How to Smoke on a Gas Grill (No Smoker Required)

Most people assume smoking needs a smoker. It does not. Smoking is two things happening at once: gentle, indirect heat that cooks the food slowly, and smoldering wood that flavors it. A gas grill is actually good at the first part — turn one burner on, leave the others off, and the food cooks by indirect heat at a temperature a knob controls. The only thing a gas grill cannot do on its own is make wood smoke, and that costs very little to fix.

The result is lighter than what comes off a dedicated offset smoker, and it is worth being honest about that. It is also real smoke flavor, on the grill they already own, with no fire to manage. For ribs, chicken, pork shoulder and salmon, that is a very good trade.

What you need, and what to look for

A way to make smoke. There are two good options. A smoker box is a lidded metal box of wood chips that sits over a burner and smolders from the burner’s heat. A pellet tube is a perforated tube of wood pellets that you light at one end; once going, it smolders on its own for hours. The box is simpler and cheaper; the tube runs longer and does not need a burner directly under it. Our pellet tube vs smoker box comparison goes through the trade-off in full. What to look for in either: stainless steel, so it does not warp over a burner, and a size that fits under or on your grate without crowding the food.

Wood. Chips for a smoker box, food-grade pellets for a tube. Mild fruit woods like apple are the forgiving choice for a first cook. The USDA names hickory, apple and maple as suitable woods.

Two thermometers. The USDA’s advice for smoking is to use one thermometer for the smoker’s air and one for the food. That matters on a gas grill because the dial in the lid measures the air up by the lid, not at the grate beside the food. A multi-probe thermometer with one probe clipped at grate level and one in the meat covers both.

A gas grill with at least two burners. You need one lit burner for heat and smoke, and at least one off for the food to sit over. Three burners make it easier.

How to smoke on a gas grill, step by step

1. Prepare the wood. If you are using chips, soak them first: the USDA says soaking prevents flare-ups, and Weber’s gas grill guide says to soak them for at least 30 minutes or they are likely to catch fire. Fill the smoker box or the pellet tube.
2. Place the smoke source. A smoker box sits directly over the burner you will keep lit, on the flavorizer bars beneath the grate. A pellet tube lies on the grate in a corner; light one end with a torch until the pellets catch, then leave it to smolder.
3. Preheat. Weber’s guidance is to preheat for 10 to 15 minutes on high.
4. Set up for indirect heat. Turn the burner under the wood down to medium or low — Weber’s advice, so the wood smolders slowly rather than burning — and turn the other burners off. Put the food in the middle of the grate over the unlit burners.
5. Hold the temperature. Aim for 225 to 300°F at the grate, measured with a probe rather than the lid dial. Gas grills vary a lot at their lowest settings, so start with that burner at its lowest and adjust from there. Weber notes that to smoke at very low temperatures, below 250°F, you turn off all the main burners, which assumes a grill with a separate burner under its smoker box.
6. Keep the lid closed. Every look lets out heat and smoke. Check the probes instead.
7. Add wood when the smoke stops. A box of chips runs out sooner than a tube; refill it with more soaked chips. Meat takes on smoke most readily early in the cook, so there is no need to keep it going to the end.
8. Cook to temperature, not time. The USDA puts smoking at anywhere from 4 to 8 hours, and its safe minimums are 145°F for steaks, chops and roasts (plus a 3-minute rest), 160°F for ground meat and 165°F for all poultry. If you are saucing, the USDA says to apply it in the last 15 to 30 minutes.

Common problems

The grill will not go low enough. Some gas grills cannot get down to 225°F even on one burner at its lowest. Anything up to the USDA’s 300°F upper limit still smokes; the cook is simply shorter.

Bitter, acrid food. Too much smoke, or wood that is burning rather than smoldering. Turn the burner under the box down, and stop adding wood partway through.

No smoke at all. The box is not sitting over enough heat, or the chips are still waterlogged. Move it over the lit burner and give it longer.

For a first cook, try a rack of ribs using the timings in our ribs guide, or chicken thighs. And if they get hooked, our best smokers for beginners is the next step. Cooking on charcoal instead? See how to smoke on a charcoal grill.