Best BBQ smoker 2021 | The Sun UK

What is the best BBQ smoker to buy?

There’s a lot of debate about the best BBQ smoker to buy but a lot of it comes down to preference, including how many people you normally cook for, and the style of barbecue you want to make.

We’ve rounded up some of the most popular options you can buy online.

1. Char-Broil The Big Easy smoker, roaster and grill

1. (AD) Char-Broil The Big Easy, £284.96 from Amazon – buy here

This versatile, gas-powered machine from Char-Broil will let you smoke, roast and grill a range of different foods.

It features a grill top that you can use for regular barbecuing and a deep chamber with basket that you can use for roasting.

To smoke, simply add your wood chips to the dedicated smoke basket and pull the lid down.

2. Kamado Joe Jr portable charcoal grill

1. (AD) Kamado Joe Jr portable charcoal grill, £408 from Amazon – buy here

For smaller outdoor spaces, this Kamado Joe Jr is ideal.

It weighs just 68lbs (31kg) – a snip compared to some of the bigger models – but has plenty of space for grilling.

The air-tight seal means that once you put the lid down (and open the vent), it turns into a highly efficient smoker.

3. Traeger Pro D2 575 WiFi connected wood pellet BBQ

• Traeger Pro wood pellet BBQ, £899 from John Lewis – buy here

The Traeger Pro D2 is a serious bit of kit and when it comes to smoking, it practically does the job for you.

While it’s heated using wood pellets, which gives the naturally smoky flavour, you’ll need to plug it into the mains to enable WiFi – but then you can control the whole process through your phone.

You can also use it as a regular barbecue, although you do need to stand over the grill for that bit.

4. Landmann Kentucky charcoal smoker BBQ

• Landmann Kentucky smoker BBQ, £249.99 from Robert Dyas – buy here

You’ll need a fair bit of space for this offset charcoal smoker but it’s a great option if you regularly cook for large numbers of people.

For smoking, you just stack the fuel chamber to the side with coal and wood chips and let the chimney pull the smoke through when the lid is down.

To use it as a regular barbecue grill, fill the main chamber with coals instead.

5. Bar-Be-Quick charcoal smoker and grill

• Bar-Be-Quick charcoal smoker and grill, £70 from Argos – buy here

This budget-friendly barbecue smoker is incredibly versatile as it will roast, grill and smoke food in one.

It features two grill tops, one of which can be removed to create a smaller portable barbecue so you can take with you on camping trips.

There’s also a door at the base so you can easily add fuel during use.

What is a smoker BBQ?

A smoker BBQ is basically a device that uses indirect heat to cook your food slowly and over a long period of time so your food starts to take on those distinctive wood smoke flavours.

Some smokers use wooden logs for this but others use charcoal – you simply add wood chips for that smoky flavour.

You always cook with the lid down and there are air vents that let you adjust the temperature.

There are a few different styles of BBQ smokers. Some are designed specifically for smoking, which means you won’t be able to grill your food in the usual way, but others will let you do both.

How a smoker BBQ works

There are several different types of BBQ smokers you can get for home use and they all have a few key components: a well-fitted lid, air vents, grill(s) for the food in a smoke chamber, and a fuel chamber.

Bullet-style BBQ smokers tend to be the most popular, because they don’t take up much room and are ideal for smaller quantities of food.

They’re tall, column-style smokers with a coal tray at the bottom, water pan above it (to keep the meat juicy), grills on top of that and then the lid.

Because of the set up, it’s great for smoking but isn’t always best suited for grilling.

Kamado-style smokers are similar – they’re egg-shaped rather than bullet – but they have ceramic plates lining the inside, which means they keep the heat in much better.

They’re much more versatile as you can smoke, roast and grill with these and they’re very fuel efficient thanks to the extra insulation.

The downside is that they also tend to be much more expensive and very heavy.

Finally there's the offset barrel smoker, which is for real barbecue enthusiasts who have a lot of outdoor space.

The set up is horizontal rather than vertical, and there’s usually a chimney as well to bring the smoke through from the fuel chamber to the smoke chamber.

These are great if you are cooking for a large number of people but will be fairly wasteful if you only want to make a small amount of food.

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