Smoked Chicken Thighs

by FireHogs

142K17316

Intro: Smoked Chicken Thighs

Creating amazing chicken thighs on the smoker that don't dry out.

STEP 1: Buying Quality Meat.

When you go through all the work smoking food, buy good meat, I get mine from a local butcher.

STEP 2: Prepping the Chicken

Remove the skin from the chicken thighs and set them aside and remove any excess fat from the chicken.

STEP 3: Adding the Rub

You cam buy your rub but I make my own since it makes the chicken taste much more vibrant flavor.

Chicken Rub:
1/2 Cup cane sugar
1/4 Cup onion salt
1/4 Cup garlic salt
1/4 Cup Paprika
1 Tbsp Chili Powder
1/2 Tbsp Black Pepper
1/2 Tbsp Lemon Pepper
1/2 Tbsp Cayenne
1/2 Tbsp Rubbed Sage
1/2 Tbsp Dried Basil
1 Tsp Dries Rosemary

Add a generious amount to the chicken then wrap the chicken shin back around it to help hold in the moisture and add more more rub on the outside.

STEP 4: Preping the Smoker

I use a smoker you could also uses a gas grill or a charcoal grill. I start my smoker up at least and hour to preheat it and at the same time I start soaking my peach wood.

STEP 5: Placing on the Smoker

Place the chicken on the smoker, make sure the chicken are not touching. Add the lid and cook at 225 degrees F for 3-4 hours. Adding wood once a hour.

Tips:
1. DO NOT OPEN THE LID
2. CONSISTENT TEMPERATURE

STEP 6: Half Way Point

After 2 hours rotate the chicken.

STEP 7: All Done

The best way to check if the chicken is done take a themometer and make sure it is 165 degrees F. If you have smoked the chicken right i you will have an amazing bark on the outside of the chicken.

14 Comments

MarkM713 5 years ago

My (electric) smoker does not get much hotter than 140 degrees, what can I do to properly smoke ? Right now I smoke the meat for about 4-5 hours and then bake it in my oven for another hour, but I do not know if this is safe.

GlenW38 6 years ago

Made it this past weekend. I don't think I've ever made chicken that was this simple that tasted anywhere near as good as this tasted. It was a huge hit at my dinner party.

nullpointer.rgreen 10 years ago

I am at a smoking competition right now, and I have never smoked chicken before. I need to smoke chicken thighs at this event, so I looked up Instructibles and found this. Looks perfect. Getting ready to try this one.

ptabakaru1 8 years ago

the trick is to not over smoke the chicken. Some wood has too too strong flavor such as mesquite. Try something more subtle like apple, plum, or as this indestructible uses peach. If you only have the stronger wood only apply the the smoke for the first 20 minutes. Try Turkey as well it smokes just fabulous. good luck

FireHogs 10 years ago

If anyone has any question just ask I love helping out people smoke food no matter. How you cook the food.

SpringRobin 10 years ago

Beautiful! Have you every tried other types of wood in your smoker?

FireHogs 10 years ago

i've used all kinds of wood. A couple tips about wood do not listen to all the hype, to most people each different kind of wood tastes the same. So don't go out and buy expensive wood. Larger pieces of wood works the best like i used on charcoals wood chips just burn up even after soaking. Wood chips work the best if you are using a wood grill and you make a foil pouch.

rosec 10 years ago

Egads! Step three is sheer genius!
Seasoning the meat and the skin separately and rewrapping them. Guaranteed tender and to die for flavor. Bravo!

FireHogs 10 years ago

the best psrt the skin is like BBQ candy

FireHogs 10 years ago

I was very good. :)