Smoker Cook Time Calculator by Weight, Cut and Temperature
This is the question every smoker owner asks, usually twice: once the night before while planning, and again at hour seven when the temperature has not moved in ninety minutes. Enter what you are cooking and the calculator returns an estimated cook window, the time you need to light the fire to hit your serving hour, and the internal temperature you are actually aiming for.
Raw weight before trimming, which is what the butcher label says.
We work backwards from this and include the rest.
Everything above is arithmetic on an average. The only thing that knows when your particular piece of meat is done is a probe inside it, which is why a leave-in thermometer changes a long cook more than any grill upgrade. Watching the curve flatten into the stall and then climb again is the difference between cooking a brisket and guessing at one.
How the estimate is built
Collagen-heavy cuts scale with weight, so brisket, pork shoulder, chuck and short ribs are calculated as hours per pound at your chosen grate temperature. Ribs, whole birds, tenderloin and fish do not scale that way: a second rack of ribs on the same grate takes the same time as the first, so those are timed per rack or per piece instead.
The result is deliberately a range, not a number. The low end assumes a well-sealed cooker in mild weather with a cut on the thin side, and the high end assumes cold, wind, a thick cut and a long stall. Published per-pound figures that give you a single time are hiding a spread this wide, and that is how people end up serving at ten at night.
| Cut | 225°F | 250°F | 275°F | Pull at | USDA min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beef brisket, whole packer | 1.5 h/lb | 1.25 h/lb | 1 h/lb | 203°F | 145°F |
| Beef brisket flat | 1.5 h/lb | 1.25 h/lb | 1.05 h/lb | 203°F | 145°F |
| Pork shoulder, Boston butt | 1.75 h/lb | 1.5 h/lb | 1.25 h/lb | 203°F | 145°F |
| Pork picnic shoulder | 1.75 h/lb | 1.5 h/lb | 1.25 h/lb | 203°F | 145°F |
| Pork spare ribs, St. Louis cut | 6 h | 5 h | 4.25 h | 200°F | 145°F |
| Pork baby back ribs | 5 h | 4.25 h | 3.5 h | 198°F | 145°F |
| Beef short ribs, plate | 1.5 h/lb | 1.3 h/lb | 1.1 h/lb | 203°F | 145°F |
| Beef chuck roast | 1.5 h/lb | 1.25 h/lb | 1.05 h/lb | 205°F | 145°F |
| Beef tri-tip | 0.75 h/lb | 0.65 h/lb | 0.5 h/lb | 135°F | 145°F |
| Pork loin roast | 0.75 h/lb | 0.6 h/lb | 0.5 h/lb | 145°F | 145°F |
| Pork tenderloin | 2 h | 1.6 h | 1.25 h | 145°F | 145°F |
| Whole chicken | 0.75 h/lb | 0.6 h/lb | 0.5 h/lb | 165°F | 165°F |
| Chicken thighs, bone in | 2.25 h | 1.75 h | 1.4 h | 180°F | 165°F |
| Whole turkey | 0.65 h/lb | 0.55 h/lb | 0.45 h/lb | 165°F | 165°F |
| Turkey breast, bone in | 0.6 h/lb | 0.5 h/lb | 0.4 h/lb | 165°F | 165°F |
| Salmon fillet | 1 h | 0.8 h | 0.65 h | 145°F | 145°F |
| Beef back ribs | 5.5 h | 4.5 h | 3.75 h | 203°F | 145°F |
| Fresh sausage links | 2.5 h | 2 h | 1.6 h | 160°F | 160°F |
| Beef brisket point | 1.5 h/lb | 1.3 h/lb | 1.1 h/lb | 205°F | 145°F |
| Beef burnt ends | 3 h | 2.5 h | 2 h | 205°F | 145°F |
| Beef cheeks | 1.5 h/lb | 1.3 h/lb | 1.1 h/lb | 205°F | 145°F |
| Prime rib, standing rib roast | 0.6 h/lb | 0.5 h/lb | 0.42 h/lb | 135°F | 145°F |
| Beef top round roast | 0.65 h/lb | 0.55 h/lb | 0.45 h/lb | 135°F | 145°F |
| Oxtail | 1.75 h/lb | 1.5 h/lb | 1.25 h/lb | 205°F | 145°F |
| Ribeye steak, reverse seared | 1 h | 0.85 h | 0.7 h | 125°F | 145°F |
| Pastrami from corned beef | 1.5 h/lb | 1.25 h/lb | 1.05 h/lb | 203°F | 145°F |
| Country style pork ribs | 4 h | 3.5 h | 3 h | 200°F | 145°F |
| Pork belly burnt ends | 5 h | 4.5 h | 3.75 h | 200°F | 145°F |
| Fresh ham, uncured | 0.8 h/lb | 0.7 h/lb | 0.6 h/lb | 160°F | 145°F |
| Double smoked ham, fully cooked | 0.4 h/lb | 0.35 h/lb | 0.3 h/lb | 165°F | 165°F |
| Pork chops, thick cut | 1.5 h | 1.25 h | 1 h | 145°F | 145°F |
| Home cured bacon | 3 h | 2.5 h | 2 h | 150°F | 145°F |
| Chicken wings | 2 h | 1.6 h | 1.25 h | 175°F | 165°F |
| Chicken breast, bone in | 1.75 h | 1.5 h | 1.2 h | 165°F | 165°F |
| Spatchcock chicken | 0.6 h/lb | 0.5 h/lb | 0.4 h/lb | 165°F | 165°F |
| Chicken leg quarters | 2.5 h | 2 h | 1.6 h | 180°F | 165°F |
| Turkey legs | 3.5 h | 3 h | 2.5 h | 180°F | 165°F |
| Whole duck | 0.7 h/lb | 0.6 h/lb | 0.5 h/lb | 165°F | 165°F |
| Cornish game hen | 2 h | 1.6 h | 1.3 h | 165°F | 165°F |
| Whole trout | 1 h | 0.8 h | 0.6 h | 145°F | 145°F |
| Shrimp, shell on | 0.5 h | 0.4 h | 0.33 h | 145°F | 145°F |
| Lamb shoulder | 1.5 h/lb | 1.3 h/lb | 1.1 h/lb | 200°F | 145°F |
| Leg of lamb, bone in | 0.75 h/lb | 0.65 h/lb | 0.55 h/lb | 140°F | 145°F |
| Rack of lamb | 2 h | 1.75 h | 1.4 h | 140°F | 145°F |
| Venison roast | 0.8 h/lb | 0.7 h/lb | 0.6 h/lb | 140°F | 145°F |
| Smoked meatloaf | 3 h | 2.5 h | 2 h | 160°F | 160°F |
| Smoked macaroni and cheese | 2 h | 1.5 h | 1.25 h | 165°F | 165°F |
The stall, and why your estimate broke
Somewhere around 150F to 165F internal, a large cut stops climbing. It can sit there for two hours or six. Nothing is wrong with your fire. What is happening is evaporative cooling: moisture wicking to the surface and evaporating removes heat at almost exactly the rate the cooker is adding it, and the meat effectively becomes a swamp cooler until the surface dries enough to break the equilibrium.
You have three options and they are all legitimate. Wait it out and you get the firmest bark, at the cost of unpredictable hours. Wrap in butcher paper and you cut most of the stall while keeping the bark reasonably firm, because paper breathes. Wrap in foil and you cut the stall hardest but partly steam the bark soft. The full explanation is in the stall explained.
Working backwards from dinner
Enter a serving time above and the calculator adds the cut's rest period to the high end of the cook window and tells you when to light. It deliberately plans against the slow end, because the two failure modes are not symmetrical. A brisket that finishes three hours early wraps in foil, goes into a dry cooler packed with towels, and holds safely above 140F for hours. A brisket that finishes three hours late ruins the meal.
Rest is not optional padding either. A large cut pulled at 203F keeps rising several degrees and needs at least 45 minutes for juices to redistribute, and an hour or two is better still. Slicing a brisket straight off the smoker pours the moisture onto the board.
What moves your real time the most
- Thickness, not weight. A thick 12 pound brisket takes longer than a flat 14 pound one, because heat travels inward from the surface and thickness sets that distance.
- Ambient temperature and wind. An uninsulated cooker on a windy 25F day can add 30 to 50 percent. Wind matters more than air temperature.
- Opening the door. Every look costs roughly 15 minutes of recovery on a charcoal or electric cooker. Use a leave-in probe instead.
- Water pan. A full pan stabilises temperature and lengthens the stall by keeping the chamber humid.
- Wrapping, and when. Most cooks wrap somewhere between 160F and 170F, or when the bark colour is where they want it.
- Where the probe sits. In the thickest part of the flat, not touching bone or a fat seam. A probe in fat reads high and will have you pulling early.
Related tools
- Internal temperature chart for USDA minimums and doneness targets side by side
- Smoking time and temperature chart for the full table without the calculator
- Meat yield calculator to work out how much raw meat to buy for your headcount
- Pellet usage calculator to check you have enough fuel for the window above
- How to smoke a brisket for the full cook, start to slice
- Food safety for smoking for the danger zone and the 4 hour rule in detail