There are two fundamental challenges with making smoked chicken breast - dry meat and rubbery, tough skin. But fear not, those two challenges can be easily overcome with the addition of a couple of simple steps. I've had such tremendous success with these improved smoked chicken breasts that I keep making them again and again.
To make a really juicy smoked chicken breast with nice, non-rubbery skin, you need to do the following five important steps:
- brining,
- drying,
- searing,
- smoking at a low temperature, and
- cooking to the right temperature (hint: not 165F).
Read on.
Brining
Brining is not about making chicken breast meat juicy. It will make it juicier, for sure. But it's also about the flavor. You see, white chicken meat is super bland and tasteless. The last thing you want to do is cut into a beautiful, smoky breast that tastes like an unseasoned boiled potato. So, if you've got the time, brine your chicken breasts. It will make a huge difference.
Drying
Drying chicken before smoking is always a good idea. After brining, put back in the fridge, uncovered, for a few hours. This will dry out the skin and form a pellicle, a sticky surface, that is great for absorbing smoke. It will make your chicken breast get better smoky flavor and color faster. It will also help to put on a nice sear quickly. While this step is not strictly mandatory, I highly recommend it.
Searing
Searing is the trick I came up with when trying to find a solution for rubbery smoked chicken skin. I usually sear chicken breasts before roasting (crispy oven-roasted chicken breast) to get a perfectly crispy and super flavorful skin. I tried that trick with smoked chicken quarters and it worked really well. Does it work with smoked chicken breasts? Absolutely! Try it, it will transform your chicken into the perfection that is a joy to eat. Say goodbye to the rubbery skin on your smoked chicken breasts.
Searing makes the skin tastier and prevents it from becoming rubbery. The solution, like I said, is to pan-sear the chicken. That beautifully browned skin is just so tasty. With a lot of the fat rendered out, it becomes thin and crispy. By the end of smoking it will become soft and tender.
You want to sear only the skin side. Do it quickly on a hot pan with enough butter and oil. You don't want to raise the internal temperature of the chicken breast too high. You want to crisp up the skin real nice though.
Smoking
The best way to smoke chicken breasts is low and slow. The simple reason is that you want them to get as much smoke as possible and that requires time. Smoke them too fast and you will barely detect any smoky flavor. No good! Shoot for just 225F at the grate level. Get a nice 'thin and blue' smoke going.
Then smoke until you hit the target temperature.
Finally, apply your favorite BBQ sauce and smoke a few minutes longer to let the sauce set.
Target internal temperature for chicken
This one took a while for me to adjust to, but now, it's like I've been blind and now can see. We've been taught to cook chicken to 165F, right? This blanket, highly generalized recommendation is so deceitful. Yes, your chicken will be safe to eat. But no, your chicken won't necessarily taste good. What? Well, let me explain. Dark chicken meat cooked to the 'safe' 165F sucks. Ok, some may like it, but I feel like it's tough and tastes undercooked. It needs to get to at least 185F to become truly tender and succulent.
What about chicken breasts? It gets even more interesting. Chicken breast becomes dry when smoked to 165F. So, what's the solution? It's simple: cook it to a lower temperature. Is chicken meat cooked to less than 165F safe to eat? Absolutely! Wait, what? Let me explain. The 165F is the general recommendation to make sure everyone and their brother gets it right. It's the temperature at which all harmful bacteria are destroyed instantly.
However, the destruction of harmful bacteria is not just about the temperature, it's about the temperature and the time at which chicken meat spends at that temperature. For example, if you smoke your chicken breast to 155F and hold it at that temperature for a minute - the meat will be 100% safe to eat. But it will be much juicier, with a more tender, delicate texture compared to the one cooked to 165F.
Here is USDA’s time-temperature table for cooking ready-to-eat poultry products.
| Temperature | Holding Time |
|---|---|
| 140°F (60°C) | 35 minutes |
| 145°F (62.8°C) | 13 minutes |
| 148°F (64.4°C) | 6.8 minutes |
| 150°F (65.6°C) | 4.2 minutes |
| 152°F (66.7°C) | 2.3 minutes |
| 155°F (68.3°C) | 54.4 seconds |
| 157°F (69.4°C) | 34 seconds |
| 160°F (71.1°C) | 16.9 seconds |
| 162°F (72.3°C) | 10.5 seconds |
| 163°F (72.8°C) | 1 second |
| 165°F (73.9°C) | 1 second |
All that said, I smoked my chicken breast to 150F - 155F at the most. This is what ultimately makes this smoked chicken breast so incredibly juicy and succulent.
Serving smoked chicken breasts
These are great hot from the smoker with a side dish, or cold-cut on a sandwich, or in a chicken salad. I even add chopped smoked chicken to make a quick soup, like mulligatawny.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts large, bone-in and skin-on
- 3 Tbsp butter for searing
- 1 Tbsp oil for searing
- 1/2 cup BBQ sauce for glazing; use your favorite BBQ sauce
Dry rub
- 1 tsp kosher salt or to taste
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp Ancho chile powder
- 1 tsp black pepper or to taste
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper optional; adjust the amount to taste
- 1 tsp dried rosemary leaves ground
Brine
- 1/2 gallon ice cold water
- 6 Tbsp kosher salt
- 3/4 cup brown sugar or white sugar
- 1 large carrot peeled and cut into pieces
- 1 medium onion peeled and cut into pieces
- 4 cloves garlic peeled and cut in halves
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 Tbsp whole black peppercorns
Instructions
- To prepare the brine, bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a small pot. Add the salt and sugar, and stir to dissolve. Add the rest of the ingredients, excepr the remaining water, stir and remove from the heat. Cover and let cool, then mix with the rest of the water and chill to below 40F. To chill the brine faster, substitute some of the water for ice.
- Place the chicken breasts in the brine and keep refrigerated for 4 hours. Remove the breasts from the brine and pat dry with paper towels. Refrigerate for a few more hours, uncovered, to dry, if time permits.
- Preheat smoker to 225F at the grate level.
- In a large cast iron skillet, heat the cooking oil and butter, over medium-high heat. Sear the chicken breasts, skin side down, about 1-2 minutes or until the skin is golden brown.
- Rub the chicken with the dry rub. Pat down to make the seasonings stick.
- Transfer the chicken breasts to the smoker, skin side up.
- Smoke at 225F for about 40-60 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 150F.
- Brush the breasts with BBQ sauce and continue smoking for another 5-10 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 155F and stays there for a minute.
- Remove the chicken from the smoker, let rest for 5 minutes and serve with your favorite side dish.
Dave
Absolutly the best chicken I have ever made!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Glad you liked it, Dave. I will be posting more of my favorite smoked chicken recipes; stay tuned.
Paul
Wonderful recipe
Janet
This was absolutely fantastic. I was pretty nervous to attempt taking chicken off at 150, so I did my usual protocol for 165 and it was still completely juicy and wonderful.
Thank you for a great recipe.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
You are very welcome. Enjoy!
Scott S
Follows the recipe exactly. My wife and 22 year old daughter said it was my best chicken breast cook ever! Very juicy and tender.
Brad
Looking forward to trying this recipe this weekend. My plan is to make this into pulled chicken tacos. Few Questions. 1) do you have any recommendations for seasoning changes for a taco recipe, and 2) I have a Primo grill. I'm assuming, I set it up with one deflector and place the chicken in that zone so it absorbs as much smoke as possible since it has already been browned, correct?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Brad, the rub in this recipe will work for tacos, the only thing I would change is substitute rosemary with oregano and/or cumin.
Correct, you'd want to do all the cooking with the heat deflector underneath, no direct heat cooking as it's already been seared. Good luck!
Noreen Gamble
This was by far the best chicken breast I have ever eaten. The only thing that was different for me was I brined for 24 hours & used our Camp Chef pellet grill so the chicken took about 2 1/2 hours at 225 & I set the smoke set at 9. Honestly so juicy and tender. Thank you Victor as I have tried many chicken recipes on this smoker and this was the best by far. I do think searing that chicken before you season and place it on the grill is such a huge step.that should not be skipped. Perfection!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Thank you for the feedback, Noreen. Happy smoking!
Beck and Bulow
Yummy, now I have another yummy one to add to my prep for Chicken.
Troy Ross
The whole family loved it. I used apple cherry and maple wood. It's mild and it's what I had
Ruth
Just started smoking 4 bone-in breasts on my Weber gas grill any tips to regulate the temperature to stay near 225? I using a Bluetooth thermometer for temperature.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Sorry, it's probably late but here goes - use only one burner on the far right (or left) and put your chicken on the opposite side for indirect smoking. Adjust the burner to where you have 225F at the grate level where the chicken is. Hope your chicken breasts turned out great.
Jane
Do you still sear boneless skinless chicken breasts before placing on the smoker?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Jane, I don't recommend this recipe for boneless chicken breasts - they will dry out pretty quickly if cooked this way.
Rob
I actually smoked a couple boneless skinless breasts without brining or searing at 250 along with the pulled chicken I smoked and it was my favorite. I held it at 150 for a while and served it sliced.
I covered it with homemade rub (brown sugar base) very liberally and then Brushed homemade sauce on it at the end of smoking. It was so good. I am going to try your recipe too, but I encourage people to try this with boneless skinless breasts too!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Rob, thanks for sharing. I like a slightly different method - I smoke skinless boneless chicken breasts low and slow on a pan with a little butter and chicken broth on the bottom and seasonings. Very moist and juicy meat.
Tomi
Followed step by step directions. The chicken was excellent!!
Janelle O'Brien
I really want to try this but I purchased boneless/skinless breasts. Can I still smoke them with this recipe? What would you recommend, still brine and sear? Could you follow these instructions with thighs too?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Janelle, apologies for the late response. It's too late but here goes - this recipe doesn't work well with skinless breast as they will dry out pretty quickly. I like a different method for skinless chicken breasts, I smoke them in a tray with some chicken broth, seasonings, and butter. They come out delicious and very moist.
Christina
Hi Victor,
Can you just use normal boness, skinless chicken breasts for this recipe abs still go through the brining and browning steps?
Also, if I were to brine, how long would I do so for this?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Christina, apologies for the delay in responding to you. I would highly recommend using bone-in and skin-on chicken breast in this recipe, but you could use boneless skin-on breast instead. Skinless need a slightly different approach for best results, I smoke them in a pan with some chicken broth and butter and seasonings. I will post my recipe eventually. That said, brining smaller skinless breasts takes about 2 hours using my brining recipe. Larger chicken breast may take 3 hours but no longer as they will take on too much salt.
Brit10e
Great! We’ve made it time and time again!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Glad to hear it, Brit. Enjoy!
Mary
Is this is a 5 star. I’m not sure why it didn’t save it that way.
Love this recipe!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Happy to hear that, Mary. Now, try smoking some of my Swojska Polish Kielbasa;)
Mary
Oh my! This is an a AMAZING way to smoke chicken!! I didn’t add the BBQ sauce. I don’t think it needed it. I served the BBQ sauce on the side.
Sam
My Uncle made the comment smoked chicken is always dry. After smoking and serving him chicken using this recipe, he was asking me how to do it! 5+ stars!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Wow, Sam, your comment made my day! Thank you for the kind words and I am very happy that you liked my recipe. Happy smoking!
Jim D.
Hello Victor, I followed your recipe exactly. I smoked 4 large breasts and they turned out wonderful. Thanks for the recipe.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Good to hear it, Jim. You are very welcome and happy smokin'!
Mary
This was perfect. Looks exactly like the picture, too. Don’t skip the brining . Prior browning worked well. Served with potato salad and it was delicious.
Jay
Like!! Those pictures make me really hungry.
Mark
Hi Victor
those chicken breasts look awesome! Looking at the cooking temperature table that you provided, why did you pick 155F as the final temperature? Wouldn't a lower temperature make juicier meat?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hey Mark, you can go lower if you want, but there are a couple of considerations here. The lower you go the less time the chicken will spend on the smoker and the less smoky the meat will be. The texture will be a little different too as you go lower. Some people may not like it. To me, 155F seems optimal but I can see 150F as a good target too. I cook chicken breast sous vide at 148F-150F and like the texture. The breast won't be as smoky though, not enough time on the smoker unless you smoke it at a lower temperature like 200F - 215F. You have to balance those variables.