how To Use Wood Chips On A Gas Grill

Food-enthusiastic people’s dreams become a reality when they eat food grilled on the gas grill in their homes. People usually think they need a charcoal grill for smoky food, but it is false because a standard gas grill works well. Using wood chips while cooking food is excellent for a smoky flavor.

You can use smoking chips on the gas grill, but you need to do some tricks and buy some equipment. Do you know how to use wood chips on a gas grill? If you need to learn how to use them, then you should remember that. From this article, you can learn how to give a smoky taste to your food using wood chips while reducing the usage of wood.

Everything You Need To Know About Using Wood Chips On A Smoker

Do you have a gas grill? If you have but wish, you can add smokiness to your food. You can do that, and there is no need to buy a new grill. However, it is not only enough to throw wood chips at your grill as it may cause a fire hazard. 

First, you must soak them before using them on a gas grill. Then put them in a perfect vestibule, either in an aluminum pouch or a smoker box, and then place them on the grate. The wood chips work best on the gas grill having more than one grate. But you need to be careful in the case of a single grate. 

How To Use Wood Chips On A Gas Grill?

After making all the things ready, you need to follow the following steps: 

Soak Your Wood Chips

Create A Pouch for Smoker Tube

Set Up Your Grill

You are doing this process on the lower and upper racks. Make sure to place food on the upper rack and wood chips on the lower shelf. If your grill has one shelf, place the smoker box below but a little away from the fire.

Preheat Your Grill

Start your grill and permits it to preheat. It will take about 10-20 minutes, and then you will smoke from the end. 

Add Your Meats

How To Select Wood Chips For Gas Grill?

The central aspect of using the proper wood chips is selecting the type of wood chips you want. Various kind of woods brings a different flavor to food. When using a gas grill, choosing a suitable wood is essential because its flavor will be pronounced.

Light Smoke Flavor

If you are a beginner or smoking your food for the first time, consider using light-flavored wood such as apple, cherry, or alder. They will prove best for making fish, veggies, or chicken. 

Medium Smoke Flavor

Pecan and oak give medium-flavored smoke and can be used with moist food. They are best for cooking significant cuts of meat and pork. The reason is that they are hardwood and can bear severe climatic conditions. 

Heavy Smoke Flavor

For people who like mild-flavored smoke and want to cook beef or significant cuts of meat, mesquite and hickory are best. You can also mix different flavors to make a traditional flavor.

For example, mixing oak with the fruit flavor is relatively better. If you plan to grill turkey, use a mixture of pecan and orange wood, as they give a smoky taste to turkey. 

Best Wood Chips For Grilling

• Oak

Oak is a very famous wood and is used as a base flavor for both grilling and smoking by professional pitmasters. It gives a balanced taste. But its smoke intensity is less than hickory. 

The reason why oak is so popular is that it pairs well with all types of food. Oak wood can be used with fish, pork, red meat, beef, and lamb. But hickory and oak are not well known for adding more robust flavor. 

• Mesquite

Prosopis trees give mesquite wood, and its main features are that it burns fast and hot and offers a lot of smoke. The wood is oily, so it burns quicker and hot and gives an earthy aroma. Some people like to mix it with hickory or oak to add flavor.

In addition to being more potent than hickory, mesquite chips for gas grills are suitable for less flavorful meats such as thinner cuts of meat, fish, and lamb that can be cut up and served quickly.

• Hickory

The origin of hickory wood is the Carya tree, a popular wood for smoking. The hickory flavor is the same as oak but is a little sweet. People who like sweet-flavored ribs can use hickory wood chips and apple wood to add a layer of smokiness. Hickory is used mainly with pork and cheese and is also best for bbq sauces.

• Apple

Smoking meats with apple wood alone will not overpower or overpower them, but when combined with other timbers, especially ribs, applewood smoke will add a distinct sweet taste. 

Applewood is often mixed with hickory to give a sweet, smoky taste. Apple wood chips have a mild flavor and can smoke fish, bacon, ham, and chicken. Apple is the best wood for tackling the flavor of chicken and fish.

• Cherry 

Cherry wood also has a mild flavor and can prove best with any meat. As it is mild in flavor, it will not overpower the taste of sauce and meat. Cherry wood also works best with vegetables as it adds a distinct color and taste to your food. Cherry wood chips can also be best with pork ribs. 

• Peach

Fruity woods are used to highlight the flavors of vegetables and fruits. Peach wood is excellent for adding extra sweetness to meats because its smoke flavor does not overpower the more robust flavors such as oak or hickory. Pach wood carries a light and fruity taste. 

• Pecan

Pecan wood comes from Carya illinoinensis. Although pecan wood chips offer a stronger flavor than other wood chips, there is no reason to think they will overpower stronger wood, such as oak or hickory. Pecan pairs well with hickory and is best for beef and pork.

• Maple

Maple wood adds a light and sweet flavor to the meat. The natural sweetness of the maple hits the meat lightly and combines well with vegetables and barbecue sauces. It is perfect for meats like pork, poultry, and game. 

Wood Name	Flavor	Smoke Strenght	Uses
Mesquite	Smoky	Strong	Beef, pork, game, fish, seafood, water fowl, nuts
Oak	Smoky	Medium	Beef, pork
Hickory	Smoky	Medium	Beef chuck, pork butt, brisket, ribs
Cherry	Sweet	Mild	Poultry, pork, lamb, beef, duck, game
Maple	Sweet	Mild	Pork, poultry, duck, turkey, quail
Pecan	Nutty	Mild	Poultry, beef, pork, lamb, game
Apple	Fruity	Mild	Pork, poultry, beef, lamb, game
Peach	Fruity	Mild	Pork, poultry, turkey, cornish hens

Tips For Smoking Meat On Gas Grill

Cooking meat on a gas grill differs from a pellet smoker or grill. The reason is that you have only one pouch or smoker tube for producing smoke. The following steps will help you to learn how to smoke food on a gas grill:

Keep The Lid Closed

Keep the lid of your gas grill close as far as possible. Due to reduced smoke, you want to avoid letting it out into the environment rather than into your food.

Soak Your Wood Chips In A Liquid Other Than The Water

You are not required to soak wood chips in water. But you can also soak them in beer, wine, apple juice, and jack daniels to achieve the flavor you like. As you have to soak wood chips before every smoke, it’s the best time to soak them in any of the above liquids.

Start Small

Since you have a small amount of smoke, grill a steak or two until you figure out where your smoker box goes and how much you need to fill it. It is recommended to start with a cup or two. Two smoker boxes or foil pouches may be necessary if you notice no smoky flavor after filling the smoker box.

Add Wood Chips

Consider adding a few foil packets of wood chips every 30-40 minutes to your grill when using the aluminum foil packet method for meat that needs a long smoke time. Doing this allows you to keep the smoke going throughout the cooking process. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Words

If you have a gas grill, then it will not be a problem to use wood chips when you cook meat. Along with that, make sure to remember how to use wood chips on a gas grill in cold weather. Moreover, you can also make some modifications with your own experiment such as cutting the wood chip or wrapping them in aluminum foil. Now it is what I call innovation.