Smoke & Slow

Best Smokers for Chicken and Wings

Every other roundup on this site sorts smokers on how low and how steadily they run. Chicken flips the question: the spec that decides whether your skin comes out crisp or rubbery is the number at the TOP of the cooker's range.

By Stephen V.Last updated How we pick

Buy the Char-Griller AKORN. Char-Griller publishes a 200–700°F range for it, which means one cooker holds 250°F while the smoke goes in and then gets hot enough to actually render and crisp chicken skin afterwards — the two things a chicken cook needs and most smokers only do one of. It is insulated steel rather than ceramic, so it holds a low temperature on a small amount of lump and will not crack if it tips.

Here is the problem this page exists to solve. Chicken skin is collagen and fat, and it needs real heat to render. Smoke it at the 225°F that works on a pork shoulder and you get pale, soft, rubbery skin on an otherwise perfectly cooked bird — the single most common complaint about smoked chicken, and it is a hardware problem as much as a technique problem. Our wing guide solves it with a two-stage cook: smoke low for flavor, then finish at 375–400°F. That only works if your cooker can get to 375°F.

So the five picks below are sorted on the published temperature ceiling, then on how easy each one is to run at the low end. We have not cooked on all of these; every number quoted is the maker’s own, dated in the sources at the foot of the page, and here is exactly how we pick.

How this is funded:we earn a commission if you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which smoker we recommend, and we’ll tell you when we’d skip one. Full disclosure.

Quick picks

Ranked on published specs, beginner-friendliness and value. Select a row to jump to the full write-up. We haven’t cooked on every one of these — here is exactly what we do instead.

#ProductBest forPrice
1
Char-Griller AKORN Kamado Charcoal Grill and Smoker (E16620)

Char-Griller AKORN Kamado Charcoal Grill and Smoker (E16620)

The kamado to start on. It gives you the thing that makes kamados special — insulated walls that hold a low temperature for hours on a couple of pounds of lump — without the ceramic price tag or the ceramic fragility. It is steel, so it will not crack if it tips, and one person can move it. For a first kamado that combination beats a heavier, prettier cooker.

Best overall for chicken
$399.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 20, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

2
Weber Original Kettle Premium 22-inch

Weber Original Kettle Premium 22-inch

Not a dedicated smoker — but the most versatile first cooker on this list. With charcoal banked to one side (the 'snake' or 'two-zone' method) a 22-inch kettle will smoke ribs and chicken beautifully, and the rest of the time it's a full-size grill. If you can only own one thing, this is a strong case.

Cheapest cooker that does both jobs
$219.00 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 20, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

3
Z Grills 700-Series Wood Pellet Grill & Smoker

Z Grills 700-Series Wood Pellet Grill & Smoker

Our overall pick for a first pellet smoker. You get real wood-pellet smoke with digital PID temperature control — you dial in 225°F and the auger and fan hold it — plus a 700 sq in cook space and dual meat probes, for a few hundred dollars less than the famous-name pellet grills.

Best hands-off pick
$579.00 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 20, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

4
Masterbuilt Gravity Series 600 Digital Charcoal Grill + Smoker (MB20041023)

Masterbuilt Gravity Series 600 Digital Charcoal Grill + Smoker (MB20041023)

The pick that actually needs the bigger budget. Everything else on our under-$1,000 list is either charcoal you manage yourself or pellets you don't — this is charcoal with a thermostat. You fill a vertical hopper, set a number, and a fan holds it; Masterbuilt publishes up to 18 hours at 225°F on one load of charcoal, and a 700°F ceiling means the same cooker sears steaks afterwards. It asks more of you than a pellet grill, and it gives back the one thing pellets cannot.

Best if you want a thermostat and 700°F
$749.00 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 20, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

5
Pit Barrel Cooker Premier Series 18.5-inch Drum Smoker

Pit Barrel Cooker Premier Series 18.5-inch Drum Smoker

The charcoal smoker that deleted the hard part. There is one vent, and you set it once for your altitude — after that the barrel finds its own cruising temperature and stays there. Food hangs from hooks over the coals, so drippings fall on the fire and come back as flavor. If you want charcoal barbecue but the phrase 'vent management' makes you tired, this is the answer.

Best for wings in quantity
$459.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 20, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

The picks in full

#1Best overall for chicken

Char-Griller AKORN Kamado Charcoal Grill and Smoker (E16620)

The kamado to start on. It gives you the thing that makes kamados special — insulated walls that hold a low temperature for hours on a couple of pounds of lump — without the ceramic price tag or the ceramic fragility. It is steel, so it will not crack if it tips, and one person can move it. For a first kamado that combination beats a heavier, prettier cooker.

What’s good

  • Insulated steel body sips charcoal — long cooks on one load
  • 445 sq in with a warming rack, plenty for ribs or a pork butt
  • Far lighter than ceramic and it will not shatter

Trade-offs

  • Steel does not hold heat quite as steadily as thick ceramic
  • The bottom vent needs ash cleared to keep airflow honest
  • No heat deflector included for true indirect smoking
Fuel typeLump charcoal
Cooking area445 sq in
Temperature range200–700°F (maker)
Ease for beginnersEasy

Specs read from the product listing, on August 18, 2026. “Not published” means the maker doesn’t state that figure there.

#2Cheapest cooker that does both jobs

Weber Original Kettle Premium 22-inch

Not a dedicated smoker — but the most versatile first cooker on this list. With charcoal banked to one side (the 'snake' or 'two-zone' method) a 22-inch kettle will smoke ribs and chicken beautifully, and the rest of the time it's a full-size grill. If you can only own one thing, this is a strong case.

What’s good

  • Genuinely does double duty — grill hot or smoke low-and-slow
  • Cheap, simple and built to last for years
  • Huge community with beginner methods for smoking on it

Trade-offs

  • Smoking on a kettle needs the snake method and more fire tending
  • Smaller capacity and shorter runs than a dedicated smoker
  • No water pan or built-in smoker features out of the box
Fuel typeCharcoal (with wood chunks)
Cooking area363 sq in
Temperature rangeNot published
Ease for beginnersModerate

Specs read from the product listing, on July 22, 2026. “Not published” means the maker doesn’t state that figure there.

#3Best hands-off pick

Z Grills 700-Series Wood Pellet Grill & Smoker

Our overall pick for a first pellet smoker. You get real wood-pellet smoke with digital PID temperature control — you dial in 225°F and the auger and fan hold it — plus a 700 sq in cook space and dual meat probes, for a few hundred dollars less than the famous-name pellet grills.

What’s good

  • PID controller holds your set temperature far better than older pellet grills
  • Dual built-in meat probes — you can watch the meat, not the pit
  • Big 28-hour hopper and 700 sq in for the price undercuts the name brands

Trade-offs

  • Needs electricity and a full hopper to run
  • No app and no WiFi on this model — you set and watch it on the grill's own LCD
  • Pellet grills give a lighter smoke ring than charcoal or an offset
Fuel typeWood pellets
Cooking area700 sq in
Temperature range180–450°F
Ease for beginnersEasiest

Specs read from the product listing, on October 9, 2026. “Not published” means the maker doesn’t state that figure there.

#4Best if you want a thermostat and 700°F

Masterbuilt Gravity Series 600 Digital Charcoal Grill + Smoker (MB20041023)

The pick that actually needs the bigger budget. Everything else on our under-$1,000 list is either charcoal you manage yourself or pellets you don't — this is charcoal with a thermostat. You fill a vertical hopper, set a number, and a fan holds it; Masterbuilt publishes up to 18 hours at 225°F on one load of charcoal, and a 700°F ceiling means the same cooker sears steaks afterwards. It asks more of you than a pellet grill, and it gives back the one thing pellets cannot.

What’s good

  • Charcoal fire with digital control — the flavor of one type, the convenience of another
  • Masterbuilt publishes up to 18 hours at 225°F from one hopper (12 lb lump / 18 lb briquettes)
  • 225–700°F published range covers low-and-slow smoking and searing on one cooker
  • Takes up to four meat probes and connects to Masterbuilt's app
  • Reversible cast iron grates included

Trade-offs

  • One year warranty — against three on the Traeger and ten on the Weber bowl
  • It is a fan, a controller and a hopper, so there is far more to fail than on a bullet smoker
  • Needs power as well as charcoal; no outlet, no cook
  • Ash and grease management is a real chore compared with a pellet grill
  • Masterbuilt publishes no weight, and at 52.8 in wide it needs real patio space
Fuel typeCharcoal (gravity-fed hopper, fan-controlled)
Cooking area600 sq in
Temperature range225–700°F (maker)
Ease for beginnersEasy

Specs read from the product listing, on October 2, 2026. “Not published” means the maker doesn’t state that figure there.

#5Best for wings in quantity

Pit Barrel Cooker Premier Series 18.5-inch Drum Smoker

The charcoal smoker that deleted the hard part. There is one vent, and you set it once for your altitude — after that the barrel finds its own cruising temperature and stays there. Food hangs from hooks over the coals, so drippings fall on the fire and come back as flavor. If you want charcoal barbecue but the phrase 'vent management' makes you tired, this is the answer.

What’s good

  • One vent, set once — no dialing the temperature up and down
  • Hanging meat cooks faster than grate cooking and bastes itself
  • Simple sealed drum with very little on it to break

Trade-offs

  • Runs hot by design — it is not a 225°F cooker
  • Cooking area is not published as a square-inch figure
  • Hanging takes a little practice with slippery cuts
Fuel typeCharcoal (hanging, one fixed vent setting)
Cooking areaNot published
Temperature range275–310°F expected range (maker)
Ease for beginnersEasiest

Specs read from the product listing, on August 18, 2026. “Not published” means the maker doesn’t state that figure there.

Why the ceiling is the spec that matters

USDA puts the safe minimum internal temperature for all poultry at 165°F, and its smoking guidance keeps the chamber between 225°F and 300°F. Those two numbers are entirely compatible with terrible skin. A chicken held at 250°F will reach 165°F in the thigh long before the fat under the skin has rendered, which is why you can serve a safely cooked, juicy, technically perfect bird that nobody wants to eat the outside of.

Chicken is also fast. A whole bird is two to three hours; wings are closer to one. There is no eight-hour window for the skin to sort itself out, and no stall to wrap through. The entire cook is short enough that the useful question about a cooker is not “can it hold 225°F all day” but “can it change gear at the end.”

The picks against their published ranges

Published figures only. Where a maker publishes no temperature range we print “Not published” rather than estimate one — two of the five cookers here are in that position, and it is the main thing holding them back on this page.

CookerFuelPublished temperature rangeCan it crisp skin?
Char-Griller AKORNLump charcoal200–700°F (maker)Yes — comfortably, in the same cooker
Weber Original Kettle 22CharcoalNot publishedYes — open the vents and it is a grill again
Z Grills 700-SeriesWood pellets180–450°FYes — 450°F is enough, with patience
Masterbuilt Gravity Series 600Charcoal (gravity-fed, fan)225–700°F (maker)Yes — maker states 700°F in 10 minutes
Pit Barrel Cooker 18.5Charcoal (hanging)275–310°F expected range (maker)Partly — it runs hot by design, but it does not reach 375°F

The Weber kettle is the interesting row. Weber publishes no temperature range for it at all, so the table says so — but a charcoal kettle with the vents wide open is the original high-heat cooker, and nobody doubts it will crisp skin. What it will not do is hold a low temperature without you managing the fire, which is the trade this whole page is about.

The honest exclusion: electric smokers

This site recommends an electric cabinet smoker to more beginners than anything else, and it is not on this list. The reason is a single published number: the listings for both electric smokers we carry state a ceiling of “up to 275°F.” That is below the heat chicken skin needs, and no amount of technique gets around it.

If you already own one, you have not wasted your money — you have a two-appliance cook. Smoke the chicken in the cabinet for flavor and finish it in a hot oven or under a broiler for the last ten minutes. That genuinely works, and it is the standard workaround. It is just not something we would buy a smoker to do on purpose.

Wings in quantity, which is a different problem

Wings are the most-cooked chicken on a smoker and they are a capacity question as much as a temperature one, because thirty wings laid flat need a lot of grate. This is where the Pit Barrel earns its place despite the lowest ceiling on the page: food hangs from hooks rather than lying on a grate, and Pit Barrel states the 22.5-inch PBX will take 60-plus party wings. The 18.5-inch here is smaller, but the hanging trick still multiplies what fits, and the barrel runs in a published 275–310°F range rather than the 225°F a normal smoker idles at — so the skin comes out better than a low-and-slow cook would give you, just not fully crisp.

On any of the others, the move is the two-stage cook. Smoke at 250°F until the wings are nearly done, then take the cooker up as high as it goes for the last ten to fifteen minutes. Dry skin matters as much as heat: pat the wings dry, and give them an uncovered hour in the fridge if you have time.

What else actually changes the result

  • A thermometer, not a timer. Chicken goes from juicy to chalky in a narrow window and the thigh and breast finish at different times. USDA is clear that 165°F in the thickest part is the number that decides safety — our thermometer roundup covers what to use.
  • A mild wood. Chicken takes smoke fast and hickory can turn acrid on it. Apple or cherry, lightly — see best wood for chicken.
  • A rub without much sugar, if you are finishing hot. A sugar-first rub at 400°F darkens fast. Our rub roundup explains which bottles tolerate heat.

Two of these picks have more detail elsewhere on the site: the Z Grills 700 review goes through the pellet pick in full, and kamado versus pellet is the head-to-head between our top pick here and the hands-off one.

And if you are choosing a first cooker generally rather than for chicken specifically, start at best smokers for beginners or at the budget rung that fits: under $300 or under $500. Chicken is a great first cook on almost anything — it is cheap, fast and forgiving everywhere except the skin.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best smoker for chicken?

A cooker that can both hold 250°F and then get hot, because chicken skin needs real heat to render. The Char-Griller AKORN is our pick: Char-Griller publishes a 200–700°F range, so one insulated cooker does the smoke and the crisp. A charcoal kettle is the cheapest way to get the same two-stage ability, and a gravity-fed charcoal cooker with a thermostat is the easiest.

What temperature should I smoke chicken at?

Higher than you would smoke pork. Many people run chicken at 275–325°F the whole way rather than 225°F, and USDA's smoking guidance allows a chamber up to 300°F. If you want both smoke flavor and crisp skin, smoke at 250°F until the bird is nearly done and then finish at 375–400°F. The internal target never changes: 165°F in the thickest part, per USDA.

Why is my smoked chicken skin rubbery?

Because the cooker was too cool and the skin went on wet. Fat and collagen in the skin need heat to render, and at 225°F they never get it, so the skin stays soft while the meat finishes. Dry the skin thoroughly — an uncovered hour in the fridge helps — and finish the cook hot. If your smoker tops out at 275°F, finish the bird in a hot oven instead.

Can you smoke chicken in an electric smoker?

You can smoke it, but you will not crisp it. The listings for the electric cabinets we carry state a ceiling of up to 275°F, which is below what skin needs. The usual fix is to smoke in the cabinet for flavor and finish the last ten minutes in a hot oven or under a broiler. If crisp skin matters to you and you are still shopping, buy a cooker with a higher published ceiling.

How long does it take to smoke chicken wings?

Roughly an hour at 250°F, plus ten to fifteen minutes of high heat at the end to crisp them. Wings are one of the fastest and most forgiving things you can put in a smoker, which is why they make a good first cook — the only part that trips people up is the skin, and that is a temperature problem rather than a timing one.

Is a pellet grill good for chicken?

Yes, with one caveat. A pellet grill holds a low temperature effortlessly and the Z Grills 700 publishes a 180–450°F range, so it can also finish hot — 450°F is enough to crisp skin, though it takes longer than a charcoal cooker at the same number because the heat is convective rather than radiant. Pat the skin dry and give the finish stage a few extra minutes.

Should I smoke a whole chicken or spatchcock it?

Spatchcocking — cutting out the backbone and flattening the bird — is the easier path to even cooking and better skin, because it exposes more surface to the heat and brings the thigh and breast closer to finishing together. A whole bird looks better on the table. Either way, cook to 165°F in the thickest part and not to a clock.

Do I need a different smoker for wings than for a whole chicken?

No, but capacity shows up differently. Wings are a surface-area problem: thirty of them laid flat need a lot of grate, which is why a cooker that hangs food, like a drum, holds far more than its footprint suggests. A whole bird mostly needs height under the lid. Any cooker on this page handles both.

Sources

  • Char-Griller — AKORN Kamado Charcoal Grill, Graphite (model E16620), maker's product page — Maker states 445 sq in total cooking area and 325 sq in primary cooking area, 88.2 lb product weight, assembled dimensions of 46.1 in wide by 48.4 in high by 31.1 in deep, a 200-700°F temperature range, triple-walled insulation for maximum heat retention and fuel efficiency, a 5 year warranty, and that the grill comes standard with a grill grate lifter, steel side shelves, cast iron cooking grates and a removable stainless steel warming rack. The Smokin' Stone heat deflector is listed as a separate accessory, not as an included part (accessed September 8, 2026)
  • Masterbuilt — Gravity Series 600 Digital Charcoal Grill + Smoker (model MB20041023), maker's product page — Masterbuilt states 600 sq in of cooking space, a temperature range of 225°F to 700°F, that it reaches 225°F in 7 minutes and 700°F in 10 minutes, a GravityFed hopper holding up to 12 lbs of lump charcoal or 18 lbs of briquettes, up to 18 hours of burn time at 225°F and up to 3 hours at 700°F, support for up to 4 meat probes, app connectivity, reversible cast iron grates, a DigitalFan, dual-wall insulation, a porcelain interior, a removable ash bucket, assembled dimensions of 52.8 in W x 49.7 in H x 30.4 in D and a "1 year free warranty". The list price published on the maker's page on the date read was $799.99 — the live Amazon price the same day was $749.00. Masterbuilt publishes no weight for this model (accessed October 2, 2026)
  • Pit Barrel Cooker — Top questions our customer service team answers often — Maker states 275°-310° is the expected range when properly lit; approximately 10-12 lb of charcoal for the 18.5-inch, 6-8 lb for the 14-inch Junior and 14-16 lb for the 22.5-inch PBX; lighting instructions of a quarter basket in a chimney for 11-12 minutes below 2,000 ft and 12-15 minutes above it; and cleaning by scraping the interior with a plastic putty knife and running a burnout (accessed September 5, 2026)
  • Pit Barrel Cooker — Which Pit Barrel is right for you? — Maker states the 14-inch Junior holds 6 racks of ribs, 1 pork butt, 1 full packer brisket, 6 chicken halves or a 17 lb turkey; the 18.5-inch Classic holds 8 racks of ribs, 2-3 pork butts or briskets and 2 turkeys of 13-16 lb on turkey hangers; and the 22.5-inch PBX holds 16-20 racks of ribs, 4 pork butts, 4 full packer briskets, 12-16 chicken halves, 60+ party wings or 4 turkeys (accessed September 5, 2026)
  • USDA FSIS — Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart — USDA safe minimum internal temperatures: 145°F for beef/pork/lamb steaks, chops and roasts (with a 3-minute rest), 160°F for ground meats, 165°F for all poultry (accessed July 22, 2026)
  • USDA FSIS — Smoking Meat and Poultry — USDA guidance to keep the smoker between 225°F and 300°F, use two thermometers (food + smoker), and refrigerate within 2 hours (accessed July 22, 2026)

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