Best electric smoker under $300?
My brother uses his Cabelas Masterbuilt in his shed. It’s well ventilated and works well for him. It does smell like a smokehouse and so do some of the items in it (tent, picnic canopy etc).
While electric is more “set and forget” when it comes to fuel, you will spend more time adding wood for the smoke than you would with some other options.
Electric don’t get very hot either. Great for smoke but not great for grilling. I do poultry at 325-350 for at least 30min at the beginning or end of the cook to crisp up the skin. Poultry soaks up smoke pretty good so usually I do the entire cook at those temps even though not really “smoking” when at temps much hotter than 250.
If you can deal with periodically adding wood, don’t want a pellet, stick, or charcoal smoker, then I think the propane smokers are pretty “set and forget” and can get a bit hotter when you want it. Still going to be monitoring the wood until the meat gets through about 145-160 internal. Kind of a pain when doing a long smoke like a brisket.
Truly set and forget is pellet. They don’t get quite as much smoke flavor as some of the others but you can smoke at a little lower temp to compensate or add a pellet tube.
