On a mere whim, I went to my local grocery store the other day and picked up a large bag of Cheetos® Puffs– the idea had come to me to try adding a little smoke to them and I just had to try it.
Abi, who is not a huge fan of putting smoke on literally everything like I am, was blown away by the smoked Cheetos® Puffs and the smoked potato chips. I must caution you that these are addictive and if you dare to go down this road, well, there is no returning to the way things used to be.
Are y'all ready for this? Let's do it!
- Prep Time: 3 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Smoker Temp: 180°F
- Recommended Wood: A mix of mesquite and cherry*
*I used the REC TEC Bull for this project and this is the blend I chose to use for all of them. It was a great choice!
- 1 or more bags and/or flavors of Cheetos® Puffs
Please note that my rubs and barbecue sauce are now available in 2 formats– you can purchase the formulas and make them yourself OR you can buy them already made, in a bottle, ready to use.Open the bag of Cheetos® Puffs and pour them into a large sheet pan. Something like a Weber grill pan would also work well.
Pour the little puffs of goodness into the pan(s) making sure the smoke can get to all of them.
I used Weber grill pans for these and they worked perfectly. Made of heavy duty stainless steel and they have narrow slots in the bottom that let the smoke come through but don't let smaller pieces of food fall through.
Setup your smoker to maintain indirect heat of around 180°F or lower if possible. You do NOT need heat, only smoke, however, a little heat will not hurt them.
Once the smoke is going, place the pan(s) of Puffs into the smoker and close the lid.
Leave them alone for 30 minutes and try to not raise the lid until they are finished for maximum smoke flavor.
When the time has expired, remove them from the smoker and bring them into the house to cool.
These can be devoured in any way that you see fit.. enjoy the smoke flavor!
Once they are cooled down, you can store them in zipper bags.
Share with your friends and family knowing full well that they will be begging you to make these every time you get together from henceforth and forevermore!
You can also order the formulas for my rubs and sauce and make these yourself at home. Grab those HERE and download immediately.
Smoking Meat: The Essential Guide to Real Barbecue – The book is full of recipes and contains tons of helpful information as well. Some have even said that “no smoker should be without this book”!
With more than 1000 reviews on Amazon.com and a rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars, it comes highly recommended and is a Bestseller in Barbecuing & Grilling books on Amazon.
Smoke, Wood, Fire: The Advanced Guide to Smoking Meat – Unlike the first book, this book does not focus on recipes but rather uses every square inch of every page teaching you how to smoke meat. What my first book touched on, this second book takes it into much greater detail with lots of pictures.
It also includes a complete, step-by-step tutorial for making your own smoked “streaky” bacon using a 100 year old brine recipe.
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Printable Recipe
Smoked Cheetos® Puffs
Ingredients
- 1 or more bags and/or flavors of Cheetos® Puffs
Instructions
Step 1: Into the Pan
- Open the bag of Cheetos® Puffs and pour them into a large sheet pan. Something like a Weber grill pan would also work well.
- Pour the little puffs of goodness into the pan(s) making sure the smoke can get to all of them.
Step 2: Smoke
- Setup your smoker to maintain indirect heat of around 180°F or lower if possible. You do NOT need heat, only smoke, however, a little heat will not hurt them.
- Once the smoke is going, place the pan(s) of Puffs into the smoker and close the lid.
- Leave them alone for 30 minutes and try to not raise the lid until they are finished for maximum smoke flavor.
- When the time has expired, remove them from the smoker and bring them into the house to cool.
Step 3: Devour
- These can be devoured in any way that you see fit.. enjoy the smoke flavor!
- Once they are cooled down, you can store them in zipper bags.
I'm new to cold smoking but is this essentially what I would be trying to achieve? I have an electric smoker (smoke hollow) with a cold smoke setting I could use to keep the cheetos from getting too hot. Thanks!
I think a good cool smoke would be great on those.. because smokers differ, you might put them in there and then just taste one and stir every 10 minutes or so to see how it goes. Once they are smoky enough, you can remove them and you now have the magic number of minutes for smoked Cheetos in that smoker.
Love, love, LOVE this recipe!!!! I have an electric smoker and I used all cherry wood for these. I let them smoke with the vent halfway open and lager in my smoking bowl for 45 minutes simply because I lost track of time. They were fantasmic!!! After they cooled, I threw them back in the Cheetos puffs bag and they tasted even better the next day!!! These will be my new go to snack food!!! Thanks sooooo much for this recipe!!!! Love it!!!
You have great recipes I use your stuff all the time
Maybe the best thing about smoked cheese puffs is this: you can make a lot at one time. Put them in zip lock bags and put them in the freezer. You can get them out 6 months later and they still have the same texture and flavor!
I've never tried to freeze them so that's great information… Thanks!