TL;DR
To make a smoker in Minecraft, craft 1 furnace (from 8 cobblestone or blackstone) and then place that furnace in the center of the crafting grid, with 4 logs or wooden blocks/planks around it. A smoker cooks food items twice as fast as a regular furnace (about 5 seconds per item), but it also burns fuel at double the rate, so the total items cooked per fuel stays the same. It can’t smelt ores.
What is a smoker in Minecraft?
A smoker in Minecraft is basically your kitchen furnace. It’s a food-only version of the furnace that cooks cooking food recipes faster, but it refuses to do anything with ores. Think of it as the blast furnace’s foodie cousin: quick meals, no metalwork. It also doubles as a butcher’s job site block in villages.
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How to make smoker Minecraft

You only need a few basic materials:
You craft a smoker using one furnace plus four logs (or other wood block variants). In practice, the easiest way to remember the smoker recipe is this: furnace in the middle, wood around it.
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Step-by-step (without making it feel like homework)
- Craft a furnace first. The furnace crafting recipe uses 8 cobblestone or blackstone around the edge of a crafting table (center slot empty).
- Open a crafting table so you have the full crafting grid.
- Put the furnace in the center slot.
- Place 4 logs or wooden planks/wood blocks in the remaining required positions around it (any type is fine).
- Grab the new minecraft smoker from the output.

If you’re the kind of player who hoards stripped logs, stems, hyphae, or whatever wood you’ve got lying around, you’re still good. The recipe is flexible on the wood side.
Where to find smokers without crafting
If you’d rather loot than craft, natural generation smokers are a thing. Smokers can spawn in butcher houses in villages.
That’s why you’ll sometimes walk into a village, see a smoker sitting there, and suddenly a nearby unemployed villager decides they’re a butcher now.
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How to use a smoker
The smoker setup is basically the furnace UI: input at the top, fuel at the bottom, result at the side (the output slot). Put a raw item in, add fuel, and you’re cooking.
What food items can go in?
Smokers cook raw food items that furnaces can cook, like raw beef, chicken, fish, and potatoes.
One important wait, why isn’t this working? moment: smokers cannot cook chorus fruit.
Speed and fuel (the part that actually matters)
A smoker cooks twice as fast as a regular furnace, around 5 seconds per item instead of 10.
It does chew through fuel at double the rate, but the tradeoff is fair: the number of items cooked per fuel stays the same. You’re paying for speed, not wasting resources.

And yes, it’s still a solid choice early game: quick meals mean fewer sketchy hunger-bar situations while you’re exploring.
Light source smokers emit
When active (lit), smokers emit a light level of 13, just like normal furnaces.
So if you’re camping in a cave and your torch count is looking sad, a lit smoker can help keep things from feeling pitch black while dinner’s cooking.
Automation, hoppers, and one piston limitation
Smokers can be automated using hoppers, which makes them great for steady food production in a base or a small farm kitchen.
One small limitation that surprises redstone builders: smokers cannot be pushed by pistons (Java Edition). So if your usual plan is piston everything, you’ll want to build around the smoker instead of trying to move it.
Note blocks smoker sound
If you’re into building with sound, here’s a neat detail: a smoker placed under note blocks produces a bass drum sound.
Smoker locked, lock tag block, and other technical bits (optional)
Most players never touch this, but it’s useful for servers and map-makers.
In Java Edition, a smoker can be locked using the /data command by setting its Lock tag (this is the smoker’s lock tag). If the Lock tag’s text matches an item name you’re holding (like a renamed item called Smoker Key), you can open it; otherwise, it’s effectively smoker locked.
That’s pure block entity data tags territory, but it’s handy if you want a kitchen that people can’t raid.
Also, when the smoker is running, the block state flips to lit (that’s where the idea that a lit smoker exists comes from in technical listings).
FAQ
How to make smoker Minecraft, simplest answer?
Craft a smoker with 1 furnace and 4 logs or wooden blocks/planks on a crafting table.
Can a smoker smelt ores?
No. A smoker is for cooking food items only and cannot smelt anything else.
How fast does a smoker cook compared to a regular furnace?
Twice as fast (about 5 seconds per item vs 10).
Do smokers waste more fuel?
They burn fuel at double speed, but the total items cooked per fuel stays the same.
Where do smokers spawn naturally?
They can generate in butcher houses in villages.
Why didn’t my smoker drop when I broke it?
If you mine it without a pickaxe, it won’t drop itself.
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