If you're a fan of wood-fired flavor, you know that there's nothing quite like the taste of a slow-smoked brisket, pork shoulder, or ribs. But sometimes, it can be difficult to get that perfect smoke flavor at home. That's where Traeger Super Smoke mode comes in.
What Is Traeger Super Smoke and How Does It Work?
Super Smoke is a special mode that allows you to increase the amount of smoke in the Traeger at temperature of 225°F or lower. How it works: When you set your grill to Super Smoke—which is as easy as pressing a button on the grill’s control panel or app—the fan inside the grill modulates differently.
During regular cooking, the grill’s fan speed and auger speed (which regulates the disbursem*nt of pellets) are based on maintaining a balanced air-fuel mix to regulate temperature.
When Super Smoke is activated, the creation of smoke is prioritized. The fan, and subsequently the release of the pellets, pulses to encourage the pellets to smolder and produce more smoke.
NOTE: Because smoke creation is prioritized over temperature regulation, you may see an increase in temperature swings while using Super Smoke. Although you should expect this to occur, the average temperature over time should still fall at the set temperature.
How to Use Super Smoke
Super Smoke works at temperatures between 165°F and 225°F. This means it’s well suited for low and slow cooking. Ribs, pork butt, and brisket, can all start out at this temperature with Traeger Super Smoke engaged to ensure the utmost in wood-fired flavor. After a few hours, the meat will reach full smoke flavor, at which point it’s often wrapped to speed cooking. At this point, you can turn off Super Smoke and raise the grill temperature for quicker cooking if you like.
Quicker cooking meats, like chicken, steak, and salmon, also benefit from time spent in Super Smoke mode. For thicker steaks, smoke them first using Super Smoke then finish by searing them over high heat. Other meats, like chicken and turkey, can start low for ample wood-fired flavor and then finish over high heat.
Will I See More Smoke When Using Super Smoke?
Not really. A misconception is that the Super Smoke feature will produce more visible smoke from the grill. When Traeger Super Smoke is on, you may not actually see more visible smoke. This is because the grill is increasing the amount of blue smoke, which forms at lower temperatures; this infuses food with more smoke flavor.
Which Grill Models Have Super Smoke?
Super Smoke mode is available on newer Traeger pellet grills, including the Ironwood and Timberline series. You can also find it on Redland and Silverton Costco models.
What If I Don't Have Super Smoke On My Grill?
Cooking at lower temperatures naturally creates more smoke. It will also help to start with cold meat, which will take longer to cook providing more time for the smoke to penetrate the meat. You can also consider using a smoke tube, a small cylindrical device that holds wood pellets. It can be placed inside your Traeger grill to add extra smoke flavor.
Super Smoke Tips
Use high-quality hardwood pellets. We strongly recommend using Traeger pellets. The type of wood you use will have a significant impact on the flavor of your food. Hickory and mesquite provide stronger smoke flavor while cherry and apple will be more subtle.
Keep the grill clean. A dirty grill will not produce as much smoke. Read our Traeger cleaning guide and learn how to keep your grill clean and ready to cook.
Use a good meat thermometer. This will help you to ensure that your food is cooked to the perfect doneness. Our leave-in meat thermometers are especially handy for long cooks.
Be patient. Super Smoke requires cooking at low temps, which can add more time, but it's worth it for the delicious results.
Super Smoke Recipes
Many Traeger recipes suggest using Super Smoke if you have it. Here are just a few of our favorites:
Matt Pittman likes to give his Texas Style Brisket a few hours of low and slow Super Smoke time before raising the temperature a bit to finish to juicy perfection.
Everyone's favorite 3-2-1 Baby Back Ribs are even better with Super Smoke.
Not everything needs to cook for a long time over Super Smoke. Use the feature to give a thick rib eye steak some wood-fired flavor by smoking it low and slow for just about a half hour, then finishing it with a sear it for a gorgeous crust and the perfect doenenss.
