Move Your Kitchen Outdoors To The Smoker

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Remember that old saying, work smarter not harder? If you’re like me, you’re always trying to get the most bang for your buck. (Thank you, Mom, for instilling this into me at such a young age.) Here's a hot tip for using your smoker to save yourself a whole lot of time — not to mention, reducing the amount of heat made in the kitchen during the sweltering summer months.

Whenever we decide we want to cook something on the smoker, like ribs or a pork shoulder, we always pick up a couple of whole chickens to throw on the smoker as well. Why? Because smoked chicken really kicks up ordinary dishes like quesadillas or enchiladas. And by having smoked chicken ready to go in the freezer or fridge, it makes weeknight cooking a breeze. Which is always a win in my book, because the first thing that my kids say when they walk in the door is “I’m hungry, can I have a snack?!” So instead of giving in to snacks before dinner, I get started cooking and have a meal on the table in minutes rather than hours. Ok, maybe not hours, but you get the gist.

Here is the smoker that we have and love. It has plenty of room to cook multiple things at once. Here's one item that you might not think about putting on your smoker (insert drum roll) eggs. For smoking eggs, place them on the smoker raw, for one hour at 225°. Once the hour is up remove the eggs from the smoker and place them into an ice water bath to cool. Now put those smoked eggs to use in Deviled eggs or use them for Egg Salad during the week.

If you’re like me, and want to cook once and get multiple meals out it, you might want to look into buying a smoker or start putting yours to use. So crack open a cold beverage, head outside to the patio, and relax. It’s time to let the smoker do all the work tonight.