Smoked Tacos on Fry Bread

Huh, what’s fry bread you ask? Saw some program on the Food Network where the restaurant was serving tacos on fry bread rather than traditional tortilla shells. Basically, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Chunks of bread dough, rolled thin, then deep fried like an elephant ear. Stays flexible enough to create a Chalupa style taco.


For this dish I smoked 2 pounds of ground beef for about an hour before browning it and seasoning with a store bought taco seasoning.

For the fry bread, mix 4 cups of all-purpose flour with 2T of baking powder and 1T of salt. Add 2C of milk and mix with a bread hook until combined. Continue to knead for another 5 minutes and let rest for 10 minutes.


Break off 1/2C chunks of dough and roll into a thin round disk, no more than 1/4″ thick (thinner the better). Deep fry for 90 seconds/side. When the dough fist hits the oil, it will puff up with air pockets. Pop those with a knife or you end up with something that resembles a puffer fish. Drain on paper towels.


Top with refried beans, taco meat, lettuce, cheese, salsa, hell- any fixings you like.

Chicago Style Italian Beef

You can choose to have an all beef sandwich, or drop an Italian sausage on the bottom of the role and call it a combo. To make, get yourself the following:

  • 3 lbs of top round roast
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 teaspoon onion salt
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 5 cups of beef stock
  • 10 sub rolls

Combine the dry ingredients. Rub the roast with 1 garlic clove and then sprinkle with half the rub. Smoke at the lowest temperature on your grill for 2-3 hours. Heat the beef stock to a simmer and add the rest of the dry ingredients and 1 additional garlic clove, as well as the bay leaf.

Place the beef in a 13×9 pan and pour beef stock on top. Cook at 400 until you get to an internal temperature of 135F (about 2-3 hours). Remove roast from pan and let rest. Reserve the gravy/juice. After about 30-60 minutes, wrap roast with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Slicing cold meat is much easier than hot, plus it keeps the juices in the meat. But if you’re in a pinch, just slice and go for it.

Slice as thin as you can. Warm gravy/juice to a simmer and place a serving of beef in the gravy to warm for about 5 minutes. Remove beef from gravy, place on rolls, and top with giardiniera . Add a bit more gravy for a nice, wet sandwich.

Smoked Cream Cheese

Super easy to make. Just a block of cream cheese dusted with your favorite rub. Tried a couple of Meat Church rubs here, Deez Nuts and Holy Voodoo. Smoked for 2 1/2 hours on foil at 160F. Make sure you lay the blocks on foil or you’ll end up picking cheese out of your grill for a very long time.

Smoked Pot Roast

A very flavorful, and easy way to prepare a chuck roast. Start with a 3-4# roast and season with your favorite rub. I have recently taken to Meat Church Holy Cow. I just like the name, and it tastes pretty good, too.

Smoke at 160F for 3 hours before placing in a Dutch oven. Add about 4 quartered red potatoes, 4 carrots, a large handful of pearl onions, chopped garlic and fresh thyme and oregano. Cover with 2 cups of beef broth and 1 cup of red wine. Cover the Dutch oven and cook at 275 for 3-4hours, or until fork tender and the meat tops 200F.

Smoked Pork Tenderloin

Marinated pork tenderloin smoked to perfection, the ‘other white meat’ truly is delicious.

I typically find pork loin no larger than 1 1/2 pounds, which will feed 2-3 people. For this meal, I had 4 loins that fed 6 people. What you see above represents 3 of the 4 loins. The 4th was devoured when my guests decided they wanted seconds!

Start making these about 6 hours before you are ready to eat. To cook up 4 loins, marinate them in 1C apple juice, 1/2C brown sugar, 1/2C honey, 1T paprika, 1T salt, 1T pepper, 1T garlic powder and a handful of fresh thyme.

When ready to cook, place on your smoker at 225F and cook until the internal temperature reaches 140F. Pull and let rest for 15 minutes, as the temperature will continue to rise to about 145-148 by the time all is said and done.

Smoked Deviled Eggs

My kids love deviled eggs and these are their favorite! Traditional approach with a bit of smoke and a spicy kick.

To make these, you will need:

  • 12 eggs
  • 2 Jalapenos
  • 4 slices of bacon, crumbled (I use my homemade Chronic Bacon- thick cut slices coated in brown sugar, cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes, baked at 350 for about 30 minutes)
  • 1/2C Mayonnaise
  • 2t white vinegar
  • 2t yellow mustard
  • 1/2t chili powder
  • 1/2t paprika, plus additional for dusting
  • 1/2t salt
  • 2T chopped chives

Hard boil the eggs anyway you want. I typically start fresh eggs in cold water that is brought to a boil. Let boil for 10 minutes before cooling in ice water for 20 minutes.

Peel the eggs and slice in half. Remove the yokes and place on a baking sheet.

Split the jalapeños and remove the ribs and seeds. Also place on the baking sheet.

Put the baking sheet with egg yolks and peppers into your smoker on it’s lowest setting (165-180F) for 45 minutes. During the last 15 minutes, add the egg whites to the smoker, too. You don’t want the egg whites to smoke for the entire 45 minute period, as they will get rubbery.

Mash the egg yolks in a bowl. Chop the jalapeños and 2 of the bacon slices. Mix in with the yolks. Add the mayo, vinegar, mustard, chili powder, paprika and salt. Stir well and scoop about 1 tablespoon into each egg white. Dust with paprika and sprinkle on chives and remaining bacon. Drizzle with hot sauce if desired and enjoy!

Philly Cheesesteaks

In honor of the biggest Philly Cheesesteak critic I know, Jason Zorc, I provide for you this quick and easy recipe, ready in about 30 minutes.

Adapted this recipe from a sheet pan plan. To make this you will need the following:

  • 1 1/2 pounds ribeye steak, sliced thinly
  • 1 green bell pepper
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 yellow onion
  • 8oz sliced mushrooms
  • 2T olive oil
  • 4oz cream cheese
  • 1t Dijon mustard
  • 2t Worcestershire sauce
  • 8 slices provolone
  • 4 sliced rolls
  • Optional mayo as a spread
  • Salt & Pepper

Set your smoker for 450F. Thinly slice the meat, peppers, onion and mushrooms. Lay them on a sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil. Toss everything together to spread oil evenly and season with salt and pepper.

Place on the grill over indirect heat for 30 minutes. Stir the mixture and spread evenly every 10 minutes.

Just before the sheet pan is done, combine the cream cheese, Worcestershire sauce and mustard in a container. Microwave for 1 minutes, whisk until smooth.

Mix the meat and veggies with the cream cheese mix, scoop onto 4 rolls, topped with 2 slices of Provolone. Broil for a few minutes until cheese is melted and enjoy!

Smoked Meatloaf

An absolutely delicious spin on a dinner classic, this meatloaf combines 3 different meats with a bacon-weave so you can serve up the best meat loaf mankind has ever tasted.

I like to make the loaf the day before I want to eat, so all the flavors have a chance to meld in the tasty mounds of meat. Start with sautéing the following until soft:

  • 1T olive oil
  • 1 grated carrot
  • 1 diced stalk celery
  • 4oz diced mushrooms
  • 1/2 diced red onion

Cook the vegies until soft, about 10 minutes over medium heat. Allow vegies to cool, then mix in a large bowl with the following:

  • 2# hamburger
  • 1# hot Italian sausage
  • 0.5# cooked and crumbled bacon
  • 4 cloves diced garlic
  • 4 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 1 beaten egg
  • 2t Worcestershire sauce
  • 2t salt
  • 1t pepper
  • 1C breadcrumbs
  • 1/2C condensed tomato soup

BBQ Sauce Ingredients

  • 1 C ketchup
  • 1/4C maple syrup
  • 1/4C Siracha
  • 1/4C Worchesteshire
  • 1/4C Steak Sauce
  • 1T Montreal Steak Seasoning

Reserve the BBQ sauce and mix everything else together, form into a loaf, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

When ready to cook, start grill on Smoke or a temperature of around 165F. Smoke the meatloaf right on the grill grate for 3 hours.

While the meatloaf is smoking, prepare your bacon weave using 1# of regular or thinly sliced bacon. If you’re not sure how to do a bacon weave, just Google it. They are really cool, but can be a challenge to get crisp. You’ll see my secret for that below.

After smoking the meatloaf for 3 hours, wrap the top with the prepared bacon weave and turn up the heat to 350F. Let cook until the internal temperature reaches 155F, about 45 minutes.

At this point, you need to crisp up the bacon. Move the meatloaf to a cookie sheet and place under the broiler in an oven for 5-10 minutes until crisp. Watch the bacon closely, as it goes from not done to burnt very quickly.

Once the bacon is crisp, remove the meatloaf from the oven and brush with BBQ sauce before returning to the smoker to firm up the sauce. Smoke at 165F for 10-15 minutes to finish. Remove from smoker and let rest 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Smoked Coleslaw

Don’t knock it until you try it! A crispy, classic mayo based coleslaw with a hint of smoked flavor. Even my wife that’s not a big fan of coleslaw likes this delicacy!

You can either go the quick route and buy a coleslaw mix in the prepackaged lettuce section of your supermarket, and coleslaw dressing with the salad dressings, or make your own. In this example, I bought a bag of coleslaw mix that I tossed with a bag of broccoli slaw mix to add some color, while I made the dressing from scratch.

To make the slaw, shred the following:

  • 1 head green cabbage
  • 1 head purple cabbage
  • 2 carrots

Lay the shredded slaw out on perforated pans and smoke at the lowest setting on your smoker for about 30 minutes, until the cabbage just starts to take on a bit of the smoked color. Remove from the smoker and toss in the dressing. To make your own, mix the following:

  • 1 1/2C mayonnaise
  • 1/4 C white vinegar
  • 1t celery seed
  • 1t sugar
  • 1t salt
  • 1t pepper

You can serve it as-is, or for best results, refrigerate overnight to allow the flavors to meld. Top with thinly sliced scallions before serving.

Smoked Cheeze-Its

So you’ve got all this grill space, what to do with it? Smoke Cheeze-Its!

What you see above represents one Costco sized box of Cheeze-Its with 2 packages inside the box. Empty the crackers into a bowl and spray/toss with cooking spray. Sprinkle with garlic salt and if you want a zing, cayenne pepper.

Lay out as close to one layer as you can. If you have perforated sheets, use those. Smoke between 150-180 for 3-5 hours, tossing/stirring every hour to keep the smoke even. After they cool, place in a zip lock bag and seal. You can eat them right as you pull them from the grill, but they will taste better the next day.