How to Smoke on a Charcoal Grill

Want to add wood smoke flavor to your food but all you have is a charcoal grill?

No problem! We'll show you exactly how to smoke on a charcoal grill with indirect heat.

Charcoal grills are great for cooking food hot and fast, but sometimes you want the wood smoke flavor that you typically get from an offset wood burning smoker.

When looking for smoke flavor, it is best to cook more slowly using indirect heat to allow the smoke to have time to penetrate the food.

Here we show you how to set up a charcoal grill, like our Weber Performer, for indirect heat and how to get real wood smoke flavors on that grill.

Jump to:

• Materials
• Video
• Setting Up the Charcoal Grill for Smoking
• Lighting the Charcoal
• Adding the Smoking Wood
• Replacing the Grill Grate and Lid
• Safely Removing a Charcoal Grill Lid
• Place Food on the Grill
• Maintaining Smoking Temperature

Materials

• Charcoal Grill
• Charcoal Chimney Starter
• Charcoal Briquettes
• Wax Lighter Cube or Fire Starter Cube
• Wand Lighter
• Wood Chunks
• Heat Resistant Gloves
• Metal Ash Tool

Video

Rather WATCH than read? Check out our YouTube video on How to Smoke on a Charcoal Grill!

Setting Up the Charcoal Grill for Smoking

First, remove the cooking grate from the charcoal grill.

After shaking out any leftover ash and dust, move any remaining charcoal over to one side. Add some fresh briquettes on top.

If you don't have any briquettes already in your grill, just make a pile with new briquettes.

Make an indentation in the pile close to the side of the grill. This space will be where we dump the hot charcoal later and place the chunk of wood.

Open the bottom vents all the way for this step to allow enough air flow for the fire.

Lighting the Charcoal

First, fill a charcoal chimney starter with about 5-10 new charcoal briquettes.

Place one briquette on the empty side of the grill. This will serve as a stand for the wax lighter cube or fire starter cube.

Light the cube with a wand lighter.

Putting the firestarter on the briquette will keep it falling between the grates as it melts.

Allow the cube to ignite into a flame.

Place the charcoal chimney starter on top of the lit cube. Allow the briquettes to ignite for about 15 to 30 minutes.

Adding the Smoking Wood

At this point, you should put on a good pair of heat resistant gloves. Ours protect up to 1472°F!

Carefully pour the lit briquettes into the indentation in the pile.

Then carefully place the chunk of wood on top of the lit briquettes. Make sure you check the bottom of the chimney to ensure no lit briquettes remain inside.

You can use any wood you want. We prefer to use fruitwoods like apple or cherry with pork and chicken.

For more smoke flavor, we like hickory.

Mesquite will give you an intense flavor and works best with beef, heartier fish like salmon, and vegetables.

You do NOT need to soak your wood. It's actually the lack of oxygen that causes the wood to smoke, not moisture.

Use a metal ash tool to move the single lit briquette over to the pile of briquettes.

Turn the bottom vents so they are open only slightly.

By adjusting the bottom vents, we can regulate the amount of air entering the grill to allow the wood to smolder rather than ignite.

Replacing the Grill Grate and Lid

Place the cooking grate on top.

Place the lid on top with the vent over the opposite side of the charcoal. This allows the smoke from the wood to travel up and across the food before exiting through the vents.

Turn the vent cover so they vents are open about half way.

Watch the temperature gauge on the lid of the grill.

It's also best to use a probe thermometer inside the grill at the level of the grates so you know what the temperature near the food actually is.

If you want to avoid wires, the MEATER thermometer is our favorite way to measure the internal temperature of the food at the same time as the ambient temperature of the grill.

It connects to a free app on your smart phone using Bluetooth so you can monitor your temperature up to 165 ft away.

Safely Removing a Charcoal Grill Lid

Whenever you open a grill, especially one that has limited oxygen supply, a rush of air is going to enter.

This can cause a flare out where flames come up the sides of the lid.

Always open a lit grill away from you first to minimize the chances of a flare out.

The best practice is to "burp" the lid.

This means to slowly lift the lid on the opposite side from where you are standing just briefly and then place it down again. You can repeat this a couple times.

Then, you can remove the lid, making sure to lift the side away from you first.

Place Food on the Grill

Allow the white start-up smoke to dissipate before placing your food on the grill.

Once the smoke gets a little bluer, about 5 to 10 minutes, you can put your food on.

Because we are setting the grill up for indirect heat, you'll want to place your food on the opposite side of the grill from the pile of lit charcoal. This allows the heat from the charcoal to cook the food more like an oven.

Do not keep the lid off for too long when you're putting your food on the grates. The more oxygen that gets to the coals and wood, the hotter the fire will get.

Maintaining Smoking Temperature

Throughout the cook, you can adjust the bottom vents to control the temperature inside the grill.

You can also adjust the top vent as needed if the temperature is too hot or too cold.