I am sitting here trying to plan out my weekly menu and I thought, when was the last time I had smoked chicken! SO ON THE MENU THEY GO!!! I love these with just grilled veggies and a nice green salad... simple and delicious.
When the smoker hits 275 degrees it’s time to start cooking. For smoke flavor I use Cherry or apple and sometimes both on chicken because they’re mild. If you’re using something else be careful, because chicken can absorb smoke fast and it will taste bitter if you go to heavy with the wood. Place each leg quarter skin side up on the rack and smoke for 1 hour. Keep an eye on your cooking temperature and hold it at 275 degrees... this is important!
After an hour, the skin has started to get some color and firmed up a bit. Now it’s time to flip the chicken skin side down so it will render that fat. This will give it that soft, bite-through texture. Once the timer goes off, flip the chicken skin up. This is a great time to check the internal temperature here, they need to cook to an internal of 175 degrees, at the 1:30 mark they should be right at 160 internal, so they should need a little more cooking. I set the timer for 20 more minutes at this point.
At the 1:50 total cook time mark, these thighs were registering just over 175 degrees which is right where I want them. It’s ok if the temp slips past 180, dark meat is forgiving and will remain juicy even if it’s a little over cooked. I like to marinade my chicken in buttermilk and spices, I let soak over night and then a hours or so before I toss on smoker I set them on the counter to bring to room temp and dry them off and lightly season again with garlic, salt and pepper. I have also done this with marinading in Italian
dressing but I prefer buttermilk.
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