I do not soak wood chips for an electric smoker (or any other type of smoker). I don’t soak wood chunks, either. Soaking chips or chunks wastes your time by adding moisture to your cook, making it longer to complete. Wet wood chips also take longer to start producing smoke. Soak your chips, and you’ll end up with meat that has less smoky flavor. This is because meat absorbs the most smoke flavor when it’s cold. That is when you start cooking it.
When I was a pit apprentice, I soaked my chips. Now that I’m a pit master, I know better. I learned from other BBQ luminaries who told me to ditch the soaked wood chips. Electric smokers don’t need wet chips.
I’ll walk you through why the BBQ world has done a 180 on pre-soaking wood chips. If you still soak your wood chips, you should stop! I’ll explain why.
At best, soaking wood chips is unnecessary. At worst, soaking wood chips adds time to your cook and gives less smoke flavor to your meat.
Thumb through any book about smoking meat that’s 15 or 20 years old, and you’re bound to run across instructions like “soak wood chips for an electric smoker for at least an hour, overnight if possible.” Things change, including opinions and “tried and true” methods. It’s part of the human experience.
The thinking at the time was that wood chips would burn longer and produce better smoke if they were wet wood chips. Soaking was particularly urged if you had a charcoal smoker, but it also applied if you had a gas grill or electric smoker. That thinking was incorrect, though. Dry wood chips smoke meat as well as wet wood chips. They burn plenty long (and you can add more when needed).
Another key reason you should skip soaking wood chips is that they take longer to smoke. All that moisture you add to the chips has to burn off in the form of steam before the chips start catching fire and smoking.
And that moisture issue is a double whammy with electric smokers in particular. Electrics have small vents, which means that they really retain moisture. Add wet wood chips to that cooking environment, and you’re adding more moisture. Again, the more moist the cooking environment, the longer things take to cook.
Since cold meat absorbs more smoke than warm or hot meat, you are robbing your food of smokiness if you soak the chips! The wet chips will take longer to start smoking than dry ones. You want to get as much good smoke on your food as possible. Dry chips will accomplish this better than wet ones.
You want your electric smoker to produce smoke that’s thin and white or blue smoke. Billowy plumes of white smoke are not good. Let the smoke die down until it’s barely noticeable. The best way I know to crank out good smoke is with dry wood chips or chunks.
How you add wood chips or chunks to your electric smoker will depend on the smoker. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of electric smokers on the market. Most of them have a wood chip tray or box that the chips go into and they use around 2 to 4 ounces of wood. If your smoker has a chip tray, load the chips in there. They come into contact with a heating coil, which causes them to smolder and smoke.
No chip tray? No problem! You can also use aluminum foil to wrap some wood chips in. Wrap tightly. Poke some holes in the tin foil so smoke can escape the pouch. Place the foil pouch with the wood chips near the heating coil of the electric smoker. The coil will ignite the chips, and the slow burn will produce the clean smoke you’re looking for.
A more elegant option than the foil pouch is a smoking tube. Stuff one of these full of wood chips and stick it near the heating element in your electric smoker. Again, the coil will start to light the wood chips, and they will catch fire and start to smoke.
Let your electric smokers come to the desired cooking temperature before cooking food on them. Wait for the billowy smoke to die down – put your meat on there now, and you’ll get the flavor of smoke will overpower the food. The ideal smoke is thin and white smoke or blue smoke.
For smoking on charcoal grills, add the chunks directly to the hot coals.
Which wood chips give you the best flavor will depend on what you are smoking, as well as what type of wood you like best.
I’m a big fan of oak. It’s a classic smoking wood, and it’s used extensively in Texas. Besides oak, hickory is another of my go-to’s. Both these woods infuse meats with a rich, sweet, woody flavor. They get you a show-stopping smoke ring, too. If I’m smoking brisket, pulled pork, or ribs, I’m probably using hickory or oak.
Fruitwood chips are great with poultry and fish. Give apple, pecan, or another wood chip a try sometime.
Do not use pine to smoke any meat or other food. It’s wet, full of sap, and will produce terrible smoke.
I use a handful of wood chips and 3 or 4 chunks, depending on my cooker. With electric smokers, simply fill the chip tray mostly full. Depending on your smoker, you’ll probably have to refill it. Check the tray every hour or so and refill it as necessary. You should get a good handle on how quickly your grill is burning through wood chips after a few cooks.
If you’re using a foil pouch or smoking tube, check that every couple of hours and refill if and when necessary. In my experience, these smoking methods should last for the entire cook. Your mileage may vary!
Remember, cooking at higher temperatures will burn through wood chips faster. Keep track of that tray!
I don’t soak wood chips anymore, and that is not limited to electric smokers.
Charcoal smokers, gas grills, bullet smokers, you name it. If I’m smoking wood on it, the wood is not getting a bath first.
Soak your wood chips prior to cooking for at least half an hour. Just because I don’t use water-soaked wood chips in my smoker box doesn’t mean you can’t. Again, I used to soak the wood chips. That’s what all the cookbooks and the internet were teaching at the time.
Here’s how I would soak wood chips: I’d grab a large bowl and fill it with water. Then I’d start adding wood chips until I had enough in there for my cook. A couple of handfuls of soaked chips usually did the trick, although how many wood chips you’ll need to soak will depend on your electric smoker. Some electric smokers are wood guzzlers. If that’s you, soak more wood chips.
Again, I don’t think you should soak wood chips. That said, opinions differ – not everyone agrees with me. If you’re determined to soak those wood chips for outdoor cooking, it’s a free country!
Some popular liquids to soak wood chips in include hot water, apple juice, fruit juice, and beer. Other liquids that are flavorful can be used, too. BBQ enthusiasts who soak wood chips for an electric smoker in these liquids argue that it adds a richer flavor. While I think this is a waste of perfectly good apple juice, feel free to experiment and find the technique that works best for your electric smoker.
Yes, soaked wood chunks or chips can be reused. Let them cool down completely before attempting to handle them. Then remove them from the chip tray, tin foil, or smoking tube.
Unburned chips can be returned to the bag you store your wood chips in. You can resoak them, if desired, or just burn them dry like me. The choice is yours!
Again, I do not add wet wood chips to my electric smoker. While it’s not the end of the world, I don’t think there are any advantages to soaking wood chips. But there are drawbacks, including a longer cooking time and food that doesn’t taste as smoky. Trust me. You want to maximize that good, smoky flavor on your electric smoker.
I hope this article cleared things up for you. Soaked wood chips aren’t bad. They just aren’t optimal. And in BBQ, we want to use every trick up our sleeves to crank out the most delicious food we can. Dry wood chips or wood chunks are one “trick” that I use every time I fire up my electric smoker. Happy grilling!
