The Essential Kamado Toolkit: Everything You Need to Start Smoking
- Bus
- May 7
- 5 min read
A kamado grill is the best backyard cooking machine you can own.
It can smoke low and slow. It can sear like a tiny ceramic volcano. It can roast, grill, bake, and generally make you feel like you’ve unlocked some ancient charcoal-powered side quest. Oh, and it can also morph into a pizza oven.
But here’s the thing: the grill itself is only half the setup.
If you want to actually enjoy using a kamado, especially for smoking, you need the right starter kit. Not a garage full of gadgets. Not some medieval BBQ armory. Just the core gear that makes the whole process easier, cleaner, safer, and a lot less likely to end with you standing over a brisket at midnight muttering, “Well, that got away from me.”
Here’s what I’d start with.
Kamado Grill
I like the Kamado Joe, especially the 18-inch size. For most backyard cooks, it’s big enough for ribs, pork shoulder, chicken, steaks, wings, sides, and plenty of weekend BBQ chaos.
That said, if you’re planning to do a lot of briskets, make your own barbacoa, or smoke a full spatchcocked turkey, you may want to consider the 24-inch version (aka the Big Joe). More cooking space gives you more flexibility, especially when you’re cooking for a crowd.
A couple things matter a lot when choosing a kamado:
Go with a Kamado Joe or Big Green Egg. The cheaper versions take short cuts that are not with it in the long run (no spring-loaded lids, worse ash catchers, etc...)
If choosing Kamado Joe, get at least a Series II or Series III. This is where the spring-loaded lid and better ash catcher come in.
There is nothing worse than a kamado lid that feels like you’re opening a bank vault every time you check the meat. Actually, there is one thing worse: a bad ash catcher. Nobody gets into BBQ because they want to spend their afternoon mining charcoal dust out of a ceramic cave.
Wood Chips or Wood Chunks
Wood is where the smoke flavor comes from, so this matters. The type of wood you use changes the flavor of the final cook.
And here's the great news: I wrote a whole blogpost primer on which wood to use when
Never use lighter fluid in your kamado. Not once. Not “just a little.” Not because your uncle did it in 1997 and said it was fine.
Ceramic grills can absorb smells, and lighter fluid can leave nasty flavors behind. You bought a kamado to make food taste better, not to gently perfume your pork shoulder with gas station regret.
That makes fire starters key. They make lighting your kamado simple, clean, and consistent.
Lump Charcoal
For a kamado, use lump charcoal, not charcoal briquettes.
Any decent lump charcoal will work, but the key is that you want natural lump charcoal. It burns hot, lights well, and gives you better airflow than briquettes.
Here are the two brands I typically go with:
You need good BBQ gloves. Not just because things are hot, although yes, excellent observation, fire is warm.
You need gloves because smoking usually means handling big cuts of meat at awkward times. Pulling pork shoulder. Moving ribs. Wrapping brisket. Taking meat off the smoker.
Carrying something that’s hot, greasy, heavy, and trying very hard to ruin your shirt.
The soapstone is one of those accessories that starts as “that seems nice” and quickly becomes “why wasn’t I using this the whole time?”
It’s especially great for vegetables and fish. There is nothing worse than grilling vegetables and watching half of them fall through the grate like little zucchini prisoners escaping into the fire. The soapstone gives you a flat, hot cooking surface that keeps delicate foods intact and helps with even cooking.
Good for:
Vegetables
Fish
Shrimp
Scallops
Smash-style searing
Anything delicate
Why it works:
Keeps small foods from falling through the grate
Provides even heat
Gives you a griddle-like surface inside your kamado
I love beer can chicken.
And yes, I also love the classic method: drink half an IPA, place the can inside the chicken, and pretend this is both cooking and engineering. But a beer can chicken attachment gives you more control. It steadies the chicken better, holds everything upright, and makes the whole setup less wobbly. You still get the same fun, but with fewer “please don’t fall over” moments.
Good for:
Whole chicken
Backyard BBQ dinners
Crispy skin
Juicy meat
A reliable vertical roasting setup
Pro Tip: throw some thyme, garlic, and rosemary into the cooking stand attachment and pour in some of your favorite beer to get the real beer can chicken experience.
A wireless thermometer is one of the best upgrades you can make.
The MEATER gives you both internal meat temperature and ambient temperature, which is huge. The built-in thermometer on your grill is useful, but it’s not always telling you what’s happening right where the meat is cooking. That ambient temperature reading near the food can be much more helpful than the dome thermometer alone.
Plus there's nothing better than sitting on your couch or having a beer by the fire without having to get up and go check a wired thermometer.
That being said...
Bluetooth thermometers are great, but range can be limited. Depending on your house, your walls, your smoker placement, and whatever mysterious signal-blocking force lives in every backyard, Bluetooth may not always reach where you want it to.
That’s why I still like having a wired thermometer around. It’s reliable, simple, and helps make sure you don’t overdo your cook. For long smokes, redundancy is not a bad thing. Brisket is too expensive for blind optimism.
Would you rather cook two racks of ribs lying flat, or four to six racks sitting vertical?
Case closed.
A rib rack is one of the easiest ways to increase your kamado capacity without buying a bigger grill. It’s especially helpful on an 18-inch kamado where surface area can disappear fast.
A grill grate extender is awesome because it basically doubles your cook space. This is huge on a kamado, especially if you’re cooking multiple things at once. Ribs on the bottom, sausage up top. Chicken below, vegetables above. Pork shoulder on one level, something snacky on the other because patience is not always available.
Good for:
Cooking multiple foods at once
Adding more surface area
Smoking sides while the main meat cooks
Making better use of vertical space
Why it works:
Adds a second cooking level
Helps maximize the kamado’s interior space
Great for mixed cooks and larger meals
The Bottom Line
A kamado grill can do a lot. That’s the whole appeal.
It can smoke brisket, roast chicken, sear steaks, cook ribs, grill vegetables, and handle a whole backyard dinner without needing five different machines. But to really get the most out of it, you need the right starter setup.
Start with the essentials:
A good kamado grill
Lump charcoal
Fire starters
Smoking wood
Gloves
Thermometers
A few smart cooking accessories
You don’t need every gadget on day one. But these tools will make your cooks easier, cleaner, and better right away.
And please, for the love of brisket, no lighter fluid.
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