If you are looking for what you can cook on your pellet grill in 5 hours or less, this article on 5 hour smoker recipes will give you plenty of ideas to smoke this weekend or sooner.
With 5 hours to spare for smoking you won’t be able to smoke pork butt for pulled pork or brisket as they take far longer, but you still have plenty of great options.
Best 5 Hour Smoker Recipes to Smoke This Weekend
Smoked Trisket – Tri Tip Steak Treated Like a Brisket
Smoking beef brisket can take up to 16 hours which is quite the commitment. A faster and easier approach is treat a tri tip steak steak as if it were a brisket by smoking it brisket-style in your smoker.
This triangular shaped cut will only take around 4-5 hours and can be served medium rare, unlike brisket. You can slice it thinly and serve it in sandwiches like smoked beef brisket.
We think it’s one of the best smoker recipes.
Easy 5 Hour Smoker Recipes – Smoked Pork Loin
Pork butt for pulled pork is always a popular choice for BBQ enthusiasts, but it can take 10+ hours depending on the size of the cut. A pork loin (also called pork roast) on the other hand can be smoked in as little as 4 hours or so.
Although you won’t get that fall apart tender texture of pulled pork, you can slice the loin into thin juicy slices for a quickier easier alternative to pork shoulder.
You can watch the process on our Youtube Short video below.
Smoked Turkey Breast
Although a whole turkey can take up to 6 hours in the smoker, a turkey breast can be smoked much more quickly. It can also feed up to 6 people depending on the turkey size and the side dishes you have.
Although it seems like an obvious choice for Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey is one of the most delicious and lean meast to smoke at anytime of the year.
221 Ribs – An Easy 5 Hour Smoking Recipe
The 221 method for smoking ribs involves smoking the ribs low and slow for 2 hours directly on the grills, then wrapping the ribs in foil with a little liquid and smoking for another 2 hours, and then finally smoking the ribs unwrapped and sauced for an hour.
The whole process takes 5 hours altogether and results in tasty, juicy, fall off the bone ribs.
Smoked Duck Breasts
Duck breasts can be smoked very quickly and stay juicy in the smoker because of their high fat content.
The video below shows duck breasts being smoked in our Weber Go Anywhere but you can use whatever smoker or grill you have. We did the smoked duck with homemade hoisin sauce and pancakes, but you could apply your favourite BBQ rub to your smoked duck for a simpler approach.
Easy 5 Hour Smoker Recipes
Although there are obviously things we all need to learn about smoking, there are definitely some things that easier to smoke than others. Beef brisket, for example, requires a lot of attention to detail over a long period of time.
Here are some ideas of easy 5 hour smoker recipes which don’t require too much attention to detail, and can be cooked in 5 hours or less.
Of course if you have a pellet smoker such as Pit Boss, Z Grills or Traeger you will have a much easier time smoking than an offset smoker, drum smoker or stick burner. If you have a digital meat thermometer you will be able to monitor the internal temperature of your food easily and without much effort also.
Smoked Vegetables
You will be able to smoke any vegetable in well under 5 hours, and they take on smoke flavour much more quickly than meat. Some really good options for smoking vegetables would be bigger ones that allow you to cut them into ‘steaks’ e.g. cauliflower, cabbage, squash, pumpkins, eggplants or aubergines,
Smoked Mac and Cheese
You can smoke mac and cheese in well under 5 hours, probably more like 1-2, depending on how smoky you like it. It’s one of the best and easy smoker recipes for beginners.
Although a lot of people think of mac and cheese as a side dish, you can really fill it out to make it more of a main event. You can add bacon, peas, or even some leftover brisket or pulled pork to your smoked mac and cheese to make it a main dish, or just enjoy it on its own or served on the side.
Smoked Salmon Fillets
If you smoke fillets instead of a whole salmon you can smoke salmon in well under 5 hours easily. In fact you’ll probably be done in around 2. You can of course smoke whole salmon itself within 5 hours but it won’t be as quick and easy as salmon fillets.
This recipe for smoked salmon comes with a delicious dill and lemon compound butter.
Quick Smoker Recipes
I you want to smoke food more quickly than 5 hours you still have some very good options. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Chicken Wings, Thighs or Breasts (1-2 Hours)
- Whole Chicken (2-3 Hours)
- Turkey Breast (2-3 Hours)
- Whole Duck (2-3 Hours)
- Salmon Fillets (2-3 Hours)
- Trout Fillets (Approx 2 Hours)
- Lobster Tails (Approx 2 Hours)
- Ribeye Steak (Around 1 Hour then seared at high heat)
- Porterhouse Steak (About an hour then seared at high heat)
- Tomahawk Steak (Smoke for around an hour then sear at high heat)
- Smoked Turkey Legs (Around 2 Hours)
- Vegetable steaks e.g. cauliflower, squash or broccoli (About 1 Hour)
5 Hour Smoker Recipes FAQ’s
What Meat Can I Smoke in 5 Hours?
If you have 5 hours available for smoking you can pretty much smoke any kind of food, except pork shoulder for pulled pork, or brisket as they take considerably longer. You could smoke:
- Venison Roast
- Pork Loin
- Turkey Breast
- Whole Chickens
- Tri Tip Steak
- Tomahawk Steak
- Ribeye
- Sirloin
- Porterhouse
- Whole Salmon
- Whole Trout
- Baby Back Pork Ribs
- Lamb Leg
- Lamb Ribs
What Meat Can I Smoke in 3 Hours?
Here are some ideas of what you can smoke in 3 hours or less:
- Tomahawk Steak
- Competition Style Ribs
- Tri Tip Steak
- Country Style Ribs
- Chicken Wings, Breasts or Thighs
- Duck Breasts
- Trout Fillets
- Salmon Fillets
- Shrimp (prawns)
- Oysters
- Lobsters
- Scallops
- Kebabs such as Chicken, Pork, or Prawns
- Pork Chops
- Lamb Chops
- Pork Loin
- Whole Chickens
- Any kind of vegetable e.g. squash, corn on the cob, eggplant (aubergine), carrots, cabbage etc
You can get more ideas for what you can smoke in 3 hours by reading the article below.