Description
Grill Smoked Cut Up Chicken. Pieces of bone-in chicken, wet brined and grilled with a hit of smoke. Simple and amazing.
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 fist sized chunks of smoking wood or 2 cups soaked wood chips (I used a mix of hickory and apple, but any smoking wood will do)
- 2 (3- to 4-pound) cut up chickens
Brine
- 2 quarts water
- 1/4 cup table salt or 1/2 cup kosher salt (3 ounces)
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
Instructions
- Brine the chicken: Dissolve the water, salt, and brown sugar in a container large enough to hold the chicken. Submerge the chicken in the brine, then refrigerate for at least 1 hour, preferably 2 to 8 hours.
- 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 3/4 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 between the piles, in the middle of the grill grate. (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.
- Grill the chicken until it reaches 160°F: Drain the chicken pieces and pat dry with paper towels - wet chicken won’t brown. Add the smoking wood to the coals in the grill. Put the chicken pieces on the grill, skin up, 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 160°F in the thickest part of the chicken breasts, about 50 minutes. Remove the chicken to a platter.
- Rest and serve: Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes, then serve. (I like to cut the chicken breasts in half right before serving, because they’re too big for one person to eat as a serving…unless they’re really hungry.)
Notes
- For a charcoal grill, use wood chunks; If you’re cooking on a gas grill, use wood chips. The type doesn’t matter much, but I’d avoid mesquite if you can - it has a bad reputation. (It’s good for charcoal, but not as good as a smoking wood.)
- I don’t bother soaking my smoking wood - I’ve never noticed a difference. If you want to, go ahead, I won’t stop you.
Equipment
- Grill (I love my Weber Kettle)
- Drip Pan (The Weber Extra Large Drip Pans are designed to fit in a Weber Kettle, between the charcoal baskets)
- Thermometer (My ChefAlarm probe thermometer makes this recipe easy.)
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Category: Weeknight Dinner
- Method: Grilling
- Cuisine: American