How to Use a Smoker Box on a Gas Grill (Setup, Wood and Temps)

Plenty of gas grill owners assume real smoke flavor needs a separate smoker. It doesn’t. A small metal box of smoldering wood chips, set over one burner with the lid closed, gives ribs, chicken, pork and fish a noticeable smoky flavor on the grill you already own.

Here’s how to use a smoker box on a gas grill in one paragraph. Fill the box with wood chips, set it directly over one burner (usually on the far side or at the back), and preheat the grill with everything on high for 10 to 15 minutes until smoke appears. Then turn off the burners under where the food will go, turn the smoker box burner down to medium or low, put the food on the unlit side and close the lid. Add more chips when the smoke fades.

The rest of this guide is the detail behind each of those steps, plus the one question everybody argues about: whether to soak the chips.

What a Smoker Box Actually Does

A gas flame by itself burns clean. It doesn’t produce the wood smoke that gives barbecue its flavor. A smoker box holds wood chips close to a burner so they heat up and smolder instead of catching fire. The holes or slots in the lid let smoke out while limiting the oxygen that would turn the chips into flames.

Gas grills aren’t airtight, so some smoke always escapes. That’s why a smoker box on a gas grill gives a lighter smoke flavor than a dedicated smoker like the ones in our guides to propane smokers and offset smokers for beginners. For most weeknight ribs, chicken and salmon, though, it’s plenty.

Types of smoker boxes

Type	Where it goes	Good for	Trade-offs
Stainless steel box with vented lid	On the grate or on the flame tamers	Most gas grills; easy to refill	Thin boxes heat fast and can burn through chips quickly
Cast iron box	On the grate or flame tamers	Holding steady heat, slower smolder	Heavy, slower to start smoking, needs rust care
V-shaped box	Between flame tamer bars, under the grate	Grills with room below the grate; frees up grate space	Must match your grill’s bar spacing
Tube or pellet smoker	On the grate	Pellets; long, steady smoke	Needs lighting with a torch on many models
Built-in smoker drawer	Its own dedicated burner	Easy control with a separate knob	Only on certain higher-end grills
DIY foil pouch or foil pan	On the flame tamers over a burner	Trying it out for almost no cost	Can’t refill; single use

A popular all-rounder is the Weber Universal Stainless Steel Smoker Box, which fits on the grate of most gas grills. For more options by style and size, see our roundup of the best smoker boxes for gas grills.

The Soaking Question

Old grilling advice says to soak chips for at least 30 minutes. A lot of current advice says don’t bother. Both camps are worth hearing.

The case for dry chips. Meathead Goldwyn at AmazingRibs weighed wood before and after soaking. Chunks soaked for 12 hours gained about 3 percent in weight, and chips about 6 percent. When he cut soaked wood open after 24 hours in dyed water, most of the inside was still dry. The water mostly sits on the surface, and until it evaporates the wood can’t get hotter than 212°F, so wet chips delay real smoke. That thick white cloud you see from wet chips is largely steam. BBQGuys agrees and says it never soaks chips.

The case for soaking. Weber’s gas grill smoking guide says chips should soak for at least 30 minutes, or they’re likely to catch fire and give you more flame than smoke. Its three-method guide suggests about 20 minutes for chips in a smoker box. On a thin box sitting over a hot burner, dry chips can flare.

What to do with this. Start with dry chips and a lid that fits well. If your chips burst into flame or burn up in a few minutes, try soaking the next batch, or mix half soaked and half dry so some smoke starts right away and the rest lasts longer. The one clear exception is cedar or other wood planks, which even AmazingRibs says should be soaked to stop them flaming. Weber recommends soaking planks for at least an hour.

How to Use a Smoker Box on a Gas Grill, Step by Step

This method works on a three- or four-burner grill. Two-burner setups are covered further down.

1. Clean the grates and empty the grease tray. Old grease can flare during a longer cook. If you don’t have a good grill brush and tongs yet, our list of small-space grilling accessories you actually need covers the basics.
2. Fill the smoker box. Spread chips in an even layer across the bottom, as Weber suggests. Char-Broil’s foil pouch method uses about three handfuls of chips, which is a reasonable starting amount for a standard box. Don’t pack it so tight that air can’t move.
3. Place the box over a burner you’ll keep lit. On most grills that’s the far left or far right burner, or at the back of the grill. Weber recommends setting a foil pan of chips on the Flavorizer bars towards the back, preferably over one burner, and placing a purchased smoker box on the cooking grate. BBQGuys suggests on or between the flame tamers, near the far left or right burner. Follow your box’s instructions if it has them.
4. Preheat on high with the lid closed. Weber says to preheat with all the burners on high for 10 to 15 minutes. This heats the grill and gets the chips going.
5. Wait for smoke. You want steady smoke drifting out of the back of the grill. BBQGuys says to wait for thin, bluish smoke before adding food. Weber notes that chips in a box on the grate usually start to smolder within about 20 minutes.
6. Set up two zones. Turn off the burners on the side where the food will go. Turn the burner under the smoker box down to medium or low so the wood smolders slowly, as Weber advises. Char-Broil describes the same idea: leave one side completely off and run the other at medium.
7. Put the food on the unlit side. Arrange it over the burners that are off. Weber notes that placing food closer to the smoker box gives more smoke flavor.
8. Close the lid and keep it closed. Smoke only does its job if it stays inside. Every time you open the lid, you lose smoke and heat.
9. Refill when the smoke fades. Open the lid, add a handful of chips with long tongs and heat-resistant gloves, and close it again. Char-Broil suggests replacing the wood roughly every 60 minutes for larger cuts. A DIY foil pan can’t be refilled, as Weber points out, so make a fresh one.
10. Cook to temperature, not to time. Use a probe thermometer in the thickest part of the meat. Smoke doesn’t make meat safe; heat does.

Good gloves matter here, because you’re reaching into a hot grill to open a box that’s been sitting over a flame. Our guide to heat-resistant gloves covers what to look for, and a sturdy set of metal spatulas and tongs helps with the lid and the chips.

Setups for Different Grill Sizes

The main idea never changes: smoke on one side, food on the other. How you split the burners depends on how many you have.

Grill	Smoker box goes	Burners on	Food goes	Best for
2 burners	Over the left or right burner	One burner, medium to low	Other half of the grate	Chicken pieces, sausages, half rack of ribs, salmon
3 burners	Over one outside burner	That burner only, or plus the middle on low if you need more heat	Far side	Whole chicken, ribs, pork tenderloin
4 or more burners	Over one outside burner	One or two burners on one side	Opposite side	Pork shoulder, multiple racks, brisket flat
Grill with smoker burner	In the built-in drawer	Smoker burner, plus main burners as needed	Center of the grate	Anything; Weber says to use only the smoker burner for temperatures below 250°F

On a small grill, temperatures swing more, and a two-burner grill with one side lit may run hotter than you want. If you’re buying a new grill with smoking in mind, look at how far apart the burners are and whether each has its own knob. Our guides to the best gas grills under $500 and gas and charcoal grill combos cover models that make two-zone cooking easier. Infrared grills run very hot and aren’t always easy to turn low, so check the specs before planning long smokes on one.

Which Wood Goes With What

Wood choice changes the flavor more than any other variable. Char-Broil sorts common smoking woods into three rough groups:

Wood	Strength	Classic pairings
Alder	Light	Salmon and other fish
Apple, cherry and other fruit woods	Light, slightly sweet	Chicken, pork, fish
Pecan	Light	Chicken, fish
Oak	Medium	Pork shoulder, ribs
Hickory	Medium, bold	Pork shoulder, ribs
Mesquite	Strongest	Beef brisket, in small amounts

Char-Broil also suggests mixing woods, such as hickory with apple, to make your own blend. Start with a light wood for your first few cooks. It’s easier to add more smoke next time than to rescue food that tastes like an ashtray.

A few rules for any wood: buy chips sold for smoking, skip softwoods like pine, and never use treated, painted or stained lumber. Scraps from a building project are not smoking wood.

What Temperature Should the Grill Be?

Low and slow is the traditional range for smoking, and many pitmasters aim for roughly 225 to 275°F for ribs and pork shoulder. Getting a gas grill that low with one burner on is possible on some models and hard on others. If your grill won’t go below 300°F even on one burner at the lowest setting, that’s fine for chicken, sausages, pork tenderloin and fish, which don’t need a long cook anyway.

Lid thermometers can be off, and they measure the air near the top of the lid, not at the grate where the food is. A thermometer probe clipped to the grate near the food gives a truer reading.

Safe internal temperatures

Whatever the grill temperature, the meat is done when it reaches a safe internal temperature. These are the USDA minimums published on FoodSafety.gov:

Food	Minimum internal temperature
Beef, pork, veal and lamb steaks, chops and roasts	145°F, then rest for 3 minutes
Ground meats and sausages (beef, pork, lamb)	160°F
Chicken and turkey, whole or pieces	165°F
Fish and shellfish	145°F

Smoked meat often shows a pink ring just under the surface. That’s a normal reaction with the smoke, not a sign of undercooking. Go by the thermometer. Our guide to the best meat thermometers for smoking covers probe models that stay in the meat with the lid closed, and here’s how to clean a meat thermometer between cooks so you don’t carry raw juices into cooked food.

What to Smoke First

If this is your first time using a smoker box, start with something forgiving and fairly quick.

• Chicken thighs or drumsticks. Hard to dry out, and they take smoke well. Leftovers keep in the fridge for a few days; see how long chicken lasts in the fridge, and the same reheating tricks in our guide to reheating chicken wings work on smoked pieces. If you’re working out portions, here’s how much a chicken breast weighs.
• Sausages. Already fatty and flavorful, and they only need to reach 160°F. If the weather turns, you can finish them indoors; our guide to cooking sausages in the oven has times.
• Salmon. Pair it with alder or a fruit wood and cook it on the unlit side until it flakes. If you portion whole fish yourself, an electric fillet knife makes even fillets that cook at the same rate.
• Vegetables. Char-Broil notes that high-moisture vegetables such as tomatoes and onions take on smoke well. Put them in a tray to keep their juices.

Save pork shoulder and brisket for when you’re comfortable holding a steady temperature for several hours. Those big cuts leave a lot of leftovers, so portion them into airtight food storage containers, or learn how to use a vacuum sealer if you want to freeze smoked meat without it drying out.

Why Isn’t My Smoker Box Smoking?

This is the most common complaint, and it usually comes down to heat.

• The burner under the box is too low or off. Chips need direct heat to start smoldering. Preheat on high and wait for smoke before you turn it down.
• The chips are soaked. Wet chips steam first and smoke later. Try dry chips or a half-and-half mix.
• The box is too far from the flame. A box on the grate over a gap between flame tamers may not get hot enough. Move it directly above a burner or set it down on the tamers if your grill has room.
• The chips are already spent. Gray ash means they’re done. Refill.

Why Are My Chips Catching Fire?

The opposite problem. Flames mean too much heat and too much air.

• Turn the smoker box burner down once smoke is flowing.
• Check that the box lid is closed and that the vents aren’t bigger than they need to be.
• Soak half of the next batch, as Weber recommends, to slow them down.
• Use a thicker box. Cast iron heats more slowly than thin stainless.

Flaming chips add a bitter, sooty flavor. If they flare, close the grill lid to cut the air and let them settle.

Why Does My Food Taste Bitter?

Too much smoke, or dirty smoke. Thick white or gray smoke that billows out usually means the wood is smoldering poorly or catching fire. You want thin, pale blue smoke, the kind BBQGuys tells you to wait for before the food goes on. Use less wood, avoid mesquite until you know how strong it is, and don’t leave a pile of old ash in the box from the last cook.

Cleaning the Smoker Box

Let the box cool completely before you touch it. Tip the ash into a metal container, not a plastic bin or a paper bag, since ash can hold heat for a long time. Scrape out any stuck bits with a grill brush, and wash the box with hot soapy water if it’s greasy. Dry it fully, especially a cast iron box, which will rust if it’s put away wet.

Some residue and discoloration on stainless is normal and doesn’t affect how it works.

Smoking on a Balcony or Small Patio

A smoker box produces more smoke than regular grilling, and it keeps producing it for longer. That matters if you live in an apartment or condo with neighbors close by.

Before you smoke, check your lease, HOA rules and local fire code. Many buildings restrict or ban propane grills on balconies, as explained in our guide to balcony grilling safety tips and rules. If your space allows it, keep the grill well away from walls, railings and anything that can burn, and never use a gas grill under a covered overhang or indoors. Where open flames are banned outright, an indoor electric grill is the fallback, and our Gotham Steel smokeless grill review explains how much of the char you actually get.

For a small outdoor space, a compact grill with two burners is enough for smoker box cooking. Our guides to the best small grills for balconies and patios and the best portable grills for apartment living list models that fit. If you’re arranging a new setup, our walkthrough on how to set up a small patio for grilling covers clearances and layout.

Where to Go From Here

If you find yourself filling the smoker box every weekend and wishing you could hold 225°F for six hours without babysitting a burner, that’s the point to look at a dedicated smoker. An electric smoker is the easiest step up; our guides on how to use an electric smoker and how to use a Masterbuilt electric smoker show what that routine looks like. Until then, a handful of apple chips and a closed lid will get you most of the way.

Related Guides

• 8 Best Smoker Boxes for Gas Grills
• 9 Best Meat Thermometers for Smoking
• 8 Best Gas Grills Under $500
• 7 Best Propane Smokers
• How to Use an Electric Smoker
• Balcony Grilling Safety Tips and Rules
• Small-Space Grilling Accessories You Actually Need

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you soak wood chips before putting them in a smoker box?

You don't have to, and many barbecue sources now say not to. AmazingRibs found that chips soaked for 12 hours gained only about 6 percent in weight, and that the white cloud from wet chips is mostly steam. BBQGuys also skips soaking. Weber still suggests soaking for 20 to 30 minutes so chips smolder instead of flaming. Try dry chips first; if they flare up, soak the next batch.

Where do you put a smoker box on a gas grill?

Put it directly over a burner you'll keep lit, usually one at the far left or right, or at the back of the grill. Weber suggests setting a foil pan of chips on the Flavorizer bars towards the back, and placing a purchased smoker box on the cooking grate. The food then goes over the unlit burners on the other side, so it cooks with indirect heat while smoke circulates.

How long do wood chips last in a smoker box?

It varies with the grill, the burner setting and the size of the chips, so watch the smoke rather than a clock. Weber says chips in a smoker box on the grate should start smoldering in about 20 minutes. Char-Broil suggests replacing the smoking wood roughly every 60 minutes for larger cuts. When the smoke thins and the chips have turned to gray ash, it's time to add more.

Can you use wood chunks or pellets in a smoker box?

Pellets work in most smoker boxes and are especially suited to tube-style smokers. Small wood chunks can fit in larger boxes, and BBQGuys notes that splitting chunks into smaller pieces helps them burn faster. Chips remain the most common choice because they catch quickly over a gas burner. Whatever you use, pick food-grade smoking wood and never use treated lumber, painted wood or softwoods like pine.

Can you smoke on a two-burner gas grill?

Yes. Light one burner and put the smoker box over it, then place the food on the other side with that burner off. The space is smaller, so choose cuts that fit on half the grate, such as a rack of ribs cut in half, chicken pieces, sausages or a salmon fillet. Expect temperatures to swing more than on a larger grill, and check them often.