Chicken breast

[Puckdodger]

Good info here thanks everyone. I have the same experience, great flavor and nice looking chicken and turkey, but you could patch a hole in the roof with the skin. I'll keep at it, and see how it turns out. I'll suggest a good pounding to my wife and report back

 

[Dassman5]

I was thinking along the same lines but trying a slow cook @ 225 over a water pan on the SF until 120, spritzing along the way, and then using the Summit at 600+ (in this colder weather) to get some decent lines. Good to know I am perhaps on the right track. Thanks!

That is exactly how I cook my chicken breasts... smoke @ 200-225F on my ex4 on the upper grate with a water pan below and then quick finish on my summit s-670.

I do not brine, however, as I prefer to place them on the ex4 skin-on to help retain moisture and spritz with a watered-down sauce of my liking. Then on the summit with either skin left on to crisp it or skin removed.

 

[BrockinFla]

I wont cook a chicken or a turkey below 350 degrees no matter what. I love smoke flavor as much as the next person, but low and slow for poultry is like eating damn volcanized rubber.

 

[MojoBones]

That is exactly how I cook my chicken breasts... smoke @ 200-225F on my ex4 on the upper grate with a water pan below and then quick finish on my summit s-670.

I do not brine, however, as I prefer to place them on the ex4 skin-on to help retain moisture and spritz with a watered-down sauce of my liking. Then on the summit with either skin left on to crisp it or skin removed.

This is why I love this forum: A bunch of good information, a little validation, great feedback / suggestions, and a lot of encouragement from many sources. Being conditioned to buy boneless skinless chicken as it is the more "convenient or healthy" option, I don't think I would have thought to just buy it skin on as a part, and remove the skin part way through the process. Serious tunnel vision on my part.

I'm still compelled to try a couple of different techniques to see if I can smoke a boneless skinless breast with good smoke flavor without the exterior resembling a hockey puck but it is good to know there is a simple alternative that only requires me to change my purchasing habits. Cheers all!

 

[Dassman5]

I wont cook a chicken or a turkey below 350 degrees no matter what. I love smoke flavor as much as the next person, but low and slow for poultry is like eating damn volcanized rubber.

Different strokes for different smokes. I respect your preference as it really comes down to what you like.

For me, smoking a skin-on breast for 30-45 minutes or so to impart the smoke flavor while basting/spritzing, and then crisp and finish with or without skin, on a gas grill has always worked for me. Not unlike pre-baking in an oven and then grill finishing for large crowds at our family parties and reunions (2020 being the exception)

 

[bbqking]

Good info here thanks everyone. I have the same experience, great flavor and nice looking chicken and turkey, but you could patch a hole in the roof with the skin. I'll keep at it, and see how it turns out. I'll suggest a good pounding to my wife and report back

Um...??

 

[JpsBBQ]

Boneless skinless chicken breasts have a kind of silver skin on them which makes them inherently tough or chewy. I haven't personally tried this, but a jacquard might break down the membrane enough to make a difference. Just a flier.

 

[Old Man Grills]

I’ll second brine and then I cook mine slow until they’re short of temp and then sear if we want colour but we actually prefer smoked to grilled

 

[Bruno]

I'll suggest a good pounding to my wife and report back

I always suggest a good pounding to my wife’

 

[Hood33]

I always suggest a good pounding to my wife’

Well, this is the first post I see on this forum after assembling my new EX4 yesterday. Looks like I am in the right place....

 

[Amyga]

I’ll echo other people about brining and not low and slow.

I do a DRY brine for at least one hour in the fridge and up to 24h. I did that 2 years ago on a oven roasted turkey and never went back to wet brine. Works on chicken in SF too.

You can do low for a short time, if you want a lot of smoke flavor. I’ve used smokeboost only once on chicken, for 15 minutes on drumsticks, and it worked quite well.

Otherwise, I do 350F until meat is at 135-145F, and the ramp to 450F until cooked.

Skinless and fat-trimmed pieces don’t need a tray under, so I prefer not to use one.
With skin and fat on I do use a dry tray as I am not into reducing stuff into sauce, but I am into cutting potato slices and having steaming hot fat falls on them. Picked that from a food truck in the Bay Area.

I used to do add water in my tray in the kettle, but I feel there’s just way more air flow in the SF, so I started spritzing water, beer, or juice, during low and slow for red meat, or fish. I haven’t tried with chicken but that could work. Maybe next time I do a whole or parched chicken.

 

[Hood33]

Just for the experience, I followed the program in the Weber Connect app- 500 degrees, 8-12 mins, flip once. Killer Hogs AP and The BBQ Rub, Sweet Baby Rays sauce. I'm not one for hyperbole, but this was some darn fine chicken.

 

[Mr. X]

When I do boneless skinless chicken breasts on the smoke fire I typically set it for 250 to 300. I think the most important thing is not to overcook it. I use one of my MEATER probes and set that to 170 Degrees. white meat chicken cooked over 180 is terrible

any chicken marinade on google will do but it comes out perfect every time using the MEATER probe. I find the ones that come with the smoke fire are better for longer cooks and not as sensitive as these probes

 

[Bluesmoke]

That chicken looks amazing and moist.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[JpsBBQ]

I gotta say the chicken breasts in this thread look delicious. My only issue is it would be defeating my purpose for eating chicken breast in the first place once I slathered some delicious sauce on them.