SMOKING TWO KINDS OF MEAT AT SAME TIME??

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gregc

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jul 12, 2010
49
15
Atlanta, GA
Hello All,

Next weekend, i am having my family up for a BBQ. I am going to smoke a couple chickens but I would like to smoke some ribs too. Is it a bad idea to smoke two different types of meats at the same time? Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks for helping a newbie.
 
Not a bad idea at all, i do it all the time.

If chicken or poultry is involved, don't put it above any other meat. Also, i run poultry at a higher temp than i do most other stuff, so I would stick to 2 diff meats that can run around the same temps

Good luck and take pics
 
Not at all.  When I heat the smoker up, I try and throw a variety of stuff on there.  No sense wasting good heat and smoke.  I start all my meat at the same time.  Your chicken will probably get done a little before your ribs.  I don't mind room temperature chicken, but if you want to keep it hot, just double foil them and put them in a cooler with some towels until the ribs are ready.  Enjoy!
 
i almost always have more than one thing on

chicken on the bottom rack

pork in the middle

beef on the top

apps and snacks above that

dont want the raw chicken dripping on anything else!
 
I did that exact thing last weekend. Just threw the chicken on about an hour and a half before the ribs usually come off. I had some issues that day but it had everything to do with learning a new smoker not the two meat thing. I am going to try some pork butt and chicken here soon as well.
 
If you smoke the chicks at the same temp you smoke your ribs, you might end up with rubbery skin on the chicks, assuming your smoking at 225°.  Poultry is not usually done low & slow, higher heat 300°-350° helps crisp up the skin. I go 375° myself. The choice is yours, enjoy your smoke.
 
Your all good. I mix and match all the time. Put the longest cook stuff in first, then add the other stuff later. I know it goes against logical thought and some people will disagree, but since I have a vertical Weber Smokey Mountain and have to remove the upper rack to get to the lower, I put my ribs or whatever is longest on the bottom. Then about 3 hrs. in I put the chicken on top, but it is all going to be taken up to a high enough temp. to kill anything.
 
Thanks!

Johnny, I also have a Weber Smokey Mountain. I have been wondering how am I supposed to get to the bottom rack? so, i have yet to use the bottom rack. Do you find that the lower rack cooks faster than the upper or are they about the same?
 
I do both in a vertical smoker and have no issue.  The things that cook fastest (smaller cuts) go low, close to heat source. Thick cut stuff, or things that need higher internal temp go up top.  Things that barely need smoke also go up (corn comes to mind)
 
Last weekend I cooked both ribs and chicken.  Chicken on the bottom and ribs on top "MES".  Everything was looking good until we lost power last hr of cooking. The chicken came out dry. The ribs were great as usual.  Temp 235 to 240. 5hrs plus cool down 1hr. in smoker.

Maybe I ll skip the power outage next time.
 
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