This easy smoked chicken recipe is so simple, it produces succulent breast meat and a beautiful smoky flavor. You really can’t go wrong.
When I first bought a smoker I wanted to keep my experiments as simple as possible to really understand how to cook well. After all, if you can produce succulent chicken, full of flavour with the minimum of ingredients then you’re ready to take on the world!
I still do this recipe week in week out even today because not only is it great straight off the smoker but any leftovers make for the best chicken sandwiches ever. Just a bit of mayo, a few salad leaves and a sprinkling of salt – awesome!
One thing you do need for this recipe is a meat injector and I also like to smoke my chicken on a vertical roasting rack so I catch all the juices either for gravy or adding to the stock when I boil up the carcass.
For wood chips, my preference is apple but feel free to experiment using my wood chips guide.
Ingredients:-
1 chicken
50ml olive oil
Juice of one lemon
Salt
Pepper
Method:-
Mix the olive oil and lemon juice together in a cup or ramekin and then use the meat injector to inject into the breast and the thighs. Use the last few drops of the mix to rub over the skin and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Load the chicken onto the roasting rack and place it in the smoker at 110°C or 225°F for 60 minutes per pound and bingo – beautifully succulent smoked chicken.
It’s important to make sure that chicken is properly cooked so you can try the rough and ready approach of sticking a skewer in and the juices should run clear or go for a thermometer. Breast meat should be at 165°F and thigh meat at 175°F.