Using wood chips on a gas grill will give your food a smoky flavor that will make it taste even better. Buying a charcoal grill is not always necessary when you want to smoke your food. You can do it with your gas grill too. You need wood chips for the occasion. Well, it can be a difficult process to do so if you are someone who is doing it for the first time. We are here to help you with the process of how to use wood chips on a gas grill? Take a look.
Select A Wood Chip Flavor
You must think we are crazy when we ask you to choose a wood chip flavor. However, this is a requirement. There are many flavors of wood chips, and you should pick the one you want to taste in your food. The most common ones are hickory, oak, apple, mesquite, or cherry. It depends a lot on the type of meat you are cooking too.
Cherry and apple flavor wood are very light and sweet, leaving a mild flavor to the good food. It is perfect for pairing with chicken and vegetables. Hickory and Mesquite have a strong flavor, so you should use them on beef or pork. If you do not know what to cook, go for oak. It is like a neutral safe choice. It is also important to note which wood flavor goes well with which meat. There has been much research to find out the perfect pair combination.
Soak Your Wood Chips
This is a very important part of the process. It will help if you soak your wood chips. If you do not soak your wood chips, they will burn when you put them on the gas grill. It is better to soak them properly for an hour and if you can, then leave them for two hours. Then take an aluminum tray and add the soaked wood chips to it. If you are going to smoke the meat for more than an hour, cover the tray with aluminum foil and poke some holes.
Get to Smoking
The grill grate on the left side of your gas grill needs to be taken out. Then it would help if you lined the aluminum tray with the grill grates. Make sure to place it right over the burner. It would help if you preheated your grill by turning the flame high.
Please turn off the lid of the gas grill and leave it for around 15 to 20 minutes. Then open the grill, and you will find that smoky flavor in the air. Turn off all the burners except the one below the aluminum tray. The next thing you need to do is add the food.
Place the food on the other side of the grill. It would be best if you placed it far away because this is an indirect heat method of cooking. If you place the food on top of the wood chips, it will not taste good. Smoking takes time, so you must be patient to allow the flavorful smoke to infuse with the meat.
Turning the grill's temperature high to sear the meat when you are almost done with the smoking process is better. This will allow you to get a combination of texture and flavor. That concludes the smoking on a gas grill. Now you know how to use wood chips on a gas grill to get that perfect smoky flavor in the meat of your choice.
Tips and Tricks
If you are smoking for the first time, these tips and tricks might help you along the way. Please take a look at them and keep them in mind. They will help you get that perfect smoky flavor every time.
- You need to soak your wood chips in water, beer, apple juice, and apple cider vinegar for an hour before you start the cooking process so that they will smoke better. Yes, you can soak the wood chips in other liquids.
- Do not keep opening the grill's lid to see how things are. Only do it when necessary. When you open the top, you let precious flavorful smoke escape. This is not going to be good for the flavor of food.
- If smoking for a long time, you must add wood chips every 30 minutes. It is to make sure that you get that consistent smoky flavor. No one wants half-smoker meat.
- Do not use a lot of wood chips to smoke your good food. It does not mean you will get better flavor when using tons of wood chips. Try to use an adequate amount.
- Prepare the wood chips in advance for the next barbecue. Soak your food chips in your preferred liquid, then store them in reusable bags and store them for future use. It is easy to store and have in your hands when you want a new barbecue.
- You can mix the different wood chips for a delightful flavor. You can experiment with the wood chips to get a flavor of your liking. This is a cool way of coming up with random combinations that can come in handy at certain times.
Conclusion
We hope that this article has been useful for you. It is an excellent way to smoke your food without using a charcoal grill. You can get good smoky flavor using a gas grill too. All you need to do is go on ahead and follow the instructions that we have provided in this article. Do make sure to take care of yourself during the process. Let's hope that there are no uncertain accidents. Take care of your guys. Have a good day, and happy smoking!