Can you Put Wood Chips Directly on Charcoal

Using wood chips when grilling is not only a great and natural way to add smokiness to your food but also other flavors like hickory, apple, and mesquite and many others. There are a couple of different ways you can add these to your grilling process. Let’s talk about a few of them.

Can you put your wood chips directly on the charcoal? Yes, if you’re grilling with charcoal and don’t want to give up space on the grill, you can go ahead and add your wood chips right on top of the hot coals. They will give off a good smoky flavor along with the natural flavor from the species of wood.

Another option is to use a smoker box which is a small box typically made from stainless or cast iron that you can put your wood chips in. It can be placed on the grill grates alongside your food. It has holes in the top and on the sides to allow smoke to rise out of it.

If you don’t want to buy a smoker box, you can always use a disposable baking tin. Fill it with the wood chips and cover it with aluminum foil. Then poke some holes in the foil and place it over direct heat just like you would have done with the smoker box.

It’s not just wood chips you can use to add a smoky flavor to your food. You can also use wood chunks and in some cases even logs. Or you can also cook directly over a wood fire.

Now those are just the natural ways of adding smokiness to your food. There is plenty of other items on the market like Liquid Smoke that you can use. But I’m not a huge fan of those. I prefer to do things the old-fashioned way.

Even though adding wood chips to your grilling will add a smoky flavor to your food, this isn’t technically considered smoking food. You’re more or less just adding a little bit of smoke flavor to your food. Smoking meats is typically done at low temps over long periods of time.

Liquid Smoke Vs Wood Chips 

Liquid Smoke has actually been around since the late 1800s. It’s made through a process of burning hardwood sawdust and capturing the smoke, then allowing the smoke to condense into a liquid. It’s then processed to remove all the impurities from it like ash. Some brands will add other ingredients such as salt, sugar, molasses, vinegar, or artificial coloring.

But most barbecue enthusiasts will tell you that it doesn’t quite give the same flavor as good old fashioned wood chips do. Sure it might take a bit more time and a little more work using wood chips, but just smoking your meat on the grill can not only be an enjoyable hobby, but it also is going to produce a great meal for you and your family. Not to mention all the great memories you are going to make barbecuing with your kids in the backyard.

Is Too Much Smoke Bad

When it comes to the amount of smoke you want to produce from your wood chips, it’s is a case of less is more. You don’t want your grill looking like a bonfire with smoke billowing out of it. A nice thin stream of smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe is all you really need.

What you want to see from your smoke is a light bluish smoke coming from your exhaust pipe. If it’s heavy white or black your fire is not hot enough or starving for oxygen. This may take some practice. You may want to experiment with the grill for a bit before adding your meats to it.

Also keeping your exhaust close all the way will trap too much smoke inside the grill. I have had bad results on meats I have cooked that I have trapped too much smoke inside the grill. This is called over smoking it may actually cause a bitter taste in your food.

Types of wood chips

• Alder – is a mild wood and has a subtle smoke flavor. It has a natural sweetness and is a great choice for smoking salmon. It’s really a great choice for any fish.

• Maple – It also gives off a mild and sweet flavor. Due to this, it is commonly used with poultry, vegetables, and cheeses. But the smoke from maple, even though it’s sweet, will also give your meat a darker appearance. It’s also good for mixing with other woods like apple, oak, and alder

• Apple – is a go-to wood for all smoking purposes. It’s a fruitwood that gives off a mild, sweet, fruity flavor. It’s commonly used with poultry, pork, lamb and sometimes even seafood, but its flavor doesn’t really hold onto red meats that well. It can still be used, but the flavor will just not be as strong.

• Cherry – Another fruitwood that is good for all-purpose smoking. It will also give a sweet mild flavor. This one works well with both pork and beef, but this will turn your meet a dark red color.

• Oak – is a great blending wood. It’s stronger than apple and cherry. It gives a mild, smoky flavor and works well with any type of meat.

• Hickory – This one is a very popular BBQ flavor. This wood has strong smoke that gives your food a sweet flavor, but you must be careful because if you over smoke it, it will turn your meat bitter.

• Mesquite – This wood can be said to be in a classification of its own. Its extremely strong flavor holds up well to red meats. It is not recommended to use this on your lighter meats like poultry and fish. It’s highly recommended that you blend this wood to avoid over smoking and turning your food bitter.

• Pecan – gives your meat somewhat of a fruity flavor and burns cooler than most other barbecue woods. It’s similar to hickory and is best used on large cuts like brisket and pork roast, but can also be used to compliment chops, fish, and poultry.

How to prepare your wood chips

Preparing wood chips for smoking is very simple. For your smaller chips, your going to want to soak them for 2 to 3 hours to make sure that the water has penetrated deep into the chips. If you don’t have the time to let the wood chips soak, you can still use them. In this case, they may catch fire while you’re cooking so just keep an eye on them.

For your chunks, I’d recommend soaking these overnight if not longer to allow the water to fully penetrate the wood. I normally use chunks if I’m doing a long smoke over several hours. Although some people do say it is not necessary to soak wood chunks at all, and that it’s better to just let them burn.

Logs are the most traditional way of smoking meat and go all the way back to when people used to cook over open fires. Nowadays logs are typically used in a BBQ pit and don’t really need any preparation at all. But most people say to still use them over charcoals.

Hopefully, this has been helpful. There’s a whole lot more that can be said about using wood chips to add a smoky flavor to your food. This is just the tip of the iceberg on what you can and should do.

Ways of Smoking Meats

There are actually three ways of smoking meats: hot smoke, warm smoke, and cold smoke. The main difference here is the temperature you’re going to be cooking your meat at.

• Cold smoking won’t actually cook your meats but will add a rich, smoky flavor. It’s commonly used on cured or pre-cooked meats. It’s also a good way to add smoke flavor to cheeses. For cold smoking, you are going to want to go for a temperature range of 66F to 90F.

• Warm smoking is another one that’s used on cured meats like bacon. Here you try to keep a temperature between 80F and 130F.

• Hot smoking is more commonly used for meats. Unlike cold smoking, this is going to cook your food while adding in the smoky flavor to it. Here you’re going to want a temperature range of 150F to 225F. Keep in mind this is probably going to take you a couple of hours to do a decent piece of meat.

But that’s not to say you can’t just add wood chips to your grill while you’re doing burgers and still get a smoke flavor to it. These are more so the traditional ways of smoking. I personally add hickory or applewood all the time when doing burgers or chicken on the grill and obtain a great smoky flavor while cooking at my normal temperature.

As always, happy grilling!