How To Smoke Eggs On The Grill

Regular hard-boiled eggs are versatile… but still regular! Once I learned how to smoke eggs on the grill, I gained new respect for the yolk-filled wonders. That smoky flavor is eggcellent for anything: breakfast, appetizer, snack, or as a special ingredient for another recipe!

I wanted to do something different on the grill this weekend.  I heated some of my homemade smoked bacon and thought that having some hard-boiled eggs would go very nicely with it. Inspiration hit, and I decided to make smoked eggs on the grill.

♨️ Are Smoked Eggs Good? What Do They Taste Like?

Do you enjoy hard-boiled eggs? Chances are you’ll love the smoked version even more!

Smoked eggs should have the classic taste and texture of a hard-boiled egg with an added smoky flavor.

How powerful the flavor is depends on the type of smoking wood you use, how long you smoke the eggs, and whether you smoke them peeled or unpeeled.

🥚Preparation

Very often boiling eggs was frustrating. You know that eggshell who just wouldn’t let go, leaving you with a pockmarked mess of egg white? The problem is they’re too fresh. As eggs age a bit (think a week or two old), the inner membrane slightly detaches from the shell, making peeling much easier.

Sadly, buying eggs way ahead of time and waiting for them to age is not something I’m capable of.

I tried the ice baths, shaking them in a glass jar, and peeling them submerged in cold water, but nothing brought consistent results. Well, that is until I started using the Instant Pot.

🥚 Boiling Eggs In The Instant Pot For Easy Peeling

👉Step 1: Set up the Instant Pot with a cup of water and place the eggs on the wire mesh rack inside the cooking chamber.

👉Step 2: Set the timer for 7 minutes and release the steam vent when the timer sounds off. Boom!

👉Step 3: Let them cool until you can peel them. The “hard-boiled” eggs are done, and they peel super easy all the time! Just try it – it makes all the difference in the world.

👉Step 4: Submerge the eggs in cold water or even an ice bath to cool them fast.

👨‍🍳 Boiling Eggs On The Stovetop

This is the old-fashioned way to make hard-boiled eggs and doesn’t require any special appliance. However, it doesn’t make fresh eggs easier to peel.

👉Step 1: Place the eggs in a pot and add cold water until they are covered by 1-inch.

👉Step 2: Bring the water to a boil over high heat.

👉Step 3: When the water starts boiling, turn off the heat and cover the pot.

👉Step 4: Let the eggs sit covered in the hot water for 10-12 minutes. Keep them for 10 minutes for a semi-soft yolk, or 12 minutes for hard-boiled eggs with a fully cooked yolk.

👉Step 5: At this point, you can peel the eggs and use them or store them in the fridge in their shells and peel them at a later time.

👉Step 6: Transfer the eggs to an ice bath or a bowl with very cold water to stop the cooking process and let them sit for 15 minutes before peeling them.

🔥 Smoking Instructions

👉Step 1: Set up the grill to 200-225°F with indirect heat. Low temperatures are key for this recipe. There’s no need for high heat since the eggs are already cooked. For a Kamado-style grill, add the plate setter. For a gas grill, turn off the burners in the center of the grill.

📌Note: My neighbor’s parents came into town and loved my Big Green Egg. They brought me some hickory that they harvested from their farm. Isn’t that great? You can use pecan, oak, or apple as well. All of them will work great to smoke the eggs.

👉Step 2: Set up the grill for the smoke.

• For Kamado-style grills, add the wood to the coals. You do not need to soak the wood ahead of time. This is a short smoke, so you don’t need the wood to last a long time.
• For gas grills, add wood (or wood chips) to a smoker box. This is a durable box that is designed to prevent the wood from catching fire and directs the smoke to your food.

👉Step 3: Transfer the peeled eggs to a disposable aluminum pan or cast iron pan and place it on the grill grates in the center of the grill. The smoke will billow around the eggs, so a simple disposable pan will work perfectly.

👉Step 4: Remove the eggs after about 20 minutes. You don’t want the heat of the grill to cook them more, instead, you just want the smoke to add the flavoring to the eggs. A little goes a long way. Refrigerate them right away.

Note: This is a short smoke so almost any smoking wood will work. Use pecan or hickory if you want a deeper smoke flavor, oak for a medium smoke, or opt for milder wood like apple, cherry, or peach for a subtle bouquet. Refer to our free wood smoking chart for more options!

💡 Recipe Tips

✔️Lighter smoke flavor | You can choose to not peel them first when you put them on the smoker to achieve a slightly lighter smoky flavor. Most of the smoke will adhere to the shell and not penetrate the egg white. I have not found this technique to be as effective as pre-peeling them, but you can definitely try it.

Another option is to just crack the eggs but not peel them. That will give a medium smoke flavor.

Either of these will be great options for people that want to try to smoked eggs, but aren’t sure they want that full-smoke taste.

Also, we’re smoking boiled eggs which means cooking is not the end goal. Hot smoking is more accessible, but not mandatory. If you have the equipment, you can definitely cold smoke eggs.

✔️Perfectly peeled hard-boiled eggs | Farm-fresh eggs are great for scrambled eggs and sunny-side-up eggs but the fresher they are, the harder it is to peel them.

Buy your eggs in advance and keep them in the fridge for a few days and up to a week before boiling them for easy peeling.

Also, store the eggs upside down if you want the yolk to be perfectly centered around the egg white once you boil them.

✔️Best wood for smoking eggs | You have a lot of options when it comes to the smoking wood you use for the eggs. Hickory and oak will give that classic BBQ flavor, while lighter fruit woods such as apple, and cherry will infuse a more subtle smokiness into the eggs.

Wood like mesquite and pecan will deliver a more powerful smoke aroma and the risk of your eggs turning bitter is minimized by the short smoking time.

✔️Smoke the eggs uncooked | My recipe for smoked eggs requires boiling them first. If you can skip this step and place the whole, raw eggs directly in the smoker. It will take around 90 minutes at 250°F or 2 hours at 225°F.

⏲️How To Store

Smoked eggs make such a wonderful ingredient in salads, sandwiches, dips, and other recipes that having extra ones is a blessing!

Place the leftover smoked eggs in an airtight container or a jar with a lid and refrigerate. According to the FDA, all hard-boiled eggs last up to 1 week in the fridge, peeled or not.

To be honest, they never last for more than 3 days in my fridge.

📌Ways To Use Smoked Eggs

It’s impossible not to love these eggs as a snack, appetizer, or part of a nutritious breakfast.

There are also many recipes you can make with smoked eggs as an ingredient:

⭐Sandwiches | Egg salad sandwiches are a twist on an old favorite by simply using smoked eggs instead of boiled ones. This is another case where smoking the eggs with a more robust wood is recommended.

⭐Deviled eggs | Smoked deviled eggs take the popular appetizer to a whole new level. The creamy filling is a mixture of cooked egg yolks, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, salt, black pepper, and your favorite BBQ rub.

Sometimes we use homemade guacamole instead of mayonnaise – This will completely change the flavor of the eggs but will result in a huge return on compliments, I promise! Garnish with chives and smoked paprika for an irresistible flavor.

You can use a bolder wood such as hickory or mesquite for the smoked deviled eggs. The intense smoke flavor complements the creamy filling.

⭐Salads | Adding smoked eggs to this smoked potato salad will make the flavors even more intense! Use slices of the egg in a Cobb salad or as part of the protein for a salad mix.

For a gourmet touch to your salads, infuse a lighter smoke flavor into the eggs. To achieve this, you can choose a milder wood like apple or peach, or smoke the eggs with the shell on.

⭐Breakfast | Eggs and bacon are a classic pair and serving smoked eggs next to smoked bacon slices will make a fantastic breakfast or brunch.

In this traditional serving, it’s great to smoke the eggs with a stronger wood. Oak will give you a medium smoke, while pecan, mesquite, and hickory offer a more intense smokiness.

For a heartier breakfast, serve the smoked eggs on avocado toast or add them to a quiche or frittata.

More Smoked Appetizers & Snacks

🥔Smoked fingerling potatoes is another recipe that is smoked in less than an hour. You can plan to smoke the eggs and potatoes at the same time.

🧀Smoked cheese looks impressive and perhaps a little intimidating. I can assure you that smoking a whole block of cheese is easy to do and the results are INCREDIBLE!

On that note, you can also make smoked cream cheese for a fantastic appetizer or ingredient that can elevate any dish.

🐟Smoked fish dip is a crowd-pleaser you’ll keep making for holidays, celebrations, and get-togethers.

🥨These smoked pretzels will take everyone by surprise at the first taste test. Be sure to make a larger batch. Smoked pretzels are not the kind of snack that lasts long!

❓Recipe FAQ