This recipe for How to Smoke Ground Beef is contributed by Brian Kleinhans and was so intriguing that we wanted to share it with you here! Take it away Brian.
I’m like everyone and always looking for different flavors to make my dishes unique. One time, while smoking ribs I wondered if it would be possible to get that pit smoked flavor into ground meat. I figured out how. Here is how to smoke ground beef, or any ground meat for that matter.
How to Smoke Ground Beef:
Here’s What You Need
- 2 identical aluminum pans that will fit in your smoker or grill
- Ground meat
- 4 or five medium sized stones. Yes, rocks. I live in Arizona so I use what’s handy for a spacer between the aluminum pans but you could use anything that is heat resistant and not porous
Poke holes in the bottom of one of the aluminum pans. I lay a piece of cardboard on a cutting board and put the aluminum pan on top of that then poke the holes with a large fork or the tip of a knife. The cardboard allows you to poke holes in the pan without deforming it or going too deep.
Crumble the ground meat into the pan that has the holes in it then place that pan inside the pan with your spacers. You want to expose as much of the surface of the meat to the smoke. As it cooks the fat will drain through the holes in the top pan and collect in the lower pan so your meat isn’t laying in the rendered fat.
Put the pans on your grill or smoker with some hickory wood smoke. Temperature isn’t crucial as the meat is already tender, but keep in mind the lower the temp the longer the cook time and the longer the meat will be exposed to the smoke. Ground meat absorbs smoke like a sponge so a thin clean smoke is best. I don’t use any seasoning at all with this as I don’t want to take away from the smoke flavor.
As the meat cooks it will caramelize on the top, use a spatula to chop the meat into smaller chunks, being careful not to poke through the top pan, and turn it over occasionally so all of the meat has a chance to brown.
Smoked ground meat.
I use this in my venison red chili and the smoke flavor really adds a unique flavor.
This aluminum pan method can also be used for meatloaf or chuck roasts on the grill.
And they don’t fall through the grate.
