Smoked Beef Cheeks on an Offset Smoker
If you’ve never smoked beef cheeks before, you’re missing out on one of the richest, beefiest cuts you can cook on a smoker.
Beef cheeks are loaded with collagen and connective tissue, which means they can be incredibly tough if they’re undercooked. But give them enough time, heat, and moisture, and they transform into something completely different: tender, sticky, ultra-rich beef with an almost gelatinous texture.
For this cook, I took inspiration from the famous smoked beef cheeks at Leroy and Lewis Barbecue in Austin, Texas.
I started with Wagyu beef cheeks from Brant Lake Wagyu, smoked them over cherrywood on my Oklahoma Joe’s Longhorn offset smoker, then finished them in a covered pan with ghee until they were ridiculously tender.
The biggest lesson with beef cheeks is simple:
Don’t cook them to a temperature. Cook them until they’re tender.
A beef cheek can reach 205°F internal and still need considerably more time before all that collagen has broken down.
Here’s exactly how I cooked them.
Ingredients
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Beef cheeks
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Smoke Trails BBQ Brisket Rub
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Ghee or clarified butter
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Cherrywood splits
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Heavy-duty aluminum foil
You can find my Smoke Trails BBQ Brisket Rub on Amazon or directly at SmokeTrailsBBQ.com.
Equipment
For this cook, I used:
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Oklahoma Joe’s Longhorn offset smoker
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Instant-read thermometer or leave-in thermometer
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Aluminum pan
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Heavy-duty foil
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Wood splits for the fire
You can use this same method on practically any offset smoker.
Step 1: Trim the Beef Cheeks
Beef cheeks usually need a little cleanup before they go on the smoker.
Depending on how your butcher prepares them, you may find some hard fat, silver skin, or thick connective tissue on the outside.
Trim away anything especially tough or loose, but don’t go crazy trying to remove every bit of connective tissue.
The whole reason beef cheeks become so good is because of the collagen running through the meat.
Once trimmed, you should be left with relatively compact pieces of beef that are often much thicker than they initially appear.
Step 2: Season the Beef Cheeks
Season the beef cheeks generously on all sides.
For this cook, I used my Smoke Trails BBQ Brisket Rub.
Beef cheeks have a powerful beef flavor and can handle a fairly aggressive seasoning, so make sure you get good coverage over the entire surface.
You don’t necessarily need a binder, but you can use a small amount of mustard, hot sauce, or oil if you prefer.
Step 3: Fire Up the Offset Smoker
I cooked these beef cheeks on my Oklahoma Joe’s Longhorn offset smoker.
Set up your smoker for a cooking temperature of approximately:
275°F
For smoke, I used orchard cherrywood splits.
Cherry gives the beef a nice smoke flavor without becoming overly aggressive, and it also helps build some great color on the exterior.
During this cook, I actually had the beef cheeks sitting right beside a brisket that was already smoking.
That’s one of the nice things about an offset smoker: once you have a clean-burning fire going, you might as well take advantage of the extra cooking space.
Step 4: Smoke the Beef Cheeks
Place the seasoned beef cheeks directly on the cooking grate.
Smoke them at approximately 275°F for around three hours.
At this stage, the goal isn’t necessarily to make them tender.
You’re mainly trying to:
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Build bark
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Develop smoke flavor
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Render some exterior fat
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Develop good color
After around three hours, the beef cheeks will often be somewhere around the mid-160s internally, although exact temperature isn’t especially important at this point.
Once the bark looks good, it’s time to move on to the next stage.
Step 5: Pan the Beef Cheeks With Ghee
Transfer the smoked beef cheeks into an aluminum pan.
Then add a generous amount of ghee, also known as clarified butter.
The ghee adds richness while also helping create a moist environment inside the covered pan.
Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil.
At this point, you’re essentially transitioning from smoking to a slow braise.
The smoke has already done most of its work. Now you need heat, moisture, and time to break down all that connective tissue.
Step 6: Increase the Smoker Temperature
Increase the smoker temperature to approximately:
300°F
Return the covered pan to the smoker.
Continue cooking the beef cheeks for another 2½ to 3 hours, although they can sometimes take even longer.
This is where patience becomes important.
Don’t Pull Beef Cheeks Just Because They Reach 205°F
This is probably the most important part of the entire recipe.
A lot of barbecue recipes tell you to cook meat until it reaches a certain internal temperature.
For beef cheeks, that can be misleading.
You might check the internal temperature and see:
203°F
Or:
205°F
Or even higher.
That does not automatically mean the beef cheeks are finished.
Beef cheeks contain a huge amount of collagen.
That collagen needs both temperature and time to break down.
If you pull them simply because your thermometer says 205°F, you can still end up with meat that feels surprisingly tight or chewy.
Instead, use temperature as a guide and tenderness as the final test.
How to Tell When Beef Cheeks Are Done
The finished beef cheeks should be extremely tender.
A thermometer probe should slide into the meat with almost no resistance.
You should be able to pull the meat apart easily with your fingers.
On these cheeks, I could literally push my finger straight through the meat.
When you pull them apart, you’ll also notice an almost sticky, gelatinous interior.
That’s the collagen that has finally broken down.
I sometimes describe it as beef jelly.
And that's exactly what you want.
How Long Do Smoked Beef Cheeks Take?
For this cook, the approximate timeline was:
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3 hours uncovered at 275°F
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2½–3+ hours covered at 300°F
That puts the total cooking time at roughly:
5½ to 6+ hours
But don’t rely solely on the clock.
Beef cheeks can vary dramatically in thickness and connective tissue.
Some will become tender quickly.
Others may need considerably longer.
Keep cooking until they feel right.
Why Beef Cheeks Need So Much Time
Beef cheeks come from one of the hardest-working muscles on the animal.
Cattle spend a large portion of their day chewing, so those cheek muscles get used constantly.
Hard-working muscles generally contain more connective tissue.
That makes them tough initially, but it also makes them ideal for barbecue.
When collagen is heated for a long enough period, it gradually converts into gelatin.
That gelatin gives properly cooked beef cheeks their distinctive sticky, moist texture.
So when a beef cheek is sitting at 200–205°F but still feels tough, the solution usually isn't to pull it.
It's to keep cooking.
Should You Wrap Beef Cheeks?
I definitely recommend it.
Smoking the beef cheeks uncovered first allows you to develop bark and smoke flavor.
Wrapping or covering them afterward gives you a much better environment for finishing the collagen conversion.
You get the best of both worlds:
Smoke and bark during the first stage.
Moisture and tenderness during the second.
Why Use Ghee?
Ghee is clarified butter, meaning most of the water and milk solids have been removed.
It has a rich buttery flavor and works extremely well with beef.
Because beef cheeks are already incredibly rich, the addition of ghee makes them almost decadent.
You could also experiment with beef tallow if you want to lean even harder into the beef flavor.
What Wood Is Best for Smoked Beef Cheeks?
I used cherrywood for this cook.
Cherry works particularly well because it gives you a relatively clean, balanced smoke flavor while helping create attractive exterior color.
Other great options include:
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Oak
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Post oak
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Pecan
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Hickory
For very long cooks, I generally prefer woods that don't overpower the meat.
What Do Smoked Beef Cheeks Taste Like?
Think of beef cheeks as something between brisket point and extremely rich pot roast.
They have a deep beef flavor, plenty of gelatin, and an almost sticky texture when properly cooked.
Because they're so rich, a relatively small amount goes a long way.
They're excellent served by themselves, but they also work extremely well in:
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Tacos
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Sandwiches
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Tortillas
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Rice bowls
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Nachos
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Quesadillas
You could even shred them and use them anywhere you'd normally use smoked brisket.
Smoked Beef Cheeks Recipe
Ingredients
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Beef cheeks
-
Smoke Trails BBQ Brisket Rub
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Ghee
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Cherrywood splits
Instructions
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Trim away any excessive hard fat or thick silver skin from the beef cheeks.
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Season generously with Smoke Trails BBQ Brisket Rub.
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Preheat your offset smoker to approximately 275°F.
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Add cherrywood splits for smoke.
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Place the beef cheeks directly on the smoker.
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Smoke for approximately three hours, or until the bark and color look good.
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Transfer the beef cheeks into an aluminum pan.
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Add a generous amount of ghee.
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Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil.
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Increase the smoker temperature to approximately 300°F.
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Continue cooking for another 2½ to 3 hours or longer.
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Begin checking for tenderness once the beef cheeks are above approximately 200°F internal.
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Do not remove them simply because they reach 205°F.
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Continue cooking until a probe slides through with almost no resistance and the meat pulls apart easily.
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Remove from the smoker, rest briefly, and serve.
Final Thoughts
Smoked beef cheeks are a perfect example of why barbecue can't always be reduced to a target internal temperature.
These cheeks went well beyond the point where many people would normally pull barbecue off the smoker.
But they needed that extra time.
Once enough of the collagen finally broke down, they transformed into incredibly tender, sticky, beefy pieces of meat that practically fell apart in my hands.
If you've never tried smoking beef cheeks before, they're absolutely worth adding to your next offset smoker cook.
And if you make them, remember:
205°F is a number. Tenderness is the real finish line.
Have you ever smoked beef cheeks? Let me know how you cook yours.
Happy smoking!
Watch the Video
Want to see exactly how these smoked beef cheeks came together?
Watch the full video below to see the trimming, seasoning, smoking, ghee wrap, and the final tenderness test on the Oklahoma Joe’s Longhorn offset smoker.
You’ll also see exactly what I mean when I say beef cheeks aren’t done just because they hit 205°F.
Watch the smoked beef cheeks video below, and don’t forget to subscribe to Smoke Trails BBQ for more barbecue recipes, experiments, and smoking tips.