Are you planning to smoke some food over the weekend? If you run out of ideas on what to smoke or simply wants to try something new, I would recommend you to try this delicious Smoked Chicken recipe! This recipe is an all-around favorite. When this chicken is done being smoked, it will be the best chicken you’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. Be warned — there are quite a few steps to the process and a spice or two you might not have readily available at home.
Ingredients For Smoked Chicken Recipe
- 1 gallon (3.8L) water
- ¼ cup vinegar
- 1T pickling spices (you can make your own if you’d like)
- ½t Allspice
- 1t black pepper
- 1t onion powder
- 1t garlic powder
- 1t celery salt
- 1½ cups salt (preferably kosher)
- ¼ cup sugar (brown)
- 1t liquid smoke
- 1T maple extract
- 4lbs chicken
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2T Cajun seasonings
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 1T salt
- 1T pepper
- 3T butter
- 1T honey
Steps For Smoked Chicken Recipe
Firstly, you need to prepare the brine. Combine and boil water, vinegar, pickling spices, allspice, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, celery salt, cups salt, and sugar in a large pot. Make sure the pot is large enough to fit all your chicken pieces. You do not want your brine to overflow. That would be messy!
Next, you will let the brine that you’ve prepared to cool. After cooling, add the liquid smoke and maple extract. This is also the time for you to add clean chicken pieces to this brine and let it sit for at least four hours, if not overnight.
While waiting for the chicken pieces and brine to mix, you will have to prepare the mop by combining apple cider vinegar, water, salt, and pepper. Once again you need to boil the mop and set it aside.
After that is done, you can start to prepare your electric smoker and set it to 230 °F. On top of that, you will also need to add woodchips into your smoker. For this recipe, the flavor of the woodchips does not matter much so you can pick your preferred flavored woodchips.
Once you are ready, remove the chicken pieces from the brine that you have prepared earlier, rinse it under cold water, and let it to dry. Only when the chicken pieces are dried, you can start to cover it in olive oil and Cajun seasonings. Now you are ready to start smoking!!
Place the chicken pieces in your smoker for 2-3 hours. Depending on the size of your smoker, insert the chicken accordingly but make sure you do not over stuffed it in. When the chicken is inside the smoker, remember to bast the chicken with the mop every 30-45 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the glaze that will go on top of the smoked chicken. All you need to do for the glaze is to combine both butter and honey. Make sure you give it a good mix.
When the chicken pieces are cooked through, remove it from your electric smoker and apply the glaze. It is optional to grill the chicken for a crisper skin, but it’s delicious as it is.
That’s it. You are ready to have a feast and a taste of the most awesome smoked chicken. All you need to do now is to serve and enjoy!
