Looking for a commercial smoker oven? There’s a more efficient solution!

A commercial smoker oven, also called smoking oven, is a piece of equipment designed to cook food using smoke as the core element of the process. The smoke is generated by burning wood, pellets, or wood chips and is then conveyed into the cooking chamber, where it surrounds the food for extended periods of time. This technology originates from the world of traditional barbecue and smoking and is now also used in commercial settings such as specialist restaurants, hotels, or catering operations with dedicated production.

There is often confusion about the real difference between a smoker, a BBQ smoker, and a commercial smoker oven, even though the basic principle is the same: smoke accompanies the food during preparation. The differences mainly lie in how this process is managed.

The term smoker is generally used to describe a tool designed primarily to produce smoke and add aroma to food. In many cases, it is not intended to cook the product but simply to flavour items that are already cooked or need finishing.

A BBQ smoker, on the other hand, is typical of barbecue culture. It cooks food slowly at low temperatures, using smoke generated from wood, pellets, or chips. It delivers intense, distinctive flavours but requires long cooking times and constant manual control.

So how is a commercial smoking oven different from a BBQ smoker? A commercial smoker oven can be considered a more controlled version of a smoker, designed specifically for use in professional kitchens. It allows for better management of temperature and smoke compared to a traditional BBQ, but it remains an appliance almost entirely dedicated to smoking.

When a commercial smoker oven is introduced into a modern professional kitchen, or into a delicatessen where every centimetre counts and service rhythms are fast-paced, some practical limitations quickly emerge and should be carefully evaluated before purchase. So, what are the main critical aspects to consider if you're thinking of adding a commercial smoker oven to your operation? Here are the most important ones:

• Large footprint: these units are often bulky and not always easy to integrate into compact kitchens or directly into a deli counter setup.
• Complex smoke management: they almost always require dedicated flue systems and compliance with specific regulations, which can significantly impact costs, installation, and kitchen layout.
• Long cooking times: traditional smoking often takes hours, sometimes even a full day, making it poorly suited to fast service or diversified production, which are typical in gastronomy.
• Limited standardisation: results depend heavily on manual intervention, the type of wood used, combustion control, and the operator's experience. This makes it harder to achieve consistent results, especially when multiple staff members or shifts are involved.

For these reasons, while commercial smoker ovens are excellent tools in very specific and specialised contexts, they are not always the most practical solution for businesses that need to handle multiple preparations, work within limited space, and deliver repeatable results every day. It is precisely from these real-world needs that more flexible and modern alternatives have emerged over time.

Did you know that you can also smoke food using a commercial combi oven? As anticipated, to meet the needs of professionals working in very different contexts, increasingly hybrid solutions have been developed. Like a multifunction oven, they allow multiple cooking techniques to be managed with a single piece of equipment. With the right accessory, however, this tool can become much more, enabling you to expand your offering without complicating daily operations.

At this point, a natural question arises: which solution is best for your business? Should you choose a commercial smoker oven, or a commercial combi oven with integrated smoking? Let's compare them, starting from the key areas where they differ.

Temperature control

In traditional commercial smoker ovens, smoke accompanies the food throughout the entire cooking process, but control is largely manual. Temperature management and combustion depend on the operator's experience and require constant attention.

In a commercial combi oven with smoking, once the set temperature is reached, the system keeps it stable. This prevents the wood from burning too quickly and ensures a steady, controlled generation of smoke, making results much easier to replicate service after service.

Smoke management

A commercial smoker oven works with large amounts of smoke and long cooking times, often requiring dedicated flue systems and specific installations. In some cases, simplified smoking systems are used, which are closer to flavouring than to true smoking, often involving so-called 'liquid smoke'.

In a professional combi oven with a smoking accessory, instead, smoke is generated directly inside the cooking chamber using natural wood or wood chips. It is more controlled, remains confined inside the oven, and integrates easily into daily operations, even in compact kitchens. The result is a cleaner, more natural and repeatable smoking process.

Food safety and HACCP compliance

A dedicated commercial smoker oven is not always designed to integrate seamlessly with the HACCP protocols of a modern kitchen. Long cooking times, process variability and limited traceability can make food safety management more complex.

A commercial combi oven with smoking, on the other hand, allows precise monitoring of temperature, time and cooking cycles, making HACCP documentation easier and significantly reducing the margin for error.

Kitchen integration and space

A smoker or dedicated commercial smoker oven takes up considerable space and often requires flue systems and separate areas. For delicatessens, hotels or restaurants with compact kitchens, this means giving up valuable space and complicating the operational layout.

A commercial combi oven with smoking is a hybrid solution designed for modern kitchens: a single piece of equipment that replaces multiple appliances, not only a smoker, but also grills, fryers and other tools. With just one machine, you save space, reduce energy consumption and simplify daily management, while maintaining control, safety and repeatable results, and at the same time expanding your menu with a wider range of preparations.

Cleaning and maintenance

Cleaning a traditional smoker often involves long and demanding manual work, dealing with grease, soot and smoke residues that build up over time. These tasks are necessary, but poorly suited to the fast pace of professional kitchens.

In self-cleaning commercial combi ovens, the smoking function is integrated into a system designed from the start to include automatic washing. At the end of service, you simply start the dedicated cleaning cycle to restore the oven to optimal conditions, reducing cleaning time, staff workload and the risk of hygiene being overlooked, while also extending the equipment's service life.

So, is a commercial smoker oven worth the investment? A dedicated smoker makes sense in highly specialised contexts. But for businesses looking to expand their offering without disrupting space and workflows, a commercial combi oven with integrated smoking is often the most efficient choice.

Over the years, Unox has become a global benchmark in the world of commercial combi ovens, offering one of the widest and most complete ranges on the market. Solutions designed to meet the needs of very different sectors: from bakery to delicatessen, from independent restaurants to large chains and production facilities.

By working closely with such diverse professional environments, one requirement has clearly emerged over time: expanding the menu offering without making kitchen operations more complex.

This is where the idea of developing smart accessories comes from, designed to enhance the performance of Unox combi ovens and allow professionals to introduce new techniques without adding extra machines, installations or operational complexity.

HYPER.Smoker is Unox's commercial smoking accessory. It has been engineered down to the smallest detail to allow smoking directly inside the professional combi oven, without the need for an additional power supply and using only natural wood chips.

The result is a clean, integrated and fully controllable solution that brings smoking into the everyday workflow of a professional kitchen, making it accessible, repeatable and perfectly aligned with today's operational needs.

Here are the main advantages of this solution.

Full control of the process

Smoking is started directly from the oven control panel by selecting the desired intensity level. Temperature, time and humidity are always under control and, if needed, you can monitor the cooking process using a core probe, just like in any traditional preparation. The result no longer depends solely on the 'chef's touch', but on a precise and repeatable process.

Food safety and cleaning

With HYPER.Smoker, you work exclusively with real wood, natural wood chips or shavings, no chemicals or artificial flavourings. Smoking is therefore fully compatible with HACCP regulations and integrated into a commercial oven equipped with an automatic washing system. At the end of service, there's no need to disassemble parts or manually remove soot and residues: simply start the cleaning cycle and the oven is ready for the next day.

Automation and ease of use

No pitmaster skills or highly specialised staff are required. Thanks to dedicated smoking programs stored in the oven and selectable directly from the control panel, the entire process is automated: time, temperature and smoke intensity are managed automatically. This allows even new kitchen staff to achieve consistent, high-quality results from day one, reducing errors, waste and training time.

The HYPER.Smoker accessory itself is also designed for maximum simplicity: open it, load it with natural wood chips, close it and place it inside the cooking chamber in just a few steps. No complex operations, no continuous manual adjustments. Once the program is started, the oven takes care of the rest.

Versatility for every menu

You can choose different wood types or aromatic essences, tailoring the smoking profile to your menu style, lighter or more intense, rustic or refined. With the CHEFTOP-X™ combi oven, it is also possible to work at low temperatures or even cold smoking, a real game changer for delicatessens, butcher shops and advanced kitchens looking to expand their offering without adding new equipment.

No cross-contamination of odours

Does the smell remain inside the oven after use? This is one of the most frequently asked questions. The answer is no: smoke remains confined during the smoking cycle and is completely removed during the automatic washing process, without contaminating subsequent preparations.

The Unox HYPER.Smoker is not a standalone machine, but a professional accessory specifically designed to work directly inside Unox commercial combi ovens. It allows you to smoke food by using the energy already generated inside the cooking chamber, with no additional running costs and no external power supply required.

The accessory uses natural wood, wood chips or shavings, which are loaded into the HYPER.Smoker and placed inside the cooking chamber. By starting the dedicated smoking program from your commercial oven control panel, the heating element is brought to the temperature needed to trigger a controlled combustion, generating smoke in a stable and consistent way.

HYPER.Smoker is compatible with both the MIND.Maps™ combi oven range and the AI-powered X™ range. Activation times vary depending on the model: with MIND.Maps™ ovens, it takes around 25 minutes to reach the ignition temperature, while with X™ ovens this is reduced to about 6 minutes, making smoking easier to manage even during pre-service preparation.

Can you smoke and cook in the same cycle? Yes. With HYPER.Smoker you can smoke and cook at the same time: you're effectively roasting, grilling or slow-cooking while adding a layer of smoky aroma as an extra value. Smoking doesn't replace cooking, it enhances it.

Once the target temperature is reached, the system keeps it stable and under control. This prevents the wood from burning too quickly and ensures a steady smoke generation, without peaks or bitter notes. For around two to two and a half hours, the food is exposed to fresh smoke. Since the oven is a closed chamber, the smoke remains inside and continues to surround the product evenly.

When working with large cuts of meat and aiming for a more uniform smoke penetration toward the core, you can lower the temperature and extend the cooking time to 4–6 hours, reloading the HYPER.Smoker as needed. It's important to note that the first load delivers the most intense smoke, while subsequent reloads are milder, but still effective, allowing you to complete the process without overpowering the flavour.

The applications are far broader than you might expect, and they go well beyond the world of BBQ. So, what types of food can you smoke in a Unox commercial combi oven with HYPER.Smoker?

Meat is the most suitable ingredient: the higher the fat content, the better it absorbs smoky flavours. Pork ribs, pork butt, shoulder, coppa or leg are among the most popular preparations. Pulled pork, for example, can be cooked at low temperature for many hours, prepared the day before and then used for dozens, or even hundreds, of portions.

Würstels and sausages also work extremely well, as do certain cured meats and deli-style preparations. Fish, on the other hand, is more delicate: hot smoking mainly affects the surface. A salmon fillet, for instance, will absorb aroma on the outside but very little inside. This is an express preparation, meant to be cooked and served immediately.

Which ingredients really benefit from smoking? In more refined cuisine, many chefs use smoking on vegetables, vegetable chips or plant-based ingredients. It's important to keep in mind that, with the same amount of smoke, an aubergine will always have a more delicate flavour compared to meat. Then there's the whole world of finishing ingredients: smoked butter for biscuits or desserts, smoked salt, infused oils. Here, smoking doesn't mask flavour, it enhances it, adding depth and complexity.

Is it better to smoke raw or cooked food? It depends on the result you're aiming for. In many cases, smoking accompanies an ongoing cooking process; in others, it's used as a finishing touch. Smoking is a technique that adds flavour, it doesn't replace cooking.

Is it only suitable for BBQ? Absolutely not. Smoking works just as well in fine dining, delicatessens and high-end butcheries, precisely because it's controlled and repeatable.

Explore all the possibilities of your kitchen with HYPER.Smoker and discover how smoking can become an integral part of your cooking style.

And if you need more information or tailored advice, you can always contact us via the chat on our website, our team is ready to help you find the solution that best fits your business.

Is there a way to enhance smoky flavour in your dishes, even in preparations that can't be exposed to high temperatures for too long? There is. It's called EVEREO®, a one-of-a-kind solution designed to allow professionals to hold cooked, ready-to-serve food for up to three days, without compromising taste or texture.

A HACCP-certified innovation created to redefine food holding, EVEREO® is opening up new possibilities in foodservice kitchens around the world. From low-temperature cooking to fermentation, it delivers reliable results thanks to extremely precise temperature control.

Today, EVEREO® is also proving to be a strategic ally for smoking. Not only does it allow smoked preparations to be safely held before service, it also helps intensify and stabilise smoky aromas over time, enhancing their overall sensory profile.

As our Chef Nicola Lai explains:

'During holding in EVEREO®, the aroma and flavour of smoke continue to evolve. It's particularly useful for preparations like smoked chicken breasts, slow cooks where it's important not to extend oven time too much. In these cases, you can smoke the product, vacuum seal it and hold it, allowing the smoky flavour to be absorbed even further. After one or two days, the result is even more intense and long-lasting.'

Not all preparations behave in the same way, however. Cooked fish, for example, remains an à-la-minute dish and should be served immediately. EVEREO® truly shines with classic American barbecue items such as pastrami, spatchcock chicken, sausages, pork butt and ribs, which can be held for up to 24 hours while maintaining quality, texture and an even more pronounced smoky flavour.