ElectricGrill

Technique · April 2026

Smoking on an Electric Grill

Real wood-fired flavor without managing a fire.

By The ElectricGrill Editorial Team·Updated April 2026

Smoking is low-heat cooking with wood smoke as a flavor agent — usually 180–250°F over hours, not minutes. On a stick burner you spend the whole cook chasing temperature; on a woodfire-electric grill, the pellet hopper does that work for you. What you trade in fire-tending you gain in consistency: an electric smoker holds a dead-flat 225°F for six, eight, or ten hours without anyone watching it.

That's why electric is the right tool for brisket burnt ends, pulled pork shoulder, ribs, and cold-smoked salmon — the four projects that benefit most from unattended temperature. The catch is the smoke flavor itself. Pure-electric grills produce heat but not real smoke, so brands like Ninja added a pellet tray that combusts wood pellets at low temperature for genuine smoke ring and bark. If smoke flavor is what you're after on electric, the grill needs an actual smoke source — not just a low temperature setting.

Master the Technique

Can an electric grill produce real smoke flavor?

Independent technique video from Cooking With CJ.

We don't produce our own videos.

01 / Best electric grills for smoking

The grills we cook this on

Smoking on electric needs a real wood-fuel source. These three units have one built in.

02 / Recipes using this technique

Cook the technique

Tested recipes from our kitchen that use smoking on an electric grill.

Recipe

Cold-Smoked Salmon Technique (Electric)

The cold-smoking technique for salmon on an electric grill with a smoke tube. Advanced but approachable.

Read the recipe →Recipe

How to Get a Smoke Ring on Electric Grill

The chemistry and technique for producing a legitimate pink smoke ring on an electric grill brisket.

Read the recipe →

03 / Related techniques

Keep going

Technique

Low and Slow

Six-hour cooks at a dead-flat temperature, no fire-tending required

Read the technique →Technique

Indirect Heat

The slower cousin of direct heat, built for thick cuts and whole birds

Read the technique →

04 / Questions

Common questions about smoking

Does an electric grill make real smoke?
Pure-electric grills don't — they're a heating element with no combustion. Woodfire-electric units like the Ninja Woodfire and Char-Broil Bistro Pro burn wood pellets at low heat to produce genuine smoke. If smoke ring matters to you, you need one of the woodfire models.
What temperature should I smoke at on an electric grill?
225°F is the canonical low-and-slow smoking temperature — slow enough to render fat and absorb smoke, hot enough to push pork and brisket to pull-apart tenderness over 6–10 hours. Some recipes go as low as 180°F for cold smoke effects on salmon.
How long does the pellet tray last in a Ninja Woodfire?
A full pellet scoop runs roughly 30–60 minutes of smoke. For longer cooks, you reload the tray once or twice — the cookbook's pulled pork recipe is a single reload, brisket is two. The unit keeps cooking on heat alone after the pellets burn through.
Can I cold smoke on an electric grill?
Some electrics (like the Ninja Woodfire on the lowest smoke setting) can hold temperatures low enough for cold smoke on salmon or cheese, especially in cool weather. Pure smokers without dedicated cold-smoke mode aren't reliable for it — the heating element pushes too hot.

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