Smoking Times and Temperatures Chart

My smoking times and temperatures chart for smoking meat is at the bottom of this page.

When it comes to smoking meat, the time is not nearly as important as the temperature. Temperature should always be used to determine when the meat is done cooking rather than the time.

I have many people who email me and ask me how long to smoke ribs or how many hours per pound to smoke brisket and while this can be used to estimate your finish time, it needs to be only that.

I highly recommend a digital probe meat thermometer to monitor the temperature of the meat while it smokes. These thermometers have a probe that stays in the meat while it smokes. The probe is attached to a thin braided metal wire that runs through the door or an opening to the unit outside of the smoker.

The Taylor units that I use allow me to set a time as well as a temperature. An alarm goes off if either of these are reached.

Below I have put together a list of times and temperatures for smoking meats. Is it only an estimate but should allow you to figure up a ballpark time as to when the meat will be done smoking.

Note: Be sure to use temperature to tell you when the meat is done.. time is just an estimate and is NOT an indicator of doneness.

*cooking to "Tender" just means the meat is not done until it gets tender. This is used mainly in smoking/cooking ribs. To test for tenderness, grasp two of the bones and pull them in opposite directions. If the meat tears easily then the meat is considered "Tender" and is ready to eat.