Smoked Cheddar Cheese

This smoked Cheddar cheese recipe explains, step by step, how to smoke cheese at home into smoke-imbued exquisiteness. Hickory Farms, be worried.

Adapted from Jeff Phillips | Smoking Meat | Whitecap, 2012

This smoked Cheddar cheese recipe brings back memories of those crates from Hickory Farms that were shrink-wrapped and crammed full of small rounds of smoked cheese and sausage that. Although even as a kid, you knew the cheese could taste soooo much better. And you were right. This recipe for how to smoke cheese at home is your proof.–Renee Schettler Rossi

What To Do With Smoked Cheddar Cheese

As for what to do with your stash of smoked cheese, you can nosh on it at will, stack it on a cracker, post pictures of it on social media, melt it on a burger, slip it in a patty melt, or, if you’re the unselfish sort, you can gift it to loved ones—and not just at the holidays. 

Smoked Cheddar Cheese

• Quick Glance
• 5 M
• 4 H
• Makes two 8-ounce chunks

Special Equipment: Apple, alder, or cherry wood chunks or chips

5/5 - 2 reviews

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Ingredients

• Two (8-ounce) blocks Cheddar cheese* (see * below)

Directions

• 1. Set up your smoker to maintain a temperature of less than 90°F (32°C). It’s imperative that the heat be no higher than 90°F (32°C) to prevent the cheese from melting.
• 2. To create cold smoke, place the cheese on the grate of your smoker. Set three lit charcoal briquettes flat in the charcoal pan or firebox of your smoker. Place a flat wood chunk on top of the charcoal to create smoke. Provide a little airflow and replace the charcoal and/or wood chunks as needed to keep the smoke going for the desired period of time.
• 3. Place the blocks of cheese directly on the grate and apply light smoke for about 4 hours.
• 4. Remove the cheese from the grate and place it in a resealable plastic bag. Store the smoked cheese in the refrigerator for 2 weeks before indulging to allow the smoke flavor to permeate the cheese and even mature slightly. (If you simply can’t wait 2 weeks, no one’s going to tattle on you. But just know that the smoke flavor will be more pronounced and even somewhat bitter or, dare we say, acrid. If you can resist temptation, a perceived virtue that we usually find to be highly overrated, you’ll be rewarded with a more mellow smoke flavor.) Originally published August 6, 2012.

*What You Need To Know About How To Make Smoked Cheese Other Than Cheddar

• This smoked Cheddar cheese recipe works just as well with Gouda, Muenster, Edam, mozzarella, Swiss, and pepper Jack.

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