Smoking is SO easy to do, and the results are just plain mouthwatering! My Spicy Tender Smoked Chicken is the perfect recipe to get you started, and one that will become your stand-by, go-to! Tender, juicy, succulent chicken, wonderfully spiced with a little kick of heat! What are you waiting for? Let’s get smoking!

I had the unexpected, and surprise pleasure, of being sent some dinner-saving products from Grill Eye recently, and WOW what a difference it made in my newest adventure of smoking!

My hubby and I are really starting to delve into smoking, and after he and I spent hours researching, he hooked us up with the Grill Eye company who wanted to make our grilling experience a WHOLE lot better! They generously sent us their products to try, and I cannot thank them enough!!

We were quite surprised at how off our electric smoker was, as well as the temp probe that came with it.

THIS time, it was spot on. We used several thermometers, and this was the most accurate! The results of our labor were CHAMPIONSHIP worthy, and if I can do this, you certainly can, too!

So, let’s get SMOKIN’!

I started off with a young chicken, which is tender, and prepped it for seasoning. (I took out the bag of “innards” inside, and rinsed the cavity first.)

I then placed it BACK side up (*make sure it’s not the breast side), and cut out the backbone. I turned it back over and pressed the bird right in the middle until I heard the crack, which will keep it level and flat, then flipped it back over and placed it onto one of our smoker’s racks.

I seasoned it well on the underside, then turned it back over so that it was skin side up.

I didn’t bend and tuck the wings underneath, but you can if you want to. I simply made sure that the very ends of the wings were tucked between the breast, and leg & thigh meat, to keep the tips from burning and getting overdone.

This worked extremely well.

Then, just season the other side.

You can coat the bird with whatever seasonings float your boat, but the combination that I used dropped our jaws this time! (*See in my recipe below!!)

*NOTE! Due to the crazy weather we’ve been having, I let my seasoned chicken chill out in the fridge overnight, uncovered, just as it was, and MAN. I will do this from now on!!

Then insert the thermometer that tells you what the internal temperature of what you’re cooking is, in this case chicken, into the thickest part to let you know when it has reached the temperature that you set it for.

SO easy!! (*And do those spices and herbs not look to DIE for or what??!!!)

The second thermometer is for letting you know what the temperature of the inside of the smoker is.

*EXTREMELY* important.

I mean, would you put a cake in the oven that’s supposed to bake at 350º and only 200º inside?

NOPE.

So clip the second thermometer to the grate, and let your smoker heat up to the temperature that you want.

We set our electric smoker to be heated to 275º. Our smoker said it was at the proper temperature, and even after waiting longer, to make sure it fully heated, and was smoking,…

….it really wasn’t. It was almost a FULL 30º off. (So that’s like baking a cake at 320º instead of 350º.) By the time the oven would heat up, your cake would be ruined.

So. Temps DO MATTER!

I had my hubby set our MEAT probe to just a few degrees less than what I wanted, to allow me time to hear it go off, then watch it closely at the end.

It’s amazing how FAST those last degrees can suddenly be, and I wanted an internal temp of 165º.

I set it less, then watched the temps. This worked out perfectly for me because I knew I would be busy prepping final items!

But you can set it for the exact temp that you want. Just make sure you don’t walk away when it’s almost done!

When your chicken is done, remove the rack from your smoker and place it onto a clean baking sheet.

Baste nicely with garlic herb butter, tent the whole top and sides, loosely, with foil, and let it rest at least 10 – 15 minutes to let those wonderful juices inside settle down so that they don’t go running out when you slice it!

Once rested,….prepare yourself for greatness…..

….because this is one JAW-DROPPING chicken!!!!!!

OH. MY. GAWD……

….it was SO tender, SO juicy, and the skin could not have been more perfect!! Not rubbery, and not so crispy that it could break your teeth and feel like dried out leather.

It was pure heaven!

*You can spice up and herb the outside of your chicken any way that you would like, after all, you’re the one that’s going to be enjoying it! But this combo was perfection!

Just go fairly heavy on the basics, and less on ingredients such as onion powder and any *heat. *Unless you want it to be extra-spicy hot! (Just might make for some killer Mexican or Texas-Style recipes!!)

So if you’re getting your feet wet in smoking, and even of you’re a well-seasoned smoker, I think you’ll love the flavoring that I added, and find these smoking/grilling probes very helpful!

Don’t be afraid to to try smoking! *It’s actually EASIER than grilling, (*think “slow-cooking”!!), and the results are PHENOMENAL!!!

*Be sure to see what I did with some of the leftover meat the next day!! This sandwich kicked butt!!! (*Recipe coming soon!)

*Thank you to Grill Eye and my hubby for sending me your products! You all made my smoking chicken day ROCK!!!

(Though I was sent product to try, this isn’t a sponsored post, and any and all opinions of Grill Eye’s products are solely my own, honest opinions.)

4 - 6 servings

Spicy Tender Smoked Chicken

Ingredients

1 (6 - 6 1/2 lb.) whole young chicken, innards removed, cavity rinsed

Seasonings:

Goya Adobo All-Purpose Seasoning (fairly heavy sprinkle)
course ground [i]and[/i] regular grind black pepper (medium sprinkle)
garlic powder (heavy sprinkle)
onion powder (light sprinkle)
chipotle powder (light to medium sprinkle for heat)

Baste (Afterwards):

2 - 3 Tbl. Minerva Dairy Garlic Herb Butter, melted

Instructions

Remove chicken from packaging. Remove "innards". Rinse cavity with cold water, drain. Turn chicken to back side up, and with kitchen scissors, cut along each side of backbone, removing the whole backbone. Turn over, lay flat, and press hard right in center on breast bone. You'll hear it crack. (This helps the chicken to lay flat.)

Turn chicken over and place onto the rack that goes with your smoker. Season nicely with the spices and herbs listed above. Turn chicken over to breast and skin side up. (Tuck wings under if desired.) Season top well. Insert meat thermometer into thickest part of breast meat. Clip smoker thermometer onto rack. Set meat thermometer to 165º and cooker/smoker temp to 275º per Grill Eye's directions.

When smoker is fully heated to 275º, place chicken inside smoker, and smoke until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 165º.

Remove chicken from smoker, baste nicely with melted butter, tent with foil, and let rest at least 10 - 15 minutes. (*This will let the juices calm down and the meat temperature rise to a fully-cooked 170º.)

Carve, serve and enjoy!

Notes

*We used Apple wood chips in our smoker.
**Make sure to follow your smoker's directions for proper cooking and smoking. (Ours requires water added in a separate bin.)
***It takes anywhere from 2 - 4 hours to cook a butterflied chicken in a smoker, depending on what kind of smoker you're using and the size of your chicken. Smaller chickens will take less time.