What makes a wood chip for smoking different from the several brands in the market? Is it the duration it burns, size, versatility, materials or the quality of the smoke it produces? Some people obsess over the question. What are the best wood chips for smoking that I can purchase today to make my poultry, fish, pork or vegetables taste yummy? The truth is, the answer depends on several factors. Beginning cooks have different needs from seasoned cooks. Some may prefer wood chips that produce little amounts of smoke or vice versa.
Our team selected the 8 best wood chips for smoking. We based our selection on the type of wood chips and package weight. Type of chips like hickory delivers clean burns. Experts recommend hickory wood chips for smoking ribs, cheese, and pork. Mesquite is another awesome wood chip from the Prosopis tree. It burns fast, and you can mix it with oak, pecan, and hickory. Based on these, the Western Premium BBQ Products BBQ Smoking Chips is our favorite.
Other features: 4 pack, 100% Natural Raw Wood made in the USA, includes reusable smoker tray; can be used with charcoal, gas grills or electric smokers
Western Premium BBQ Products BBQ Smoking Chips is a versatile product that can be used with charcoal, electric smokers and gas grills. You can pick your preferred flavors from Maple, Peach, Apple, and Cherry and use it separately or mix the woods to create a unique flavor.
These chips last longer. They are effective for non-electric smokers. The most efficient way to use Western Premium BBQ Products BBQ Smoking Chips is to soak them in water before placing them on hot coals using a foil tray. It makes the wood chips smoke rather than burning up.
You will get great results if you place your chips in a foil pouch or smoker tray. Experts say its sweet, smoky nature blends with cooking game birds, poultry and vegetables. It’s also the go-to wood chips for cooks seeking to add a red tone to their meats.
Several beginners and seasoned cooks use Western Premium BBQ Products BBQ Smoking Chips for cooking seafood, chicken, and steaks. One user says the maple works great on pork.
Some users mention that though the chips are large, they smoke well and smell nice. Other customers claim these chips are uniform in size.
Your chips can last for a whole year if you often smoke 2 to 3 times a month. WESTERN reminds buyers that these are wood chips, so you don’t need a protection plan.
Other features: 120 bisquettes, 40 total hours of smoke
Bradley Smoker Special Blend Bisquettes is made from softwood and hardwoods. Its packets come with 120 bisquettes which is equivalent to 40 hours of smoke. One bisquette burns once every 20 minutes.
The flavor of the smoke it produces depends on whether you burn alder, apple, mesquite, tan, hickory, cherry, or peckan. You can purchase this product in 24 or 48 packs. You will also get a smoke generator.
The Bradley premium Bisquettes include Caribbean blend, hunter’s blend, ginger sesame, and chili cumin. The manufacturers have paired strong mesquite bisquettes with different unique flavors.
These chips come with other awesome accessories. You can use it with the Bradley smoker foldable cart, Bradley Smoker Master Pack, Bradley Smoker Carving Kit and the sausage hooks among others.
Several customers confirmed that they use Bradley premium Bisquettes for smoking beef and poultry products. Some said they mix the alder and applewood when smoking cheese.
Experts add that Bradley Smoker Special Blend Bisquettes is rich in flavor. They recommend it for smoking hams, bacon, and seafood.
Overall, these brisquettes produces clean smoke for several hours without adding extra chips though some customers claim it’s small and looks more like sawdust.
Other features: 4-pack, a resealable 1-pint container, 100% natural, made in the USA
Camerons Wood Chips are made from 100% natural raw timber. It ignites fast for a yummy smoky flavor. Camerons say it’s easy to handle. They claim it comes with a resealable one-pint container yielding up to 30 smokings.
You can pick one from the one-pint container ranging from Oakwood shavings, cherry wood shavings, and hickory wood shaving to the alder wood shavings. Seasoned cooks can mix and match the flavors to create the desired blend for cooking their favorite dishes.
Camerons mention that Camerons Wood Chips is a good fit for BBQ smoking. Experts recommend it for indoor and outdoor cooking. You can use it to smoke seafood, lamb, poultry, cheese and beef.
Camerons Wood Chips works best for small infusion smokers. You will use a pinch or two, but you can put up to 5 pints if you plan to cook for long hours. Unlike regular wood chips, Camerons Wood Chips produce a lot of smoke, and they burn fast though you will refill the chamber every 10 to 15 minutes.
Some customers complained that they got undesirable results when they used these chips in a propane grill. They claimed it did not produce sufficient amounts of smoke. Some said there was no huge difference in the taste of their meals.
One user recommends Camerons Wood Chips for anyone trying to test the difference in tastes between the varieties of woods that it offers.
Other features: 4-pack, made from real Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 Brand whiskey barrels
Jack Daniel’s Whiskey Barrel Smoking Oka Wood Chips are manufactured from the brand’s barrels. You can use it with your gas, charcoal, electric grills or large scale smokers.
It emits a combination of oak wood smoke and whiskey. Jack Daniel’s Whiskey Barrel Smoking Oka Wood Chips offers a great flavor when you combine it with Apple chips. Experts recommend Jack Daniel’s Whiskey Barrel Smoking Oka Wood Chips for smoking pork loin, beef sirloin, chicken and more.
Jack Daniel’s Whiskey Barrel Smoking Oka Wood Chips is easy to use. You can pick a handful of the chips and soak them in water for 30 minutes, create a pouch then make holes on the sides before you place it over a burner.
Several users confessed that it smells great. Others said it delivers great taste for cold and cooler temperature smoked items. You should soak the wood chips before use for the best results. Some users advise others to play around with the position they place their meat to avoid burning them.
Overall, Jack Daniel’s Whiskey Barrel Smoking Oka Wood Chips are great, but you will replenish them several times. You can combine it with large chunks of wood instead of adding chips every 30 minutes.
One user complained that Jack Daniel’s Whiskey Barrel Smoking Oka Wood Chips didn’t add the whiskey taste in the meat. Some said the bag is half full and its size is misleading.
Other features: 6-pack, 100% natural, ecofriendly packaging
Zorestar Wood Chips for Smokers is a 100% natural product exported from Europe. It comes with cherry, oak, apple and alder wood chips flavors.
You will get 2pc of the apple and the cherry wood chips and an additional one pc of the alder and oak wood chips to experiment and get your desired taste with the flavors.
These wood chips give a nice smoky taste when cooking meat, vegetables, and fish. They work well on electric, gas and BBQ grills though you can use them in camping and fireplaces. Experts confirm that they are great for both indoor and outdoor grilling.
The chips are small, and burn quickly. One user mentioned that they produce clean smoke though he was disappointed with its sizes.
The seller says the alder and cherry blend well with smoking chips and fish. Apple chips suit smoking all kinds of meat. Experts state that it has eco-friendly packaging. Zorestar confirmed that all buyers get a free ebook upon purchase to walk them through preparing tasty BBQ meat with fire.
Other features: made in the USA
The Traeger Grills All-Natural Hardwood Pellets is manufactured from 100% hardwood. It not only eliminates the need for using charcoal or gas but blends with propane, electric to wood smokers.
The seller mentions that Traeger Grills All-Natural Hardwood Pellets is ideal for smoking, grilling, baking, roasting, BBQ and braising. It delivers awesome blue smoke for flavoring your food. You can use these chips on pellet smoker tubers.
The smoky flavor enhances the taste of pork, chicken, beef, vegetables and lamb. Experts confess that Traeger Grills All-Natural Hardwood Pellets are a perfect wood chips for smoking brisket.
You will get a yummy taste with little to no acidic taste. You can mix it with your favorite pellets to enhance the smell of your meals. One user said that he used it with apple, cherry and hickory for a pleasant taste.
Though Traeger Grills All-Natural Hardwood Pellets do not last as long as wood chips, some customers claim that it works great on electric smokers provided you don’t soak them.
Other features: 100% natural
Weighing three lbs., the WEBER wood chips is a popular cooking product for outdoor cooking. Its fruity flavor suits cooking poultry, pork, and game birds.
Weber clarifies that the hardwood flavors blend with cooking ribs and beef while the fruitwoods work magic on chicken, fish and pork. It produces a pleasant smell when smoking cheese.
Experts advise buyers to use these wood chips for one smoking session since it deposits plenty of ashes.
Several customers claim that WEBER wood chips produce a lot of smoke when added directly to the coals. Some customers, however, complained that these chips produce little amounts of smoke when wrapped up in a foil.
You should soak your chips for at least 30 minutes to yield more flavor. One user said that the bags last long enough for several smoking sessions. You will cut down the cost of smoking.
One user confirmed that the flavor was awesome when he used it to cook pork while others said that the fruit-based chips are perfect for smoking poultry.
Some buyers complained that WEBER wood chips burn up for a few minutes before producing little amounts of smoke. Other customers were frustrated that the chips don’t get fully smoked.
Other features: 12-pack
Smokehouse Products Assorted Flavor Chips offers several smoking flavors from apple, mesquite, alder, cherry and four hickory. The variety of the chips gives you users a chance to experiment with different flavor combinations that work best for cooking your favorite meats.
One user states that the apple, mesquite and the hickory flavors suit pork. Others recommend using alder for cooking fish while some say beef blends with all the flavors.
Experts say Smokehouse Products Assorted Flavor Chip are meant for electric smokers since they are shredded. They generate good amounts of smoke, even at low-temperature settings in electric smokers. Some users claim they smoke using the chips in electric smokers and several pieces still remain.
The supply lasts for a long time. One customer mentioned that he gifted a portion to his family members.
Several customers, however, complained that Smokehouse Products Assorted Flavor Chips burn too fast compared to other chips. Some said it does not work on charcoal smokers.
Overall, Smokehouse Products Assorted Flavor Chips are the go-to products if you want to step up your electrical smoking game. They are small and burn well. Several customers who loved this product mentioned that it’s great for smoking fish and meat.
Wood chips are the best ways to add a smoky flavor to poultry, game birds, pork and fish. With so many wood types on the market, choosing the right brand for your needs can be daunting.
We have wood chips that are made of softwood and hardwood materials. The perfect fit depends on the meat you’re cooking.
In this guide, we will walk you through the reasons to purchase wood chips for smoking, the types of wood chips in the market and the frequently asked questions.
Wood chips offer endless benefits to beginners and seasoned cooks who cherish smoking meat and vegetables. They come in several flavors from hickory, apple, cherry, pecan and so on. Wood chips are versatile. You can use them with electric, charcoal and gas smokers.
Experts always advise users to purchase wood chips with flavors that match their all-time favorite food to get that yummy smoky flavor. Several wood chips like Smokehouse Products Assorted Flavor Chips burn longer to reduce the refill time.
Though several people cherish using charcoal and wood chunks, they never realize that wood chips work magic when cooking vegetables and meat. They add a natural yummy smoky flavor to poultry, vegetables, fish and pork without breaking the bank.
There are different types of wood chips made from softwood and hardwood trees.
Experts say wood chips made from softwood suits smoking fish, pork and chicken while chips made from hardwood trees are specially designed for smoking beef and ribs.
In this section, we will look at the differences between the hickories, cherry, mesquite, and peckan, among others.
Derived from the genus Carya trees, hickory produces clean burns like oak without compromising the sweet, smoky flavor. Most sellers recommend it for several types of meat though experts claim it’s the perfect wood chips for smoking pork, ribs and cheese.
You can mix and match hickory with flavors like apple to get your desired taste. The wood chips we picked that contain hickory include Bradley Smoker Special Blend Bisquettes, Smokehouse Products Assorted Flavor Chips, and Camerons Wood Smoking Chips.
Mesquite is derived from the Prosopis tree. It burns hot and fast and produces a lot of smoke. Experts say mesquite is stronger than hickory. They recommend mesquite wood chips for smoking chicken, lamb, fish and food that cooks fast since it burns fast. You can blend mesquite with hickory, oak or pecan. Be cautious when using this chip since it emits sparks while burning.
You will get mesquite flavor when you purchase one of the best bradley smokers Bradley Smoker Special Blend Bisquettes, Smokehouse Products Assorted Flavor Chips, Traeger Grills All-Natural Hardwood Pellets, Weber Wood Chips.
Applewood chips offer a sweet, mild flavor for smoking fish, bacon, ham and chicken. Experts say that most cooks often use applewood chips to get a sweet, smoky flavor when cooking game birds and poultry. You can also use it for cooking some seafood.
The wood chips with apple flavor in our list above include Western Premium BBQ Products BBQ Smoking Chips, Bradley Smoker Special Blend Bisquettes, Smokehouse Products Assorted Flavor Chips, Traeger Grills All-Natural Hardwood Pellets, Weber Wood Chips and Zorestar Wood Chips for Smokers.
Cherry wood is a perfect pick for smoking all kinds of meat from pork, beef, chicken, and fish. It produces a sweet taste though its flavor is mild for you to enjoy the real taste of your meat.
Experts recommend it for adding flavors to vegetables. Unlike oak, wood chips offering cherry flavor like Smokehouse Products Assorted Flavor Chips or Western Premium BBQ Products BBQ Smoking Chips are light. You can eradicate its darkening property by mixing it with flavors like apple, hickory or oak wood.
Peckan wood chips are stronger than several wood chips though experts say they are not as potent as mesquite and hickory. We believe it’s a great substitute for hickory wood chips.
Wood chips offering peckan flavors like Bradley Smoker Special Blend Bisquettes, or Traeger Grills All-Natural Hardwood Pellets deliver a mild smoky flavor to the meat.
Most cooks use peckan for cooking tender meats like beef and poultry. You can prolong its burning time by soaking it in water for at least 30 minutes.
Oak is a strong hardwood tree that makes chips for balancing the taste and texture of your meat. It is lighter than hickory and mesquite. You can mix it with hickory to get a strong flavor when cooking your meat.
We recommend oak wood chips for smoking lamb, beef, red meat, pork and fish. Our wood chips that offer oak flavor include Traeger Grills All-Natural Hardwood Pellets, Camerons Wood Smoking Chips, Jack Daniel’s Whiskey Barrel Smoking Oak Wood Chips and Zorestar Wood Chips for Smokers.
Peachwood chips work best on electric and gas smokers. They are relatively stronger than several fruit chips though it does not overpower mesquite and hickory.
You can use wood chips with peach flavor to cook vegetables and other lighter meals. Experts recommend peach wood chips for enhancing the taste of chicken, fish, pork and vegetables.
Our wood chips that offer peach flavor include Western Premium BBQ Products BBQ Smoking Chips and Bradley Smoker Special Blend Bisquettes.
Wood chips are easy to super-easy to use. First, soak them in water for at least 30 minutes. Put your wood chips in a smoker tray and place them over your smoker to generate smoke.
Wood chips come in several sizes and shapes. Depending on your needs you can get beginner-friendly chips or the kinds that suit seasoned cooks to make yummy meals your family or guests will love. This guide has everything you need to pick the best wood chips. Before making a purchase, consider the kind of meat you’re cooking, whether it’s poultry, pork, or fish and pick the right flavor that will enhance its taste.
Our first pick is Western Premium BBQ Products BBQ Smoking Chips. It works perfectly on electric, charcoal and gas grills. It’s the best pick for adding a red tone to your meat. Experts recommend it for cooking chicken, seafood and steaks.
Bradley Smoker Special Blend Bisquettes is our second pick with over 100 bisquettes. It comes in several unique brands that you can pair with your favorite wood chips to get your desired smoky flavor.
