What the heck is smoked chuck roast, and why would you want to make it anyway? Have you ever craved some smoked brisket only to abandon the idea because of the effort and time required to make it? I know you have. This happens to me a lot. But there is a solution! If you are time-strapped, make a smoked chuck roast. It's almost as good as brisket but done in about half the time. This is my updated recipe with some important changes. This revised recipe makes a ridiculously flavorful, juicy, and melt-in-your-mouth tender chuck roast. You will love it!
What is beef chuck?
Beef chuck is a cut that comes primarily from the shoulder section of the steer. Beef chuck roast is just a small part of a full chuck, weighing 100 lbs or more. You can buy a whole chuck from a place like Costco or a smaller piece resembling a big steak or a roll tied up with twine. Together with brisket and short rib, chuck has the beefiest flavor in the steer. It's great for burgers. And it's excellent when smoked.
Prepping beef chuck for smoking
Picking the meat
As is true with brisket, the more marbled the chuck, the better it will taste. Choice grade works well; just pick the more marbled one. I see certified Angus chuck roasts on sale every now and again; they are nicely marbled and great for smoking.
Chuck roast size
The size of the chuck roast is SUPER IMPORTANT! I did not realize this at first, and it was my biggest mistake. A thin slice of chuck many grocery stores sell will cook too fast. You want a nice, thick piece of chuck that weighs about 6-8 lbs. In my opinion, this is the perfect size. It allows enough time to get enough smoke and develop a nice smoke ring, yet it won't take too long to cook. It also won't dry out and stay moist, and the extra time it will stay on the smoker will perfectly tenderize the meat.
This is what I used to smoke:
This is what I smoke now:
The difference is astounding. The size makes a huge difference. A thin piece of chuck will never achieve the same smokiness, juiciness, and tenderness as a big, fat chuck roast. Never!
You can ask your butcher to cut off a 7-8lbs roast for you. You can also buy a whole brisket from Costco and cut it yourself.
This is my preferred method, as buying a whole chuck is more economical. I always use it to make burgers, sausage, beef patties, sambusa, and soup. Chuck is the perfect cut for soups, in my opinion.
Wet-aging
If you have the luxury of time, keep that chuck in the fridge for 2-3 weeks in the Crayovac bag it came in. Wet aging will do its magic and make the meat very tender.
Seasoning
I used to prefer to season my smoked chuck roast with nothing but a 50/50 mix of salt and coarsely ground black pepper, the so-called Texas style. It's great. But I think I have found a better seasoning. This one was inspired by Aron Franklin in his latest Franklin Smoke: Wood. Fire. Food book. This seasoning is incredibly delicious and salts and flavors the meat perfectly. If the meat sits in the fridge for 48 hours, it will be flavored nearly inside out. This seasoning consists of salt, garlic powder, onion powder, mustard powder, white pepper, granulated beef stock/beef broth, and celery powder.
Put the seasonings on at least a couple of hours before and refrigerate. Better yet, refrigerate the meat for 48 hours, flipping it once halfway through. The salt will draw some moisture out of the meat, which will be reabsorbed. If you keep the meat there for more than a few hours, you can put it in a Ziploc bag.
If you only have a few hours, keep the meat uncovered. This facilitates the creation of a pellicle on the surface of the meat. A pellicle is a dry, sticky layer that attracts smoke, resulting in a better color and a better smoky flavor.
If you salt the meat right before smoking, it will get wet, so give it at least a few hours. I do the same when cooking steaks; it works like a charm.
Smoking
Aaron Franklin's preferred temperature for smoking is around 275F to 315F, which he wrote about in his fantastic Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto book. I am with him on that. Smoking low and slow at 225F was programmed into me early on, but I would inevitably let my temps creep up higher. I get better quality smoke at higher temps, faster cooks, and better fat rendering. The latter is the most crucial factor to me. The meat tastes better to me when cooked at higher temps. So, no 225F when smoking a chuck roast.
I start at 275F, let the meat absorb as much smoke as it needs to get good color. Next, I wrap the meat in butcher paper (a method called a Texas Crutch) and finish at about 325F.
The wood choice for smoking chuck is the same as for brisket: oak and hickory. I prefer oak for larger pieces of meat and hickory for smaller pieces that will cook faster, as hickory has a stronger aroma. Both work great for smoking chuck.
The final internal temperature of the meat
I used to believe that you could smoke chuck roast to 180F - 185F, for a tender and juicy meat with a firmer texture. I've seen several reputable websites recommend it. Nope. That didn't work for me. I tried and always felt like the meat was always tougher than I liked. It's a personal thing, but still.
So, instead, I now cook my chuck roast to 203F—210F internal temperature and love the results. Cooked to this temperature, the meat is always juicy and incredibly tender. It starts to fall apart but is still sliceable and makes ridiculously good sandwiches.
Resting and serving
After the meat is cooked, remove it from the smoker and let it rest for about 1 hour, still wrapped in butcher paper, to relax, re-absorb lost moisture, and further tenderize until the internal temperature comes down to about 145F. Then unwrap, slice, or pull and serve with a potato salad, pickled red onions, or whatever side dishes you like.
If you are sometimes impatient like me, you can carefully unwrap the roast right away. Be very careful, as the meat will be steaming hot.
Slice it up, and make the most amazing smoked chuck sandwiches you have ever tasted.
Similar recipes you may like
- Texas-stile smoked brisket flat
- Smoked beef short ribs
- Smoked brisket done right
- Smoked country-style ribs
This post and recipe were revised on August 30, 2024.
Ingredients
- 6-8 lb chuck roast
Rub for Smoked Chuck Roast
- 3 tsp sea salt
- 3 tsp granulated garlic or garlic powder
- 3 tsp granulated onion or onion powder
- 2 crumbled beef broth cubes or substitute with granulated beef stock
- 1 1/2 tsp mustard powder
- 3/4 tsp white pepper
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp celery powder
Rub for Texas-style Smoked Chuck Roast (as an alternative)
- 2 1/3 Tbsp kosher salt or to taste
- 3 1/2 Tbsp black pepper coarsley ground; or to taste
Instructions
- If possible, wet-age the meat in the fridge for 2-3 weeks in the Crayovac bag it came in.
- Place the rub ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well. Apply the rub to the chuck roast in an even layer. Refrigerate for at least a few hours and up 48 hours for best results. Keep the meat in a Ziploc bag if refrigerating for longer than a few hours, flipping once halfway though. Otherwise, keep the meat uncovered.
- Preheat the smoker to 275F. Smoke with oak or hickory for about 4 hours or until the internal temperature reaches about 165F and the meat develops a dark color.
- Take the roast out of the smoker, wrap it tightly in unglazed butcher paper, and return to the smoker.
- Continue cooking the meat in the smoker without the smoke at 325F for another 3-4 hours or until the internal temperature of the roast reaches 203F - 210F.
- After the meat is done cooking, remove it from the smoker and let it rest, wrapped, for about 1 hour or until the internal temperature comes down to about 145F. Then unwrap, slice/pull, and serve.
- If you are impatient like me, unwrap right away, but be careful as it will be steaming hot. Then, slice the meat and make the most amazing smoked chuck sandwiches you will ever taste.
Ron jones says
Thanks. 185 it is. I'll be doing this recipe this weekend.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Good luck and enjoy!
Ron jones says
Just want to be clear. Are you saying I can wrap @ 175 degrees and continue to smoke until 208-210 degrees internally? I plan to slice this piece of meat.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
That's for pulled meat. If slicing, stop at 180F-185F.
Ron jones says
I will be using my Oklahoma joe's highland smoker to do this recipe. Is a water pan necessary for moisture? IMPORTANT.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Ron, I don't use a water pan for this recipe but I pick well-marbled pieces so never had a need for it. If your chuckie doesn't have good marbling I'd say a water pan may help keep it from drying out.
John Drozdowski says
On the Texas style smoked chuck roast, Can you just vacuum seal the roast to let it set for the 2 or 3 weeks? Would I let it cure for a shorter time then? Thanks, John Drozdowski
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
John, if you are vac sealing with salt and pepper (step 1), you don't need to cure (step 2) for hours or overnight to get the flavor but keeping meat in the fridge for a few hours or overnight will dry the skin and create a pellicle which will enable the smoke to better adhere to the surface of the meat, so keep that in mind.
Andrew Zep says
I'm having to pre cook/smoke my roasts for a holiday meal the day before. How do you suggest reheating it and serving it the next day. I love your recipe and it comes out perfectly delicious every single time but never served it the next day seeing there are never any leftovers.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Andrew, I recently posted a brisket recipe called Smoked Brisket Done Right, it's really, really good. It's first smoked at a low temp of 200F - 225F for 10-12 hours, so won't be fully cooked, then cooled down and refrigerated. The next day, it's baked in the oven covered with foil at 250F for 4 hours. It comes out perfectly juicy and the biggest benefit of this method is that you can pre-smoke it the day before and the next day you can have it ready for the precise time you need it without any hassle. Now, I haven't tried this method with chuck roast but it should work well too. I'd smoke it at 200F or so, hopefully without letting it cook through all the way. Then the next day I'd bake it covered at 250F for 1-2 hours tops as it's much smaller than a whole brisket. If you buy a whole chuck (at Costco) and smoke say 1/2 or 1/3 of it, not a thin pre-cut chuck roast you get from a grocery store, you can just follow my brisket timings. Hope this helps. Good luck!
Reece Tidwell says
Loved it!
Eric says
I just smoked a couple chuck roasts. Not happy with the results. Pulled one at 180 like instructed and it had a great smoke ring but the meat was dry. It appeared to the eye to be over cooked also.
I was going to wrap the second roast but decided to pull it at 160. It too was dry and appeared to be overdone. Not sure why this is. From the looks of how mine turned out, my thought was that I should have treated them as though they were steak an pulled them at a much lower temp. Not sure.
Both my roast were the larger roundish shape not flat like yours. I smoked at 225 the entire time on my smokin bros. pellet smoker, so I had consistent heat, and the outside temp was around 30degrees all day. These roasts spent 8.5 hours on the smoker to reach those temps.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Hey Eric,
Looks like your smoking time was much longer than mine, wonder if that caused the dryness. Another thought that comes to mind is that it could be the meat. The one that I buy is usually pretty marbled and I never had issues with the dryness of the meat. Cooking to a lower temperature is an option but chuck is tougher than, say, striploin or ribeye, so it benefits from low and slow cooking.
David Miles says
Make sure you dry brine the roast for 1-2 days before cooking. Spray water or beef broth on the meat every 45-60 mins. Pulling at 160 or 180 is way too early. You can wrap in foil or butcher paper at those temps and include 1/2 to 1 cup of beef broth if wrapping in foil. Finish cooking until meat temp reaches around 200-205 degrees. Most important is that the meat probes tender like warm butter. The purpose of slow cooking is to break down the intra-muscular fat (collagen) not to gain more smoke.
Paula says
Sounds from your description like these might have been top or bottom round roasts instead of Chuck. A lot less marbling with those which could account for dryness. I don’t know that I’ve seen round Chuck roasts.
Gary says
Eric, to me it sounds like it wasn’t on long enough. If you don’t get the meat to the 195-200 degree range, the fat doesn’t render and release the juices. The meat is actually cooked, but the fat will stay solid leaving a dry meat. The juiciness comes from the rendered fat melting inside the cut of meat.
You can try the probe method of checking the beef. Insert a meat thermometer into the meat, and if there’s any resistance, it’s not ready.
At 225, it would take a LONG time to get there. Maybe 10-12 hours. Once it begins to render, it slightly cools the meat, adding additional time. It’s why you hear people have smokes that go on well over 12-14 hours or using the texas crutch to speed things along.
Matt says
Followed the recipe for pulled chick roast. Wrapped in butcher paper and it turned out fantastic. A great alternative to brisket if you want a smaller piece of meat and quicker.
For this smoke I used my trusty Weber charcoal grill with Apple wood using the snake method.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Weber and the snake method - used it hundreds of times, can't go wrong with it. Thanks for your feedback. Happy smoking.
David says
If you don't want to pull it at what point do you take it off the smoker? I really want to slice it and serve it like Brisket.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
David, I normally would smoke to 180F-185F for slicing.
Tommy says
could all this be done the same way on a charcoal grill? wood chips? How would you do this using a charcoal?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Yes, done it many times on my Weber Kettle grill. Either push the charcoal on one side and the meat on the other, or put a SS bowl with 1/2" holes drilled in it, upside down, in the middle of the grill and the charcoal snaked around it. The meat is in the middle over indirect heat. Yes, wood chips or wood chunks over charcoal. Start the fire going on one side, get the grill to about 200F then close the dampers to maintain about 225F. Works very well.
Kenneth Glanton says
Love it! Do this all the time.
Just noticed that nice knife you have. What kind is it?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan says
Thanks, Kenneth. The knife is Takeda AS Stainless. Love it.
John says
It made this for Mother's Day. I was so disappointed that I didn’t get a bugger hunk of meat – because this recipe was DELICIOUS, and the meat was smoky and fall apart tender!!! My wife raved about it! I am making it again next weekend.