How to Make a Foil Woodchip Pack

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I often have folks ask whether they should soak wood chips before using them, and my answer is that it isn’t necessary. If the problem is that a handful of chips disappears into flames before it produces much useful smoke, a simple foil woodchip pack gives you a way to slow things down without adding a soaking step.

The foil holds the chips together and limits how much air reaches them, while a few small holes let the smoke escape. You can make a packet in just a few minutes using foil and the wood chips you already have, then place it where it receives enough heat to start smoking.

Why I Use Dry Wood Chips

Soaking adds water that has to heat up and evaporate before the chips get hot enough to smoke well. It doesn’t stop the wood from eventually burning, and I’d rather manage the heat and airflow around dry chips than wait for a wet handful to dry out inside the grill.

A folded packet helps with that airflow, although it isn’t a guarantee that the chips can never flame. Large openings, torn foil and too much direct heat can still let them burn more aggressively than you want.

What You’ll Need

You’ll need heavy-duty aluminum foil, a handful of dry cooking wood chips and a fork or another small pointed tool for making the smoke holes. Have long tongs and heat-resistant gloves available for handling the packet once it is hot.

Pecan is one of my favorites, although apple, cherry, oak and hickory also work well. Choose the wood you enjoy with the food you’re cooking, and use my Smoking Wood Guide if you need help deciding. Use wood intended for cooking rather than scraps that may contain paint, glue or other treatments.

How to Make a Foil Woodchip Pack

Start With a Handful of Chips

Tear off a piece of foil large enough to fold around the chips with overlapping edges. An 18-inch square gives you plenty of room, while a smaller sheet works for a smaller packet. Heavy-duty foil holds up better during folding and handling, or you can use two layers of thinner foil.

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Lay the foil flat and place a handful of dry chips in the center, spreading them into a low mound rather than piling them into a thick ball. You want a manageable packet that heats readily and leaves room for the edges to fold over.

Fold the Foil Around the Wood

Fold one side over the chips, then bring the opposite side across so the foil overlaps. Fold the remaining ends over to enclose the wood, pressing the seams down firmly enough that they stay closed when you lift the packet.

Keep the package fairly flat without crushing the chips into a tightly compressed lump. The folds should contain the wood with no large open ends, since you’ll provide the small openings for smoke in the next step.

Make a Few Small Holes in the Top

Use a fork or another pointed tool to make about four to eight small holes through the top layer of foil. There’s no need to turn the packet into a colander, and you don’t need to poke matching holes through the bottom.

Start with small openings and keep the folded seams closed. If you tear a large opening while making the packet, wrap it in another piece of foil and make fresh holes before putting it on the heat.

Where to Put the Packet on a Gas Grill

The packet needs heat from an operating burner, while the food you’re smoking needs an indirect cooking area. A straightforward starting position is on the cooking grate above a lit burner, with the holes facing up, as shown in my photo below.

Keep it securely supported where you can reach it with long tongs, and leave burner openings, air passages and grease drainage clear. Don’t lay it directly on a gas burner tube or wrap foil around the burner. If the packet won’t smoke on the grate, work on the burner setting or use a smoke source better suited to that grill rather than pushing foil into the gas system.

My guide to smoking on a gas grill explains the full cooking setup, and the two-zone grilling guide shows how the heated side and indirect side work together.

Using a Packet With Charcoal

On a charcoal cooker, the packet can sit on top of the burning coals or on a supported grate close enough above them to receive useful heat. Keep the holes facing up and avoid burying it beneath a load of charcoal, where you can’t reach it and the foil is likely to deteriorate more quickly.

Leave the food in the intended indirect cooking area rather than moving it over the charcoal just because that’s where the packet sits. The packet supplies wood smoke, while the fuel arrangement determines where the strongest cooking heat will be.

For a longer charcoal cook, wood chunks may be more convenient than replacing packets of chips. The charcoal smoker guide and kettle guide explain the fuel and wood arrangements for those cookers.

Get the Packet Smoking Before Adding the Food

Put the packet in position while the grill preheats, then give the wood time to heat through. It may need a higher burner setting to get started than you’ll use for the rest of the cook, so establish the smoke first and then bring the grill to the temperature your recipe calls for.

Look for smoke coming from the small openings, then allow any heavy, sharp-smelling startup smoke to ease before adding the food. You’re looking for a useful flow of smoke, not the largest cloud you can make, and a packet doesn’t need to pour out dense smoke to be doing its job.

Keep the lid closed during indirect cooking except when you need to check, turn or move the food. Opening it repeatedly makes it harder to maintain the cooking temperature and sends the smoke out each time.

How Long Does a Packet Last?

That depends on the amount and size of the chips, how much heat reaches the foil and how the packet is folded. A small packet sitting over intense heat can finish much sooner than the same amount of wood in a gentler position, so there isn’t a replacement interval that works for every grill.

Use the first cook to learn how your setup behaves, then keep the packet size and placement reasonably consistent while you get familiar with it. Making the packet much thicker isn’t always the answer to a short burn, since the chips in the middle may take longer to heat.

When Should You Add Another Packet?

If the wood has finished smoking and you still want more smoke flavor, replace the packet with a fresh one using gloves and long tongs. Plan a reachable location before the cook so you aren’t lifting a large hot grate with food on it to retrieve a small piece of foil.

You don’t automatically need fresh packets for the entire cooking time. A shorter cook may only need one, while a longer cook may benefit from additional packets during the earlier part of the cook, depending on the food and how much smoke flavor you enjoy.

Once the food is wrapped in foil, adding another smoke packet won’t do much for the food inside that wrapping. Keep managing the cooking heat and finish according to the recipe rather than replacing wood simply because there is still time left on the clock.

I like to make eight or ten packets ahead of time and have them ready when I need them, although they’re quick enough to fold as needed. Keep the unused packets dry and away from the hot grill so you can grab one without stopping to prepare it during the cook.

If the Packet Won’t Smoke

First check whether it is actually receiving enough heat. A packet sitting over an unlit burner on the indirect side may stay too cool even though the grill’s thermometer shows a reasonable cooking temperature.

Use dry chips, keep the packet relatively flat and make sure you included small openings in the top. Give it time to heat before assuming it needs more wood, and make any changes to the folds or holes while the packet is cold rather than opening hot foil to inspect the contents.

If the Chips Catch Fire or Burn Too Quickly

Check for large holes, open seams or torn foil that let too much air reach the wood, along with a position that exposes the packet to more heat than it needs. Use smaller openings and sound folds on the next packet, and adjust the heat reaching it once the wood is smoking.

Don’t unfold a hot packet to rearrange burning chips. If a packet needs repositioning, use gloves and long tongs and move it only when you can do so without scattering its contents or reaching across the fire.

If the food tastes harsh or bitter, look at the amount of wood and the quality of the smoke rather than assuming it needs still more chips. My guide to clean smoke and fire management explains why more visible smoke isn’t always better.

Foil Packet, Smoker Box or Pellet Tube?

A foil packet is convenient when you want to use a handful of chips without another piece of equipment. If you smoke on the gas grill often, a reusable smoker box gives you a container you can load again for the next cook.

A separately lit pellet tube is another option, especially when you want a smoke source that doesn’t depend on a burner heating a packet. It still needs sufficient airflow to keep the pellets smoldering.

Let Used Packets Cool Before Disposal

The foil and wood inside can remain hot after visible smoke stops, so leave used packets in a safe, heat-resistant location outdoors until the contents are completely extinguished and cold. Don’t put a recently used packet into a trash bag or assume the absence of smoke means it is ready to handle.

The smoker shutdown guide covers finishing the cook with different fuel systems, and my Ultimate Guide to Smokers brings together the cooker instructions and the other setup guides.

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