10 Best BBQ Smokers in 2022 (Chef-Reviewed)

Electric smokers use electricity to set the right temperature for meats. So, you won't have to constantly check on your food or worry about burning wood or charcoal. This also means less cleanup!

 
Electric smokers are often built vertically in a cabinet-style setting, with a heating element and your wood chips for smoke at the bottom. There's also a water pan for temperature regulation in between.

You don’t need an additional fuel source with an electric smoker and technically won't even run out of fuel, so you won't have to worry about replacing fuel.

On the downside, avid grillers often note that the flavor produced by an electric machine is quite different due to the lack of actual combustion. While an electric smoker works great at smoking more delicate meat like sausages or fish, cheese, and vegetables, you can't easily get a crisp char on chicken or ribs. 

Charcoal smokers are the traditional choice, and they give you that distinct BBQ taste by smoking food at a consistent temperature for hours. They come in various shapes and sizes.

 
This type of smoker uses standard charcoal or briquettes, and you can add some wood chips for a smokey flavor. Charcoal smokers have a water pan for temperature control on top of the other compartments typical to a smoker.

 
The main thing to consider with a charcoal smoker is its labor-intensive operation; it requires more set up, monitoring, and cleaning. We recommend this type of smoker if you want a deep, authentic smoky flavor and don’t mind the complex process. 

Gas smokers, as the name suggests, use gas or propane as fuel. They are often built vertically in a cabinet-style with shelves and a pull-out door. The gas travels from the bottom up, passing through each level to cook. You can also add wood chips to this smoker for flavor.

 
Gas smokers give you more control because you can manipulate how much combustion happens with the temperature settings. They’re also very easy to ignite, letting you start cooking quickly.

 
If you dislike the taste of bacon, you might need to choose a different smoker type because this device has a reputation for adding a bacon taste to everything. Since smoking can take hours, you will also need spare gas or propane bottles just in case.  

If you combine a convection oven with a grill, you get a pellet smoker. These utilize combustion for that smoky flavor, but they operate with the convenience of electricity. You can use pellet smokers as an oven, grill, and smoker.

These smokers use compressed sawdust pellets that sit in a hopper on the side, and they are fed into a firebox by an auger drill. The firebox is heated with electricity, causing the pellets to combust, giving you smoke and heat. 

With pellet smokers, you get a combination of smoky flavors from the wood pellets and the convenience of electrical heating. The sawdust also combusts to almost nothing, so you don't have much to clean.

 
The downside is that wood pellets aren't as readily available as charcoal. Unless you can make wood pellets yourself, you will need to stock up. 

Do you usually smoke small amounts of food and don’t have much room to spare? A kettle grill is a live-fire cooking apparatus that is cheaper, readily available, and can grill and smoke your food well. It’s great for beginners, too!

 
All you need to do is arrange the charcoal, add some wood chips and a water pan, and you can start smoking. However, it can be tricky to have accurate airflow control when smoking with a kettle grill. It may take some trial and error, but the results are still worthwhile!

Offset smokers are barrel-shaped and were initially created from unused oil-drums. They’re big and bulky, so you may have to make a lot of room for this device. This smoker has a firebox that’s offset to the side and below the main cooking chamber. It also has a chimney for air control.

 
The big barrel of an offset smoker means you can cook large quantities of food easily. Some even have an extra grill plate that can attach to the firebox if you need to grill.

 
On the downside, it’s tedious to set up an offset smoker. We also recommend only choosing a high-end model because cheap ones often have poor heat retention and leaking problems.  

A Kamado grill is one of the oldest types of smokers. They're large and shaped like eggs, mimicking ancient clay ovens' thickness and design for heat and moisture retention.

 
These are great for keeping your food juicy and moist due to the decreased airflow. They also function as ovens, grills, or even brick ovens for pizzas. Their thick ceramic walls also mean that cold weather doesn't affect your food because the temperature inside remains consistent.

 
However, it can be challenging to master temperature control with this type of smoker. It's also challenging to add more fuel or collect the accumulated ash due to the location of the charcoal. 

A smoker can be bulky and take up space, so it's important to check its dimensions. A smoker requires good ventilation and airflow to operate safely, too. It requires plenty of space around it, as much as five to 12 feet, so nothing gets accidentally set on fire. 

 
When you’ve got a spot for your smoker, check if you can easily add water, woodchips, or fuel. Bullet-shaped smokers with cabinets might be tricky to maneuver around. You should also have quick access to check on the food and the temperature.

 
With this in mind, top-loading bullet-style smokers can be more challenging to access compared to front-loading or cabinet-style smokers, especially if you’re cooking more than one slab of ribs. 

The smoker should also be wide enough for your cooking needs. If you’re planning to cook for one or two, then a smaller-sized bullet-style smoker or a kettle smoker will suffice.

 
However, for parties and larger groups, you will need more capacity. The grate should also be tall enough for large meats, like turkey, and wide enough for slabs of ribs up to 16 inches long. Cutting ribs to fit smaller grates will still taste great, but they will need more monitoring since their edges can get overcooked faster.