The Best Wood For Smoking - The Definitive Guide

Smoking foods is an amazing way to add rich, smoky flavors to your meats. But before you get too excited, it’s important to know the different types of smoking woods and how to use them.

There are hundreds of different woods available on the market; however, not all of them can be used to smoke food. Some are poisonous, some add off-flavors to food, and some just don’t have any smokability at all.

So what are the best types of wood for smoking meats?  The best woods for smoking are hard ones, such as hickory, walnut, apple, cherry, oak, and mesquite. They provide excellent smoke that can be easily infused into food, add attractive and interesting flavors, and some can even become a heat source that helps cook the piece of meat.

In today’s article, we will delve into all aspects of smoking wood. We will talk about the different types of wood that you can find, their characteristics, the ways in which you can find them and, finally, where they can be used.

Lastly, we will look at the best type of smoking wood that can be used for various types of meat such as poultry, seafood, pork, and beef.

Wood for smoking: everything you need to know

Let’s start by talking about the different types of smoking wood that exist.

When choosing a type of smoking wood, it’s important to think about the following two aspects: the first is the intensity of the smoky flavors, and the second is whether it will complement the flavors of your food.

This may sound simple, but there is a lot of important information to understand before taking the plunge. If you understand how smoking works, you can easily adjust and adapt recipes and methods.

Hardwood vs. Softwood

Always smoke with hardwood.  This is wood that comes from trees that lose their leaves each year, creating a much denser tree and bark.

You need dense smoke chips because they release their flavors much slower, more evenly and with a clean smoke.

Another reason why hardwood should be used over other types of wood is because they have a much lower moisture and sap content.

Tree sap can release dangerous toxins in the smoke that will infuse your food.

Always make sure you know exactly what type of wood you are using, especially if you are looking for it yourself. There are many types of wood that are not safe to smoke.

Softwoods burn quickly and often burn with black smoke, giving your food an unappetizing color and flavor, almost like a campfire would. And besides, softwood sizzles and bubbles in the heat from all the moisture it contains.

As we just mentioned, sometimes this moisture (also known as sap) can contain toxins that are unsafe to consume.

Classifications of hardwoods for smoking

Woods can be classified on a scale of smoking flavors: mild, medium, and strong. The milder flavors are usually woods from fruit-bearing trees. These woods include apple, cherry, peach, and pear wood.

Softer woods from fruit trees impart a slightly sweet flavor . These sweet flavors best complement white meat, such as shellfish and poultry.

When you want the natural flavor of a food to shine above the smoky flavor, always use a fruity wood.

Next, you have more “medium” smoking woods that work great for slightly tougher pieces of meat, like pork. The woods in this category are maple, oak, walnut and American walnut.

These woods can even be paired with milder-tasting game meats, such as venison or turkey.

Oak and hickory are usually the strongest woods in the medium flavor category. They should be used with care, as it is very easy to over-smoke food.

Mesquite is in its own category as it is a strong smoking wood.

The flavors it produces are extremely intense, so it should be used sparingly, and in fact we suggest using it in combination with other ingredients.

Mesquite can easily smoke foods too much and is best suited with meats that lack flavor, or if you want to add an extremely smoky flavor. It works best with normal cuts of meat that aren’t particularly flavorful.

wooden shapes for smoking

These different types of smoking woods have various shapes that can be used for smoking.

In general, the equipment will greatly affect the form of wood you will have to use and even the amount of time it takes to smoke an item.

For example, logs are best used for items that need to be smoked for hours, while chips or pellets (the smaller versions) will be best used for quick-smoking items.

trunks

Whole wood logs are only really used for the large smokers. It is used to obviously create the smoke, but it also often acts as a heat source that helps cook the piece of meat.

These logs are quite durable and can easily smoke food for anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours.

chunks

The pieces are used in smaller smoke drums, small offset cookers or kamado type cookers. The pieces are only used to smoke the meat.

Normally, they are placed on top of the charcoal (which supplies the heat) and begin to smoke slowly.

chips

Chips are one of the most common shapes you can find because of how versatile they are to use. They can be used in a wide variety of smokers, even makeshift ones made from pots and strainers!

Chips can be used in propane-fired smokers, on grills, or placed over charcoal. Due to their smaller size, they tend to burn out quickly and need to be replaced regularly. Chips are the only way that does not provide heat.

pellets

They are the smallest form of smoking wood and are made from compressed sawdust. These pellets can provide both smoke and heat.

Keep in mind that there are two types of pellets: those for stoves and those for barbecues. These pellets can also be used for cold smoking.

What we like about these pellets is that they are usually made from a combination of hardwoods and sometimes even flavored with oils. This can give very interesting flavors to your food.

smoking times

Naturally, the longer you place a piece of meat in the smoker, the more smoke flavors it will absorb. Sometimes, especially with the stronger smoking woods, meat can be over-smoked.

The goal of smoking meat is, of course, to have that smoky flavor; however, you don’t want to taste just the smoke.

The other goal of smoking is the beautiful, rich color it adds to the meat. The longer you smoke it, the darker it will become, ultimately making it unpalatable.

A great rule of thumb is to smoke meat for half of its cooking time. So if you have a cut that needs to cook for 1 hour, you only need to smoke it for about 30 minutes to get the best results.

The best wood for smoking brisket

Brisket is already an extremely flavorful piece of meat, so using a heavy smoking wood will only detract from the brisket itself.

By far the best woods for smoking brisket are oak and walnut.

Oak is possibly the most widely used hardwood for smoking, simply because of its versatility. It has an extremely high combustion temperature, making it perfect for smoking and cooking brisket at the extreme temperatures it requires.

Oak has a milder flavor even compared to other smoking woods, but still delivers an amazing classic smoke flavor.

Pecan wood naturally infuses meats with richer smoky and nutty flavors that go exceptionally well with lightly spiced brisket. Many people like to combine pecan wood with a stronger one to balance the flavors.

Cherry wood is another surprising flavor, though it makes sense that slightly sweet flavors would pair well with those of savory brisket.

The best wood for smoking ribs

Ribs are a very versatile dish and can be made with a thousand different flavors. Whether or not they have been marinated, most ribs have been smoked.

The smoke goes very well with the combination of flavors, usually salty and sweet, of the marinade.

While this is great news, it sometimes makes it more difficult to choose a good smoking wood.

Hickory, pecan, and mesquite are by far the best, and even safest, choices to use in most rib recipes. 

The hickory wood adds more of the well-balanced sweet and salty notes that the marinade already has.

Just keep in mind that hickory smokes a lot, which can lead to over-smoking the ribs, leaving a bitter taste.

Mesquite, as we have mentioned before, is the strongest flavored and most aromatic hardwood of all. It should definitely be used sparingly and you shouldn’t over smoke your ribs.

However, if used correctly, it adds wonderful earthy flavors that will enhance the sticky sweetness of the ribs.

If you have smaller pieces of rib that don’t require as much smoking, or you just prefer lighter smoke flavors, try a fruity wood for smoking, such as apple, cherry, or peach.

Apple is one of our favorite fruity smoking woods for the slightly sweet and floral flavors it brings.

Unfortunately, it has to be smoked for quite some time, as it has very mild flavors and is a very slow burner (meaning it releases those aromas very slowly).

These Camerons Apple Smoking Wood Chunks are ideal for smoking ribs. Since applewood has a mild flavor and needs to smoke your food for a while before it infuses properly, these chunks will help you a lot.

They have a much longer burn time compared to chips or pressed pellets, and will provide the most natural flavor possible.

Ribs also work fantastic with mixed woods. Peach wood is good for blending as its fruity flavors are easy to match or balance. Another great blend wood is pear, which has a very similar flavor profile to peach.

The best wood for smoking turkey

Smoked turkey is becoming more and more popular, and if you’ve ever eaten it, you’ll immediately understand why.

Turkey is almost always smoked over hickory wood for the distinctive smokiness it provides.

If you want to serve a sweet sauce with your turkey, we highly recommend using maple, cherry, or apple wood.

The maple wood, while subtle in flavor, adds a sweetness that pairs beautifully with meat without taking away from its natural flavor. Cherry and apple, meanwhile, add a fruity sweetness that can complement any berry sauce.

One of our favorite woods to smoke for Thanksgiving are these Weber Cherry Chunks. It should come as no surprise that Weber stocks a wide variety of fantastic quality smoking woods.

These pieces burn for quite some time, produce smoke of excellent quality and quantity to properly infuse your birds, and will last you quite a long time. You can check out Weber’s Apple Chunks, which will also work great for smoking turkey.

The best wood for smoking chicken

Chicken is a very easy type of meat to smoke because it easily adapts to any flavor profile, but stay away from extremely strong woods like mesquite and even hickory.

Chicken can be buffed very easily, so you have to be precise with your smoking times.

Other than that, pretty much any type of smoking wood will work just fine. When choosing a wood to smoke chicken or any other poultry, choose one more based on the accompaniments or the sauce that is served alongside it.

We recommend that you use maple or apple first. Both have mild, slightly sweet flavors that bring out the flavors of the chicken, while being very easy to combine with the side.

You should also choose a smoking wood based on its burnability . For example, maple burns slowly, so it will release its flavors slowly, avoiding over-smoking the meat.

It also burns with heat and will help cook the chicken.

Since you need to smoke your chicken slowly and gently, you can use these maple wood chips. These chips will start to smoke very quickly and will create a smooth smoke that will not over smoke the chicken.

The best wood for smoking salmon and other fish

Fish is a highly diverse category of meat for smoking. Like red and white meat, there is a wide variety of fish and shellfish flavors.

Alder wood is the best type of smoking wood that goes well with most seafood. It has very light and sweet smoking qualities that do not overwhelm the natural flavors of the fish.

Our favorite alder wood product for smoking is this one from Smokehouse. It is a very affordable product that goes on quickly and infuses evenly and effectively.

You will find that these chips will last you for some time as they produce a lot of smoke just using a little.

Other popular smoking woods commonly used for seafood include walnut and maple. The maple, especially, adds a familiar sweetness to the item and pairs exceptionally well with salmon.

Pecan wood would only be recommended when using other nutty or earthy flavoring elements in your recipe.

For shellfish, such as mussels, clams and even crab, fruitier woods, such as apple or cherry, complement it very well and balance the sometimes intense flavors of the fish.

Our personal favorite wood for fish and other types of shellfish is mixed. We love to use 50% fruit wood, like apple, and 50% oak.

The best wood for smoking pork

Pork is possibly the smokiest type of meat you can find. Not only is fresh pork smoked for added flavor, but there are products that are almost exclusively smoked.

Pork belly, bacon and king gamón are just some of the products that are usually smoked.

Processed pork is also regularly smoked with a wide variety of materials to create entirely different flavor profiles. Among them are sausages, hams, other cut meats and even ground products such as Viennese.

The woods that usually go well with pork are apple wood, oak and maple. They are lighter woods that perfectly complement the salinity of the pork and sometimes even balance it.

A fantastic oak wood that you can try using these Western Premium BBQ Oak Chunks. These chunks are larger in size than regular chunks so they can be used on a wide variety of smokers and grills.

Its flavor is much lighter than that of other processed oak products and will leave your meat with a very balanced flavor.

The best thing about smoking pork, though, is that it’s very hard to go bad. You can use virtually any type of smoking wood, and even any combination.

It is the best meat to start experimenting with when it comes to mixing woods to obtain flavors.

The best wood for smoking beef and ribs

Veal is another very versatile meat for smoking, although very few cuts are regularly smoked. Ribs, which we’ve already discussed in their own category, are smoked the most, followed by more processed beef products like pastrami.

Hickory is a great wood to start smoking beef with, as it blends perfectly with the flavors of the meat. It is quite powerful, so you will have to be careful with the smoking times to avoid over-smoking the meat.

Mesquite is another great wood for smoking beef, despite being extremely intense. Any cut of meat should be able to handle its flavor and even complement it well. You can also mix it with other lighter woods such as oak or apple.

Rib eye, in particular, is a very flavorful cut and should not be paired with a strongly flavored wood such as hickory or oak. These will completely overwhelm the cut and will be more suitable for more “flavorless” pieces of meat.

Rather, it uses fruity woods such as cherry, apple or peach . They will enhance the natural flavors of the meat and a subtle sweetness. You can apply this to any other flavored cut of meat, like steak.

Related questions

Now that we’ve gone over the best smoking woods, let’s answer a few questions on the subject!

Does the wood have to be soaked before using it for smoking?

It is not necessary to soak wood chips or chunks before using them for smoking, despite what is known. In reality, wet wood reduces its natural smoking capabilities and can even dilute the flavor.

Rather, try to use only dry wood chips, chunks, or chips.

Are there poisonous woods that should not be smoked with?

There are some types of wood that are poisonous to food when used for smoking. Any wood covered in vines is usually toxic in one way or another. This includes poison ivy, poison oak, or poison sumac. 

As we have already mentioned, you should avoid any type of soft wood such as cedar, fir, redwood, cypress or pine. These woods contain a ton of sap and terpenes that create a very unpleasant taste and can even make people sick.

Is smoked meat bad for you?

The smoked meat is not necessarily the bad part, but the charred black areas. These charred areas contain carcinogens that can cause cancer. Do not overcook or smoke meat to reduce this risk.

Can you smoke other foods?

You can definitely smoke a lot more than just meats. The cheese is also often smoked to add an interesting new flavor profile that is often paired with wood-aged wines.

Other than that, most porous foods can be smoked. This includes fruits, vegetables, and even desserts like pies or cakes.