How to Smoke Cheese on a Barbecue Smoker
If you’ve got a barbecue smoker, you should learn how to smoke cheese with it. Smoked cheese is a special treat, and it’s really quite easy to do.
There are many ways to serve and enjoy smoked cheese, such as sliced with crackers and in sandwiches or shredded in a lettuce salad. Follow these 6 easy steps and you’ll discover how fun and easy it is to smoke cheese!
The idea is to generate a light smoke while keeping your smoker temperature under 90 degrees F to avoid melting the cheese. You can use your offset smoker like I did, or a variety of different contraptions. In fact, even a cardboard box would work if you’d hook it up to a smoke generator and have vents for the smoke to exit the box.
You will smoke the cheese for a certain amount of time, not until it reaches a certain internal temperature. The kind of wood you use and the density of your smoke also affect the flavor. This is where you will need to experiment and adjust to match your preference. It can sound complicated, but it’s actually quite easy.
Smoking Cheese Instructions
Get the cheese. You can smoke about any kind of cheese, including colby, swiss, provolone, mozzarella, cheddar, and muenster. Swiss is my favorite.
Cut the cheese into blocks about 4” x 4” x 2”. Some people say to use 1” blocks, and some even use large blocks. I think somewhere around 2” thick is the perfect size for a short smoke period and consistency throughout.
Let your cheese adjust to room temperature for at least one hour. This is optional, but putting cold cheese in a warm smoker can attract condensation, and you’ll get the best results if your cheese surface stays dry during the smoke.
Load the grate. Put the cheese on the grate, spaced at least one inch apart.
Smoke the cheese. If you maintain a steady moderate smoke, three hours should do it. You can always adjust it the next time to suit your taste. Keep the smoker under 90 degrees F so the cheese doesn’t melt.
See my cold smoker suggestions below.
Refrigerate the cheese. Once it’s done, vacuum seal each piece individually or place them in freezer bags. Refrigerate the cheese for at least a week to let the smoke mellow and equalize in the cheese. If you have the patience, you can leave it in the fridge for two weeks or longer; I’ve heard it gets even better.
Smoke Generator Options
If you want the easiest way to hold a steady smoke, check out the nifty cold smokers from A-MAZE-N or Smoke Daddy.
Review of the A-Maze-N Smoke Generators
When I told Todd, owner of A-Maze-N Products, that we wanted to test their products, he immediately dropped a box of gadgets in the mail for me. I have the 5×8 AMNPS (A-MAZE-N-PELLET-SMOKER) and the 6” and 12” AMNTS (A-MAZE-N-TUBE-SMOKER).
So why would you need a smoke generator like this? They are made for adding smoke when you’re cooking and the equipment you are using is not making enough smoke, or perhaps none at all (for example, a pellet smoker at high temperatures or a gas grill). The other use for these is when you are cold smoking (cheese, nuts, etc), and you need to make smoke without raising the temperature above 90 degrees.
The A-Maze-N Maze Smoker is made of perforated stainless steel with a simple and sturdy design and should last for many years. It is designed to burn either dust or pellets.
The A-Maze-N Tube Smokers are also well-built. They are designed to burn pellets only.
The Torch
You’ll need a small hand-held propane torch to light the pellets.
Testing the AMNPS (5×8 Pellet Smoker)
I had expected to light the AMNPS, walk away, and come back 3 hours later to smoked cheese. However, it wasn’t that easy, and it’s been a bit of a challenge to figure this out.
I did a trial run with a whole block of Swiss cheese on my offset smoker, using the 5×8 AMNPS. I lit the pellets as instructed and set the box in my firebox. It started out fine, but within the first hour, the fire died. I relit the pellets with my torch and let it sit in the breeze for 10 minutes until it was nice and hot. Then I blew out the flame and set it back into the firebox; it made a nice smoke for probably 30 minutes, but soon there was hardly any visible smoke coming out of the stack. I blew on and jiggled the pellets to get it going again and opened the firebox vents all the way. It started smoking nicely again, but within about 20 minutes, it was down to barely a fizzle again.
Todd suggested putting the AMNPS into the main chamber of my smoker, so I tested it that way too. I have done a couple runs with the AMNPS now, and I can’t get it to burn right on its own. Usually it burns a portion of one row before it fizzles out.
When I smoked the cheese, I made the mistake of only lighting one end, so the smoke was very light. I smoked my cheese for close to five hours, thinking the extra time in the smoker would make up for it, but the smoke flavor is still very pale. This can easily be fixed by lighting both ends and even the middle, to double or triple the smoke level.
Even though I didn’t figure out what caused the fire to die, I think this was more of a user error or possibly from the pellets I was using. Anytime you are playing with fire, there will be variables and challenges. As for the construction of the product, I would highly recommend it.
Testing the AMNTS (Tube Smoker)
I have tested the AMNTS 6” on two empty runs with the tube on the cooking grate, just like my latest tests with the AMNPS. So far it is working great, and keeps going until the pellets are all burned up.
The tube has a slick, cool-looking design. I love how compact it is and even the shorter 6” tube makes smoke for about two hours. One possible disadvantage I can see is that you can’t “burn the candle at both ends” for double the smoke because one end is closed, however, in my testing it makes enough smoke that it shouldn’t be a problem.
So far it is working as expected and produces a nice amount of smoke. The 6” tube provides around two hours of smoke. If you’re going with the tube, I’d recommend an expanding one, such as the 7–12″ or 12–18″ ones.
I hope you’ll try your hand at smoked cheese this winter. It’s a great feeling to know you’ve mastered smoking cheese, but also to enjoy those delicious snacks of crackers, cheese, and sausage, or some sweet-glazed sliders with ham and cheese. The goodness is endless!
If you find this article helpful, please leave a comment below to let us know how it went.
Sizzling regards,
Lavern Gingerich
PS. Meadow Creek’s offset barbecue smokers are perfect for cold smoking cheese. And they make it easy and fun to cook some of the most amazing barbecue you have ever tasted or imagined.
Disclaimer: The smoke generators in this article were given to me by A-Maze-N products, but the opinions in this article are completely my own.
Updated: February 22, 2020
December 31st, 2017 at 2:37 am
I have a question. Why do you want to bring your cheese to room temperature 68 to 72 degrees, when you are trying to smoke the cheese between 40 and 60 degrees?
I have a little chief smoker with a 12 inch a-maze-n tube for smoke. I buy 3 or 4 1 lb packages of Tillmook extra sharp cheddar cheese, take them out of the package and let them sit in the fridge overnight unwrapped.
I light the the tube to start the smoke, after I blow out the flame, the cheese goes from fridge to smoker, with a bowl of ice under the cheese, turning the cheese 180 after 2 hours during a 4 hour smoke.
January 2nd, 2018 at 6:43 am
I’m actually not positive on that point. It’s supposed to keep condensation down on the cheese, but I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing or if it actually helps attract more smoke. I read it somewhere when I was putting this together. It’s much more important to keep the cheese from melting, which your ice will help with. If the cheese gets soft from the heat, it will deform and turn wet on the surface.
July 28th, 2020 at 1:19 am
@Lavern, Cold air falls, Ice mainly aesthetics no physical effect. All it’s doing is preventing higher temps. Just dial it down instead so much easier.
November 21st, 2020 at 3:33 pm
@Dave,
Why do you turn your cheese?
Clint
August 20th, 2018 at 2:21 pm
I recently purchased the 5×8 pellet smoker. You had trouble keeping it going. Pellets absorb moisture from humidity as all wood does. Put your pellets in the microwave for 3 minutes then use them. You’ll have no problems.
February 19th, 2019 at 8:50 am
Got some cold smoked cheese on the go as we speak!! I’ve used the ProQ cold smoke genorator (brought off amazon) in my Big Green Egg. I’ve set up for indirect and added an ice tray, as a result it’s held steady for the last hour at 11c (52f)so hoping for a good result on the temps!
I’ve opted for a verity of cheeses for my first go so I can see how it impacts them differently. Cheddar, Gouda and Foir di Latte Mozzarella all gone in together. I’m planning to flip them after two hours to get a nice even smoke.
Anyone tried doing anying with the smoked ice? Not sure if it would work or not but was thinking of refrezzing it to add a smokey kick to cocktails…
April 23rd, 2020 at 5:47 pm
Hello, I read about your cheese smoking. I tried cheedar, my tempreture went up to 50°C and then the cheese start to melt, so do you have a solution for this? I use the grill directly. I have a barrel type smoker.
Rgards
Edward
April 27th, 2020 at 12:48 pm
Hi, you need to make smoke while keeping the heat down.
I would suggest you purchase an A-MAZE-N smoking tube as suggested in my article and then only light that instead of using charcoal/wood in your smoker.
February 17th, 2021 at 8:18 am
@Edward de Bruin, The cheese needs to be away from the heat. I use a Masterbuilt smoker. Economy priced vertical barrel smoker. Add a pan of ice water between the smoke tube and the cheese to keep the smoke cold. Cheese on top rack, vent fully open. If using natural charcoal, a small deck of cards sized piece with wood of choice on top is all that is needed. This may require adding additional charcoal and wood for a 2 to 3 hr smoke.
12 inch smoke tubes are about $15 on ebay so it is a good investment. Light it and walk away.
If using a large horizontal barrel smoker the smoke tube is placed far away from the cheese to keep it from melting. Cheese on the chimney side
If it is a fixed lid smoker, with the tube on the air in side.
Best to test before losing $30 of cheese to a meltdown. Table top barrel smokers like the Little Pal, are a no go unless one is in Alaska, or north and or west of the Great Lakes. Temps of -10°F or below.
My homemade from a balloon helium cylinder ‘Mini Pal’ is great for a pound of sausage, mullet, trout, redfish, catfish, or a 2 lb pork loin, but it gets too hot for cold smoking cheese.
June 15th, 2020 at 10:54 pm
Re: your 5×8 A-Maz-N not staying lit… I have both that and the tube, and love both… they always stay lit once going OK. Looks to me like you’re not loading the maze channel full enuf… rather than spread the pellets out for a partial load, always fill the channel[s] full and don’t go all the way around the maze if you don’t want a long burn. The adjacent channel won’t light as the pellets burn, and you can still light both ends if you want to.
January 26th, 2021 at 10:14 pm
I bought a smoke tube. Have a Daniel Boone GMG smoker. I was going to do the cheese in it but only use the tube. No heat at all. Is there a temp outside that is too cold? It is -15 now and I dont want the cheese to freeze.