The full guide
Read straight through, or dip into the sections that matter for your next smoking session.
The easiest way to smoke food without a smoker is on a barbecue with a lid, gas or charcoal. Put a small handful of coarse wood chips in a smoker box over the heat, cook the food on the cooler side, and keep the lid down. We would not improvise indoors, because a home oven or a wok was not made for smouldering wood. Here is how to do it outdoors, what to smoke first, and what to do if you have no outdoor space.
Smoking kit to help at home
Home smoking essentials that make the advice easier to put into practice.
All you need to get started
How to smoke food on a gas barbecue
Step 1: fill a smoker box loosely with one handful of dry coarse chips. There is usually no need to soak them, and dry chips start more predictably.
Step 2: light the burner on one side only and put the box directly above it, under the cooking grate if your barbecue allows or on top of the grate. Close the lid and wait for a thin stream of smoke.
Step 3: put the food on the side with the burner turned off. This gives you indirect heat, so the food cooks gently rather than scorching.
Step 4: close the lid and leave it alone. Every time you lift the lid, you let out the smoke. Add another small handful of chips only when the first lot has stopped smoking.
Step 5: check the food is cooked. Use a clean food thermometer in the centre: the Food Standards Agency gives 70°C for 2 minutes, or an equivalent such as 75°C for 30 seconds. The time on the clock and the temperature on the lid are not substitutes for this.
How to smoke food on a charcoal barbecue
Bank a small, steady fire on one side of the barbecue and leave the other side empty. Put the smoker box on or just above the hot coals, or sprinkle a small handful of coarse chips straight on to the charcoal. Put the food on the empty side and close the lid, with the vent in the lid over the food so the smoke is drawn across it before it leaves.
Keep the vents open enough for the fire to burn cleanly. You are looking for a thin, almost blue stream of smoke. Thick white clouds usually mean too much wood or too little air, and they make food taste bitter. Our smoker box guide has more on placement, and smoking problems and fixes will help if the flavour is not right.
No smoker box? Use a foil parcel
A smoker box is cheap and lasts for years, but a foil parcel works for your first try. Put a small handful of coarse chips on a double layer of heavy foil, fold it into a flat parcel, pierce a few holes in the top and put it over the heat in the same place you would put the box. Move it with tongs, because it will be very hot. When you get tired of making parcels, the BBQ Smoker Box Gift Set comes with oak and cherry chips, enough for two smokes of each.
What to smoke first
Start with something that cooks fairly quickly and takes on smoke well: chicken thighs, sausages, salmon or mackerel fillets, mushrooms or a whole head of garlic. Apple and cherry are gentle with fish and poultry, oak is a good middle ground for most things, and hickory is strong and best with pork. The BBQ Wood Chip Variety Pack gives you six woods to compare, and our beginner's list of foods to smoke has plenty more ideas.
How to smoke mackerel without a smoker
Mackerel is the perfect first fish, because its oils take on smoke beautifully and it cooks quickly. Gut and fillet the fish, or ask your fishmonger to. Salt the fillets lightly on both sides, leave them in the fridge for 20 minutes, then pat them completely dry, because dry fish takes smoke and wet fish steams.
Lay the fillets skin side down on the cool side of the barbecue, on an oiled rack or a piece of foil, with oak or apple chips over the heat and the lid closed. Fillets usually take 15 to 25 minutes, depending on the barbecue. They are ready when the flesh is opaque, flakes easily and reaches the temperature above in the thickest part. Eat them warm with lemon, or chill them for our smoked mackerel recipes. If you later want more control, a hot smoking kit is the next step, and our hot-smoked mackerel recipe uses one.
Can you smoke food in a normal oven?
We do not recommend it. Wood chips need strong, direct heat to smoulder, and a home oven is not designed for that. Smouldering wood in an oven can fill the kitchen with smoke, set off your alarms, leave a smell that is hard to shift and create a fire risk. Our rule is simple: use equipment indoors only if its manufacturer explicitly permits that use.
There is a better way to use your oven. Give the food its smoke outside on the barbecue, then bring it in and finish cooking it in the oven, where the heat is easier to control. This works very well on a cold day for a chicken or a joint. Check the centre with a thermometer in the same way before serving.
What about a wok or the hob?
You will see recipes for smoking in a foil-lined wok. We do not suggest them, because the result depends on a tight lid and a very good extractor fan, and a hot pan with smouldering wood in it needs close attention. If you really want to smoke indoors, buy a stovetop smoker whose maker says it is made for use on a hob, and follow its instructions on heat and ventilation. Fine wood chips are the right grade for those. Keep your extractor on and be ready for the smell to linger.
No outdoor space?
Never use a barbecue or charcoal indoors, in a garage, in a shed or in a tent, because of the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, even after the coals have stopped glowing. If you have nowhere safe to smoke, you can still get a smoky flavour from smoked salt, smoked paprika or good smoked fish and cheese from the shop. Our smoked mackerel recipes are a good place to start. If a friend has a garden, our guide to homemade smoked food gifts gives you an excuse to borrow it for an afternoon.
Ready for more?
A barbecue will take you a long way. If you get hooked, our guide to food smoking equipment compares the next steps, including a cold smoke generator that works inside a lidded barbecue. Once you know which wood you like, you can move up to a bigger bag of coarse chips, and everything is in one place in food smoking.
