Easy electric smoker recipes are here for you to try and enjoy. Tips on how to use an electric smoker and easy marinades and rubs for fish, beef, and chicken too. If you’re new to smoking meats and fish you are in for a real treat!
Let me show you some tips, tricks, and great electric smoker recipes we’ve come up with thus far. 😉 Try these, then check out our roundup of easy smoker recipes too. (originally published 7/16, affiliate links present)
We LOVE to cook outside! Where we live it is quite warm year round, so the last thing we want to do is turn on an oven inside the house. For years we have used our BBQ, but recently we got the opportunity to try the brand new Char-Broil Digital Electric Smoker.
Here it is…..I know, a beauty right??!! 😉
It reminds me of the college fridge I had.
- Nice looking, compact, and really easy to use. I’m all about easy electric smoker recipes when it comes to cooking.
- I will say we love our Blackstone griddle too!
Let me show you how this Char-Broil Digital Electric Smoker works. Any brand works for these, have a masterbuilt electric smoker, or pellet grill, no problem.
What to do when using a smoker for the first time:
- You need to “cure” it.
- That means you’ll want to set it to a high temperature (about 275 degrees). Turn it on for approximately 2 hours.
- Make sure you have the vent open all the way. Set in a well ventilated area as it will billow quite a bit of smoke.
- It removes the oils, dust, and other materials left over after it’s been manufactured.
- Once that is done and cooled just wipe the inside down with some water, leave the door open so it can air dry.
- When your electric smoker has been cured you are ready to cook!
- Just add water in the container on the bottom. It even has a fill line so you don’t add too much. Add wood chips to the bottom bin on the right. Add your food on the racks and you’re done!
- Like I said, the Char-Broil Digital Electric Smoker is super easy to use.
It also includes the washable temperature probe that monitors the meat temperature. Then automatically stops cooking once it reaches the pre-set done temperature, reducing to a warm setting until you’re ready to eat.
- There are many types of wood chips. You can find them here or at your local hardware or grocery store.
Each one creates a unique flavor for your food. Depending on what you’re going to cook you will want to try a few different types along the way to see which you prefer.
Love simple cabbage recipes? Try our smoked sausage and cabbage one pan meal with the signature blend!
If you’re going to make our smoked meatloaf recipe or smoked ham you might want to use mesquite. If you haven’t tried this one yet, it is a must do for sure!
We like a heavier smoky flavor so we typically use mesquite. But for fish apple wood chips are really great too. We used this to show how to smoke salmon.
Many times it will say on the bag whether they are best for beef, fish, or chicken.
With any electric smoker recipes you should use the chips you like personally.
The next night we cooked 2 tri tip steaks and used a rub consisting of salt, pepper, and some garlic powder. This time we didn’t rinse it off but rather left the rub on when putting them in the smoker. It took about an hr. using the same method as we cooked the salmon. They came out great!
- First look at a meat smoking chart and find the temp. needed.
- Then make sure you use a non stick spray on the shelves.
- You can also put some olive oil on a paper towel and rub it down.
- Or we have sliced an onion in half and rubbed the sliced side of the onion on the grates to make them non stick naturally!
Yes we will share a lot of proteins and how to smoke meat the best way possible BUT you need a side dish too. That is where our cheesy pull apart smoked bread comes into play! Serve this with fish, beef, chicken or pork for a winner of a dinner. 😉
We only had a large piece of fish that we cut in half this time. If you have a lot of meat make sure that the majority is on the top shelf.
- You can easily throw in these smoked vegetables in with any protein as a great side dish.
- Serve them with our smoked pulled pork Traeger recipe with a dry rub for the most amazing meal.
You’ll want the least amount on the bottom to avoid blocking the smoke from rising. Now just close the door and come back in the allotted time according to your dish (it took about 1 hr. for this salmon).
Electric smoker recipes
- This is the best way to smoke ribs where they come out oh so tender and flavorful with this dry rub recipe.
- We like pork but you can use beef ribs too
- Smoked pork steaks
- Use the best dry rub here for over the top steaks.
- This is the best smoked turkey you’ll ever make
You know you don’t have to wait to smoke a turkey until Thanksgiving Day right?? We do one in the middle of the year at least once too because this turns out so good. It’s great for leftovers throughout the week for us too.
- The best Smoked bacon wrapped pork chops, with smoked bacon is amazing!!
- Make our amazing dry rub then use this Smoked pork recipe for the most incredible dinner some night
- This is how to smoke corn on the cob while you’re cooking your main dish too, or alone
What should a beginner smoke? Well you can start with vegetables like this smoked corn on the cob below. That is very simple, then move on to some meat.
Electric Smoker Recipes
Ingredients
- 6 ears corn on the cob
- 4 tbsp butter
- 3/4 tsp salt to taste
Instructions
- Add chips or pellets to your smoker and wait until it reaches 350 degrees.
- Meanwhile, leave the husks on and just cut the end off (where you would normally peel it) about 1.5" taken off end.
- Lay ears of corn on the grate, close lid and leave undisturbed for 90 minutes.
- Smoking a boneless pork loin is fabulous too, we will show you how step by step.
- Appetizer Smoked jalapeno poppers are a great made in the smoker
- We have made Smoked chiles and put them on top of burgers
- This is how we made our Smoked burgers with a steak dry rub that tastes amazing
- and smoked steaks
- Have you tried smoked baked potatoes yet??!!
- We made this smoked beer can chicken in our electric smoker as well as our pellet grill
- Pulled pork in your smoker, well enough said there!
- A snack of Smoked beef jerky is great and totally different than using a dehydrator
- Tender Smoked chicken drumsticks
- Try a smoked turkey for the holidays
- You can’t go wrong with smoked chicken wings
- Fabulous Smoked prime rib is great for Christmas dinner idea.
- Try these Smoked pork chops
I know….amazing right?? I hope you find some electric smoker recipes you love. If you could smell and taste this through your computer you seriously would be sold on this Char-Broil Digital Electric Smoker and this easy recipe of ours. 😉
Like I said, we cook outside a lot and use our charcoal grill all the time….but for an easy set it and go smoky flavor a smoker is the way to go.
- We recently got a pellet smoker and made Traeger smoked chicken thighs that were amazing. Traeger pizza is fabulous too.
- There isn’t much difference as far as following the same directions for electric vs. pellet so use them all.
Smoker dessert recipes
- Yes we have tried this too and will continue to add to this list as often as possible.
- We will start with this Rhodes cinnamon rolls recipe. It’s like an upside down apple pie but better!
- Then you should try monkey bread in a smoker too!
I think it’s now my husband’s favorite appliance. I hope you will try our electric smoker recipes too and let us know what you think! 😉
Tony Martin says
Do you have a book or can these recipes be printed off? I just bought a smoker and these recipes look so good!!!
The Typical Mom says
If you click on the recipe links you want and scroll to the bottom you can print off each one that way.
Priya @Cookilicious says
oh wow..never knew such a thing existed! Thank you for sharing this.
Biana says
Thank you for sharing all this information about smokers, that salmon was amazing!!
Traci says
We love our electric smoker and really need a handful of reliably sourced recipes. Thanks so much for sharing these!
Krissy Allori says
This is such a great amount of information about electric smokers. I’ve also been intimidated by it for some reason. But with all this information and recipes, I think we will be getting one. Thank you so much for sharing!
Chris Collins says
These are all calling my name! That whole smoked chicken was divine!!
Joy Arana says
Thank you so much for the easy recipe for smoking my turkey on thanksgiving and then smoking salmon fillets. Both turned out exceptionally great!!!! I am sure I will be trying all your recipes as they are so easy to follow and simple to do. Again, thank you. Happy holidays to you and your family.
P.S. The turkey was the very first thing I have ever smoked and it was a hit!!!!
The Typical Mom says
Yay for first time successes!!
Dalas says
Where is the best on this smoker??
The Typical Mom says
Not following your question.
antwon smith says
Awesome post for all. Keep it for all.
Lisa says
Loved the salmon, Very good. Thanks for a great recipe and Merry Christmas.
Diane says
Hi, we have just purchased a smoker, not this one i might add. However we have hunted high and low and cant find out how long you have soak the wood chips…any help would be greatly appreciated.
thank you, Diane
Chris says
I would say at least an hour. I’ve also skipped soaking and it worked out well. I only add chips for the first few hours. After that, you got a pretty good smoke flavor and you are now cooking like an oven. Super easy.
Charleen says
We usually soak large pieces of wood overnight but the chips only half an hour to forty five minutes
Smith says
Great resource beginner i sure.
Ted says
This look very tasty on pictures
terryblackwell88 says
This smoker has done an outstanding job