Brining and Smoking Chicken Breasts


 
Derek O

Derek O

TVWBB Member
So I sent my wife to the store to get chicken to smoke tomorrow. Obviously I was not clear on what type I wanted and she came back with boneless skinless chicken breasts.

I have been looking around the site tonight and have not really found what I am looking for, but I did find some useful info.

I am planning on doing a quick brine of the chicken breasts and then smoking them with apple wood on the WSM @ 250F until they are above 160F. Since they do not have skin I am guessing I don't need to cook them at higher temps? Will this make the chicken dry?

I planned on mopping these with some bbq sauce near the end of the smoke instead of using a rub.

I am taking the wrong approach to this? Should I just use a kettle and try to smoke them on that? Any comments/suggestions?
 
Brining is a always a good approach with chicken. But, skin or not, I'm not sure what low temperatures bring to the party. Chicken doesn't have much connective tissue or fat that lower temps and longer cook times would break down. All the longer cook time does is...as you guessed...tend to dry it out. Maybe the only thing that longer cook times would add is more smoke.

You can brine the chicken for a lot longer than you might guess. Once an osmotic balance has been achieved it's not going to change much. I always figure longer brining is better than too short a time.

I don't do much cut up chicken but I've cooked brined chicken, like beer can chicken, a lot. I run the temps around 325 or so and the chicken gets done in about an hour and a half.

Using pieces, I suspect you'd have a much shorter time.
 
Thanks for the input, I will try brining and just using the kettle to cook the chicken. Maybe I will add a couple of small pieces of apple wood to the coals and try to give it more of a smokey flavor. I was just in the mood for smoked chicken, but maybe I can still accomplish that on the kettle. Maybe I will mess with the vents to keep the temps 350-400 on the kettle to let it smoke longer.
 
, I too think the kettle is the way to go. Just create 2 heat zones. Monitor the cooler heat zone to your desired cooking temp and use the hotter zone when needed for skin crisping.

Mark
 
Derek, if it were me,after the brining,I would give them a good high heat grilling with smoke in the kettle.Chicken absorbs smoke quite readily so i think you'll have no problems with getting them smokey.Just ensure you grill them to the safest recomended temp of 83C (181F) internal.
Give it a good seasoning, perhaps a portuguese mix,cajun etc. Oil the chicken up before slapping on the grill and let the grill do it's work.
I just love grilled chicken
icon_razz.gif


Cheers

Davo
 
How about something like this?
This is a modified recipe from Paula Dean that I cooked on my WSM last summer. It has a great taste, next time I will use Provolone Cheese. I think the Swiss was too soft.
Sorry no pics, I know it didn't happen!

Stuffed Chicken Breast with Mushroom Sauce
• 8 boneless chicken breast halves, skin removed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 4 slices (1 ounce each) cooked ham, cut in half
• 4 slices (1 ounce each) Swiss cheese, cut in half
• EVOO

Place each piece of chicken between 2 sheets of wax paper or in food storage bag. Pound gently to flatten, using a rolling pin or smooth side of meat mallet. Sprinkle chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Place a piece of ham and a piece of cheese in the center of each flattened piece of chicken. Fold ends over the ham and cheese; roll up, beginning with long side. Secure rolls with toothpicks. Baste with EVOO. Place chicken rolls on a plate; cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Smoke at 325-350 until internal temp of 165°
Serve with Mushroom Sauce

Mushroom Sauce
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup heated milk
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• salt
• white pepper
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat; sauté mushrooms until browned. Add flour and stir until mixture is well blended. Gradually stir in hot milk and chicken broth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sauce begins to boil and thickens. Simmer, stirring frequently, over very low heat for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Makes about 1 cup of medium thick sauce.
 
I've done them on the smoker when I'm doing many and they come out just fine. Brining IMO is the key. If you follow Chris A's tutorial on b/s breasts, I don't think you can go wrong. I just take them out of the package, brine for an hour or so and smoke them. Moisture, smoke flavor etc never are issues. Of course, the kettle works great too, but I find it easier to regulate temp in the smoker. Also, after the chicken breasts are done, I usually cook something else.
 
If you can get Cook's summer grilling summer 2009 magazine there is a recepie for boneless,skinless breasts that we tried on the performer and was amazed at how good they turned out. I added some leggs to the marinade and belive it or not they were great. Who would have thought that just 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and EVO and 1 teaspoon of lemon with fresh parsley and 2 tablespoons water could flavor and keep chicken that moist with just 1 hour of marinating.
icon_eek.gif
 
I ended up doing them on the OTG with good results. I brined the chicken for a couple of hours (probably reduce brine time, they were a bit saltier than I liked) and then I fired up the kettle. I put the lit coals all the way on one side of the grill and then put a thermometer probe near the middle of the grate. I played with the vents until I got the grill to about 325F on the probe. I put a few chunks of apple wood on and then directly put the chicken on. I rubbed some olive oil on the chicken to prevent it from sticking (I did not put any rub on the chicken since I was using bbq sauce at the end). I let the chicken cook for about an hour and ten minutes.

I had to add quite a bit more smoke wood then I normally would on the WSM to keep the kettle smoking, I then brushed bbq sauce on the chicken during the last 15-20 minutes. Chicken came out great, everybody was impressed with the flavor. I took a picture with my phone, but the quality of the picture was not very good so I won't post it. Need to get out the dslr next time. I would definately recommend using a kettle to smoke chicken breasts, its a lot easier to clean up than the WSM.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top