Smoked Chicken Breasts

Improv Cook

New member
We're having a heat wave. Too hot to cook so Sunday I smoked a couple of chicken breasts for some cold smoked chicken salad for tonights supper. I brined the chicken first for about an hour before smoking. I think the secret to successful smoking is not to over smoke it. You don't want it to taste like a mouthful of soot. Just thinking about recipe. Chicken cut up, chopped celery, Amt not critical,What else? maybe some hard cooked eggs and some dried cranberries and fresh grapes. All on a bed of curly leaf lettuce. Sounds OK. Of course anything is subject to change depending on the whims of the cook. That's me. I might add some herbs or not. That's what makes it an improv dish.​
 

buzzard767

golfaknifeaholic
Gold Site Supporter
Pull the chicken when the temp reaches 165 in the thickest part of the breast. Also, from Smoking-meat,com:

Want the Skin to be Crispy?

Smoked chicken skin tends to be a little chewy at times.. if you prefer crispy chicken skin then you will need to make just a couple of adjustments to the process.

Crispsy chicken skin requires about 20-25 minutes of high heat to render the fat in the skin and make it crisp up so you can either crank up the heat in the smoker to about 300-325 degrees F for about the last 25 minutes or so or.. you can remove the chicken once it reaches about 140 degrees or so and finish it off over high heat (300-325) on the grill.

Watch the chicken carefully and turn as necessary to make sure the skin does not burn but browns evenly on all sides.

Remember.. if you have placed a sugary rub or sauce on the bird, it will burn really fast over that high heat so be careful.
 

Cooksie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
We're having a heat wave. Too hot to cook so Sunday I smoked a couple of chicken breasts for some cold smoked chicken salad for tonights supper. I brined the chicken first for about an hour before smoking. I think the secret to successful smoking is not to over smoke it. You don't want it to taste like a mouthful of soot. Just thinking about recipe. Chicken cut up, chopped celery, Amt not critical,What else? maybe some hard cooked eggs and some dried cranberries and fresh grapes. All on a bed of curly leaf lettuce. Sounds OK. Of course anything is subject to change depending on the whims of the cook. That's me. I might add some herbs or not. That's what makes it an improv dish.​

Sounds like you've got plenty going on in there already. Some people put apple in their chicken salad.
 
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