How to smoke cheese - A basic beginners guide to follow for those wanting to learn how to smoke cheese for the first time.
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.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
Smoked cheese is a process that requires cold smoking and smoking cheese gives much more flavor to cheese than any store bought cheese.
Smoked cheese is very overpriced at the grocery store and it is so easy and fun to make smoked cheese at home
I had never smoked cheese in my life before and it was quite a fun learning process. I watched many videos on Youtube on how to smoke cheese and learned a lot.
What Types of Cheese can you Smoke?
The types of cheese I used were blocks of cheddar, swiss, and pepper jack but you can use whatever you like. I wouldn’t suggest smoking cheese that is already shredded. Whenever the grocery store has bricks of cheese on sale use those and cold smoke them.
You can wrap them up in fancy butcher paper or parchment paper, give the smoked cheese away as gifts for Christmas, use the cheese on charcuterie boards, or shred the cheese to make your dishes even more flavorful.
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.
Ingredients for Smoked Cheese
Blocks of cheese (any kind)
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How to make Smoked Cheese
In order to smoke cheese the first thing to do is set up your smoker or grill. You don’t need to turn it on or anything.
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.
Tips for Smoking Cheese
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.
The smoker is so great for cooking simple basic food like smoked cheese, smoked asparagus, bbq ribs, and smoked salmon. The smoke gives the salmon an extra layer of flavor that you wouldn’t get from a grill.
What Smoker do I have? I have had my Traeger smoker for a very long time and I would recommend that brand to anyone wanting to learn how to smoke food. Traegers are kind of pricey but there are some very reasonably priced smokers for under $100.
Some smokers require a preheat before setting the actual temperature to the desired one. Read the instruction manual your smoker came with to make sure.
Wood Chips: 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 Wal-Mart also sell them. I’ve even seen wood chips at the grocery stores.
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.
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
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How to Smoke Cheese
- Cook Time: 2 h
- Total Time: 2 h
- Yield: 8
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
- Category: Cheese
- Method: Smoke
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 101
- Sugar: 0
- Sodium: 160MG
- Fat: 8MG
- Saturated Fat: 5MG
- Carbohydrates: 0MG
- Fiber: 0G
- Protein: 6G
Keywords: how to smoke cheese
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
★★★★★