Getting into the smoked BBQ is one of the most satisfying and amazing hobbies a person can get into. It is relatively easy and convenient to pickup and the result is delicious and tasty food your friends and whole family can enjoy. One of the best keys to making sure your food is consistently cooked and is delicious is to not get in over your head with a costly cooker geared towards the experienced pit masters. Another drawback many make with their first Smoker is by grabbing under $70 offset smoker specially from their local big box store. Most of these cheap ones have worse air flow control and even poor build quality. This can make executing your target temperature a task resulting in a bad time and bad food. However, in this article you are going to find best electric smokers for beginners which are reliable and offers excellent grilling experience.

Buying First Smoker for grilling can be hectic

So, you have finally decided to buy your first smoker but just by thinking about all the options out there your head is starting to spin, and you are confused. Fortunately, some smokers are more accepting than others. We believe you will have a heck of a lot more fun (and will also somehow be able to impress your family and friends more) if you pay out a little time learning what makes the best smoker for beginners. Purchasing your first smoker can be overwhelming as you have a lot of choices. As a beginner, you will need to balance ease of operation with performance and cost while keeping in mind that you might be upgrading your smoker after a while.

Why Electric smoker?

An electric smoker is a manageable and easy solution for people looking for a safer way to grill. Electric smokers or grills cuts back on the amount of smoke which is caused by an open flame, making them perfect for people who have to stick to specific building or apartment restrictions and can’t purchase a bigger smoker or grill that runs on charcoal or gas. There are excellent offers for both indoor and outdoor electric grill styles, with few models that work in either environment. Cooking on an electric grill is super safe and easy. There is no propane tank or open flame, just a power switch and you will get the same tasted food. Simply plug in the switch and turn the dial to control the cooking temperature.

Electric Smokers are safer compared to gas and Charcoal

Smokehouse barbecue is a god given amusement. Well, that might be a little stretch, but it surely is tasty. Once you get a bite of that unique and authentic smoked meat, you can never stop thinking about it. And once that smokehouse barbecue’s craving starts, you find yourself visiting the nearest smokehouse barbecue joint every now and then. But what if you keep on craving for that smoky, juicy meat? You can not just keep going to that local smokehouse barbecue joint. The most practical and much better way to cease that craving is to make a smoked meat yourself. But to start doing that, you will need a smoker before any thing else. If you have never tried using a smoker yet, you should go for an electric smoker because it allows the exact same benefits of charcoal or gas smokers, with less hassle and are safer.

So, what is basically the best electric smoker for the beginners? This article will assist you in finding the best beginner smoker for your individual situation. There are three main types of smokers, like, Charcoal, electric and gas, each type of the smoker has its own pros and cons and you can just prefer the one of your personal choice and which kind suits you the most and your situation. You have the option of buying an outdoor electric grill for convenient set-up on your patio or deck or browse an indoor electric grill and instead, sear your steak inside. The Indoor barbeque grills are especially easy to clean and store.

Charcoal Smoker or Electric Smoker?

Charcoal smokers are the ideal smoker type for people who loves grilled or smoked food as coal adds an extra smoky and unique taste to the food and is usually a choice of those who are pro at it, but at the same time it’s the most dangerous of all smoker types as it releases extra smoke which is not safe for tight spaces and most communities and areas don’t allow the use of charcoal grills or smokers. Gas smokers are another much safer option than the charcoal ones, it allows you to carry gas or liquid propane gas tank with you, and some of the smokers have a separate compartment to store that tank, it’s relatively safer but not an ideal option for beginners as it’s a little complicated. Now let’s talk about the type which is Best for beginners as it’s much convenient and the safest of all types; the electric smoker. This the type of smokers we assembled in this article because of its many advantages for beginners. Electric smokers do not emit large number of harmful fumes, carbon monoxide, or open flames which are unsafe.

We compiled the top rated and best electric smokers for beginners with reasonable prices and find the one that fits your personal preferences and needs. We are going to give you three best options to choose from with different price ranges for different people and walk you through the pros and cons of each one of them.

Best Electric Smokers for Beginners (Comparison)

Masterbuilt 20073716 Electric Smoker– Editor’s Choice

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Masterbuilt 20073716 Portable Electric Smoker is ideal for smoking on camping, tailgating, on a road trip, or just travelling to a distant place. For these purposes it’s perfect, as it’s one of the few smokers which are small enough to carry conveniently, especially if you buy a travel bag accompanied by this. There’s plenty of room to smoke a whole turkey, slabs of ribs, or ham or your favorite BBQ for tailgating or for any other purpose. This portable smoker is perfect for road trips or camping. Pointless to say, but you can use it at home without going anywhere out if you are looking for a smoker which is small and easy to store and use. This Masterbuilt smoker has made smoking simpler and much better.

It has two chrome coated smoking racks with 1,400-watt heating element. It offers simple controls with high, medium and low settings. It has an easy to read temperature gauge on its door, a removable wood chip tray and a water pan. The smoker’s legs easily fold below it during transport and for easy storage.

Following are some of the pros and Cons of this Masterbuilt portable electric smoker.

CONCLUSION

In short, it’s a quiet, simple looking and hardworking unit that can get the job done without even demanding much maintenance or attention. Cleaning is literally a breeze. Conclusively, while this Masterbuilt Portable Electric Smoker does have a few tiny flaws, but it does accomplish the job it was designed for, being an effective and compact meat smoker to be used either at home or for traveling or camping. It’s one of the cheapest smokers available on the market, which we believe makes it a sensible and safe choice for beginners and for those who want an affordable, small, solid and portable electric smoker that is also easy to clean and maintain. You can always upgrade later, as you are just a beginner and this cheap smoker is a best choice to get you started.

Smoke Hollow 30162E 30 Inches Electric Smoker

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This Smoke Hollow Electric Smoker comes furnished with a fully adjustable electric heating element with multiple adjustment levels and three chrome plated cooking grids and also a water pan which is a porcelain coated steel. It’s great for outdoor as well as indoor cooking of vegetables, meat, fish and more by giving your food a unique smoked flavor. It’s a painted-steel wood-chip box and its magnetic door latching system provides you a safe experience. The two side handles are great for easy assembly, convenient transport. The instructions are included with the smoker, so you don’t have to worry about the assembly. The whole of the smoker measures as 16 inches x 14 inches x 30 inches.

With the magnetic door latching system, the door will stay closed and you won’t lose any heat whatsoever, resulting in even cooking. Even if you open the door for a moment or two to check whether your food is cooked, nothing will happen to the temperature, as of the exceptional grip that the magnetic door latching system bestows and that will make sure that on the inside of the smoker, everything works in the perfect way and that your exquisite food is turning to the gourmet dish with outstanding and stunning smoke flavor.

This electric smoker provides with the dimensions that do not take up a lot of space (it’s overall dimensions from the outside are; 38 inches tall, 18 inches deep and 21.5 inches wide). It helps you cook food in an efficient way and also due to its petite size you can literally store it anywhere and even take it to the camping, tailgating, or other outdoor purposes.

CONCLUSION

This 30 inches Smoke Hollow Electric Smoker is affordable for its quality and convenience of use, and an excellent device for smoking food. It may not have that classy appearance as some of the other much pricier units, but it will provide you with everything you need for exceptional results for smoking food. It is reliable, durable, easy to operate and assemble. You can easily move and store this smoker in minutes. It has very practical handles on the sides which makes it easy to transport. All in all, a great 30 inches electric smoker for its low price.

Masterbuilt 30 inch electric smoker

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One More smoker from Masterbuilt in our list.  But this one is digital. You can control it easily with its digital panel for turning it on/off, you can set time and temperature as well with its digital panel. It comes with 4 chrome coated racks. You can load it easily with its side adding chip system which means you do not have to open the door at all hence, makes it more secure model. Moreover, you are going to get thermostat in this electric smoker so, you can enjoy even cooking without sacrificing your food quality as thermostat controls temperature evenly.

Conclusion

Masterbuilt 30 inch is budget friendly and best electric smoker for beginners. It truly offers outstanding value. Heats up quickly and its even temperature spreading system cooks an excellent food.

On downsides, you can feel that its chip tray is small. Even though, it has digital panel for operations the LED display is extremely dim.

HOW TO CHOOSE BEST ELECTRIC SMOKER FOR BEGINNERS

Following tips will help you in choosing the best electric smoker for beginners

BUILD QUALITY

One of the very important things to acknowledge with a smoker at any skill level or price range is its built quality. If your unit has super thin walls or leaks air, regulating and then maintaining the temperature can be a big task. For charcoal powered units your heating element obviously is as good as the quality of charcoal you use but in cheaper propane or electric powered units the heating element can be a big source of tension and heartache if you do not go with a good quality unit.

EFFICIENCY

How efficient and fast a smoker is directly depending on how much fuel the smoker should use to hold a better solid smoking temperature. This all again goes back to the build quality. If heat or smoke leaks from your smoker from any place then it is not supposed to, then your smoker will have to use more fuel to maintain the ideal temperature you want to stay at as it’s pretty obvious. This can be specially frustrating on those charcoal type as usually you would have to take the food out to add some more charcoal, which is definitely not fun.

VALUE

As with every other product, we want the best value for the dollars. One of our favourite saying’s states, “buy once, cry once” and it definitely holds true when you want to invest in any kind of smoker. It may hurt you a little to spend more than $100-$200 on your very first smoker but what actually hurts is buying the cheap big box only to be frustrated and disappointed with its performance and build quality. It will then be in your backyard unused or maybe find its way to the junkyard.

SUPPORT

It’s much convenient starting with a unit that has a tough community built around it. The smokers on this list have forum write-ups and some YouTube videos on how to light and heat up properly, how to cook specific cuts of meat and usually some other fun DIY improvements. This specifically is rarely an issue with the charcoal-based units as there is nothing to break but with the electric and propane units it’s very important to consider its warranty, what are the parts the warranty covers and how a consumer can go about getting a part replaced on their smoker are usually the things to consider when shopping a smoker.

FUEL SOURCE

Perhaps the second important feature to build quality is its fuel source. Selecting the correct fuel source can make a huge difference and impact on your food and most importantly, how frequently you use your smoker. Most of the people believe that the best flavor comes from charcoal or stick red-hot smokers but the drawback to using charcoal smoker is it is mostly messier, and it has a slightly higher learning curve along with the slightly higher preparation time and is also not a safer option. On the other hand, propane and electric smokers are super easy to use, just set it and then forget it. The not so good part is that the flavor isn’t exactly the same, although some of the high-end style grills are getting better. Bottom line choose whatever the fuel source that fits your style and situation and that you will actually use later. If you don’t see your self working with charcoal in future, then go with an electric or gas unit. A BBQ with a little less flavor is about 10 times better than no BBQ at all.

CONVENIENCE

The indoor and outdoor electric smokers don’t need propane or coal to heat, it only has access to the electrical outlet. They are relatively easier to clean than charcoal and gas smokers and can be used inside or outside depending on the situation or your mood. They are also convenient for apartment dwellers or for small balconies as they do not emit large amount of smoke. If you live at a place that restricts propane or charcoal because of the risk of the fire, an electric grill is the perfect fit and an ideal option for you, since there is literally no open flame.

PORTABILITY

These smokers are comparably lightweight and easy to take with you to the parties, tailgates, campsites, balconies, backyards and more, you can always pack up your electric smokers and gets to cooking in a moment. Their compact and petite size allows for the portability, some of the smokers comes with additional features which makes them more convenient to transport like, side handles, foldable legs, magnetic door latching system and more.

SAVING

Buying an electric smoker is normally just a one-time expense, as they don’t need propane tank replacements or refills. Electric grills are mostly cheaper than other traditional styles, since they also happen to be smaller in size. But at the same time, beginners usually go for the electric at first because they want to get their hand on grilling or smoking food but plan on going for other grill types later, so you should keep this in mind, and give the smoker you chose a second thought and spend your money wisely based on your individual situation.

Final Verdict

Making your own smoked food in electric a smoker at home is a great decision, and we are glad you made this and are not planning on wasting more money on restaurants smoked or grilled food. If you are a beginner, an electric smoker is the best choice for you as it’s safe and tends to provide you almost the same tasting food and even if you are a pro but want to own an electric smoker as it’s safe for both indoor and outdoor purposes. Considering everything, we hope this article was of any help for you, make sure to consider this guide to make a wise decision. Enjoy Smoked food!

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