What Is Indirect BBQ Cooking?
Indirect BBQ cooking means positioning your heat source to the side of (or around) the food rather than directly underneath it, so the meat cooks in circulating hot air instead of over an open flame. It’s the same basic principle as an oven: heat surrounds the food and cooks it gently and evenly, rather than searing it from one direct source of intense heat below.
This is the method behind almost every “smoking” cook — briskets, pork shoulders, whole chickens, ribs — because it lets you hold a low, steady temperature for hours without scorching the outside of the food long before the inside is done. For the temperature ranges and timing rules that go with it, see our meat smoking tips for beginners.
Indirect vs. Direct Heat: When to Use Each
- Direct heat (food positioned right over the flame or coals) is for fast, high-heat cooking — burgers, hot dogs, thin steaks, kebabs, vegetables. You want a quick sear and you’re done in minutes.
- Indirect heat is for anything that needs longer, gentler cooking to become tender without drying out or burning on the outside — whole poultry, roasts, ribs, brisket, pork shoulder.
Many cooks combine both in a single cook: sear a cut hard over direct heat first for color and crust, then move it to the indirect side to finish cooking through gently. This “reverse sear” or “sear then move” approach is common for thicker steaks and chops where you want both a hard crust and an evenly cooked interior — see our steak grilling temperature guide for target internal temps by doneness.
How to Set Up Indirect Heat
Charcoal Grill (Two-Zone Fire)
Push your lit coals to one side of the grill, leaving the other side empty. Put a drip pan under the empty side if you’re cooking something fatty, to catch drippings and prevent flare-ups. Place your food over the empty (indirect) side, close the lid, and use the top vent positioned over the food to help draw heat and smoke across it. Add fresh coals or wood chunks to the lit side as needed to maintain temperature over a long cook.
Gas Grill
Light only some of your burners — for a typical 3-burner grill, light one outer burner and leave the others off, or light both outer burners and leave the center off, depending on your grill’s layout. Place the food over the unlit burner(s). If you want smoke flavor, add a smoker box or a foil packet of soaked wood chips directly over the lit burner, since gas grills don’t produce their own wood smoke. Keep the lid closed as much as possible to hold a steady temperature.
Pellet Grill or Kamado
Most pellet grills are indirect by design — the fire pot and heat deflector are built to keep the flame away from the food, with the auger feeding pellets to maintain your set temperature automatically. On a kamado-style ceramic grill, use a heat deflector plate (often called a “plate setter” or “ceramic diffuser”) between the coals and the food to convert it from a direct sear station into an indirect smoker.
Can You Grill Steaks Indirect?
Yes, and for thicker steaks (over about 1.5 inches) it’s often the better approach: cook the steak over indirect heat first until it’s close to your target internal temperature, then finish it over direct heat for a hard sear on both sides. This reverse-sear method gives you more even cooking from edge to edge, without the gray overcooked band you often get from starting on high direct heat. Thin steaks don’t benefit as much — they cook fast enough over direct heat alone that there’s no gray band to avoid.
Indirect Cooking Times for Common Cuts
These are starting points — actual time depends on your grill, the outdoor temperature, and the specific size of what you’re cooking. Use a meat thermometer rather than relying on time alone.
Chicken
A whole chicken cooked indirect at around 325-350°F typically takes 60-90 minutes, until the thickest part of the thigh reads 165°F. Bone-in chicken pieces (thighs, breasts) generally take 35-45 minutes in the same temperature range.
Ribs, Pork Shoulder, and Brisket
These are true low-and-slow cooks, typically run in the 225-275°F range rather than the higher temperatures used for chicken:
- Ribs: roughly 5-6 hours total, often using a staged approach like the 3-2-1 method.
- Pork shoulder: 8-14 hours depending on size, cooked to an internal temperature around 195-205°F and judged by tenderness (it should probe with little resistance).
- Brisket: 10-16+ hours for a full packer brisket, also finished by feel around 195-205°F rather than a fixed time — see our overnight brisket smoke guide for a full timeline.
For the reasoning behind judging doneness by tenderness instead of just hitting a number, see our beginner’s guide to smoking meat.
Tips for Better Indirect Cooks
- Keep the lid closed. Every time you open it, heat escapes and your cook time stretches out unpredictably.
- Use a drip pan under fatty cuts to prevent flare-ups reaching the food and to make cleanup easier.
- Give your grill time to stabilize after adjusting vents or burners — 10-15 minutes before you judge whether the change worked.
- Rotate large cuts occasionally if you notice your grill runs hotter on one side, rather than flipping them constantly.