Award Winning Smoked Chicken Thighs

Step 1

Brine your chicken in ingredients listed above for at least 30 minutes or up to several hours.

Step 2

Rinse with cool water and place on tray, skin side down. Dust the underside with your chicken rub. Let sit like that while you go get your smoker/grill ready for indirect cooking.

Step 3

Take your chicken thighs and roll them so the skin is wrapped completely around, and as little of the meat is exposed as possible. Use a toothpick to hold in place. Sprinkle more rub all over.

Step 4

Place the thighs as far away from your heat source as possible. At 225, they will smoke for 2 hours.

Step 5

While they are smoking, get a small pot and warm up your favorite bbq sauce. If it’s thick sauce you will want to thin it out with Coke.

Step 6

After 2 hours of smoke, bring your pot of thinned hot bbq sauce outside and a trusty pair of tongs that will NOT pierce the meat. Dunk the thighs in the pot of sauce and put back on the grill. If you want, sprinkle the thighs with some brown sugar.

Step 7

After about 10-15 minutes the sauce should be caramelized and your thighs are ready. You want an internal temperature of at least 165F but 175-180F is preferred.

Step 8

Let them rest for just a couple of minutes and dig in.