If having an outdoor Barbeque grill isn't ideal for your place, using best electric smoker reviews would be the best option to get that great grill-like meal on a weekend.
Electric smokers are quite similar to the typical outdoor grill, but what's good about electric smokers is that it is less hazardous to use since you are not utilising direct fire that can cause a fire outbreak. Not to mention its efficiency to tenderise your favourite baby back ribs, it produces less smoke and the fact that your grumpy neighbour wouldn't complain about you grilling.
Pretty cool, eh? I've probably given you a great idea at the moment and I know right now, you are wondering which type of electric smoker should you get. Don't look further, buddy! I have it for you! Here are my top 10 best electric smokers for 2024.
I have based my top 10 choices by means of efficacy, less effort to clean, best reviews for electric smokers and its ability to cook meals in a way that I exactly want it. If you are wondering how did I manage to try all the top 10 electric smokers listed down, well it's quite a long story, let's just say I just have a great enthusiasm with food.
But the main reason for this is to help people save time in looking for the best electric smoker in the market and in addition, to avoid that trial and error situation that is obviously a waste of both money and time. So let's proceed...
Check ranking table and I will show you more information in our in-depth review and buyer guide below.
What is The Best Electric Smoker for 2024?
1. Masterbuilt 20071117 - Great for First Timers
Masterbuilt is one of the most known brands of electric smokers in the market and I could say, this unit of Masterbuilt is one of the best I have ever used. This simple electric smoker is not as complicated as it seems. In fact, it is so easy to use that this is ideal for those who are starting to cook smoked dishes for the first time. You only have to take simple steps in order for you to use this digital electric smoker and yet gives excellent results.
I love the design of this electric smoker! Its compact design is what made it very catchy for me. It's light in weight compared to other electric smokers being sold in the market and it's quite a space saver so you can fit this electric smoker just around every corner of your house. What's a great selling point to me is the latch on the side that keeps the door shut while smoking your meal, I don't have to worry about it being opened once I'm far from the smoker doing something else. Another thing that I noticed on this digital smoker is its storage capacity. It is built with a 4 layered rack that can fit quite a lot of food that you want to cook, so you don't have to worry about cooking for the whole family for a weekend dinner. Lastly, its has a removable chip tray where you can put on wood chips without opening the electric smoker, ergo consistent smoking without releasing the heat and smoke. It has back wheels that give mobility of the unit so you can easily put it in place to pace.
When it comes to its performance, I must say, Masterbuilt 20071117 Digital electric smoker is my favorite when it comes to smoking meat that requires high temperatures to make it tender and juicy. It heats quickly enough and maintains a stable heating temperature because of its great insulation, perfect for ribs and turkey! Plus, speaking of its insulation, I also love its flavor lock-in property, like it literally sinks in the flavors in the meat! It really does its job and I must say, it is a better alternative than your traditional grill because it gives the same, if not, better-smoked flavoring.
Less hassle to use and simple to clean, all you need is a sponge, a bucket of soap water and rinse it! that‘s all it takes to clean this electric smoker.
The few problems of this electric smoker are that though you can fit in a lot of food to cook, it can't fit in large chunks of meat such as a whole pork rib or butt. In order to make it work and give best results, you need to use quite an amount of wood-chip, which is quite an add up to the cost when cooking your favourite meal. It is not good for cooking low temp meals like fishes because it when you put it into low heat the wood chips wouldn't burn or smoke, so this unit of Master-built electric smoker is only good for high temp cooking.
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2. Masterbuilt 20072115 - Less Babysitting Needed
Another product of Masterbuilt that I like. I see this as a reliable type of smoker because it gives you nothing to worry about. This is more advanced than the previous digital electric smoker models of masterbuilt, with its advanced technology design you don't have to monitor the process of smoking your food. Aside from that, there are a lot of cool features that I surely fell in love with!
The very first thing that made me like this one is its Bluetooth smart technology, the built-in meat probe and the security latch on the side of its door. With the Bluetooth technology of this fabulous digital electric smoker, you can keep an eye on the cooking process without actually getting near the unit. While the built-in meat probe gets the actual temperature of your meat, a two separate features of an electric meat smoker bound as one, this is the best kind of promo that I've had. The door latch keeps the door tightly closed, along with its great insulation feature. The next features where the roomy space of this unit, you can fit in lots of meat and anything that you want to smoke, so it is ideal if you are cooking for two or a crowd. And like the general features of masterbuilt electric smokers, this also has a built-in back wheel for easy mobility when placing it wherever you wish to and a wood chip tray where you can put on your wood chips without actually opening the door.
When it comes to its cooking performance, I find it well and suave, this is what masterbuilt is all about: the heat consistency. My favorite pork butts and taters came out well after a straight smoking of 7 hours, but what's awesome about it is that I tend to do other chores in the house because I can keep track of its temperature with my phone. This unit doesn't need much babysitting, that's what's really cool about it. It doesn't require much of wood chips to raise the temperature and keep it smoking, this is a plus point of advantage compared to other masterbuilt electric smokers.
Simple to clean and no need for a special soap or wipe to do the cleaning, and the Bluetooth technology is water resistant so you don't have to worry about it getting droplets of water.
The only thing that I noticed about this digital electric smoker is that, like the same unit of Masterbuilt, it's not ideal for low-temperature cooking. When I tried to cook food that requires a below 160 temps, it will suddenly shut down and won't smoke. So I find this digital electric smoker not ideal for salmon smoking but great for pork and beef. Another thing that I found out with some of my friends is that its Bluetooth feature is somehow faulty. Though in my end I never experience any problems with the Bluetooth feature, some did state that the Bluetooth feature has a bug on it that does trouble such as raising the temperature automatically in an insane level or it doesn't connect to the phone.
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3. Masterbuilt 20070910 - Easy to Use and Operate
This version of Masterbuilt is no different than the other ones, its features are pretty much the same, only that some others have added ones and some have fewer features. This type of Masterbuilt digital electric smoker is one of the standard types of smokers out in the market. It has the same features of the Masterbuilt 20071117 30" Digital Electric Smoker only that this has its temperature controller far from the door of the digital smoker. The same features that this unit has are the door latch, the wood chip tray, the nice insulation and 4 layered racks, but the added features are what I'm going to mention later on.
This digital electric smoker has more room on it compared to the Masterbuilt 20071117. Yes, they may be both 30" in size but the design of this one provides more space for the meat that needs to be cooked. So this is ideal for large chunks of meat like a whole back rib. Another thing that I've noticed is that when you properly take care of this, it would last long. I've been using this type of electric meat smoker for quite a while now and its performance is still as flawless as when I first use it. Some electric smokers don't last for 2 years and it amazes me when this has made it far from the said time.
It's cooking performance is great, too! The heat consistency is well and smooth, without the need to keep an eye on what you are smoking, because of its built-in temperature regulator. Plus, it's doesn't really need a lot of wood chips in order to make the smoke consistent.
Though I've noticed some things that I don't like about this electric smoker. It's built-in digital temperature display is hard to read at daylight and sometimes, it doesn't give accurate information so I still have to check on the food inside it occasionally. As for my view, cleaning is also a culprit, since the walls and the door are delicate and may get damaged when you use hard cleaning tools like metal scrubbers, I stick to soft sponge and soap. It takes me a while to clean it, but overall I find this one of the best deals of digital electric smoker in the market.
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4. Masterbuilt 20078715 - Sleek and Compacted
A handy type of digital electric smoker, the first thing that I noticed on this unit is its minimized design. Yep, you can put this electric smoker just about any corner if you want to. Generally speaking, the components of each masterbuilt electric smoker has. It is not really that hard to assemble, it can be done by another person, which is always a plus one for me! The protective door latch that keeps the heat and smokes secure. I also like the fact that this doesn't require a lot of wood chips for it to produce a lot of smoke, pretty much this smoker can smoke meats in an efficient yet thrifty manner.
I find it also a plus point for its temperature controller to be accurate, it gives off the what it tells. This is quite ideal for meats that require longer and slower cooking like ribs and pork butts. But the only problem with this is that it is not ideal for low temp cooking like salmon and other types of fishes. It can't keep its consistency in heating and smoking when it is under 180F.
Another issue is the cleaning, you can't really clean this in a quick way by using metal scrubs or any kind of rough scrubs since it can peel off the cover of the walls and pans. Cleaning this product will take you time and it requires proper storage for it to last long.
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5. Masterbuilt 20075315 - Great View of What You Are Cooking
This version of digital electric smoker has most of the features of all the Masterbuilt electric smokers: The heavy-duty door latch, great insulation, the convenient built-in wood chip tray, and flavor lock-in technology. Only that this has a few added features to it. First is that it has a bigger storage capacity compared to other electric digital smoker and it has a built-in meat thermometer that will measure the heat of your meat inside, which I find pretty awesome because it helps me save time and energy throughout the cooking process.
Another thing that I've seen on this electric smoker has a window, in which you can see through it to watch your scrumptious meat reach to its perfect peak. Quality speaking, this digital electric smoker has a heavy duty quality that makes it last for a long time. I know that the average lifespan of an electric smoker is no more that 3 years, and that's if you are really taking care of it, nevertheless, it will be shorter than that if you don't put on too much effort of doing a proper storage on it. I've been using this even at the time of really, really cold seasons and it still does it job quite as how I first have it
When it comes to its performance in doing its job as an electric smoker grill, it's really great in cooking large loads of meat because of its capacity and the magnificent combination of the insulator and door latch. The consistency of the heat is smooth and it does its job well, I think this is one of Masterbuilt's greatest reputation.
Though having great features, this also has a significant count of flaws. The cleaning process is not that easy since the season drips and oil in the palettes, door, and walls may get stubborn. It may be a great solution if you'll use a metal scrubber but I don't recommend that since it may damage the insulator and it is quite sensitive when it comes on water as it may easily get hard watermarks in it.
Another flaw that this electric smoker has is its meat thermometer is somehow faulty and not accurate. I remember cooking ribs with this digital electric smoker and after a few hours it the meat heat is still below temp 70, despite seeing the meat being goldenly smoked. I thought I'm the only one who has the problem, but when I posted at a smoke griller's group in facebook, I see other people facing the same issue as mine.
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6. Char-Broil Deluxe - Sturdiest
One of the things that I find awesome about this electric smoker is that it is heavy duty and can last longer. Yes, its lifespan is one of the best features that I've noticed. Among all the digital electric smoker brands in the market, Char-broil deluxe is the one that I've found the sturdiest. While other digital electric smokers in the market can only last for about 2 years if we will compare to their performance, Char-broil Deluxe can perform flawlessly even after 2 years of use. Of course, every type of cooking appliances needed proper care in order to retain its performance, so don't expect this brand to work well if you will not take care of it.
The features of this digital electric smoker are quite fine and useful. You can smoke large cuts and chunks of meat at a time because of its roomy space. It has a 4-rack feature, a secure door latch, a wood chip tray and a grease tray. Just like any other electric smokers, the features that I've mentioned is quite expected, but how the specifications works are, in my experience, is overall great. This electric smoker has a built-in meat probe and a handy remote control, which I find a plus.
The wood chip tray is large, you can fit a pile of wood chips good enough to make your electric smoker machine to smoke for about 8 hours, so there's no need to go back and forth filling the tray when needed. Its design is quite good because I can barely feel the heat on top and the sides of the unit, meaning it really keeps the heat inside the smoker and doing its job and as I've mentioned before, the sturdiness is what I like the most. I've been using this digital electric smoker for quite some time now and its performance is still the same. What's another cool thing about this is that it works in almost all types of meat, some digital electric smoker brands is not recommended for low temperature smoking due to the fact that it will not work well or remain off, but this one is an exception, it can be used on temperatures down to less that 190F.
As for the cooking performance, I can say it's good when you know how to use this machine. I've mentioned this because this is kinda hard to operate, the first thing that I noticed is that when you have to set the time or target temperature for you to be able to get the results that you want. The remote control is a bit of an issue also, while you can set the desired time and temperature any time by using this, it doesn't work well when the machine is behind an opaque object such as the wall or door.
However, I did not have problems in cleaning this unit, it can be easily cleaned up by using soap and water. The racks and trays are easy to wash, too, even the grease tray.
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7. Bradley Smoker BTDS76P - Flavor Expert
Bradley smoker is also on my list of top 10 best digital electric smokers of all time. Bradley smoker's digital electric smoker is a great one but I have to say, it does seem to have quite a number of flaws on it, but I don't want you to discourage you with what I've said because it also has a number of cool features too.
The first thing that made this digital electric smoker unique is that it has its own unique wood chips. Bradley smokers call their wood chips "bisquette" because of how the chips look like, it literally looks like a cookie biscuit. They have different variants of these biscuits that are made for a specific dish or meat that you want to smoke. For example is the Cherry Bisquette that is ideal for smoking fish and other seafoods. It has a built-in bisquette generator where it automatically provides and smokes a bisquette.
As for the overall feature, I can say this digital electric smoker is quite large in space. It has a roomy feature with a 4 racked room that can fit almost large beef ribs inside it. It's water pan, while quite useful, but doesn't look fancy, it looks like more than just a simple metal pan. The insulation design is quite great, but the only problem that I've noticed here is that, it doesn't have a door latch that secures the door from not opening up when cooking.
As for the cooking experience, the bisquette works for what their purpose is. The specialized bisquettes do work well with the said meat and it really adds up with the flavors. Which is a major plus for this one? There is also no issue about what type of meat to cook with this digital electric smoker, it can smoke salmons up to hard beef ribs perfectly, based on my experience.
Though Bradley smoker is a good digital electric smoker for me, I don't use it often because it only uses its bisquettes for smoking. Their bisquettes are a little bit costly so I don't recommend this if you are trying to save money. As for the cleaning, it's not that hard to clean, a regular wiping of dish soap and water inside of it will do.
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8. Smokehouse Little Chief - Good for Low-temperature Meat
This electric smoker is, I could say, one of the "cutest" ones I've ever had. Why cute? Because it's small and handy! Yep, on my top 10 best digital electric smokers of all time, This little chief electric smoker is one of my favorites! Smokehouse's little chief is one of the easiest electric smokers to use. Assembling it is not even hard, it basically comes in a box along with the rack, a drip pan and a little pan where you'll put the chips on and put it above the heater under the drip pan.
This is ideal for people who are new to smoking food and using electric smokers. This doesn't require any type of specialized instructions for you to be able to use it well. The cooking performance is great, it does its purpose as a smoker very well. Little Chief electric smoker is best for smoking low-temperature meat such as sausages and fishes, and it is what you really need if you prefer cooking small amounts of smoked meals.
When it comes to its electrical or control specifications, so far I couldn't see anything wrong with this little chief electric smoker. But because its design is very basic, there is no way you can adjust the heat that you want to put into the unit. While I don't see that as a flaw, it makes this electric smoker not a good choice when you want to smoke meat that needed temperature adjustments to cooking well.
Speaking of meats, Little chief electric smoker is not suitable for high-temperature smoking, so it is not ideal to use for meats that require high temperature. In my experience, I've tried to cook beef ribs in this and I end up disappointed. It didn't cook the inner part of the ribs, so I just fried it in the pan so that it wouldn't go to waste.
As for cleaning, this electric smoker isn't hard to clean at all. No need for special precautions and procedures to clean this one.
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9. Smoke Hollow 3616DEW - Stylish and Sassy
This digital electric smoker has a very good design in my own opinion. The main catch of this electric smoker is its legs. It has long legs that made it tall and catchy, though I have no idea why is it there on the first place, it could be just an add up design to make the smoker look uniquely great but other than that I can't see the reasonable purpose of it.
When it comes to the overall specification of this digital electric smoker, I find the design great. It has a see-through window, a four rack smoking space, and a nice wood chip tray, pretty much what I see as a great specification for a digital electric smoker. The digital temperature control on the top of it is not that hard to understand, all I did was to set up the time and the desired temperature that I like and this electric smoker will do its job.
As for the cooking performance, it works well with both high and low-temperature meats. I didn't find anything wrong when it comes to its cooking performance, even adding wood chip is not a problem with this digital electric smoker since its tray is large enough to put on wood chips that will last for a long time. The insulation is good as well, I didn't have issues with it when it comes to its lock-in property since it has a very reliable door latch that guards the door against opening. It also has a spacious room so you can cook a lot of meat at the same time.
The only problem that I've had with this is that it is hard to build. It took me almost 2 hours in assembling this digital electric smoker, which is quite annoying for me. Also, the digital temperature controller is somehow an issue. I've used this for about 3 times and by the 4th time I'm gonna use it, it didn't open up.
As for cleaning this electric smoker, there is no issue, except that you need to be extra cautious not to peel off the fillings inside the electric smoker.
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10. Smokin-It Model 2 - Plain and Simple
Plain and simple, this is how I define this digital electric smoker. Smokin-it is not really a good looking electric smoker, so if style matters to you, this wouldn't go for your taste. BUT this smoker may be out of style, its performance isn't! The reason why this smoker is on my top 10 best electric smokers of all time is that of its flawless performance.
First off, I may say that you can use this in almost every type of meat or anything you want to smoke to. From back ribs up to beef jerky, in my experience, all went nice and well! Smoke it digital electric smoker is one of the most versatile smokers that I've ever used.
The specifications of this smoker are quite simple, yet, amazing! I love its door latch and the wide space. I can fit 4 turkeys here, one thing that other smokers don't have. The insulation is quite well, though I can feel the heat from the sides, it only signifies that it does its job very well. The digital temperature controller works well, I have no complaints about it and the sturdiness is quite awesome! Smoke-it digital electric smoker is an impeccable smoker for me, this is worth it especially for its price. Also, I don't babysit the machine often, that is another plus for me.
The only downside to this smoker is that its design is quite wide and it can place into limited areas. Cleaning is not a problem here, in fact, it is one of the digital electric smokers that is easy to clean.
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Buyer's Guide - Value
If you are confused and don't know what to seek in order for you to get the best digital electric smoker for you, here are some of my few tips:
Budget
Preferred size
How would you use the smoker?
Versatility
Convenience and less monitoring
Durability
Accuracy
Conclusion
Here's a brief evaluation of my top 10 best electric smokers of all time.
While Masterbuilt digital electric smokers are famous, the majority of its disadvantages is the lifespan. Most of Masterbuilt's digital electric smokers never lasted long, in my experience, the longest is only about four years. The cooking experience is okay, but sometimes, I do have troubles in keeping with the smoking process, especially with low-temperature meat. Most of Masterbuilt's digital electric smokers are not suitable for low temp smoking since it won't start.
Char-broil's lifespan is alright but the accuracy of its remote control is the problem. While Bradley smoker requires a special form of wood chip for you to use it, which is expensive so not recommended for those who are on a tight budget.
Little chief is a good electric smoker too, but its cooking properties are only limited to low-temperature cooking.
The best and most versatile one that I've used so far and I must say, the best among the best digital smoker of all time is the Smokin-It Model #2. I've mentioned its versatility: you can smoke almost everything you want to smoke, all ending in perfect form! I also love how the temperature controller works well. The sturdiness is quite amazing, this digital electric smoker is with me for almost 5 years now and it still performs the best. It may not look classy but the overall performance of it is what I am into!