Summary
Wood pellet smokers are great for all kinds of foods, but most are big and messy, which means they aren’t always convenient—until now. TheGE Profile Smart Indoor Smokercan be used inside on a countertop, so even people in apartments can smoke a wood-flavored meal. While it has its limitations, it is still a cooking marvel.
GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker
This innovative indoor electric smoker uses Active Smoke Filtration to turn real-wood smoke into warm air so you may prepare smoked brisket, pork butt, specialty cocktail ingredients, and more at any time from the comfort of your kitchen.
An Indoor Smoker Still Needs Counter Space
On one hand, the Smart Indoor Smoker is tiny and compact compared to the likes of aTraeger Pro 575, which has 575 square inches of cooking space, or the even largerBrisk It 940. However, it’s not small in the realm of countertop appliances. It’s about 20 inches deep and just under 17 inches tall, so it will need a place that can accommodate its size and 40-pound weight.
If a kitchen won’t work for the device, there is still the possibility of using it in a garage or enclosed patio where a regular smoker wouldn’t be allowed.
GE Profile says the smoker can fit three full racks of baby back ribs (if cut in half), one brisket (if cut in half), one whole chicken, two dozen chicken wings, or one pork butt. That’s certainly enough room to cook a family meal, though it probably can’t make enough food for an entire party.
There are three available racks for meat, but just be aware that cooking vertically means fat will drip on the lower levels, so rotating the grates throughout the cook will probably be needed.
The unit comes with an internal probe to use for temperature cooking. This is great for meats that cook for a really long time. Unfortunately, the way the plug jettisons out into the top rack’s space means that the area is much less usable. Using the probe with a brisket or pork butt on the lower rack makes the most sense. The top rack is probably only useful for ribs or chicken wings anyway.
How an Indoor Smoker Works
The “smart” in this product’s name is a little more broad than simply describing its wireless app connection.
GE Profile melds together one heat source for burning wood pellets and one for accurate temperature control. It calls this the Smart Smoke Generation System. Essentially, the wood pellets infuse a smoky flavor while the electric heating element does the cooking. Doing it this way also means using fewer pellets than a traditional grill.
Also, to be clear, this GE Profile smoker is not a grill. It won’t sear meat. That’s not necessarily a fault, but it is worth noting.
The Smart Indoor Smoker has Active Smoke Filtration to turn the smokey air into odorless air. The caveat to this is if you open the door while it’s smoking. That won’t hurt anything, but it will dump smoke into your kitchen. The solution to this is the “Clear Smoke” button that empties the internal chamber. This process will take about 10 minutes.
During cooking, there were never any plumes of smoke or even visual signs, but there were hints of a smoke smell in the air. It was much subtler than the smell of cooking bacon in the oven, but I did find that the indoor smoker was not 100 percent odorless. Personally, I liked the faint aroma. It was a reminder that meat was cooking.
When cooking, you can set the smoke level to varying degrees, but there are six presets for common meats that cover time, temperature, and smoke level. And once the food is done, there’s an auto-hold to keep it warm. This can be turned off in the settings.
I started my indoor smoking journey with a rack of baby back ribs. I did have to cut it in half to get it to fit, but that didn’t bother me. On a day that hovered around 55F, I was glad to be preparing dinner inside instead of outside in the cold—for Southern California.
The ribs cooked for about six hours, with smoke on them for about four of those hours. They tasted great. The meat was tender and had a smokey flavor.
I also made a host of other things, like chicken wings and even baked potatoes. (By the way, if you’ve never rolled potatoes in salt and then smoked them, you’re missing out.) Unequivocally, the GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker is a great way to smoke meat. All of the meals I prepared came out nearly perfect.
Cleaning Up Is Easier the Second Time
Overall, the process to clean the Smart Indoor Smoker is minimal and simplified. There’s a drip tray at the bottom to catch grease and fat. The burnt pellets fall into a small water reservoir in the side waste bin. Beyond disposing of those two things, cleaning involves washing the grates the food cooked on and wiping the inside of the door and around the edges for light ash.
In practice, cleaning the drip trip wasn’t fun. But putting tin foil over it subsequent times made the cleaning process way faster. There are evencustom-molded linersavailable (or available soon) if you want to go down that path.
Every Smoker Should be Wi-Fi Connected
The smoker uses the SmartHQ mobile app, available oniPhoneandAndroid, to get information and control some basic information at home or remotely. Because the app is a general-purpose one used for all kinds of appliances, it was clunkier than a dedicated one, like theJune Oven app.
Still, the SmartHQ app worked fine to change temperatures and times when I was upstairs, away from the smoker. Notifications are by far the killer feature, however. Just knowing that an internal temp has been reached or is approaching is huge for cooking meat that takes several hours. I especially liked its pre-notifications that let you know that the time would be done in five minutes.
Price and Availability
The GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker is available now atBest BuyandWilliam Sonomafor $999. It comes with a counter guard, drip pan, temperature probe, three wire racks, and a small starter pack of pellets.
Should You Buy the GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker?
If you’re broadly considering buying a smoker and you have a place to put a regular, full-sized BBQ, then I can pretty safely say theGE Profile Smart Indoor Smokerisn’t for you. It’s not a comparatively good value for someone who has the room. Then again, this is a product squarely made for all the other people who don’t have enough outdoor space or who move frequently and can’t haul around a typical smoker grill. For those people, this is a game-changer.
I loved being able to do a whole cook from the comfort of my kitchen, never having to venture out into a cold yard. This smoker also did a great job of infusing smokey flavor into tender meat without filling the house with a hazy fog.
I was impressed. For this smoker’s target audience, it is absolutely worth buying or at least seriously considering.
