When I first explored the idea of smoking food at home, I thought I was going to need to spend several hundred dollars on a large pellet smoker. I quickly learned that the typical smoker, while ideal for smoking meats, runs too hot for the food I was interested in smoking: vegetables, nuts, and especially cheese. So George and I started playing with the idea of smoking vegetables, like homegrown chili peppers, in a charcoal kettle grill.

As I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, our first smoking setup was affordable and low-tech but finicky. It was challenging to light just a handful of briquettes in a charcoal chimney, and we had to replenish the wood chips regularly. With charcoal heat, it could also be a challenge to keep the temperature low enough to smoke cheese, especially in summer. We loved the results but kept searching for a more straightforward process.

Then I stumbled onto smoke tubes, inexpensive perforated cylinders that hold hardwood pellets and burn slow and low for hours. We’ve been using one for the last year of home-smoked food projects, and this summer I tested several additional brands and sizes for The Spruce Eats. Keep an eye on my work for that website to read my reviews when the product roundup goes live.

Learn more about smoking vegetables and get the complete instructions for Home-Smoked Chili Peppers in my column.

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When you smoke chili peppers using one of the techniques I explain in this week’s column, they capture plenty of flavor but remain soft and supple. I find these semidried chilies ideal for pairing with homemade adobo sauce. Traditionally, jalapenos are smoked and dried (becoming chipotles) and then rehydrated before they are submerged in the adobo sauce. Skipping the drying and rehydrating still gives plenty of flavor. I typically divide a batch of adobo sauce among an ice tray, submerge a home-smoked chili in each cube, and freeze, giving me individual portions to use in recipes like Chipotle Grilled Shrimp.

For an even easier smoked chili condiment, I puree the peppers into a Home-Smoked Chili Paste or add other aromatics to make a Thai curry paste. Remaining smoked jalapenos and other smoked chilies can simply be frozen in a zip-close freezer bag and used individually or made into condiments later.

For shelf-stable storage, you can dehydrate chipotles and other smoked peppers using a food dehydrator. Initially, I dried smoked chilies by replenishing the briquettes in the grill, but it would take 12 hours or longer for them to reach a leathery texture. I’ve now dedicated an old dehydrator to this project and set it up outside for maximum ventilation, since the smokiness and pepper oils can become overwhelming in an enclosed space and tend to linger in the unit. Dried smoked peppers can be ground into powder like whole spices or stored whole and crumbled into dishes like Indian-Inspired Sweet-and-Sour Potatoes.

Chilies are just the start of your options for smoking with a low-tech, DIY setup. Here are just a few other smoked options, and recipes that use them, on the blog. I substituted these home-smoked versions into many other recipes and daily meals. You can find more ideas for using them in the recipe index.

• Roasted and Smoked Beets for Vegetarian Smoked-Beet Reuben
• Smoked Cherries for Bourbon-Infused Smoked Cherries
• Cold-Smoked Cheese for Quick Beer–Cheese Dip

You can also learn more about smoking and grilling other vegetables and fruit in this blog post.

Want more Twice as Tasty recipes? Get my books! Click here to order a personally signed, packaged, and shipped copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling directly from me. I also share tasty ways to use pickles in The Pickled Picnic; it’s only available here.