Smoked Chicken Thighs

Yum

Smoking chicken thighs is a messy and tiring process, but when you get it right, there are few things that beats the flavor of succulent and moist chicken with a little heat and a lotta sweet. I prefer to remove the bones - you can enjoy the entire thigh that way - but you can skip that step if you want to save yourself some time.
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The first thing you have to do is to trim the chicken - you want uniform looking pieces with about the same size. They will cook more evenly and will also look better when you serve. Start with cutting the skin off each thigh. Be careful not to tear the skin.
​After you cut off the skin, cut the thighs in uniform pieces, turn the thigh over and then cut away muscle  along the back of the thigh bone. This is where you can decide if you want to remove the thigh bone or not.

I like to either brine or inject my thighs. You can either use a very simple brine with water, salt and sugar or you can mix your own and try to get some flavor into the chicken thighs. When I inject I use chicken broth and Butcher BBQ Bird Booster and when I make a brine, I normally use water, salt, sugar and some of the Bird Booster. Let the chicken thighs rest in the brine for a couple of hours while you trim the skin.​

Scrape excess fat off the skin. I usually put the skin in the fridge or freezer for a while to make the fat more solid. Then I use a boning knife to cut the fat off first. After I gotten the thick layer of fat removed, I scrape off the rest with my chefs knife. Be careful so you don't tear the skin. You want the skin to be translucent. You want the skin to slightly smaller than the thigh but it should wrap around the skin fully covering the front and most of the back. Season the chicken slightly with your base rub. I like something with a little bit of heat under the skin and for the back of the thigh.

It is now time to reattach the skin to the thigh. I prefer to use meat glue because it will create a stronger bond with the thigh and the skin. Sprinkle about a teaspoon of meat glue inside the piece of skin and sprinkle some on the thigh as well. You don't have to worry about the thigh taking on a weird flavor. Meat glue is flavorless when you cook with it. Wrap the skin around the thigh and the wrap in plastic wrap to make sure that the glue binds effectively. Put in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
​Put your second rub on top of the skin - I prefer a cherry rub since it will give the thigh a very nice color.

Make sure that the smoker has reach about 250 degrees Fahrenheit. For chicken thighs I use apple or cherry wood chunks for smoke. Make sure that the dirty smoke has worn off and that your smoker has a clean, thin, blue smoke coming out of the chimney. Place the chicken thighs in a pan on top of slices of butter, I use about two tablespoons of butter per thigh. Smoke until you get the thighs up to 160 degrees. Baste frequently with butter. While the thighs are smoking, mix your glaze. I use one third of BBQ sauce, one third of Agave honey and one third apple juice. Sometimes I put in a couple of other things to add flavor - like a fruit jelly or seedless marmalade. When the thighs reaches  160 degree - dip them in the glaze and return to the smoker. Smoke until they reach 165 and the glaze gets a little bit caramelized. Take them off the smoker and then let them sit under some foil and rest. Let them rest for about 10 minutes. 

After the thighs are done resting - you should have some extremely moist chicken thighs with a wonderful bite-thru skin. A little smoke, a little heat and a lotta sweet - just like a chicken thigh should taste!!