How long to smoke meatloaf
meatloaf at 225°F takes
3h 10min to 3h 10min
- Pull at
- 160°F
- FDA safe minimum
- 160°F
Your cook
At each smoker temperature
| Smoker | Time |
|---|---|
| 225°F answer | 3 h 10 min |
| 250°F answer | 2 h 40 min |
| 275°F answer | 2 h 5 min |
| 300°F answer | 1 h 35 min |
When it is done
- Take it off at the minimum
- For meatloaf the pull temperature and the FDA minimum are the same: take it off at 160°F.Pull temperature: the internal temperature at which the meat comes off the smoker, read with a food thermometer whose tip sits at the center of the meat.FDA safe minimum: the internal temperature the FDA gives for ground meat, as measured with a food thermometer. The meat must reach it before it is served.
- Rest
- None neededRest: the FDA gives no rest time for ground meat, so the meat is safe as soon as it reaches the minimum above.
Other cuts
- brisket 10 h 50 min
- Smoking tri-tip 2 h 5 min
- prime rib 3 h 30 min – 5 h 15 min
- burgers 1 h
- beef back ribs 4 h 10 min – 5 h 20 min
- chuck roast smoking time 8 h 25 min – 10 h 35 min
Sources
Figures built October 2026.
Where these figures come from (3)
- Cook times: Smoking-Meat.com, “Smoking Times and Temperatures Chart”, retrieved from https://www.smoking-meat.com/smoking-times-and-temperatures-chart on 2026-09-23. Restated as numbers and normalised to 225°F by the formula on this site; no text or table is reproduced.
- Safe minimum internal temperatures: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures”, August 2017, retrieved from https://www.fda.gov/media/107000/download on 2026-09-23.
- Smoker air temperature: USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, “Smoking Meat and Poultry”, last updated 2024-08-13, https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/smoking-meat-and-poultry; read on 2026-09-30 from the Internet Archive copy https://web.archive.org/web/20260119024449/https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/smoking-meat-and-poultry.
Times are estimates for planning. Meat is done when a food thermometer reads the safe minimum internal temperature, not when a timer ends. The USDA advises keeping the air in the smoker between 225 and 300°F for the whole cook.