Smoky and flavorful meat prepared at home on your gas grill is a foodie’s dream come true. To achieve a smoky flavor, do you need a charcoal grill? No, you do not need to buy a charcoal grill because a gas grill will do just fine.
You will need to buy wood chips and use them with your gas grill while cooking meat to give it a smoky taste. Do you know how to use wood chips on a gas grill? If you have never used wood chips on a gas grill, you should learn the proper way to use them.
How to Use Wood Chips on a Gas Grill for More Flavor
Once you perfect your wood chip using skills, you will find yourself craving that mouthwatering smoky flavor the entire summer.
For this reason, it is essential that you learn the proper method to use wood chips on a gas grill. You can use this guide for useful tips on using wood chips on a gas grill.
Select a Wood Chip Flavor
The wood chips you select to use on your gas grill depends on the type of meat you are preparing and smoking. Some of the go-to wood chips include hickory, oak, apple, mesquite, or cherry. Cherry and apple wood chips taste sweeter and lighter, thus making them perfect for smoking chicken, vegetables, and fish.
Hickory and mesquite have a strong smoky flavor, thus making them perfect for pork and beef. If you do not know the type of wood chips to use on your gas grill, oak is a safe choice. If you are cooking a certain type of meat, you can look up different types of wood chips that will complement the meat you are preparing and grilling to avoid using the wrong kind of wood chips with it.
Soak the Wood Chips in Water
You need to soak the wood chips in water for one hour and if possible, two hours. You cannot put the wood chips on the gas grill without performing this step. What happens if you do not soak the wood chips beforehand?
If you do not soak the wood chips beforehand, they will burn up when you add them on the gas grill. After you have soaked the wood chips, take a disposable aluminum tray and add soaked wood chips to it. If you do not have an aluminum tray, you can create one using layers of aluminum foil.
Will you be smoking your meat for more than an hour? If you said yes, use aluminum foil to create an aluminum pouch and poke a few holes on top of it. The smoke will release from the holes while you grill the meat. If you are using a tray, cover the tray with aluminum foil and create a few holes in it.
Time to Smoke
On the left side of your gas grill, there is a grill grate, which you need to remove. Once removed, line the tray with aluminum foil or create a pouch using aluminum foil, placing it right over the burner. Next, preheat the gas grill by turning its burners on high heat.
Close the lid of the gas grill and leave it closed for around 15 to 20 minutes. You will begin to see smoke emitting from the gas grill along with the familiar smoky smell. Open the lid of the gas grill and turn off all the burners except the burner heating the wood chips.
The food should be kept away from the smoke and heat, so place the meat and vegetables on the other side of the gas grill. If you place the meat and vegetables over the wood chips, your food will not taste good. Since you are using indirect heat for grilling your food, the smoke will infuse into your meat and vegetables.
If you are grilling chicken, steaks, and vegetables, smoke the food and then increase the heat, putting it on high and sear them. In doing so, you will manage to have a contrast in texture and smoky flavor.
How to Smoke Wood Chips in a Smoker Box
Does your gas grill have a built-in smoker box? If your gas grill did not come with a smoker box, you will need to buy one, but it is not necessary because you can even create your own aluminum smoker bag. Before you learn how to create your own aluminum smoker bag, you need to know how to use a smoker box.
A smoker box is made of metal, which conducts heat for the wood chips to create smoke. The base of the smoker box does not have any holes. This prevents the wood chips from burning. The upper part of the smoker box has holes. Smoke emits through those holes, which in return, enhances the flavor of the meat. You can open the smoker box to remove the burned wood chips and replace them with new wood chips, if needed.
Add your favorite wood chips to the smoker box and allow them to smolder. You can place the smoker box on top of the burners. You can also place the smoker box directly on the grates of the gas grill.
How to Create an Aluminum Smoker Bag to Smoke Wood Chips
Create a small packet of wood chips by using aluminum foil. Make a few holes in the foil to let the air and smoke out of it. You can use a fork to puncture the aluminum foil.
Apart from these two methods, another method to smoke the meat is to use a smoker tube.
How to Use a Smoker Tube
Fill the smoker tube with wood chips, but after you have soaked them in your choice of liquid. You need to place the wood chips in the smoker tube and then place it in cold water for at least 30 minutes before using it with your gas grill.
Place the smoker tube on top of the grate of your gas grill. Place your meat on the grill and light up the smoker tube. The meat will absorb the smoke emitting from the smoker tube. Keep the lid closed during the smoking process.
Tips on How to Smoke Meat Like a Pro
Whether you place the wood chips in a smoker box, or you add them to an aluminum smoker bag, the following tips on how to smoke your meat using wood chips on a gas grill applies to both methods:
- Soak your wooden chips in water, beer, apple juice, apple cider vinegar, or some other liquid for 20 minutes before you grill your meat. This will help them smolder better.
- Do not open the lid of the gas grill,but keep it closed. Each time you open the lid of the gas grill, heat and smoke will escape from it.
- Combine different wood chips together to create a unique flavor,such apple wood chips with hickory wood chips. You can also experiment with several types of wood chips to determine the combination you like best. You will need to read up a little on the different types of wood chips available, their aroma, the type of meat they are used with, the combination of wood chips that go well together, and then from there, create your own combinations.
- If you want a long smoke, add a packet of wood chips to the gas grill every 30 minutes to maintain the smoky flavor of the meat.
- You can place two to three handfuls of wood chips on top of the gas grill for direct heating for one hour.
- You do not want to use a lot of wood chips to smoke your meat. You should use half a cup of wood chips or one small chunk of hardwood the first time you smoke your meat on a gas grill. If you think the meat could have been smokier if you had added more wood chips to it, you can add a few more the next time you grill meat.
- For the next barbecue, you can prepare the wood chips to smoke the meat in advance. You can soak wood chips in your preferred liquid and then put them in a resealable plastic bag and put them in a freezer.
Our Final Thoughts
If you want to smoke your meat on your gas grill, use the information here to create delicious and mouthwatering smoked meat. You can use any one of the smoking methods mentioned here or try them all to select the one that works best for you or one that adds the smokiest flavor to the meat.
