How To Use Wood Chips On A Gas Grill

Using Wood Chips with a Gas Grill Achieving the ideal grilled dish at home can be challenging. You may hear from the seniors in your family reasons against using a charcoal grill, particularly concerning the potentially harmful chemicals it emits during use. It’s true that some individuals prefer their meals not be prepared over charcoal. Yet, opting out of charcoal grilling means missing out on the distinctive flavor it imparts to the food.

There is one way to give your food the flavor of charcoal without using them. You can use wood chips on a gas grill to make it as harmful as it can be. Now you would be asking how to use wood chips on a gas grill? Well, in this blog, we have covered it all for you. Stay with us to find out more.

Wood Chips Can Be Used To Give Multiple Flavors To The Food

Before we start explaining the process, there is some stuff you need to know before it. As mentioned in the heading, wood chips come in multiple flavors. Each one of them is used to grill different things. If you want a little sweet and smoky flavor in your dish, you can go for the apple wood chips. On the contrary, if you want your meal to be smokier, you can go for mesquite and hickory chips.

They are considered best to give flavor to beef and pork. However, if you have no idea about the flavor and it is your first time to grill anything, you can go for the hickory wood chips. These chips are considered best for people who have no idea about the flavors. Moreover, you can also add all of them and make a bunch mix flavors. That is some crazy stuff, but if you are new to gas grilling, please avoid doing such experiments.

Step #1: Allow The Wood Chips To Soak In Water For few Minutes

Once you are done with selecting the wood, the next step you have to do is to put the woods in the water for at least 30 minutes. We recommend that the ideal time to soak the woods into the water is 45 or 60 minutes. However, if you are running out of time, you can choose to put it in the water for at least 30 minutes. The primary reason behind doing this is to save you from any emergency.

If you put the chips in the gas grill without soaking them in the water, you probably can experience a fire in the grill that can result in the burning of the food or any emergency.

When you are done with the soaking part, you have to prepare the chips to put them into the grill. You can use two ways to put them in the grill. Firstly you can put these chips on an aluminium tray and let them get heated up. It will give smoke to the food.

However, if you don’t have any aluminium tray around you, the first thing you have to do is wrap these chips in aluminium foil and make small holes. Now you can put these chips in the grill and wait for at least one hour because this process is slow compared to the other one.

Step #2: Smoke The Chips Before You Put Food In The Grill 

 If you look at your gas grill carefully, you will find multiple grates in it. That’s the time to use them appropriately to cook the food and get the barbeque flavor. Put the aluminium tray inside the grill and wait for at least 5 or 10 minutes. When you see the smoke coming out of the gas grill, that is probably the indication that chips are all set to be used.

Well, now you have to carefully put the food inside the grill and wait for it to get smoked properly. If you want to cook it slowly, you can keep the grates and hood closed. However, if you want to cook them on high heat, you can open some grates and the hood. This will allow oxygen to come into the grill, and the wood will burn at the pace of the gas. Otherwise, it would be like, food is properly cooked but with very less or no barbeque flavor.

Use Of Smoker Box To Use Wood Chips On A Gas Grill

If you want to get the maximum flavor from the chips, you can place them in the smokebox. These smoke boxes are the exception in some grills. Not all grills come with a smoker box inside them. It is a special type of smoke box that is made to provide smoke to the meat and veggies. If you are a regular grill user, always consider buying the options with a smoker box.

Add The Smoker Box To Use Wood Chips On A Gas Grill

Lower the smoker box onto a burner if you’re using a gas grill. If you’re using a charcoal barbecue, place your box on top of the coals and always use the best-rated charcoal for smoking.

The smoker box should be placed as near to the heat source as possible. When using the smoker box, don’t put too much charcoal around it, since embers from the fire might fall low in through the openings on the top of the box and light your pieces on fire. Cover the box with foil where you will poke a few holes in it if you are using an electric grill.

If your gas grill burners aren’t already set to the maximum setting, one method to get them there is to turn them up enough so your smoker box is hot enough and the chips start smoking better. It’s actually less difficult this way.

After The Box Has Smoke, Turn Off The Burners To Use Wood Chips On A Gas Grill

When you notice the wood chips burning, turn down the burners on your gas grills to the standard cooking temperature of 225 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. This is intended to specifically prepare your grill for indirect cooking.

You may continue to use the burner with your smoker box turned on while turning down the others so that wood smoke is created throughout the cooking process.

Conclusion

We have provided you with a complete and detailed guide about how to use wood chips on a gas grill. Now it’s your turn to choose the right equipment and make your party memorable. Lastly, we would like to advise you that putting wood in the grill is sometimes dangerous. Please take care of yourself and your loved ones. Take all the necessary precautions that are recommended above. Happy grilling!