Smoked Chuck Roast is one of my favorite cuts of beef to make in my smoker. It yields tender, juicy meat full of rich beef flavor, with a hint of smoke flavor. It’s a great alternative to higher priced cuts of meat and is guaranteed to bring smiles to your dinner table.
You’re going to love my easy smoked chuck roast recipe. With just a few minutes of prep, all you need to do is wait for the deliciousness!
My easy smoked chuck roast recipe makes delicious tender beef sandwiches. Add Alabama white sauce or your favorite barbecue sauce, and you’ve got a sandwich you’re whole family will love!
If you love smoked meats, make sure to try my Smoked Beef Brisket recipe.
Ingredients to make Smoked Chuck Roast
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make Smoked Chuck Roast. In Chef Speak, this is called the “Mise en Place,” which translates to “Everything in its Place.”
Not only does setting up your ingredients ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
Made with simple ingredients
- Beef chuck roast
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt (or coarse sea salt)
- Coarse black pepper (restaurant style)
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Sumac
Can I use other seasonings in my dry rub?
Yes, you can. The key to making delicious smoked meats that you and your family will love is to use seasonings that you enjoy eating. Changing up the spices in this simple dry rub is easy and definitely something you can do each time you prepare smoked beef, pork, or chicken.
Other seasonings you could add to your spice rub are cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper, ground ginger, turmeric, and coriander. You can also use your favorite seasoning blend. Cajun seasoning, jerk seasoning, barbecue seasoning, and Old Bay seasoning can be used instead of making your own dry rub. You can also add brown sugar to the seasonings to make a sweet rub.
What is a Chuck Roast?
A chuck roast is a larger cut of meat that comes from the shoulder area of the cow. Although it’s a tougher cut of meat with connective tissue, but it’s also well-marbled with fat, which contributes to its tenderness and enhances the rich beef flavor during the cooking process.
This makes it a popular choice for slow cooker recipes that call for braising, roasting, or stewing meat.
This cut is also referred to as “chuck pot roast” and is often used for preparing classic dishes like pot roast, beef stew, and pulled beef.
How to make Smoked Chuck Roast
- Add the kosher salt, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and sumac to a small bowl.
- Mix the dry rub ingredients together until well blended.
- Trim any excess fat off the chuck roast, then pat dry the meat with paper towels.
- Rub the chuck roast with olive oil (the oil helps the beef rub penetrate the meat more fully). Then, spread the dry rub generously on the tops and sides of the beef roast for a well-balanced flavor.
*If time permits, let the beef marinate for at least a half hour before placing it in the smoker. This gives the rub time to soak into the surface of the meat. It also gives the meat time to come to room temperature before beginning the smoking process. This helps the beef cook more evenly.
Preheat the smoker to 225 degrees F., and add wood chips to the smoker tube. For this recipe, we used pecan wood. You will need to add more wood chips during the smoking process; this will help form a great bark as well as a lot more flavor. Oak, Hickory, and Mesquite wood are also good choices for smoking a chuck roast.
When the smoker has come to temperature, place the chuck roast on the smoker rack with a drip pan underneath.
- When the chuck roast reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees, remove it from the smoker and wrap it in foil, then return it to the smoker and turn it up to 250 degrees F.
- When the chuck roast reaches an internal temperature of 195 degrees F., remove it from the smoker and allow it to rest for 30 minutes to allow the juices time to redistribute throughout the beef.
- Place the roast on a cutting board.
- Chop the chuck roast into small pieces.
An important thing to remember is the best results are achieved by cooking to temperature, not to time. You’re cooking the beef until the internal temperature has been reached. Cook time may vary depending on the size of the roast and the type of smoker you are using.
The smoking process for this recipe can also be used with a Traeger grill, pellet smoker, propane smoker, or charcoal grill using indirect heat.
This recipe can also be made in the oven. For the smoky flavor, add a little liquid smoke to the beef broth in the last step of the cooking process.
- For pulled beef, place part of the smoked chuck roast in a large bowl.
- Using two forks, shred the beef.
You can pull the beef, chop it or slice it, depending on how you’d like to serve it.
Chuck roast is not the prettiest cut of beef, but when cooked low and slow and well seasoned, it becomes one of the most flavorful cuts of beef you’ll ever smoke.
As I showed earlier, my smoked chuck roast makes delicious barbecued beef sandwiches, but it can also be used to make tacos with your favorite toppings.
It can also be served sliced with your favorite barbecue sauce or my chimichurri sauce.
But any way you serve my smoked chuck roast it’s going to be delicious and will amaze your friends and family!
Store any leftover beef refrigerated in an airtight container for up to five days. It can be kept frozen well wrapped in a freezer-safe container for up to three months.
Recipe FAQ’s
Absolutely! Once the chuck roast is fully cooked and reaches the desired internal temperature, you can let it rest for a little while before pulling it apart. The low and slow cooking process will have rendered the meat tender, making it perfect for shredding and serving as pulled beef.
While traditional smoking is the most popular way to smoke beef, you can also experiment with different methods like reverse-searing or using a smoker attachment on a grill. Reverse-searing involves smoking the roast at a lower temperature until it’s almost done, then finishing it off with a quick sear over high heat to create a flavorful crust.
For smoking a chuck roast, you’ll want to maintain a smoker temperature of around 225°F to 250°F. This low and slow cooking method will help the meat become tender and flavorful.
More Recipes You’ll Love!
Smoked Chuck Roast
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 ½ lbs chuck roast
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon sumac optional
Instructions
- Trim the excess fat off the chuck roast.
- Pat dry the roast using paper towels.
- Place the chuck roast in a pan and rub it with olive oil.
- Rub the seasoning mix on all sides of the roast.
- Preheat the smoker to 225 degrees F.
- Add wood chips to smoker tube for this recipe we used pecan you should repeat this step at least one more time prior to the chuck roast reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees this will help form a great bark as well as a lot more flavor
- Place the chuck roast on a smoker rack with a drip pan underneath
- When the chuck roast reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees, remove it from the smoker and wrap it in foil, then return it to the smoker and turn it up to 250 degrees F.
- When the chuck roast reaches an internal temperature of 195 degrees F., remove it from the smoker and allow it to rest for 30 minutes to allow the juices time to redistribute throughout the beef.
- An important thing to remember is the best results are achieved by cooking to temperature, not to time. You're cooking the beef until the internal temperature has been reached. Cook time may vary depending on the size of the roast and the type of smoker you are using.
- Place the roast on a cutting board, then chop the chuck roast into small pieces.
- If you prefer shredded pulled beef, place part of the roast in a large bowl and use two forks to shred the beef.
- You can also slice the beef, brisket style, and serve it with your favorite bbq sauces or chimichurri sauce.
Nfbastro
I have a nice chuck roast I’ve been planning to smoke like a brisket. A lot of methods now call for wrapping with beef tallow. Your thoughts on this vs using broth?
Chef Dennis Littley
That will produce a really nice smoked chuck roast. I like the process, its just more for the advanced smoker, which is why I didn’t talk about. If you’re comfortable with the method I would definitely go for it.