Learn everything you need to know about how to make a smoked peach cobbler!
Whether you've got a gas or charcoal grill, a Traeger or Pit Boss pellet grill, or even a Masterbuilt electric smoker, we've got you covered!
Peach Cobbler is one of our favorite summer desserts! We like using fresh peaches when they are their peak in the warmest summer months. You can use canned peaches or peach pie filling if you'd like.
This recipe is easy to throw together and have going on the grill while you're eating your dinner.
Nothing goes better with warm peach cobbler than some vanilla ice cream!
Jump to:
First, let's go through how to peel and slice the peaches, make the smoked peach cobbler filling, and then the dough for the topping.
Prepare the Peaches
First you need to get a large pot of boiling water going on the stove. This will make the skin much easier to get off the peaches.
After you've washed your peaches, dip them in the boiling water for about 10-30 seconds.
Remove them with a slotted spoon to a cutting board.
Try to remove the skin from one of the peaches. If it does not come off easily, redip the peach for another 10-30 seconds in the boiling water.
Repeat this process until the skin comes off easily from the peaches.
Once the skin is removed, slice the peaches in half, remove the pits, and then cut the peaches into evenly sized slices.
Video
Rather WATCH than Read?
Check out our step-by-step Video for How to Make a Smoked Peach Cobbler over on our YouTube Channel!
Grease a Cast Iron Skillet
In order to make a GREAT smoked peach cobbler, you will need a good 12-inch cast iron skillet like our favorite affordable one from Lodge.
We use it for everything from smoked baked beans, to homemade skillet queso, to smoked chicken enchiladas!
While you CAN technically use an aluminum foil pan, nothing will beat the even cooking, heat retention, and just overall awesome presentation of a smoked peach cobbler in a cast iron skillet.
We actually found our favorite part of the smoked peach cobbler was the carmelized edges along the perimeter the cast iron skillet!
Take the end of a stick of butter and rub it all around the inside of your clean, room temperature, cast iron skillet. Just enough to get a thin layer of butter on the cast iron.
This will help keep the peaches from sticking to the cast iron.
- One Lodge Pre-Seasoned 12 Inch Cast Iron Skillet with Handle Holder
- Unparalleled heat retention and even heating
- Pre-seasoned with 100% natural vegetable oil
- Use in the oven, on the stove, on the grill, or over a campf
Make the Peach Filling
Now that the peaches are skinned and sliced and the cast iron skillet is ready, it's time to prepare the filling.
You will need:
- 4 Cups Peeled and Sliced Fresh Peaches
- ⅔ Cup Sugar
- 1 tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 3 tablespoon Flour
Toss together the peeled, sliced peaches with the sugar, lemon juice, sugar, flour, and cinnamon.
Transfer the mixture into the buttered cast iron skillet and spread around to make an evenly distributed layer.
Make the Dough
Next you will make the dough for the top of the smoked peach cobbler.
You will need:
- 1 Cup Flour
- 1 tablespoon Sugar
- ½ tablespoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 3 tablespoon Firm Butter, cut into small pieces
- ½ Cup Milk
Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.
Then cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two knives.
Pour the milk over the mixture.
Gently stir until combined.
Spoon the dough mixture into about 6 evenly spaced mounds on top of the peaches.
Carefully flatten the dough around the fruit to make a "cobbled" pattern of dough and fruit.
Do NOT completely cover the top of the peaches, you want about ¼ to ⅓ of the peaches showing through.
Sprinkle the top of the dough with another tablespoon or two of sugar.
Best Wood and Wood Pellets
Cherry, Maple, Apple, and even Pecan are great wood choices that work wonderfully for smoking peach cobbler
Stay away from very distinctive flavored woods like Mesquite and Hickory when smoking fruit or desserts.
We liked using this Cherry Blend of pellets from Pit Boss because it contains both Cherry AND Maple wood.
These woods also work great on fish, chicken, turkey, pork butt, and ribs. So no need to use different woods if you are smoking your peach cobbler alongside your main protein.
You can impart A LOT of distinctive smoke flavor in a relatively short period of time.
- 100% all natural hardwood pellets
- Pennsylvania cherry pellet is a 40/60 blend of cherry and maple
- Free of artificial flavors, spray scents, glues, or chemic
Best Times and Temperatures
A typical peach cobbler needs to be cooked at 350-400°F for the cobbler dough to set up and get nice and brown on top.
Unfortunately, if you set your grill or smoker up for this high temperature right out of the gate your smoked peach cobbler will cook in about 30-45 minutes and won't get much smoke flavor.
If you are pressed for time, feel free to cook it at this higher temperature.
But we found that a two-part cook worked best for our smoked peach cobbler.
By starting at 275°F for the first 50-60 minutes, we let the peach cobbler absorb a lot of smoke flavor on the smoker, but the cobbler topping, while firmer at this point, was still pretty soft and white.
So we then turned up the heat to 350°F and let it cook for another 30-40 minutes until the topping was nice and brown and the peaches showing through were gently caramelized but not burnt.
Next we will talk about how to do this more specifically depending on the type of grill or smoker you are using to make your smoked peach cobbler.
Setting Up the Grill or Smoker
New to smoking?
Check out our Complete List of the Best Entry Level Smokers for Beginners Here.
Below are the best instructions for setting up different types of grills and smokers to smoke your peach cobbler
Vertical or Offset Charcoal Smoker
Fill your firebox or lower charcoal basin with about 1 and ½ chimney's worth of unlit charcoal and create a small hollowed out depression in the center where you can add your lit briquets.
If your smoker comes with a water pan, like the Weber Smokey Mountain, don't bother filling it.
Light a charcoal chimney about ¼ of the way and wait about 10 minutes for them to fully ignite.
Once lit, add the lit briquets to the center depression you created.
Keep the top vents half closed and the bottom dampers about ½ way open until the temperature is in the 250°F range.
Add 1 chunk of smoking wood once the smoker is up to temperature, and put your cast iron skillet with the peach cobbler ingredients on.
Then slowly close down the top and bottom dampers to only about ¼ open until you are maintaining a temperature of 275°F for about 1 hour.
Add more chunks of smoking wood as necessary.
Continue to adjust the dampers open and closed as necessary to maintain this temperature.
After an hour, open the lid and stir the coals around a little bit with a fire poker get get them hotter.
Open the vents up to about ¾ of the way open until the smoker temperature climbs to about 325°F.
Once the smoker reaches 350°F close the vents back down to about ½ way open and adjust as necessary to maintain that tmwpetrayure for the next 30-40 minutes or until the smoked peach cobbler is browned and looks finished.
Propane or Electric Smoker
Propane and electric options are some of the easiest smokers for beginners to start with.
Debating whether to buy a propane or electric smoker? Check out our COMPLETE Comparison Guide HERE.
For Propane: Open your gas valve and light the bottom burner. Adjust it to keep the temperature no right at about 275° F to start.
Need a refresher? Check our our Complete Guide to How to Use a Propane Smoker HERE.
Fill the smoking wood tray with your chosen wood chips and keep the top vent closed about ½ way.
Place your cast iron skillet of peach cobbler ingredients on the top rack as far as away from the burner as possible.
Empty and add more wood chips as needed throughout the cook.
After an hour, open the gas valve up to increase the cooking temperature to 350°F for the last 30-40 minutes or until the peach cobbler is brown and the peaches look caramelized.
If your propane smoker tends to run hot, place a foil pan filled with a little bit of water on the tray below the peach cobbler to act as a buffer to keep the bottom from burning duirng this stage.
For Electric: Plug your electric smoker in, open the vents, and turn the temperature to 275°F.
While it comes up to temperature, add smoking wood chips, not pellets, to the smoking wood tray.
Once its up to temperature, place your cast iron skillet with the peach cobbler ingredients on the top rack.
Empty and add more wood chips as needed throughout the cook.
After an hour, increase the cooking temperature to 350°F for the last 30-40 minutes or until the peach cobbler is brown and the peaches look caramelized.
If your smoker tends to run hot, place a foil pan filled with a little bit of water on the tray below the peach cobbler to act as a buffer to keep the bottom from burning during this stage.
Refilling wood chips is one of the major drawbacks, besides tray size, of electric smokers compared to pellet grills like Traegers and Pit Bosses.
However, we recently found a great solution.
If you are tired of having to reload fresh wood chips into your electric smoker, especially on longer cooks like pork butt and brisket, then check out this Masterbuilt Automatic Slow Smoker Attachment.
It basically burns new fresh wood chips at a constant rate, much like how a pellet grill works, freeing you up to do other things while getting your food nice and smoky!
- Continuous smoke when cold smoking or hot smoking up to 275˚F
- Automatically heats wood chips with the push of a button
- Continuous wood feed system provides up to 6 hours of continuous smoke without reloading
Pellet Grill
Fill the pellet hopper with your choice of smoking wood pellets.
Plug in the pellet grill and turn the temperature to 275°F (or 270°F or 280°F if your model, such as a Pit Boss, doesn't do increments of 5°F) .
Make sure you have the pellet grill set up for INDIRECT cooking.
Let the pellet grill run through its start up process.
When the pellet grill has come up to temperature, place your cast iron skillet filled with peach cobbler ingredients on the grill grates, preferably not directly over the fire pot to limit any risk of burning the bottom.
Turn and rotate the skillet as needed depending on how even the heating of your pellet grill is.
After an hour of smoking around 275°F, turn the temperature of your Traeger, Pit Boss, or other brand of pellet grill up to 350°F.
Let the smoked peach cobbler cook for another 30-40 minutes or until the top looks browned and the peaches showing through look caramelized.
Never used a pellet grill before? Read our Ultimate Guide to Pellet Grills to learn why they are so easy and how to set one up for success every time.
Gas or Charcoal Grill
On a gas or charcoal grill you will likely need to use a smoker box filled with wood chips, or a pellet tube smoker filled with wood pellets.
Think you need a fancy smoker to smoke food at home?
Think again.
Great smoked food can be made right on your current gas or charcoal grill.
Check out our Ultimate Guide to Smoking on a Gas Grill HERE.
If you are unfamiliar with these gas grill smoking devices mentioned above, no worries, we have you covered!
Read Everything You Need to Know about how to use Smoker Boxes here, and see a selection of our Favorite Pellet Tube Smokers here.
Or check out this handy comparison between smoker boxes and pellet tube smokers if you can't decide which is right for you.
In the case of smoked peach cobbler, we would opt for the pellet smoker tube since we need longer than the 30 minutes one batch of wood chips in a smoker box will last us.
This will save you the hassle of having to refill the smoker box multiple times while smoking the peach cobbler.
Set up your gas or charcoal grill for indirect cooking with the burners or a small amount of lit briquets on one side and plan for your peach cobbler to be on the other side.
Remember, we are smoking the peaches INDIRECTLY, like an oven, not DIRECTLY over the burners or coals.
If using a charcoal grill, just place a chunk of smoking wood on top of the lit briquettes once its time to cook.
If using a gas grill, before you turn on the gas grill burners, light up the end of your pellet smoker tube filled with pellets with a good butane torch (you can't use a regular lighter for pellets) and place it in the grill as well to add smoky flavor while the peaches cook.
Let the pellets ignite for about 5 minutes than blow out the flame and lay the pellet tube smoker down on the grates next to the peach cobbler and close the lid.
Continue bringing the temperature up to 275°F and smoke your cast iron skillet of peach cobbler ingredients for about 1 hour.
Then after an hour, stoke the charcoals and open the vents, or if using a gas grill, turn up the far burner and maybe a second one to bring the temperature up to 350°F.
After about 30-40 minutes, or once the top of the smoked peach cobbler is browed and the peaches look caramelized in the skillet, remove from the grill.
- ✅ This accessory is designed to WORK IN ANY GRILL (gas, electric or charcoal) and with any smokers. UP TO 5 HOURS SMOKING
Serving Suggestions
Carefully remove the hot cast iron skillet from the grill or smoker and place on a trivet to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.
Scoop out with a large spoon into bowls to make sure everyone gets some of the peaches and cobbler topping together.
Serve with some whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or both!
Smoked Peach Cobbler will be a dessert everyone if sure to talk about for a long while after your next party!
If you're looking for something simpler to do with the rest of your peaches, check out our Easy Smoked Peaches with Honey and Cinnamon.
And for another fun smoked dessert, make sure to try our smoked chocolate chip cookies!
📖 Recipe
Smoked Peach Cobbler
Equipment
- Smoker, Grill or Pellet Grill
- Wood for smoking (chunks, chips, or pellets).
- Large Pot
- Slotted Spoon
- Knife
- Cutting Board
- 2 Mixing Bowls and Spoons
- 12 Inch Cast Iron Skillet
- Heat Resistant Grilling Gloves
- Pastry Cutter optional
Ingredients
- Butter to grease Cast Iron Skillet
- 2 tablespoon Sugar to sprinkle on top before smoking
- Cinnamon optional to top at end
Cobbler Filling
- 4 Cups Peeled and Sliced Fresh Peaches about 8 fresh peaches
- ⅔ Cup Sugar
- 1 tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 3 tablespoon Flour
Cobbler Dough
- 1 Cup Flour
- 1 tablespoon Sugar
- ½ tablespoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 3 tablespoon Firm Butter cut into small pieces
- ½ Cup Milk
Instructions
- Preheat Grill or Smoker set up with INDIRECT heat to 275°F.
Prepare the Peaches
- Start a large pot of boiling water on the stove.
- Wash the peaches, then dip them in the boiling water for about 10-30 seconds with a slotted spoon.4 Cups Peeled and Sliced Fresh Peaches
- Remove them with the slotted spoon to a cutting board.
- Try to remove the skin from one of the peaches. If it does not come off easily, redip the peach for another 10-30 seconds in the boiling water.
- Repeat this process until the skin comes off easily from all of the peaches.
- Once the skin is removed, slice the peaches in half, remove the pits, and then cut the peaches into evenly sized slices.
Grease a Cast Iron Skillet
- Take the end of a stick of butter and rub it all around the inside of your clean, room temperature, cast iron skillet. Just enough to get a thin layer of butter on the cast iron.Butter
- This will help keep the peaches from sticking to the cast iron.
Make the Smoked Peach Cobbler Filling
- In a large mixing bowl, toss together the peeled and sliced peaches with the ⅔ cup of Sugar, 3 tablespoon Flour, Lemon juice, and Cinnamon. Mix well but be careful not to mash up the peaches.4 Cups Peeled and Sliced Fresh Peaches, ⅔ Cup Sugar, 1 tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice, ¼ teaspoon Ground Cinnamon, 3 tablespoon Flour
- Transfer the mixture into the buttered cast iron skillet and spread around to make an evenly distributed layer.
Make the Smoked Peach Cobbler Dough
- In another mixing bowl, whisk together the 1 cup flour, 1 tablespoon Sugar, Salt, and Baking Powder in a bowl.1 Cup Flour, 1 tablespoon Sugar, ½ teaspoon Salt, ½ tablespoon Baking Powder
- Then cut 3 tablespoon of Butter into very small pieces and cut it into the dry mixture with a pastry blender or two knives.3 tablespoon Firm Butter
- Pour the Milk over the mixture and gently stir until combined and dough-like.½ Cup Milk
- Spoon the dough mixture into about 6 evenly spaced mounds on top of the peaches in the cast iron skillet.
- Carefully flatten the dough around the fruit to make a "cobbled" pattern of dough and fruit.
- Do NOT completely cover the top of the peaches, you want about ⅓ of the peaches showing through. The dough will continue to spread as it cooks.
- Evenly sprinkle the top of the cobbler with another 2 tablespoon of sugar.2 tablespoon Sugar
Smoke the Peach Cobbler
- Place your smoking wood chunk on the hot charcoals if using a charcoal grill or pellet tube or smoker box if using a gas grill. If using a propane or electric smoker, fill the wood chip tray.
- Place the cast iron skillet in the grill or smoker, away from any DIRECT heat and close the lid. Smoke at 275°F for the first hour. Rotate the skillet as necessary for even cooking but DO NOT stir the contents of the skillet.
- After about 60 minutes, increase the temperature in the grill or smoker to 350°F, still with INDIRECT heat.
- Let the peach cobbler smoke for another 30-40 minutes at 350°F until the top has browned slightly and the peaches are bubbling and look caramelized on the edges. Watch to make sure no burning is occuring around the edges of the skillet.
Remove and Serve
- When the smoked peach cobbler is finished, carefully remove the hot cast iron skillet from the grill or smoker using heat resistant gloves.
- Let the skillet and cobbler cool slightly on a trivet for about 10-15 minutes to firm up a little, then scoop out individual servings and optionally top with cinnamon, serve with whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream!Cinnamon
Linda Davis says
Yummy! Thanks for sharing!