Light one burner at one end on low to medium, set wood chips in a smoker box or a foil pouch over it, and put the meat on the unlit side. Close the lid and hold about 225 to 275 F, adding chips every 30 to 60 minutes for the first couple of hours. It works well for ribs, chicken and pork shoulder.
The setup
- Lit burner, on low to medium
- Wood: a smoker box, foil pouch or pellet tube
- Burners off
- Meat on the unlit side, lid closed
Step by step
- Prepare the wood. Fill a smoker box or foil pouch with wood chips. Soaking is optional; dry chips smoke sooner.
- Preheat. Light every burner on high with the lid closed for 10 minutes, so the box starts to smoke.
- Set the zones. Turn off all but one end burner and set it to low or medium. Put the box over it.
- Check the heat. With the lid closed, aim for 225 to 275 F at the grate. The lid thermometer reads high or low on many grills, so put a probe thermometer on the grate near the meat.
- Add the meat on the unlit side, as far from the flame as it goes, and close the lid.
- Refresh the wood when the smoke stops, for the first two or three hours. After that the meat takes on little more smoke, so let the grill finish the cook.
Smoker box, pouch or tube?
Smoker box. A small metal box with a vented lid. Fill it with wood chips, set it on the grate or under it over a lit burner. Lasts 30 to 60 minutes a load.
Foil pouch. A handful of chips wrapped in heavy foil, with a few holes poked in the top. Free, and works the same as a box; make a new one each time.
Pellet smoke tube. A perforated tube filled with pellets and lit at one end. It smolders for hours without a lit burner under it, so it suits low heat best.
Any of them works with the same woods as a smoker. Our smoking wood chart pairs them with each meat, and our wood pellet guide covers pellets for a tube.
What to smoke on a gas grill
- Works well: chicken pieces and whole chickens, pork ribs, pork tenderloin and chops, salmon, sausages.
- Works, with patience: pork shoulder and whole turkey. Long cooks burn a lot of propane, so start with a full tank and keep a spare.
- Hard: a whole brisket. It needs 10 hours or more of steady low heat and lots of space away from the flame, which a gas grill does not give easily.
Gas grill or pellet grill for smoking?
A gas grill smokes well enough for the occasional rack of ribs. If you will smoke often, here is how the 53 gas grills and 20 pellet grills we have scored compare on the two categories that decide a long cook.
Pellet grillsGas grills
Pellet grills lead on Ease of Use (8.7 against 8.1) because a controller runs the fire and the wood for you. On Heat Performance, gas grills average 8.5 and pellet grills 8.1. For a long, low cook, it is the hands off tending that counts.
Questions people ask
- Do I need to soak wood chips?
- No. Soaked chips steam before they smoke, which only delays the smoke. Dry chips in a closed box or pouch smolder rather than flame.
- Where do I put the smoker box?
- Directly over the lit burner, on the grate, or under the grate on the heat bars if your grill has room. Some grills have a built in smoker box drawer.
- Can I use wood chunks on a gas grill?
- Only in a box or pan made for them. Loose wood on the heat bars or burners can block them and flare.
- How much propane does smoking use?
- Less than grilling hot, since only one burner runs on low, but a long cook still takes a fair share of a tank. Start with a full one for anything over four hours.