Erica Blaire Roby: The Best Electric Smokers Add Deep Flavor to Chicken, Ribs, and Even Cheese

Whether analog, Bluetooth-enabled, or budget-friendly, we’ve got your new smoker.

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Best Electric Smokers
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images.

There is a whole world of tasty food you can make with an electric smoker, whether that’s a rack of ribs, brisket, a smoked turkey, or even cold-smoked fish and cheese. Though electric smokers impart a subtler flavor than other types of smokers, BBQGuys Chef and Product Expert Tony Matassa says it’s a difference that shouldn’t hold grillers back.

“Electric smokers definitely hold their own amongst charcoal, gas, and pellet smokers,” Matassa says. “They are easy to set up and use, easy to clean, and can get up to temperature faster than most other methods. Electric smokers do lack a more robust smoke flavor profile, but most people won’t notice this subtle difference. To make up for that, they are consistent and are as close to ‘set it and forget it’ as we currently have in the cooking world.”

Experts, like Matassa, gave us their recommendations and insights on electric smokers, and coupled with our own research, we determined the best electric smokers to invest in right now.

Our Top Picks

Accessories to Consider Purchasing Alongside Your Electric Smoker

Water pan

Many top electric smokers come with water pans, but if yours doesn’t, it might be worth getting. Erica Blaire Roby, season 2 winner of BBQ Brawl on Food Network, says you can really use any disposable aluminum casserole pan (like these from Amazon) as your water pan if you don’t have one. And what’s cool about having a water pan in your smoker is that you can use it to impart more flavor into your food.

“You can actually put your marinade into that water pan, so when that steam is created, it’s also bringing even more flavor up,” Roby says. “I know a lot of people, if they’re doing fish in a vertical smoker or a vertical grill, what they’ll do is they’ll add citrus—lemon peels, orange peels, stuff like that—into the water, so that they’re getting those kinds of flavors into their food as well.”

 

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