Any good chicken thigh recipes for smoking?


 

Brian Quintal

TVWBB Member
I'm new at this whole smoking but gave ribs a try last weekend as my maiden voyage I was thinging about doing up a few dozen chichen thighs this weekend. I was even thinking of doing some more STL ribs on the top rack of my WSM and the thighs on the bottome rack so the juices of the ribs drip on the thighs. Anyway does anybody have any good recipes for thighs on the smoker along with some technique tips?

Thanks
 
A check of the recipe/poultry forum results in thirty-three hits and while not everyone is specifically about thighs you can certainly gain some good ideas on recipe as well as technique from there. Roadside Chicken is a great place to start. Let us know what you do!
 
Brian I have done thighs on the smoker and they are great. You could use the Cornell Chicken recipe and marinate them for 2-4 hours. You would not be able to mop them as easily on the lower rack but the marinade should work well regardless. You could also take a look at the BBQ Pit Boys and adopt part of their technique by placing a little BBQ sauce under the skin. It's easy to do or put some rub under the skin. Searing them on the grill works well but they will colour up and taste great in the smoker.
 
I'll throw my 2 cents in here....theres a Jamaican jerk seasoning called Walkerswood thats just amazing on chicken, especially thighs, highly recommend it.
 
We don't use the "drip over" technique on the smoker but we do love smoked thighs. Try this which a friend recently turned me onto. We seasoned boneless chicken thighs with our favorite rub on both sides. Then we wrapped each thigh in a slice of bacon (no need to use a toothpick or anything). While wrapping with bacon, you get a considerable amount of rub on the bacon, too, even though we didn't reapply. We refrigerated for about 4 hours and then let the thighs come to room temp for about 2 hours.

This would be good with bone-in thighs, too, but they sliced up beautifully when the boneless ones were used and smoked. You can serve as an appetizer by making a nice sauce (use a mustard cream sauce or a red bell pepper sauce) and putting it on an appetizer plate, and topping with slices of the smoked boneless thighs. Very easy, very cheap, very good and very pretty, too! :D
 
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All the above are excellent ideas!!! You can also go as simple as applying you favorite rub. Weber has some excellent rubs that are readily available. Also you said you wanted to smoke them, chicken does a lot better in my opinion at higher temps, 300-400*F range.
 
Hi Brian,

I am new also, but I have mostly only done chicken on my WSM thus far. My wife and kids eat are addicted to my chicken, and everyone here is gonna get a chuckle out of prep for the chicken.


FYI, if you have the smoker cooking thighs, might as well do a top rack of Thighs and a bottom rack of wings... the left over wings wont got to waste.


Ok, here is my familys award winning recipe....


Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Applewood for the smoke.

3 hours give or take 30 minutes. Internal temp of the thighs will tell you when they are done. I cook to 162-165, then let sit for 20 minutes, foiled.

I remove the water tray 20 minutes before the end to crisp up the skin. Just be careful not to spill it as you remove it, it takes a bit of practice and good mittens and a shop towel..



There are many GREAT recipes here, but if your new to smoking, might as well worry about the process instead of the recipe, just cook with Applewood smoke and your chicken will just be amazing.


I'll be trying other recipes soon, with rubs, and trays, and butter, and sauce, and finishing rubs, and what not, but for now there is demand from the family for the simple way....


My 2 cents.
 
We don't use the "drip over" technique on the smoker but we do love smoked thighs. Try this which a friend recently turned me onto. We seasoned boneless chicken thighs with our favorite rub on both sides. Then we wrapped each thigh in a slice of bacon (no need to use a toothpick or anything). While wrapping with bacon, you get a considerable amount of rub on the bacon, too, even though we didn't reapply. We refrigerated for about 4 hours and then let the thighs come to room temp for about 2 hours.

This would be good with bone-in thighs, too, but they sliced up beautifully when the boneless ones were used and smoked. You can serve as an appetizer by making a nice sauce (use a mustard cream sauce or a red bell pepper sauce) and putting it on an appetizer plate, and topping with slices of the smoked boneless thighs. Very easy, very cheap, very good and very pretty, too! :D

I gotta try those.
 
Brian, I have used this one twice.

http://bbq.about.com/od/marinaderecipes/r/ble30903g.htm

It's excellent for chicken thighs and drums. I did it again last night in the smoker with along with some ribs using cherry wood for smoke. In for two hours. The flavors are outstanding. I had raspberry wine vinegar and used rubbed sage and rubbed savory. I marinated four hours. I would not go longer. Last time I did two hours. I think four is right on the mark. The colour is awesome too because of the cherry. I had the kettle going so after the two hours in the smoker I gave them a couple of minutes over direct heat. :)
 
I gotta try those.

My husband Brian was anxious to try them, too, Gary, and picked up the boneless thighs at the grocery that I asked him to get. Thank goodness I came downstairs at when he was just finishing up preparing them for the smoker -- he had 17 thighs! There are TWO OF US! They were really, really small thighs so I let him cook 9 and freeze 8 all prepared. God, they were good.
 
If you think about it next time Michelle how about a picture or two. I almost did them for company last weekend but since thighs were one of the items already I did ABT's instead however I can pretty much imagine the flavor.:)
 
If you think about it next time Michelle how about a picture or two. I almost did them for company last weekend but since thighs were one of the items already I did ABT's instead however I can pretty much imagine the flavor.:)

Our camera need repair and we don't have phones that take photos, Gary (but once the camera makes its way to the repair shop, this will be one of the first places I post pics.
 
Brian,

I've been using this rub and brine on just about everything. I used it on leg qtrs last weekend. I had never cooked chicken on the WSM. I used Apple wood. I kept the pit temp around 240. And, I cooked for 3 hrs. They were very moist and flavorful.

Good luck.
 
When I smoke thighs, I always save some to make the best smoked chicken salad you ever tasted. Just pull 3 or 4 off and strip the chicken from the bone, chop into good chicken salad size chunks and refrigerate until you are ready to make it. I have frozen the set aside chunks for use later with good results too. I do not rub or sauce the thighs that I smoke for use in my chicken salad.
 

 

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