Best Electric Smokers for Beginners: Easy Smoked Turkey, Ribs and Venison

Best electric smoker for most beginners

Pit Boss: $329.99, available · Cooking area: 880 sq in (Pit Boss) · Range: 100–300°F · Owner rating: 4.2 from 116 reviews on Pit Boss's site

If you want one electric smoker that's easy on day one and still has room for a Thanksgiving turkey, start here. For $329.99 you get the most cooking space per dollar of any app-connected smoker in this guide: 880 square inches over four adjustable porcelain-coated racks, per Pit Boss.

Pit Boss lists a 1,650-watt element, a digital controller with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth so you can watch and change the temperature from your phone, and a range of 100 to 300°F. That top end matters: USDA says smoker air should stay between 225 and 300°F while you cook, and this one has headroom. It comes with one meat probe and two probe ports, a glass-window door, a removable grease cup and a 3-year warranty. Pit Boss says you can add wood chips or pellets for smoke.

Owners are mostly happy: 116 reviews average 4.2 stars, and 75 are five stars. One first-time owner says the first cook went great and he "can't wait to smoke a Turkey for Thanksgiving." The complaints are about fit: one owner says the door was misaligned at the bottom and didn't seal well, and another got his unit with a missing knob. Check the door and parts when it arrives.

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Best budget digital smoker

Masterbuilt list price: $249.99 on masterbuilt.com (Amazon prices vary) · Cooking area: 710 sq in · Range: 100–275°F · Owner rating: 4.2 from 1,760 reviews (Masterbuilt's shared digital-smoker reviews)

"Electric smoker masterbuilt" is the top search in this whole category, and this is the model most people mean. Masterbuilt tags it a best seller on its own site, and the reviews it shares across its digital electric smokers number 1,760 at 4.2 stars, with 82% saying they'd recommend one.

It's simple. You set time and temperature on the digital panel (up to 275°F), and Masterbuilt's patented side wood-chip loader lets you add chips without opening the door and losing heat. Inside are four chrome-coated racks with 710 square inches of space, a removable water bowl, a rear grease tray and an adjustable air damper. Masterbuilt says it fits up to two turkeys or four racks of ribs. Warranty is one year.

Owners who love it really love it. A 77-year-old owner says he smokes a Christmas turkey every year and sold a pricey pellet smoker to go back to Masterbuilt. The complaints: one owner of the 40-inch says the temperature drops more than 10 degrees every time he adds wood and crawls back up in cold weather, and another says his unit quit after 14 months. There's no Wi-Fi and no window on this version. Masterbuilt's own site doesn't list the wattage.

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Best cheap smoker you can order from Sportsman's

Sportsman's Warehouse: $229.99, in stock, ships to home (delivery by November 16) · Cooking area: 535 sq in · Max: 275°F · Owner rating: 4.0 from 603 on Masterbuilt's site; 4.2 from 5 at Sportsman's

If you just want to find out whether you like smoking meat, this is the cheapest real smoker in the guide and the only one Sportsman's Warehouse had ready to ship. It's Masterbuilt's 30-inch analog model (Sportsman's lists it as the MES 35B; Masterbuilt model MB20070210).

No screens: you turn a dial to set the heat up to 275°F, and Sportsman's lists a 1,500-watt element. You get three chrome racks and 535 square inches (Masterbuilt's spec table says 530), a water bowl, a wood-chip tray, an air damper and legs that raise it to a comfortable height. Masterbuilt says it fits two turkeys or three racks of ribs. It weighs about 50 pounds.

Owners call it a "solid starter smoker" and good for the price. The warnings are worth reading: one owner says the built-in temperature gauge reads about 20 degrees off, so use your own thermometer, and says drippings can leak outside the drain. Another has owned three over the years and says all three tripped the ground-fault outlet; he still plans to buy another for the price. You load chips through the door on this one.

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Best Masterbuilt with an app

Masterbuilt list price: $349.99 on masterbuilt.com (Sportsman's lists it at $349.99 but was out of stock November 10) · Cooking area: 710 sq in · Range: 100–275°F · Owner rating: 3.9 from 15 at Sportsman's

The 710 WiFi is Masterbuilt's 30-inch digital smoker with a glass door, Wi-Fi and the Masterbuilt app, which lets you set time and temperature, get alerts and watch meat probes from your phone. It takes up to four probes (one is included).

Specs match the plain 30-inch: 710 square inches on four chrome racks, 100 to 275°F, the side wood-chip loader, water bowl, grease tray and a one-year warranty. The control panel sits at the bottom of the cabinet.

The owner record is mixed. At Sportsman's, 15 owners average 3.9 stars. Happy owners say it holds temperature, did "a great job" on summer sausage and jerky, and fed a crowd of 25. But several say the Wi-Fi disconnects, one calls it "underpowered" and slow to heat, two say the side chip loader is too small, one had the bottom control panel short out on the third use, and one couldn't buy the extra probes. If the app is the reason you're buying, the Pit Boss at #1 is cheaper and goes hotter.

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Most room for turkey and brisket

Masterbuilt list price: $379.99 on masterbuilt.com · Cooking area: 970 sq in · Range: 100–275°F · Owner rating: 4.2 from 1,760 (Masterbuilt's shared digital-smoker reviews)

Cooking for the whole family or a hunting camp? The 40-inch is the biggest cabinet here at 970 square inches, and Masterbuilt says it holds up to four turkeys, eight pork butts or eight racks of ribs.

It's the same easy digital setup: time and temperature up to 275°F, the side chip loader, four chrome racks, a water bowl, a rear grease tray and a one-year warranty. The $379.99 version has a solid door; Masterbuilt sells a version with a window and legs for $449.99.

Owner reviews are pooled with the 30-inch, so expect the same pattern. One owner bought a second because he loved the first. Another, on the 40-inch, says it's slow to reach temperature in 65-degree weather and drops when he adds wood. A bigger box takes longer to heat, so start it early.

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Best for smoked fish and jerky

Smokehouse list price: $199.99 on smokehouseproducts.com (Sportsman's lists it at $199.00 but was out of stock November 10) · Capacity: up to 50 lb · Heat: fixed, about 165°F · Weight: about 17.6 lb

The Big Chief isn't a barbecue smoker. It's a low-temperature aluminum smoke box that Smokehouse has made since the 1960s for salmon, trout, jerky and sausage. There's no dial: you plug it in and Smokehouse says it holds a steady low temperature of about 165°F.

Smokehouse lists five chrome-plated racks, room for up to 50 pounds of meat or fish, and a front chip pan that holds two cups of wood chips and slides out without opening the door. Sportsman's lists a 450-watt element. It weighs about 17.6 pounds and has a two-year warranty. The smaller Little Chief lists at $179.99.

Because it runs below USDA's 225–300°F smoking range, treat it as a smoker and dryer, not a cooker. USDA's jerky guidance is to heat meat to 160°F (poultry 165°F) before drying, so follow Smokehouse's recipe booklet and USDA's jerky steps. We couldn't find a published owner review count for it, so this pick rests on its long history, not a rating.

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Biggest window, but read the reviews

Pit Boss: $399.99, available · Cooking area: 756 sq in (Pit Boss spec) · Element: 1,650 watts · Owner rating: 3.2 from 274 reviews on Pit Boss's site

The 3-Series Analog is the good-looking one: a blue hammertone cabinet with a big viewing window, an oversized front-load chip tray Pit Boss says gives up to two hours of smoke per load, double-wall insulation, an analog meat probe and four porcelain-coated racks. It has sold well; 274 owners have reviewed it.

But the owner record is the weakest here, at 3.2 stars, and recent complaints point at the same thing. Pit Boss's description says 100 to 325°F while its own spec table says 180 to 300°F, and several owners in the past month say theirs topped out between 200 and 240°F. That's below the 225°F floor USDA gives for smoking, and too cool for crisp poultry skin, as one owner points out. Another says his started tripping the breaker after three uses.

If you like the Pit Boss look on a budget, the Pit Boss 30" Analog Vertical Smoker is $299.99 with 880 square inches and a 3-year warranty, but it had no owner reviews yet on November 10.

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