What Is The Difference Between a Grill and a Smoker?

Grills and smokers are two completely different pieces of equipment that might seem like the same thing from the outside looking in. In fact, the average person does not know the real difference between the two objects.

Both of these tools are used to cook meats outdoors and give them that smoky grill flavor, but what are the real differentiating factors?

Those who are not familiar with the art of grilling or have never actually used this equipment themselves will probably not be able to tell them apart. This is why I put together a quick and easy comparison of a grill and a smoker, which we will discuss in-depth throughout this section.

Take a look at the lists down below, where you will find the characteristics of a grill, followed by that of a smoker. These combined with the rest of the information to follow will give you everything you need to know about this outdoor kitchen tools.

These are the characteristics of a grill:

• Fire is kept in same compartment as meat, directly cooks it from underneath
• Designed to cook the meat all the way through quickly, instead of giving it a certain taste

The grill is probably the BBQ tool that you are most familiar with. When you think of any kind of outdoor BBQ party that you might have had growing up or current day, the grill is the main component that makes everything happen.

You might have a gas, electric, or charcoal grill. Depending on the type of grill that you are using, you might have to turn a switch to ignite the fire or use lighter fluid to spark up the flame in the pit yourself.

Either way, all grills are fundamentally the same as they compare to the average smoker.

To be more specific, the fire in a grill is kept in the same compartment as the meat. Think of using a traditional BBQ grill. You place the meat on top of the grates and the fire comes up from directly underneath them.

When it is time to let the meat cook, you close the lid or the hood and allow it to reach the correct temperature. Therefore, the fire and the meat are kept in the same enclosed location while you are cooking with a grill.

The grill itself is designed to cook the meat all the way through quickly, very similar to how it would be on a normal stove. Once you light the fire and place the meat on the grates, you will wait a certain amount of time until it is all the way cooked through and the process will be completed.

In addition to quickly cooking the meat, a grill is not necessarily designed to give off a certain taste when the food is done. Of course, you can choose to go with a charcoal grill for a smokier flavor than you would get with a gas grill, but it still won’t be a slap in the face as far as smoke goes.

This is where the smoker comes in, which will be outlined throughout the rest of this section.

Now that you have gotten a pretty good idea of what makes a grill special while you are using it to cook your food, we will move on to the next topic of discussion, which is the smoker.

Smokers are much less common in the average backyard BBQ party. You might consider this to be a specialty or top-tier kitchen tool that is only purchased for a particular purpose.

Before we get into more detail on what a smoker is, take a look at the list down below to find some good answers through the characteristics of this type of outdoor kitchen tool.

These are the characteristics of a smoker:

• Fire is contained in a separate space from the main compartment (Where the meat goes)
• Heat is generally lower (cooks meats to 250-255 F range)

The main difference between a smoker and a grill is that the smoker holds the fire kn a separate space from the main compartment where the meat goes. As mentioned previously, the grill will hold both in the same section, covered by the hood or the lid.

This design of the smoker allows the smoke from the fire to reach the meat and coat it in closed quarters, as opposed to the fire directly touching it. The result of this method will not be quickly cooked meat, since the fire is not in contact with the meat or food that you are trying to smoke.

Instead, the heat will be a lot lower, and the meat will cook from the heat of the fire all around it, along with the smoke that is trapped inside.

The heat inside of a smoker usually cooks the meat anywhere from the 250 to 255 F range as far as temperatures go.

If the information in this section interested you about smokers, then you will really get all of the information that you want to know about the topic in the next section. Keep reading to get all the details about the purpose of a smoker and the results that you can achieve when you use one.