Most people land on this question holding a half used bag of pellets, usually leftover from a pellet grill or a mixed variety pack, standing in front of an electric smoker’s chip tray. The manual calls for wood chips, and the pellets are already sitting right there. This guide covers whether that swap actually works, why the chip tray fights you more than you would expect, and what to do instead if you want smoke that lasts longer than a few reloads.
Yes, most electric smokers will burn pellets, but the chip tray was not built for them
A standard electric smoker’s chip tray sits right next to or on top of a heating element that cycles on and off to hold temperature. Wood chips are loose, shredded, and thin, so they catch fast when the element heats up and go out fast when it cools, which matches the on-off rhythm the tray was designed around. Pellets are compressed sawdust held together under high pressure by the wood’s own natural lignin, so they are denser and slower to catch than chips. Once a pellet does catch, it holds heat and burns hotter and longer than a chip did, which is the real reason several manufacturers advise against using them in a chip-tray model. It is not that pellets are unsafe, it is that the tray and the heating cycle were tuned around chip behavior, not pellet behavior.
Guidance varies by brand and even by model within the same brand. Masterbuilt and Pit Boss both sell dedicated pellet smokers with a hopper and auger built for pellets, and their standard chip-tray electric models are built around chips instead. Using pellets in one of those chip-tray models is not going to be dangerous, but it can run outside the smoker’s tested range and it is the kind of thing that can void a warranty if something goes wrong. Check your specific owner’s manual before you decide, since this is the detail that actually determines whether it is worth the risk for your unit.
If you want to use what you already have, here is the safer way to do it
If your manual does not explicitly forbid pellets and you would rather not buy anything new, this is the workaround that keeps you out of trouble.
- Use a small handful, not a full scoop. Pellets pack more wood into the same volume than chips do, so a normal chip-sized load runs hotter and smokier than you want.
- Wrap the handful in a foil pouch and poke a few small holes in the top. This slows the burn instead of letting the whole pile ignite at once, and it keeps ash and unburned pellet dust out of the tray.
- Plan to reload roughly every 45 to 60 minutes. A small foil pouch burns out faster than the chip cycle you are used to, so budget for more trips outside during a long cook.
- Stay within earshot for your first cook with pellets. Because they are denser, a tray that catches fully can run hotter than expected, and you want to catch that before it affects your food or the smoker’s finish.
- If the manual says not to use pellets in your specific model, treat that as the deciding factor rather than a suggestion. A quick call to the manufacturer’s support line is more useful here than trial and error, since warranty terms differ by model.
This is the free option if you already own a bag of pellets and do not want to spend anything else. It works, but it also means babysitting the tray for most of the cook.
The fix that actually solves the reload problem
The real frustration usually is not “can I use pellets,” it is not wanting to babysit a tray every 45 minutes and getting inconsistent smoke because the chip tray depends on a heating cycle that was never built for what you are loading into it. A pellet smoker tube sidesteps the whole problem, because it does not rely on your smoker’s heating element at all. You fill it with pellets, light one end with a torch outside the smoker for two to three minutes until you have a strong ember, blow out the flame, and set it directly on a rack next to your food. It smolders on its own from that point, completely independent of whatever the heating element is doing, so you get steady, mostly hands off smoke instead of a tray that needs constant attention.
For a normal cook, get a hexagon tube that will not roll around your rack
The LIZZQ Premium 12 Inch is a hexagonal stainless steel tube, and the flat sides matter more than they sound like they would. A round tube can roll off a narrow electric smoker rack when you open the door, dumping ash and pellets onto your food or the heating element below. The hexagon just sits there. A full load runs about five hours, which covers most weeknight cooks and a good chunk of a low and slow session, and it works the same whether your smoker is running hot or you are using it unheated.
For an all day brisket or pork shoulder, get a maze that does not need a refill
If you are running a cook long enough that reloading a chip tray every hour sounds miserable, the A-MAZE-N AMNPS 5×8 Maze is built for that. Instead of a straight tube, pellets fill a winding S-shaped channel, so the fire creeps slowly from one end to the other rather than burning through all at once. A single fill can run up to about 11 hours, which covers most briskets and pork shoulders without you touching it again. It also sits flat and throws very little heat of its own, so it doubles as a cold smoke source in the same electric smoker on a day you are not running the heating element, for things like cheese or cured salmon.
Either option gets you real, controllable pellet smoke in an electric smoker without gambling on whether your chip tray will cooperate. If you want the full comparison across shapes, burn times, and prices, we cover six of them in our pellet smoker tube guide.
Picking a flavor that actually matches what you are cooking
Whether the pellets are going in the chip tray or a tube, the wood you pick matters more than the format. Hickory and oak stand up to beef and pork and hold their own through a long smoke. Apple and cherry are milder and suit poultry and fish, where you want smoke flavor in the background rather than the lead. Mesquite is strong and earthy, best used sparingly on red meat rather than as your everyday pellet. Whatever you choose, make sure it is a 100 percent food grade hardwood pellet meant for grilling, not a heating pellet sold for pellet stoves, since those can carry fillers you do not want near food. If your current bag is not delivering the flavor or burn quality you expected, our wood pellets for smoking guide breaks down which brands run cleanest and how to match wood to what you are cooking.
Frequently asked questions
Will using pellets void my electric smoker's warranty
It can, depending on the brand and model. Chip-tray electric smokers are generally tested and warrantied around wood chips, not pellets, so running pellets outside of what the manual allows is the kind of thing that can affect a warranty claim if the unit fails. Check your specific owner’s manual, since guidance differs even between models from the same manufacturer.
How many pellets should I use at a time
Use less than you think. A small handful wrapped loosely in foil with a few holes poked in the top is enough for most chip-tray smokers, since pellets are denser than chips and a full tray’s worth can run much hotter and smokier than intended. Plan to reload roughly every 45 to 60 minutes rather than dumping in a large batch at once.
Can I use a pellet smoker tube inside my electric smoker
Yes, and it is usually the better option if you are tired of babysitting the chip tray. A tube or maze smoker lights separately with a torch and smolders on its own rack, independent of your smoker’s heating element, so it does not depend on the same on-off heat cycle that makes loose pellets unpredictable in a chip tray.
Do wood pellets produce more smoke than wood chips
Not necessarily more, just different. Chips ignite quickly and burn out quickly, giving short bursts of smoke tied to the heating cycle. Pellets take longer to catch but burn hotter and more steadily once they do, which is why they behave better in a tool built specifically for them, like a smoker tube, than in a tray designed around chips.
Pellets and electric smokers can work together, just not always through the chip tray the way the manual expects. Use a small foil pouch if you want to make do with what you already have, or move the pellets into a smoker tube and let it run independent of the heating element entirely if you are done reloading every 45 minutes. Either way, check your model’s guidance first, since that single detail decides how much risk you are actually taking on.
Last update on 2026-08-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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