Your Ultimate Guide to Smoking Times and Temperatures


Want to know how to get tender and juicy smoked meat every time? Today, we’re sharing the ultimate guide to smoking times and temperatures so your smoked food turns out perfect every time!

The secret is balancing the right time and temperature you need to get that succulent, moist, juicy, and tender smoked meat that dazzles your taste buds. Of course, there’s a big difference between understanding the concept and putting it into action. That’s what we’re here for!

We never want you to serve smoked meats that are tough, flavorless, or worse still raw on the inside. Today, we’re going to show you how to use the secrets of time and temperature to get amazingly delicious smoked food every time.

Smoking Times and Temperatures

Our ultimate guide gives you the time and temperate you need for the most popular cuts of beef, pork, poultry, and fish. These guidelines are based on using the Bradley smoker because it gives you the convenience of no hassle, no babysitting food smoking experience. 

The Bradley smoker makes sure that the two most important factors, time and temperature, are consistent throughout your entire smoke. You can set your desired temperature with our smoker based on the type of meat. This allows you to get consistent results every time.

Additionally, we recommend you use our premium Bradley Bisquettes because they provide the right amount of smoke to give you the flavor you desire without turning to ash. The Bradley Bisquettes are specifically designed to extinguish before they turn to ash. This is very important because when normal wood chips turn to ash they release foul smoke that contaminates the meat and makes it taste bitter.

Bradley Bisquettes

Our Bradley Bisquettes are available in a wide variety of flavors and hardwoods so you can mix and match to try different flavor combinations to find the one you like most. We also include recommendations on the packaging for the types of meat that the Bradley Bisquettes pair best with so you get delicious smoked food with every smoke.

When it comes to food smoking, please understand that the time required to get the meat done depends on variable factors such as bone contents in the meat, thickness, fatty contents, and the meats’ general type. The smoking times and temperatures are our best estimates but can vary. These serve as a great rule of thumb to get you started.

We highly suggest beginners follow these times and temperatures very closely. It will prevent under/over smoking your food. Another more important piece of advice is to invest in a good quality probe thermometer. It’s a lifesaver, especially when you are new to food smoking. The probe thermometer is a chef’s best tool to measure the meat’s internal temperature to ensure it is done.

For purpose of getting the best results, we have provided the finishing temperatures in the char below. Finishing temperatures represent the meat’s internal temperatures that are safe to consume.

Smoking Times and Temperatures Charts

This time and temperature guide is incredibly useful if you’re using the Bradley smoker. Please keep in mind that other smokers and ovens will vary dramatically from these numbers as most are not designed to provide the same level of consistent temperature and smoke as the Bradley smoker.

Final Thoughts

Use the guide above to get tender and juicy smoked meat every time with the Bradley smoker. This guide will give you great results whether it’s your first smoke or you’re an old pro. Also, remember that the source and consistency of the smoke are important too. The Bradley Bisquettes are specially designed to give you the right amount of smoke without the ash that gives smoked meat a bitter taste.

For more Bradley smoker tips and tricks, check out more of our great articles on our Bradley Smoker blog. You’ll find all kinds of great ideas on how to get the most out of your Bradley Smoker.