Ever tried to smoke chicken only to end up with leathery, tough meat that’s more suitable for making shoes than eating? I’ve been there, my friend. After countless attempts and some pretty disappointing results, I’ve finally mastered the art of smoking BBQ chicken that’s juicy on the inside with that perfect crispy skin on the outside.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about smoking BBQ chicken – from preparation to serving No fancy culinary degree required, just some patience and a love for good food!
Why Smoke Chicken?
Before we dive into the how-to let’s talk about why smoked chicken is worth the effort
- That incredible smoky flavor that you just can’t get from an oven
- Juicy, tender meat that practically falls off the bone
- The satisfaction of mastering a cooking technique that impresses friends and family
- Perfect for meal prep – smoke several chickens at once and freeze portions for later
Common Mistakes When Smoking Chicken
Let’s address the elephant in the room – why does smoked chicken often turn out tough and leathery? Here are the most common mistakes:
- Cooking at too low a temperature – Unlike other meats like ribs or pork shoulder, chicken doesn’t benefit as much from the traditional “low and slow” approach
- Not preparing the chicken properly – Failing to brine or season adequately
- Overcooking – Taking the chicken way past the safe internal temperature
- Improper moisture management – Not using a water pan or spritzer
- Cooking whole without splitting – Makes it harder to season and smoke evenly
What You’ll Need
Let’s gather our tools and ingredients:
Equipment:
- Smoker (any type will work – pellet, electric, offset, or even a charcoal grill set up for indirect heat)
- Meat thermometer (absolutely essential)
- Kitchen shears (for splitting the chicken)
- Spray bottle for spritzing
- Basting brush for applying sauce
Ingredients:
- Whole chicken (3-4 pounds) or preferred cuts
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil or avocado oil
- BBQ rub of your choice
- Wood chips/chunks (apple, cherry, or hickory work great)
- Spritzer liquid (equal parts apple juice, apple cider vinegar, and water)
- Your favorite BBQ sauce
- Optional: 2 tablespoons honey to mix with BBQ sauce
- Optional: butter for extra moisture and flavor
Preparation Is Key
Step 1: Split That Bird
One of the best tips I’ve learned is to split the chicken before smoking. Here’s how:
- Place the chicken breast-side down on a cutting board
- Using sharp kitchen shears, cut alongside the backbone from tail to neck
- Remove the backbone completely
- Flip the chicken over and press down on the breastbone to flatten it
- For even more even cooking, you can split it completely into halves
Why split the chicken? This allows for
- Better seasoning coverage on all parts of the meat
- Improved smoke penetration
- More even cooking from breast to thighs
- Shorter cooking time
Step 2: Brine (Optional but Recommended)
If you have time, brining your chicken before smoking will dramatically improve moisture retention. A basic brine is:
- 1 gallon water
- 1/2 cup kosher salt
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
Brine the chicken for 2-6 hours in the refrigerator, then rinse and pat dry.
Step 3: Season
- Let the chicken come to room temperature for about 30 minutes
- Pat the chicken completely dry with paper towels (important for crispy skin!)
- Coat the chicken with olive oil on all sides
- Apply your favorite BBQ rub generously, but don’t rub it in – just sprinkle it on (rubbing can cause clumping with the oil)
Pro tip: For extra flavor, gently lift the skin and place butter or additional seasoning directly on the meat.
Smoking Process
Step 1: Prepare Your Smoker
- Preheat your smoker to 275-325°F (not the traditional 225°F used for other meats)
- Add your wood chips/chunks (apple and cherry provide a mild, sweet smoke that works well with chicken)
- Place a water pan under the grates to help stabilize temperature and add moisture
Step 2: Smoke That Chicken
- Place the chicken on the smoker with the skin side up
- Close the lid and resist the urge to peek (as the saying goes, “if you’re lookin’, you ain’t cookin'”)
- After about 1 hour, begin spritzing the chicken with your apple juice/vinegar/water mixture every 20-30 minutes
- Continue smoking until the internal temperature reaches 145-150°F in the thickest part of the thigh (use that meat thermometer!)
Step 3: Apply Sauce and Finish
- When the chicken reaches 145-150°F, brush it with your BBQ sauce (optionally mixed with honey for extra stickiness)
- Increase the smoker temperature to 300-350°F for the final stage
- Continue cooking until the internal temperature reaches 165°F in the breast and 170-175°F in the thigh
- Watch closely during this final stage to prevent the sauce from burning
Step 4: Rest and Serve
- Remove the chicken from the smoker and tent loosely with foil
- Let it rest for 10-15 minutes to allow juices to redistribute
- Carve and serve with additional warm BBQ sauce on the side
Troubleshooting Tough Chicken
If you’ve had trouble with tough, leathery chicken in the past, here are some specific solutions:
Problem: Rubbery, Tough Skin
- Solution: Cook at a higher temperature (300-325°F rather than 225-250°F)
- Solution: Make sure the skin is completely dry before applying oil and rub
- Solution: Finish with a brief high-heat grill session to crisp the skin
Problem: Dry, Tough Meat
- Solution: Use a brine before smoking
- Solution: Don’t overcook – use a reliable meat thermometer
- Solution: Consider adding butter under the skin
- Solution: Use a water pan in your smoker
- Solution: Regular spritzing during the cooking process
Problem: Too Much Smoke Flavor
- Solution: Use milder woods like apple, cherry, or pecan instead of mesquite or hickory
- Solution: Less is more – you don’t need smoke billowing out the entire time
Expert Tips for Next-Level Smoked Chicken
Want to take your smoked chicken game even further? Try these pro tips:
-
Try different rubs: Experiment with different flavor profiles – sweet, spicy, herbal, etc.
-
Experiment with woods: Different woods create different flavor profiles:
- Apple: Mild, sweet smoke
- Cherry: Slightly sweet with a hint of fruitiness
- Pecan: Nutty, medium-intensity smoke
- Hickory: Strong, bacon-like flavor (use sparingly with chicken)
-
Sauce variations: Instead of regular BBQ sauce, try:
- Alabama white sauce (mayonnaise-based)
- Carolina mustard sauce
- Honey glaze with spices
- Homemade BBQ sauce with added spices
-
Try the “beer can” method: Place half a can of beer (or soda) in a holder and mount the chicken over it for extra moisture and flavor
-
Go for cuts instead: If you’re in a hurry, smoking chicken thighs or drumsticks takes less time and is more forgiving than a whole chicken
Different Approaches to Try
There’s more than one way to smoke a chicken! Here are some alternative techniques:
Smoke-Roasting Method
- Get your smoker running hot (350-400°F)
- Split the chicken through the breast only
- Cook breast-side down for 35-45 minutes
- Flip and finish breast-side up for another 35-45 minutes until done
Fast Smoke + Oven Finish
- Smoke at 225-250°F until the chicken reaches 140-145°F
- Transfer to a 350-400°F oven to finish and crisp the skin
Chinese Tea-Smoking Technique
- Heat a wok until very hot
- Add dried tea leaves or wood chips
- Place chicken on a rack above
- Cover and smoke for just a few minutes
- Finish by baking or frying
Serving Suggestions
Your perfectly smoked BBQ chicken deserves some great sides:
- Vinegar-based coleslaw
- Mac and cheese
- Cornbread
- Baked beans
- Potato salad
- Grilled vegetables
Storage and Leftovers
Got leftovers? Lucky you!
- Refrigerate: Store in airtight containers for up to 4 days
- Freeze: Smoked chicken freezes well for up to 3 months
- Reheat: Place in a baking dish with a little water or chicken stock, cover with foil, and heat at 350°F until warm (about 20-25 minutes)
Creative Uses for Leftover Smoked Chicken
- Smoked chicken sandwiches
- BBQ chicken pizza
- Smoked chicken tacos
- Add to salads for a smoky protein boost
- Smoked chicken noodle soup (seriously amazing!)
Final Thoughts
Smoking BBQ chicken might seem intimidating at first, but once you understand the key principles, it’s actually one of the more forgiving meats to smoke. The main things to remember are:
- Split the chicken for even cooking
- Cook at a higher temperature than you would for other smoked meats
- Use a meat thermometer to prevent overcooking
- Keep moisture in the equation with spritz, butter, or a water pan
- Let it rest before serving
With these tips in mind, you’ll be serving up perfect smoked BBQ chicken in no time. Don’t get discouraged if your first attempt isn’t perfect – smoking is as much an art as it is a science, and each time you do it, you’ll get better.
Now fire up that smoker and get cooking! Your taste buds (and impressed dinner guests) will thank you.
How to Prep a Whole Chicken
Prepping a whole chicken is easy, here’s what you need to do:
- IF you have time, it’s always recommended that you brine the chicken in a salt and water solution for up to 24 hours. Brining isn’t a must, but it ensures that your chicken is juicy, moist, tender, and seasoned really well. So every time I have smoked chicken or roast chicken planned in advance, I brine my chicken (try my easy chicken brine recipe). If there’s no time, I just skip this step.
- Check if your chicken comes with giblets, remove the giblets and discard them. Then get your chicken to room temperature, I just let mine chill out on the counter for 20-30 minutes.
- Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, and spray or drizzle some olive or cooking oil (this will give it a bit of flavor and help the seasonings stick to the chicken).
- Season the chicken well. I like to keep it simple and just season with SPG (salt, pepper, and garlic powder), or what is often called stone house seasoning. If you happen to have a shaker, use it! With a dusting technique from a good height, season the bird from all sides, and don’t forget to season underneath the wings and the cavity with a good coating.
- Optional: You can season the chicken with a second layer of seasoning for extra flavor. Use a BBQ rub or any other spice rub that you like.
- Truss or tie the legs with butcher twine, this will ensure that everything cooks evenly and that the legs don’t burn. It also makes a better presentation.
- Tuck the wings’ tips underneath/behind the back of the bird so that they don’t burn (we don’t always do this, but try to remember to do it!).
How to Smoke a Whole Chicken
After you have seasoned the chicken, it’s time to cook it on a preheated smoker!
- Place the chicken on your smoker breast side up (I don’t like using a pan as it blocks the smoke from penetrating the chicken and accumulates juices that cause a lot of steam), and cook at 275°F for about 2-3 hours (the exact time depends on the size of your chicken). The chicken will be cooked slowly, render down the fat and make the meat juicy, and give it an incredible smoking flavor!
- The chicken is ready when it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F. I recommend using an electric probe thermometer that you can insert in the chicken to be able to read the temperature as it’s in the smoker.
- After the first 45 minutes, check on the chicken, and give it a spray of cooking oil or butter to help the skin crisp up and turn into a beautiful bronze/mahogany color.
- After 1.5 hours, rotate the chicken so that it cooks evenly and give it another spray or coating or cooking oil or butter. Check the temperature at this stage, it should read around 140°F for the breast, and around 150°F at the thigh.
- After about 2 hours, it should read 165°F at the thickest part of the breast, and 175°F at the thickest part of the thigh (make sure that the thermometer is not hitting a bone to get a correct reading). That’s when the chicken is ready!
- Remove the chicken from the smoker and let it rest for 15-20 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute before carving and serving. To learn how to carve a chicken, I have a full tutorial that you need to check out!
The JUICIEST Way to Smoke Barbecue Chicken…
FAQ
Should I put barbecue sauce on chicken before smoking?
It’s not recommended to put BBQ sauce on raw chicken before cooking. While it may seem tempting, doing so can lead to the sauce burning during cooking and not allowing the chicken to cook properly.
How do you keep chicken moist when smoking?
Brining a chicken will make it moist, tender, and full of flavor even hours after bathing in smoke. However, you’ll need 4-24 hours beforehand to budget for it.
What do you spray on chicken when smoking?
For chicken I spray or mop with a jazzed up chicken stock for my base, add some seasoned salt and a little olive oil. Some melted lard also works good on chicken.
What is the best smoke flavor for BBQ chicken?
Choose the Right Wood for Smoking
For chicken, lighter woods like apple, cherry, or pecan are ideal. They provide a sweet, mild flavor that enhances the natural taste of the chicken without overpowering it. You want to avoid heavy woods like mesquite, which can leave your chicken bitter.
How do you cook chicken on a smoker?
Place the chicken on the smoker and cook until the internal temperature in the breast reach 155 degrees. Turning and basting with the BBQ Chicken Mop* every 30 minutes. Pour the BBQ Sauces into a small aluminum pan and place on the smoker to warm.
What is smoked chicken?
Smoked chicken is a delicious dish where you use a brine, wet rub, or dry rub that is applied to a whole chicken, a split chicken, thighs, breasts, or wings and is then smoked under a flavored wood. It is one of the easier meats to smoke and is popular at just about every BBQ restaurant in America, and now your backyard.
What temperature should smoked chicken be cooked at?
After the bird has cooked for an hour at 225 turn the temperature up to 275 to finish. The smoked whole chicken is ready when the internal temp of the chicken thigh AND the breast is 165 degrees. Looking for an easy whole smoked chicken recipe?
How long does it take to smoke chicken in a smoker?
With your smoker set at 250 degrees F, it will take approximately 35-45 minutes per pound of chicken to reach 160 degrees F. I like to take my smoked chicken out of the smoker and let it rest for 10 minutes until the temperature rises to 165 degrees F. Remember to always smoke to temperature and not to time.
Can you smoke a chicken breast in a smoker?
It may seem like a daunting task, but smoking a chicken breast is actually pretty easy. The key to keeping the meat tender and juicy is by removing it from the smoker or grill before cooking all of the moisture out. This way, when you do cook your chicken breasts in the smoker or grill they will be moist and delicious!
How do you make smoked chicken taste better?
Experimenting with different spice rubs and wood chips can also enhance the overall taste of your smoked chicken. Unlock the secrets to perfectly smoked chicken with our comprehensive guide! Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned grill master, learn the essential techniques to achieve juicy interiors and crispy skin.