My Masterbuilt 30″ Electric Smoker – Best Gift EVER

I’m glad to see there is a place to talk about smokers on Big Granite because I just love the one that I got for Father’s Day last year from my kids. Awesome gift, right?

I’m going to give you my review on this electric smoker below. But, if you want to skip down to see where my kids got the best price on it, you can click here:

Masterbuilt 30″ Electric Smoker Best Price

My wife is from St. Louis so she is pretty spoiled when it comes to getting good BBQ. She’s always telling me that nothing compares to what she can get back home. She’s so picky I’ve stopped trying to find places around here for us to go to because she complains every time that nothing compares to St. Louis BBQ.

Here's a picture of the smoker I got for Father's Day

Now, that was until I got my Father’s Day gift last year.

My kids all chipped in together and got me a Masterbuilt 30″ electric smoker on Amazon. Now, I pride myself on being a great griller but I didn’t know too much about smoking other than I liked the flavor and my wife grew up on it. When I unwrapped the box I saw my wife’s eyes light up like SHE was the one who got the gift.

Great…now I was going to have to live up to some of the world’s best smoked BBQ. Ugh – to say I was intimidated is an understatement.

Some Assembly Required – But It Was Easy

When I looked at the box and saw the words I dread most: Some Assembly Required – I cringed. But, I have to say it was pretty painless. I had the whole thing put together in about 20 minutes which was nice. I was expecting it to take much longer so this was a nice surprise.

Know Your Smoker – Read The Manual

I spent the better part of the rest of the evening reading the manual backwards and forwards. I wanted to know this machine inside and out. The last thing I wanted was to fail smoking my first try and disappoint my wife and embarrass myself. It not only told you how to run your smoker, but it also gave some pretty good recipes you could use in it as well.

My wife grew up in St. Louis where they know good barbecue so the last thing I wanted to do was screw up my first attempt. I went online and found a rib rub that I’ve doctored and worked really hard at perfecting over the last year. I posted the recipe for you guys – here’s a link: Dave’s Smoker Baby Back Rib Rub. My wife says it tastes almost as good as her favorite St. Louis rib joint’s rub. Almost is good enough for me.

Baby Back Ribs – My First Experiment

These are the apple wood chips my kids found

So I planned to make some baby back ribs as my first experiment with my Masterbuilt smokehouse. I’d cooked plenty of these on the grill so I thought it would be a good choice for my first attempt. I rubbed the ribs and put them in the fridge for 2 days to soak in all those good spices.

My kids had got me some apple wood chips to go with the smoker so I decided that I’d use those. Being new to this, I didn’t have any background to go on. I didn’t realize that different chips have different flavors. So I loaded the chips in. The nice thing was that I didn’t have to open the smoker door to the smoker to load in chips. They have this convenient little drawer on the side of the unit that let’s you put them in. This way you don’t lose any heat or smoke – it was a good design feature.

Check Out This Video

I quick went on YouTube and found this great video that explains all of the features on the Masterbuilt 30″ smoker that I have. The only thing it doesn’t show is the remote that allows you to do everything that the top control panel does – but at least you can see the machine itself in action. My mouth is watering!

This Is A Lazy Man’s Smoker!

I put the ribs into the smoker and inserted the handy built-in thermometer into the meat. The thermometer really comes in handy when you are making briskets and other thicker meats. I can temp out the meat without having to open the door and lose all my smoke and heat. I’ve come to realize that is the secret to good smoked flavor – don’t open the door!

The ribs were smokin’ and I could see this through the window on the front of the unit. While you don’t have to sit and watch your meat, it was a nice feature none-the-less. In fact, once the smoke gets going it can be harder to see inside.

My absolute favorite feature to this smoker has to be the remote control that comes with it. Talk about the lazy man’s smoker! I like that I can turn on and off the internal light and control the temperature of the smoker and see the internal temperature of the meat – all from the comfort of my lawn chair.

Yes, I’ve actually done this from my lawn chair.

The Final Result

These are some mouthwatering ribs!

My first experiment with my smoker was a success. My wife was impressed how much flavor that the smoker infused into the meat. But, the rub? It needed a little tweaking.

In our house we’ve adopted a policy….I smoke…she cleans. Unit must clean up pretty easy considering I haven’t had to hear her complain about it being a pain.

Masterbuilt 30″ Electric Smoker Best Price

My wife and I are going to get this for her brother and his wife for an Anniversary gift. It retails around $360 but I found the best price at Amazon . They are going to be really surprised this year.

Her brother came in for a visit over the summer and we smoked up some brisket and ribs. We even smoked up some mac and cheese if you can believe it. I found that recipe on YouTube. Here’s the link to the post I wrote about that one.