Ditch the dry chicken when you learn how to smoke chicken breasts to tender and juicy perfection with this simple two-ingredient recipe. Slow smoked marinated chicken breasts take on more amazing flavor from hickory wood!
Learn How to Smoke Chicken Breasts to Juicy Perfection!
Do you want to learn how to smoke chicken breasts to tender and juicy perfection the easy way? If you said yes, then you’ve come to the right place. This simple, two-ingredient recipe delivers the most flavorful, tender, and juicy chicken you’ll ever try and it takes less than half of the time of smoking a whole chicken. The secret to smoking chicken, and any meat like ribs or tenderloin, is the oil that you use in the marinade. We always turn to olive or avocado oils because they deliver the best results. Of course the grill temperature and timing are important, but the true success of your meal depends on the marinade. Since we like to enjoy the hickory flavor in the meat, we go with simple marinades. For this recipe, we used Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Olive Oil Vinaigrette and it’s amazingly delicious!
Simply lay your washed chicken on a large piece of grill foil, drizzle the vinaigrette over one side, flip and drizzle the vinaigrette on the other side. Close the foil packet and place it in the refrigerator until you’re grill or smoker is ready.
If you have a grill with a smoker, heat coals directly in the smoker box, then add some hickory wood once the grill temperature has reached 250ºF, and let the smoking begin. Place the foil pack with the marinated chicken in your grill on the lower rack, shut the grill lid, and smoke for two to two and a half hours, until the internal temperature reaches 160ºF and the juices run clear. Maintain the heat by adding more hickory wood and coals periodically.
If you don’t have a smoker, you can get almost the same results on your charcoal grill. Following the grilling times above, use the indirect heat method for grilling and place wet hickory chunks in a foil pouch into the coals to produce the smoking effect.
Cooking the marinated chicken inside the foil pouch ensures perfectly moist and tender chicken every time. Serve this up with some grilled corn and potatoes for a satisfying meal that you’ll turn to again and again. Make a larger batch of the chicken so you can add chunks to your salads for lunch during the week!
- 4-5 large chicken breasts
- 1½ cup Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Olive Oil Vinaigrette or oil based marinade of choice
- Wash and pat dry the chicken breasts and lay them on a large piece of heavy duty aluminum foil.
- Drizzle half of the marinade over the tops, flip, drizzle the other side of the chicken.
- Close the foil pouch and place in the refrigerator.
- Heat your charcoal in a smoker box until the coals turn grey, about 20-30 minutes depending on the type of charcoal you use.
- Place hickory wood chunks in the smoker box with the heated charcoal to get a good rolling smoke.
- Place foil pack on bottom rack of your grill, close cover, and smoke for 2-2½ hours, until internal temperature is 160ºF and juices run clear.
- Maintain a grill temperature of approximately 250ºF throughout the smoking process.
We hope you love this simple step-by-step How to Smoke Chicken Breasts recipe as much as we do. If you enjoyed this delicious recipe, be sure to visit our Grilling Section for more like it. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter so that you never miss a single recipe. For daily recipe inspiration, like us on Facebook, follow us on Pinterest, and stop by our Google+ Community to see all of the amazing recipes our community members are sharing. Enjoy!
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