The Smoky Smoked Chicken Recipe
The chicken turns out incredibly tender, flavorful and juicy. This Easy Smoked Chicken is a great summer day meal. Perfect for any time or BBQs you want to cook chicken wings or whole chicken
Ingredients:
- BRINE:
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Morton Kosher Salt
- 2 quarts (8 cups) Cold Water, divided
- For CHICKEN
- 2/3 cup Homemade BBQ Chicken Rub
- 1 whole Chicken, approximately 6 pounds
DIRECTIONS:
- BRINE THE CHICKEN
- Put 1 cup of cold water to boil. I usually do this in the microwave with a 2-quart glass measuring cup, however, you can do this in a saucepan or stovetop if you prefer.
- Add 2 tablespoons of Morton Kosher Salt and the 1/4 cup to the boiling water and stir until well dissolved. So that you have 8 cups of water total stir in the remaining 7 cups of cold water.
- Place the whole chicken, giblets discarded and removed, in a gallon sized freezer zip top bag.
- Inside a large bowl place the bag. Containing the chicken transfer the salt water to the bag. Zip the bag to seal.
- Place the bowl with the brine and chicken filled bag in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or up to 8 hours.
- SMOKE THE CHICKEN
- From the brine remove the chicken. Discard the salt water. Rinse the chicken thoroughly inside and out. On a large baking sheet place the chicken and pat dry.
- With the Homemade BBQ Chicken Rub, rub the chicken inside and out. I personally like to separate the skin over the breasts carefully from the meat so that under the skin I can put some of the rubs. Now while you prepare the smoker let the chicken sit.
- To a low heat setting prepare your smoker. On our Traeger, around 150-160 degrees F we use the "smoke" setting and we either use the Gourmet Blend Pellets or Oak Pellets for our wood. Pecan or Hickory would also work well for chicken.
- From the baking sheet transfer the chicken and place it on the smoker, insert the probe of a digital meat thermometer into the thickest part of the breast that is safe for BBQing, and smoke for about 3 hours on 150-160 degrees F according to manufacturer instructions.
- Increase the temperature to 225 degrees F and until the meat thermometer registered 165 degrees F continue to cook.
- From the smoker remove the chicken and let rest for 20 minutes before slicing loosely tented with foil, on a baking sheet.
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