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    Home » Recipes » Grilling

    Grill Smoked Chicken Thigh Tacos

    Published: May 12, 2016 · Modified: Apr 26, 2017 by Mike Vrobel · This post may contain affiliate links · 2 Comments

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    Grill Smoked Chicken Thigh Tacos - DadCooksDinner.com
    Grill Smoked Chicken Thigh Tacos

    You need a teacher. I can show you the ways of the Dark Side…of the chicken.

    As I’ve said many times, I’m a fan of dark meat chicken…and my kids are fans of tacos. 4But then, who isn’t a fan of tacos? It’s a beautiful spring day, and I want to fire up the grill. When I saw the blowout sale on bone-in chicken thighs at my grocery store, I knew what was for dinner. Smoky, spice, and tender roasted chicken, chopped up and wrapped in tortillas.

    Now I could start with boneless, skinless chicken thighs - I do that all the time on weeknights - but that’s more of a grilled chicken taco. I want smoky, tender chicken in this taco, so I start with bone-in thighs, and slow roast them on the grill. 5Allegedly, the bone doesn’t help - chicken will taste the same, bone-in or not - but that’s if it’s cooked to the exact temperature. I prefer bone-in for roasting, because the bone slows down cooking. This lets me cook it at a gentle temperature, and the chicken has more time to absorb the smoke. The first thing I do is pull the skin off of the thighs - it gets in the way of the spice rub and the smoke, and I don’t like the texture of chopped chicken skin in my taco meat.

    The thighs are sprinkled with spice rub, and grilled over indirect medium heat, with a couple of good-sized wood chunks. I let them slow roast in the grill for close to an hour - thighs are hard to overcook, and extra time just makes them more tender. In other words, this is the perfect recipe for a spring day, where you can sit on the deck with a tasty beverage and watch the smoke slowly rise from the grill. 6Or, in my case, a day where the wind sends smoke in my direction no matter where I move on the deck.

    Recipe: Grill Smoked Chicken Thigh Tacos

    Equipment

    • Grill (I love my Weber Performer kettle grill)

     

    Print
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    Grill Smoked Chicken Thigh Tacos


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    • Author: Mike Vrobel
    • Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
    • Yield: 6-8 1x
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    Description

    Grill Smoked Chicken Thigh Tacos recipe. Bone-in chicken thighs with a spice rub and some smoke - my favorite way to make chicken tacos.


    Ingredients

    Scale
    • 2 fist sized chunks of smoking wood or 2 cups soaked wood chips (I used pecan wood chips, but any smoking wood will do)
    • 8 bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed (about 3 pounds)
    • 1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal Kosher salt (or 2 teaspoons fine sea salt)
    • 1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
    • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
    • 1 teaspoon dried oregano (preferably Mexican oregano)
    • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • ⅛ teaspoon (a pinch) ground cloves

    Accompaniments

    • Tortillas
    • Salsa
    • Diced onion
    • Shredded cabbage
    • Shredded cheese
    • Thin-sliced jalapeños
    • Cilantro leaves

    Instructions

    1. Rub the chicken thighs: Sprinkle a heavy coat of the rub over the chicken thighs. Gently pat the rub to help it stick, and work it into any natural seams in the meat.
    2. Set the grill up for indirect medium heat: Set your grill up for indirect medium heat, 350°F, with a drip pan in the middle of the grill and the fire on the sides. In my kettle grill, I light a chimney starter ¾ full of coals; when the coals are lit and covered with gray ash, I pour them in two piles on the sides of the grill, with the drip pan in the middle. (If your grill comes with charcoal baskets, use them - they help keep the charcoal piles together.) Then I put on my grill grate and brush it clean.
    3. Grill the chicken thighs: Add the smoking wood to the coals, put the chicken thighs on the grill over indirect heat (that is, on the grate over the drip pan). Cook the chicken with the lid closed as much as possible until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of at least 185°F, about 50 minutes. Remove the chicken to a platter.
    4. Rest, chop, and serve: Let the chicken rest until it is cool enough to handle, about 5 minutes. Chop the chicken by carefully cutting the bone out of the middle of each thigh, making sure to get the gristle at both knobs of the bone, then slicing the meat lengthwise into strips, then chopping across the strips to rough dice the chicken. (This doesn’t have to be precise - just aim for small, bite sized pieces.) Pour any juices left in the platter over the chopped chicken, then pass the chicken at the table with the accompaniments and let everyone make their own tacos.
    • Prep Time: 30 minutes
    • Cook Time: 1 hour
    • Category: Grilling
    • Cuisine: Mexican

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    Grill Smoked Chicken Thigh Tacos - DadCooksDinner.com
    Just a pinch of ground cloves

     

    Grill Smoked Chicken Thigh Tacos - DadCooksDinner.com
    Sprinkled with spices

     

    Grill Smoked Chicken Thigh Tacos - DadCooksDinner.com
    Chicken thighs over indirect medium heat

     

    Grill Smoked Chicken Thigh Tacos - DadCooksDinner.com
    Accompaniments

     

    Grill Smoked Chicken Thigh Tacos - DadCooksDinner.com
    Chopping the chicken thighs

     

    Grill Smoked Chicken Thigh Tacos - DadCooksDinner.com
    Serve!

     

    Notes

    • The accompaniments are just suggestions - anything you like on tacos is fair game (Lettuce! Sour cream! Sliced radishes! Black olives! Hot sauce!)

    What do you think?

    Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

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    Comments

    1. Vicky says

      June 15, 2016 at 4:55 pm

      I just want to personally thank you for a wonderful recipe! My husband found your website when I was on bedrest with babies #5&6, twins! He fixes this often for us and its an entire family pleaser.

      Reply
    2. Brian Thomas says

      May 14, 2016 at 12:30 pm

      Hey Mike,

      I do my chicken thighs a little different. I cook mine low and slow in the smoker. Takes a little longer (about 2 hrs cook time) but it's worth it. As for smoker temp I shoot for anywhere in the 225-275 degree range. A lot of folks insist that you have to get 225 for low & slow but I don't. If it settles in at 250, that's fine.

      I aim for 185 cooking temp also. Nice thing about pulled chicken thighs is that it freezes extremely well. Just vacume seal it, put it in the freezer and it will keep for months. Great to have available after weeknight little league and soccer games.

      Reply

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    Welcome to Dad Cooks Dinner!

    I'm Mike Vrobel, a dad who cooks dinner every night. I'm an enthusiastic home cook, and I write about pressure cooking, rotisserie grilling, and other food topics that grab my attention.

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