Smoked Chuck Roast
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Smoked Chuck Roast is melt-in-your-mouth delicious! Coat it in a simple dry rub and use your favorite wood pellets to infuse it with flavor. Smoking a chuck roast has never been easier!
Smoked Chuck Roast
As the weather gets warmer, it’s the perfect time to start making smoked chuck roast recipes.
You can use it for several nights’ worth of dinners or impress your guests at a weekend get-together!
I like smoking a chuck roast because it gets the meat nice and tender.
Since this is a tougher cut of meat, the longer cooking time allows the fat to fully render while still getting a nice crust on the outside.
We also have a smoked roast beef recipe with a sweet BBQ crust.
Want to use a crockpot instead? I’ve got a great roundup of recipes that feature a variety of flavors and uses for whatever you are in the mood for!
Tips For Smoking A Chuck Roast
- Allow plenty of time. While the smoked chuck roast recipe itself is very simple, it’s still an all-day process.
The meat needs to marinate for at least two hours, cook for about four, then rest another hour before it’s ready. - Choose the right temperature. After extensive research and testing, we found that 250°F was perfect.
Lower temps took much too long to cook, resulting in dry chuck roast on the pellet grill even with plenty of basting.
On the other hand, higher temps resulted in bites that were tough and hard to chew. - Wrap in foil toward the end. This ensures that all of the juices stay inside the smoked chuck roast as it finishes, keeping the meat nice and moist.
- Let it rest! I’m sure you will be anxious to eat after all of those hours, but this is one of the most important steps.
Place the beef on a cutting board and don’t touch it for at least an hour. Slice just before serving, and cut against the grain for best results. - Save the drippings. The hidden gem of smoked chuck roast recipes! Transfer them to a bowl to be spooned over the beef slices.
Serving Suggestions
Pair smoked chuck roast with any of your favorite cookout side dishes. For a lighter meal, try a simple green salad or some roasted vegetables.
Create a larger feast with potato salad, corn on the cob, mac and cheese, and my copycat Texas Roadhouse rolls!
If you end up with leftovers, use them for sandwiches and top with cheese sauce or a tangy spread.
Smoked Chuck Roast Recipe FAQ
It will take about 4 1/2 hours total at 250°F to cook chuck roast on a pellet grill. There will be variations depending on smoker model and size of the roast, so use internal temp as your guide. Remove the smoked chuck roast once the thermometer reads 200°F in the very center, then let it rest for an hour.Most smoked chuck roast recipes also require additional time to dry marinate the meat — as much as overnight. It’s a labor of love, but well worth the wait!
Prep your BBQ or Big Green Egg for indirect cooking and heat to 250°F, then follow the recipe as directed. Use mesquite chips instead of pellets, and be sure to soak them for at least 30 minutes before starting.
Enjoy!
With love, from our simple kitchen to yours.
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Other Smoker Recipes
Smoked Chuck Roast
Ingredients
- 5 pounds chuck roast, boneless
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Pat the roast dry with a paper towel.
- In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the rub (garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper). Whisk together.
- Coat the roast evenly with the rub. (It’s a rub, so rub it the meat 😄)
- Cover the roast with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 2 hours to overnight. You can smoke it immediately but allowing the rub to meld with the roast for a few hours will give you a tastier result.
- Preheat your smoker to 250°F. Choose your favorite wood, I am using my favorite blend of oak, maple and hickory on my pellet smoker.
- Place the chuck roast in the smoker, insert temperature probes. Close the lid and cook until the bark is fully developed (around 3-3 1/2 hours), and the temperature reaches 165°F. Flip the roast (using long tongs or barbecue gloves) about every hour.
- Wrap the roast tightly in a double layer of heavy duty aluminum foil.
- Place the roast back on the smoker for about one more hour, until internal temperature is 200°F.
- Remove the roast from the smoker. Keep in mind the roast will continue to cook once it is removed from the smoker, which can increase the temperature on your roast as much as 10°.
- Remove the probe and place the roast on a cutting board and let it rest for at least an hour.
- Pour the drippings from the aluminum foil into a bowl for serving with the meat.
- Slice and serve.
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe’s nutritional value will vary depending on the ingredients used, measuring methods, and portion sizes.
Originally published April 2021, updated and republished June 2023
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Did you use the pan for water or as a drip tray ?
This chuck roast was awesome. I love how tender the meat was and how nice of a crust it made. It truly looked and tasted professional!
I don’t have a grill or smoker. You mentioned doing it in a crockpot. How do you do it. Oh and recipe please. Thank You 😊
I understand leaving meat rest for an hour so that it absorbs the juices, but I normally wrap the meat in foil, then wrap a towel around the foiled meat as it rest. Won’t the meat be cold when you serve it if you let it rest with out wrapping it?
Where I live it’s an apartment complex and we can’t have our own grills. What I’m asking is there anyway I could cook the roast that would taste almost like it’s been smoked?