charcoal. Ideally, one wants a covered space away from the elements to aid the longevity of their equipment. If you're dealing with limited space, are you willing to trade the room for a table or chair for your smoker? Portability While you may have a permanent space in mind for your smoker, portability is worth considering should you need to move it. Unlike the average portable grill, smokers tend to be large and heavy, so if you plan to keep yours in storage, factor in its size and weight as well as any features, such as wheels or handles, that would help make moving it back and forth easier. Finally, if you ever want to transport your smoker to the beach, a campsite, or a friend's backyard, a lighter and more compact model may help you get more mileage out of your purchase. Frequently Asked Questions How do you use a smoker? The process is fairly straightforward. Smoking is an extension of slow-roasting, exposing food to low heat over a long period of time to tenderize it, break down tough connective tissues, and render excess fat. After seasoning food to your liking, via a brine, rub, or just dusting with salt and spices, the food is placed on racks that allow the heat and smoke to circulate around it. From there, heat source, fuel, and design dictate how the actual smoking occurs. In short, the heat source ignites the fuel, and the smoke and heat get to work on flavoring and slow-cooking the food. Can you smoke on a gas grill? Yes. The preferred method is to use wood chips because of their lower ignition temperature. There are many choices available for boxes and pans suited for use inside a gas grill to fill with the wood chips of your liking. Some folks like to up the game a little by soaking their chips in rum or bourbon instead of water to add an extra element of flavor. Can you use wood in a charcoal smoker? Yes. Many chefs and pitmasters use charcoal as the heat source for both cooking and igniting the wood used for smoking which gives barbecue of all types its distinctive flavor. Bahr likes to start his smoker with charcoal lit in a chimney starter, then alternate layers of wood and charcoal in the firebox to build a bed of coals. Our Expertise Greg Baker is an award-winning chef, restaurateur, and food writer with four decades of experience in the food industry. His written work appears in Food & Wine, Food Republic, Serious Eats, Tasting Table, and other publications. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit