Cold-smoked cheese is one of the easiest—and most rewarding—things you can make at home with a smoker tube. You get that rich, smoky flavor infused into your favorite cheeses, perfect for snacking, charcuterie boards, burgers, and more. T
he best part? No expensive smoker needed—just a smoker tube, pellets, and a grill or closed container.
If you love smoking food in the Summertime like I do please check out Smoked Almonds, How to Grill Top Sirloin Steak, Smoking BBQ Ribs for Beginners, Smoked Corn on the Cob, and Smoked Asparagus.
Jump to:
Why You Will Love This Recipe
Incredible flavor – Adds depth to mild cheeses and enhances sharp ones
🔥 No cooking required – Cold smoking means the cheese never melts
💰 Budget-friendly – Make gourmet-style cheese at home for a fraction of the cost
🧑🍳 Beginner-friendly – All you need is a smoker tube and your favorite cheese
🎁 Great for gifting – Wrap it up for the holidays, parties, or BBQ season
What You Need to Smoke Cheese
- Cheese (block form works best; cheddar, gouda, mozzarella, pepper jack, Swiss, etc.)
- Smoker tube (6–12" stainless steel tube)
- Food-grade wood pellets (apple, cherry, hickory, or pecan work great)
- Grill or smoker with a lid (turned off for cold smoking) - I have used a Traeger Smoker or Ninja Woodfire Smoker in the past to make smoked cheese. It turns out great every time.
- Butane torch or lighter
- Wire rack or mesh tray (optional but helpful for airflow)
Substitutions
- Try out different cheeses! Go for semi-hard cheeses: cheddar, gouda, Monterey Jack, Colby, or even mozzarella blocks.
- Try out different Pellet flavors as well.
- Mild woods: apple, cherry, maple
- Bold woods: hickory, mesquite
- Try blending pellets for a custom flavor profile!
- Hot weather workaround: Use frozen water bottles or ice trays around the cheese inside the chamber to keep temps low on warm days.
- Avoid soft or crumbly cheeses like feta or blue cheese for this method.
How to Cold Smoke Cheese with Smoker Tube
My Traeger does not cold smoke and the smoke setting on it is less than 200 degrees. This is when a smoker tube comes in handy and you can find them at Hardware stores. My hardware store has a grilling and smoking section and that is where I found them at or you can purchase one on Amazon. They are only $20.00. You don’t really even need a smoker for this and you can use a grill instead.
With smoker tubes, you just fill the tube up with pellets (whatever type of wood pellets you have on hand) and use a heat gun to set the pellets on fire. They eventually start smoking.
I set the smoker tube inside my smoker and set the cheese on a wire rack and placed the smoker tube next to cheese. Close the lid and let the cheese smoke for an hour and voila! You have smoked cheese.
How to Serve Smoked Cheese
- Slice and pair with crackers, nuts, and fruit on a like this Aldi Charcuterie Board
- Grate into Alton Brown Stovetop Mac and Chees, omelets, or Easy Smoked Queso (Tiktok Inspired)
- Melt on How to Cook Burgers on a Blackstone, sandwiches, or grilled cheese
- Dice and toss into salads or wraps for extra flavor
- Cube and serve with wine or craft beer as an easy appetizer
Recipe FAQs
Smoked cheeses can take anywhere from 2 to 3 hours depending on the types and sizes of cheese you have.
It is best to smoke cheese on cooler days like in the Spring or Fall. Summer is not a good time to smoke cheese because the temperature can effect the cooking time.
Smoking cheese can take anywhere from to 2 to 3 hours.
Smoking cheese is best done on a cooler day and your smoker or grill needs to maintain a temperature under 90 degrees. This is easiest to accomplish if the air temperature is no higher than 60 °F (16 °C), even with the methods we'll use to keep temperatures low.
There are so many different kinds of wood chips to experiment with, and you can find them at any hardware store. Places like Target and Walmart also sell them. I’ve even seen wood chips at the grocery stores.
More Great Smoker Recipes to Try:
If you tried this How to Smoke Cheese or any other recipe on my website, please please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing from you! Follow along on Tiktok @jennarecipediaries
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Recipes Diaries.
How to Smoke Cheese
- Cook Time: 2 h
- Total Time: 2 h
- Yield: 8
- Category: Cheese
- Method: Smoke
- Cuisine: American
Description
How to smoke cheese - A Basic Beginners Guide to follow for those wanting to learn how to smoke cheese for the first time.
Ingredients
7 to 8 oz blocks of cheese (any kind)
Instructions
Fill your smoke tube with whatever wood pellets or chips you have on hand to the top. I used applewood because that is my favorite. Take out your heat gun and set it against the pellets on the smoker tube. It is best to set the smoke tube with pellets directly on the grill first because of the flames. Do this on your grill or smoker.
Turn the heat gun on and let it start the pellets on fire. The pellets must flame in order to get them pellets going.
Place your cheese blocks on a wire rack inside your smoker and close the lid. Let the cheese smoke for 2 hours. After an hour is up flip the cheese over and let it continue smoking for another hour.
After the smoking process is done take the cheese off the grill. The flame should be out and the pellets should be done smoking.
Wrap the cheese up in some parchment paper or butcher paper and let the cheese rest in your fridge for up to 2 weeks. The longer the cheese rests in the fridge the better it gets. If you try eating the cheese right away it can be kind of gritty.
Notes
Cut into 8 equal pieces for serving or smaller
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 101
- Sugar: 0
- Sodium: 160MG
- Fat: 8MG
- Saturated Fat: 5MG
- Carbohydrates: 0MG
- Fiber: 0G
- Protein: 6G
Curtis says
I cut up a block of sharp white cheddar the other day but I smothered it in real maple syrup first, it was awesome.
Don says
Tried Swiss and Munster for the first time. Had two blocks of each so smoked for 2 and 3 hours. The 2 hour Munster was perfect! All the rest was way too smoked and the Swiss was very dry.
My Next batch will be some string cheese and cheese curds. Though I will most likely pull them after only one hour as they will be much smaller than the blocks I used before.
Stuart Kessey says
Hi, I'm looking to try this out as I'm new to cold smoking do I open the top vent on my offset smoker?.
Jenna says
Smoked string cheese sounds amazing!
Ray and Rosie says
Loved how our smoked string cheese turned out. Only waited 2 days and finding it difficult to keep my hands off it
Jenna says
Thanks for the tip Ken! That's why it is best to smoke cheese on a cooler day.
Ken says
I have smoked cheese a few times over the years. Be sure the coals and wood are at opposite sides of the smoker. If the flames are directly underneath they will melt the cheese. I find having more smaller piece of wood are better. Turn the cheese over every 15 minuets and add a additional piece of wood. Good luck and good smoking.
Rich says
Looks great! Can’t wait to try it.
DAMON says
PLEASE ADD ME TO YOUR LIST