How To Season Masterbuilt Electric Smoker: Step By Step

Struggling with your query about how to season Masterbuilt electric smoker?

In short, first, assemble your smoker, then clean it, coat the smoker with oil, now switch on the smoker & set the temperature to 275°F for 3 hours. Then, add a few chips to the chip loader to create smoke and thus season the smoker.

However, besides telling you everything with seasoning your masterbuilt electric smoker step by step, we will also uncover –

• Why seasoning your smoker must
• How often to season
• How seasoning enhances your smoked food taste as well as your smoker’s life.

Plus, you will learn different healthy ways of seasoning a new electric smoker

So, knowing all about these factors will definitely make your grilling journey super easy and convenient. So, let’s dive into the deep to learn everything…

Why Is Seasoning My Smoker Necessary?

Whether you are going to use a cast-iron skillet or a new smoker, you must season it before operating. It is a simple ‘dry run’ process of creating an extra coating without any food or water.  Seasoning a smoker for the first time is necessary for 3 reasons—

To Burn The Manufacturing Residues:

The smokers are manufactured in the factories and come in contact with different solvents, oils, dirt, paint, cleaners, adhesive, and other things. 

Therefore, the manufacturing process naturally leaves some unpleasant chemical residues that might affect the taste of the food. 

Also, they are hazardous to the environment. Seasoning the smoker will burn all the residues, paints, and extra coatings and make the smoker grease-free.

To Enhance Flavor:

The thin black layer of the season can increase the smokey flavor of your food. Over time, the flavor gets more intense and better. So, the black smoke will make your food more and more delicious.

To Extend The Shelf Life:

The seasoning process helps to extend the shelf life of your smoker. The black coating effectively helps to prevent rust. Your smoker will come in contact with moisture and thus the development of rust is normal. 

But the black carbon coating prevents the moisture from touching the metal and thus prevents rust and increases the workability of the smoker. You can get these benefits from just a ‘3 hours’ seasoning process.

Isn’t it great?

How To Season Masterbuilt Electric Smoker: Easy Way

The process of seasoning a masterbuilt electric smoker is quite similar to other smokers. So the basic principles are applicable for most electric smokers, too. 

When you purchase a smoker, you will get a masterbuilt smoker instructions. Here you will get specific guidelines to use the specific type of smoker. So, don’t forget to check it. Here we have thoroughly described the whole process for those who are still confused about how to season a new smoker:

Step 1: Assemble It

Make sure that your smoker is perfectly assembled. You will get all the instructions in the manual, also, most smokers require little effort for the assembling process. 

Don’t forget to tighten the screws and secure the unit. Look for any broken, missing, or faulty parts that are needed to be replaced. 

Step 2: Clean The Smoker

Wipe down the smoker, especially the interior surface, and all the racks and trays with a sponge dampened with some mild detergent. 

Now wash it off with plain water. Open all the doors of the smoker and let it air dry. Many users don’t want to do this step, as the smoker comes new. However, if you don’t want to clean it, at least wipe it with a sponge or dry cloth to dust off any residue.

Step 3: Coat It With Oil

Coat the inner surface with cooking spray or oil, also you can wipe the inside with a cloth dampened with oil. The surface doesn’t need to be oily, just a light coat is enough. Avoid oiling the smoker heating element, water tray, grease tray, and chip tray.

While you are done, place all the trays, accessories, and other parts back to the smoker. Avoid filling the water tray with water, chicken stock, or other liquid. 

Step 4: Switch The Smoker On

Plug the smoker with a power outlet and start the smoker. Try to avoid an extension cord, or you can use an extension cord that contains an earth pin. 

Now open the vent fully and keep it open during the seasoning process. Set the temperature to 275°F for three hours. Some smokers require only 250°F to be seasoned.

Step 5: Add Wood Chips

Initially, you should leave the smoker empty– no water, no food, no wood. But when 45 minutes of three hours remain, you need to add wood chips. 

Fillb8-12 wood chips to the wood chip loader. Some people use pre-soaked chips, it’s not necessary. 

Add 8-12 chips more after 20 minutes. You will see ashes building up that will create smoke and also season the smoker. When another 20 minutes are left, load the wood chips loader with a few more chips, but do not overload the loader.

Step 6: Maintain Your Smoker

When your smoker is properly seasoned, let it cool. You don’t need to scrub the smoker, just wipe down the inner surface gently and remove the loose ash. But be careful. Don’t remove the black coating by mistake.

How To Season Outside Of Smoker

Most smokers come with coatings. They are usually painted. It is difficult nowadays to find a smoker without painting or coating. 

Therefore, seasoning outside of smokers is generally not needed in most cases. But if the smoker is not coated or painted, seasoning is important. 

Also, seasoning outside of a painted or coated smoker gives an extra layer of protection. Therefore, seasoning outside of a smoker is a great idea. 

For that, you can use an oil layer outside the smoker. But at first, clean the outside of the smoker gently to get rid of the unwanted rust. Then you can season the outside just like the methods described above. 

Also, you can use some generic spray to season outside the smoker. Generic sprays like peanut, pam, or canola oil. Some people claim that it works perfectly to season the smoker outside like iron.

Also, they never had to repaint or re-seasoned outside of a smoker after following this process. 

Seasoning A Smoker With Lard

This might seem like something you have never heard before. But while you are thinking of bringing a variation in your way of seasoning a smoker, lard is a great option. 

When you are thinking of seasoning your smoker, you have to take the weather into consideration. If it is snowing or raining outside, you have to wait for a dry sky. 

However, it is observed that seasoning smoker with lard works better than the vegetable oil we use for this purpose.

Lard closes the pores better than you think in metals, and it lasts longer than you expect. However, here are the steps:

Step 1: Start with removing unwanted odors. When you season the smoker, it usually absorbs the odor from coatings, paintings, or other adhesives.

If you do not remove the odors at first, the food you are going to make will absorb those odors after you place them inside the smoker. 

Step 2: After removing the odor, you have to clean the equipment of the smoker perfectly. Clean the grates, racks, interiors with simple water.

You can use soft cloths to avoid any unwanted scratches. Then rinse the interior and every other part with a little bit of warm water. 

Step 3: The next step is to give your smoker some time to dry. Air drying is best, but you can use towels or clothes to do so. 

Step 4: After the smokers get dry on all sides, use the lards on every edge of the smoker’s interior perfectly. But do not use too much lard that the extra lard you have used can mop up. 

Step 5: Applying a thin layer of coating is instructed. Now place a water pan in your smoker. But leave the pan empty. Actually, it depends on how much seasoning has already been done. 

Step 6: Now you have to open the vent. Then, set your smoker’s temperature to the maximum. But reviewing the instruction manual of your smoker is highly recommended before doing this. 

Step 7: However, after that, leave your smoker at the set temperature for at least three hours. Well done for now. Your seasoning of the smoker with lard is done!

Seasoning a Smoker With Vegetable Oil

We have already mentioned that if you want to bring a variation in seasoning your smoker, using lard is a great option. But the most used way in this regard is using vegetable oil. 

You have to follow the same procedure as described above in the seasoning with lard section to go with this process. 

• Remove the odors
• Clean the interiors with simple water & rinse perfectly
• Place a water pan in the smoker & leave the pan empty.
• Open the vent.
• Set the temperature to its maximum level.
• Leave the smoker with the set temperature as described in the user manual. 
• Use woods to remove the odors of metal seasoning. 

Can I Use Olive Oil To Season A Smoker?

Yes, you can. Using oil with a high burning point is always recommended. In that case, you can use refined olive oil, peanut oil, or canola oil. 

In fact, refined olive oil is one of the best seasoning oils for this purpose. With any of this mentioned oil, you have to follow the exact same procedure as described above. 

How Often Should I Season My Smoker?

The answer is simple. Only once you have to season your smoker. Seasoning smokers only once is more than enough. But you have to follow the procedure while it is new in a professional way. 

After that, you don’t have to worry about re-seasoning in the upcoming months. But cleaning the smoker after you use it every time is highly recommended.

How Do I Prepare An Electric Smoker?

You will need to follow some simple steps to prepare the electric smoker:

• The first step has to be seasoning or pre-seasoning the grill. 
• If you’ve already done this step, clean the smoker thoroughly. 
• Collect the fuel that you want to use to make the meal. 
• Now preheat the smoker and ensure proper cooking space. 
• Once you prepare the smoker, you can cook a delicious meal without any hassle.

FAQ:

Conclusion

You may feel irritated and think this is an annoying process, especially when you don’t know how to season masterbuilt electric smokers.

But remember, this process does a significant job to protect your smoker and make your smoked food delicious. 

Therefore, you should not skip seasoning even if you are in an impatient condition to test the smoker by cooking food.