Smoked vegetables in foil are the perfect side dish when using your pellet or electric smoker to cook a protein. Perfectly tender zucchini, squash, mushrooms and other produce cooked in under 30 minutes and healthy.
Now that it’s summertime it’s time for some smoked vegetables along side our protein! If you too love easy smoker recipes you’ll love this simple side dish that’s healthy and comes out perfectly tender every time. (affiliate links present)
Traeger Vegetables
Whether you have a pellet grill or electric version it doesn’t really matter. The only big difference is using wood chips versus wood pellets really. Some versions are a grill and smoker, like ours.
Low and slow is the name of the game with this machine. Don’t be in a hurry, it won’t turn out good. This time we didn’t put the veggies right on the grates, instead they kinda’ steamed at first, then opened to get some of the applewood flavor.
I used a mix of zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms and onions because they were in season and inexpensive. Set on the grill next to our meat it was done and tender at the same time as our Smoked pork steaks. Buttery and delicious together.
Jump to:
- Traeger Vegetables
- Can you smoke vegetables in a smoker?
- How long to smoke vegetables?
- What veggies are good to smoke?
- How to Cook Vegetables on Pellet Grill
- Traeger Smoked Vegetables
- What vegetables should you smoke?
- Can you grill vegetables on a Traeger?
- What is Cold Smoking?
- How to Cook Traeger Veggies in Foil
To get your meats absolutely perfect we have this printable meat smoking chart to refer to so each and every time it will be fork tender.
- Recently we upgraded to this Traeger pellet smoker and grill and love it.
- We started with an electric smoker that was a Charbroil which worked well to start with.
- I like applewood pellets, we always have those on hand and make almost everything.
Can you smoke vegetables in a smoker?
Yes! It is best to choose items that are in season at the grocery store. Zucchini, squash and whole baby bella or white mushrooms work best. Firmer varieties like carrots and cauliflower wouldn’t work in this. You could easily put those together though and cook longer to get them tender.
I use the same combination when making air fryer vegetables. Reason I really like these is they are cheap, and available year round and cook at the same rate.
How long to smoke vegetables?
20-25 minutes works well for us with onions and squash. As for vegetables on the Traeger that are firmer like smoked baked potatoes would take a longer time to cook thru all the way. With those foil is necessary, wrapped individually.
What veggies are good to smoke?
We started with How to Smoke Corn on the Cob with Husks and that was great! This time sliced zucchini and squash with mushrooms sounded good and came out tender with a lot of flavor. I stick with these because they’re inexpensive to buy and easy to cook. You can cook anything though really, just the timing would vary.
That depends on a few factors. If you keep husks on corn it takes longer than more tender types like these in an aluminum pan. If placing directly on the grate it takes the least amount of time.
Absolutely! The type of pellets we use, or wood chips when using our electric smoker, is a signature blend. This means there is some hickory, maple and cherry combined.
Of course veggies in general are healthy served as is. Adding butter adds a bit of fat, and putting directly can cause carcinogens to form in foods.
It’s really easy to throw all of this together in about 15 minutes.
How to Cook Vegetables on Pellet Grill
Whether you have an electric Charbroil or one that uses pellets instead of wood the timing or directions won’t make a difference. If yours is small you could use 2 smaller square trays instead of this 9×13″ one so it will fit better. Covered in foil with butter will still take about 20 minutes.
In this time you could cook Traeger smoked chicken thighs at the same time and have an entire delicious dinner done at the same time.
This time we chose to use 9×13″ aluminum pans covered with foil. This won’t bring a smokey flavor to your zucchini and mushrooms but essentially sautés them.
Why bother doing it this way then? Well if we are already making steak then cooking a vegetable alongside it is handy. If I am cooking outside I want it all done together. Makes it easy peasy doing it this way. Stays warm with the foil left on for a fair amount of time and you can season as much or as little as you’d like.
Traeger Smoked Vegetables
Cooking meat and veggies at the same time is possible as I explained above, and a great idea to boot. A smoked steak is a great one for beef, thighs we love for poultry. I spoke about this earlier, but these are the ingredients you need to get going on this. You could easily include several different varieties of onions. The smaller you slice or dice them the more tender they will get.
What vegetables should you smoke?
- Zucchini
- Yellow squash
- Mushrooms
- Onion
- Butter
- Olive oil
- Salt and black pepper + other seasonings
I share below what seasonings we added but that is really entirely up to you. I think that is personal preference. We add garlic salt to literally everything, but Lawry’s is fantastic too.
Play with it and see what’s just right for y’all after you make it a few times. If you diced taters or bell peppers really small I think it would work well too to make smoked vegetables and potatoes.
Can you grill vegetables on a Traeger?
Absolutely you can. If you are going to put them directly on the grate you will need to keep them large so they don’t slide thru. Onions halved will take 12-15 min. Slices set on a grate would be closer to 8 to 10 minutes at 400 degrees, turn them every few minutes. Corn shucked get tender in about 15 to 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
What is Cold Smoking?
Cold smoking vegetables is a method that imparts a smoky flavor to vegetables without cooking them. This technique can be used for a variety of vegetables to enhance their flavor. You can use a regular smoker with a cold smoking attachment to do this. You set the temp. to 68 – 87 degrees F.
Then place the vegetables in a single layer on the smoker’s racks or on a mesh tray to allow smoke to circulate evenly around them for 2-4 hours, depending on the intensity of smoke flavor desired. Some produce may require more or less time, so monitor and taste test as you go.
How to Cook Traeger Veggies in Foil
There is a full printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick step by step so you can quickly see how we got this done.
Time needed: 20 minutes
Smoked vegetables recipe
- Preheat smoker
Add pellets or wood chips and preheat smoker to 400 degrees F. (you will turn it down later)
- Prepare vegetables
Slice zucchini and squash into thicker 1″ pieces (the thinner the softer they’ll get). Slice or dice onions and cut mushrooms in half.
- Mix ingredients
Put veggies in a large bowl, combine with some olive oil and seasonings to toss together.
- Cook
Pour vegetables into a disposable aluminum pan (or a grill basket might work) and put slices of butter on top. Cover with aluminum foil and put on grates.
- Adjust temperature
Move temperature down from 400 to 350 degrees F once you add the pan. A lot of heat will escape when you open it to add your pan so it will likely stay at 350 which is perfect so temp. is steady.
20 – 25 minutes cooking time is perfect for us but remove when they’re as tender as you’d like them to be. Sprinkle with salt and pepper or balsamic vinegar and serve.
Need other smoked meat ideas to go with this? This is how to smoke ribs with a steak dry rub that is sweet and spicy with brown sugar and a bit of chili powder. Dinner in under 90 minutes to perfection! Give one or more of our creations a try and let us know what you think!
Smoked Vegetables
Equipment
- 1 smoker
- 1 aluminum pan
Ingredients
- 1 package mushrooms, halved
- 2 zucchini, sliced
- 2 yellow squash, sliced
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 1.5 tsp garlic salt
- 3 tbsp butter, sliced
- pepper, to taste
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat smoker to 400 degrees. Slice zucchini and squash into rounds, mushrooms in half and dice onion. Put into a bowl.
- Pour in olive oil and seasonings. Toss with veggies.
- Pour into aluminum 9×13" pan and put slices of butter on top. Cover with foil.
- When smoker reaches 400, open and put tray inside, then move down to 350 degrees F.
- Cook for 20-25 minutes (time depends on how tender you like them, 20 min is perfect for us.)
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’m pretty sure anybody who looks at your recipe is actually looking for SMOKED vegetables, not vegetables just cooked on a smoker. Your title is misleading 🙁
You can leave the foil off the top if you want them to absorb more of a smoky flavor, feel free
@Dana, 👍