Gas grills are meant for grilling — high temperatures, quick cook times, and the telltale caramelization of a good sear. But did you know many gas grills can also create the conditions needed for low-and-slow smoking? Follow these tips from our friends at BBQGuys and learn how to smoke on a gas grill.
BBQ smoking is the preferred method for huge cuts of meat like whole turkeys, briskets, or pork butts that require hours of low, indirect heat to cook all the way through without a burned exterior. It’s everything grilling isn’t, which is why it’s best to have a few BBQ smoking techniques in your back pocket if you want to turn your gas grill into a smoker.
Knowing how to use wood chips in a gas grill will really help you achieve smoky flavors — there’s a reason many traditional smokers use wood as fuel — and it’s also a good idea to have a water pan on hand. The humidity from water or any other kind of liquid placed in a water pan can go a long way toward keeping your smoked food moist and maintaining stable temperatures.
How to Set up a Gas Grill for Smoking
Before you preheat your gas grill, remove heat zone separators (if your grill has them) so convection heat can freely circulate through the entire cooking chamber. Now is also the time to insert your filled water pan below the grill grates on whichever side will remain unlit, be it the far left or of the far right. The last thing to do before turning on the grill is place your smoker box or pouch of wood chips in a position straddling the lit and unlit burners, whether it’s on the grates or the flame tamers. Wood chips placed directly atop a lit burner will quickly burn out, so it’s better to let them smolder so your food can pick up smoke for a longer period of time.
Once your wood chips and/or water pan are in the grill, preheat all burners to medium-high heat for about 15 minutes. You’re looking for a temperature readout of about 250–275°F on the hood thermometer, along with a bit of smoke coming from the grill to let you know the wood chips have ignited. Leave your dedicated “on” burner on medium-high heat and turn the rest of your burners off.
If you’re having trouble maintaining smoking temperatures with just 1 burner, try adjusting the heat setting or turning on an adjacent burner. Feel free to play around with which burners are left on and which remain off if your grill has more than 2 but be sure your food is always sitting above unlit burners.
Smoking Food on a Gas Grill
The actual BBQ smoking technique is the same in a gas grill as it is in a wood or charcoal smoker. No matter how badly you want to sneak a peek at your food, keep the lid down for the majority of the cook so temperatures remain stable and precious smoke doesn’t needlessly escape the grill. The only time you should open the lid is to baste or spritz your food every 45 minutes–1 hour.
We recommend you place a surface thermometer near your food inside the grill to ensure the cooking grates maintain appropriate temperatures. Speaking of BBQ thermometers, remember to stick your food with one a few times toward the end of your cook — internal temperature is the only sure way to tell when meat is done.
Now that you know how to smoke on a gas grill, it may be time to smoke a pork butt or try the stout marinated Tri Tip recipe for your family and friends this weekend!
Butts to Go Smoked Pork Butt
Hickory wood chunks
1 8-pound bone-in pork butt (Boston butt)
2 tablespoons Liquid Smoke
1/4 cup Butts to Go Butt Rub
White hamburger buns, such as Sunbeam brand
Cattleman’s BBQ Smoky Base Barbecue Sauce
Pickle chips (optional)
Butts To Go Butt Rub
1 1/2 teaspoons McCormick Gourmet™ Sicilian Sea Salt
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated garlic
1 tablespoon granulated onion
1 tablespoon dried crushed coriander
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
Stir together all the rub ingredients in a small bowl. Use immediately, or store in an airtight container up to six months to one year. Makes 2/3 cup.
Prepare smoker according to manufacturer’s instructions with an area cleared of coals to create an indirect-heat area, bringing internal temperature to 230°F; maintain temperature 15 to 20 minutes. Place wood chunks on coals.
Rinse the pork, and pat dry. Rub the Liquid Smoke on pork until liberally coated; coat with butt rub.
Smoke the pork over indirect heat, maintaining temperature inside smoker around 230°F for 2 hours.
Remove the pork from smoker; wrap in aluminum foil. Return to smoker, and smoke over indirect heat until tender and a meat thermometer inserted in thickest portion registers 200°F, about 10 hours.
Remove the pork from smoker; remove and discard foil. Let stand 30 minutes. Remove and discard the bone and fat cap. Pull the pork by hand. Serve on the buns with sauce, if desired.
Stout Marinated Tri Tip
3-4 pounds Tri-Tip Roast
1 large, sweet onion cut into large slices
2 Large cans of dark Stout Beer
1 1/2 Tablespoons of Horseradish
2 1/2 Teaspoons of Black pepper
2 Tablespoons of coarse grain Dijon Mustard
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
3 sprigs of rosemary
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Sea Salt to taste
Place the tri-tip in a large sealable plastic bag. Rough up the rosemary by rolling over it with a rolling pin or smashing it with a pan to release the flavor. In a non-reactive bowl (ceramic or glass) combine 1 can of stout, mustard, mustard powder, horseradish, pepper and rosemary. Mix and pour into the plastic bag over the meat. Add the onions and seal the bag – removing as much air as possible. Don’t let the rosemary poke through the bag. Massage the marinade into the meat and ensure that it is well coated. Leave the meat in the fridge or cooler for 4 hours. This is a good time to drink the second beer.
Remove the tri-tip from the bag and pat dry. Strain the marinade into a saucepan and reserve the onion. Reduce the marinade in a pot on low heat for approximately 20 minutes until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Wrap the onions in aluminum foil and throw onto the grill during the last 20 minutes of cooking, making sure to flip the packet occasionally.
Heat the grill to medium high (350 degrees). Rub the roast with olive oil and season with salt. Place the meat on the rotisserie and roast at 250 degree F and baste with the thickened marinade every 20 minutes. Cook until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees, (about 2 hours.) Use two foil packs of soaked wood chips as described above to impart a wonderful smoky flavor to the meat. Hickory is a good choice and if you want something really bold, cabernet chips will work wonders as long as you don’t go overboard.
Let the meat rest for at least 10 minutes before serving, always cut against the grain with tri-tip and serve with some extra horseradish. Plan on about 1/3 to ½ pound per person.