Typo's Brined Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast Smoke

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

typojoe

Newbie
Original poster
Mar 29, 2015
23
11
S. Carolina Coast
I picked up a couple boneless skinless chicken breasts the other day. I know, not the best thing to smoke. I didn't do any research before hand or I would have bought something else. However, I figured I'd go for it anyway.  My research (after purchase) lead me to realize I needed to brine the breasts... lol to be honest, I didn't know what that was... So I did some more research. lol.  End the end this is what I ended up doing:

Meat: Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (fresh, not frozen)

Brine: Slaughterhouse Poultry Brine (thank you)

Rub: Stubbs Chicken Spice Rub

Sauce: Homemade Peach BBQ Sauce

Wood: Apple (leftovers from last weekends cook)

I brined the breasts for approximately 1 hour... actually a little longer.  Covered them in a thin coat of evoo and applied the rub.  I smoked them at 225-250 until I got an IT of 167.  Couple extra for good measure... I'm paranoid and a newb cook.  The entire smoke (meat on smoker) lasted 2 hours and 45 mins.  From my research, that was on the long end of things, but I did read of others taking as long.

The peach bbq sauce was a recipe I found on another website (not smoker centered).  It wasn't bad, but I'll use another recipe in the future or tweak this one.  This one ended up being way to peachy (sweet) and didn't have any kick.  The recipe didn't specify how much peach preserve to add and I guess I went over board.  Live and learn.

The end product was very good. Which is what matter I guess.  However, next time, assuming I use the same rub, I'll use a lot less.  The flavor was very strong and almost made it uneatable.  The sweet sauce did help bring it down a little, so I guess I lucked out on that front.

I under estimated the cook time, so the other parts of the meal were out of time.  I had also prepared some good ole mac n cheese and I tried to make some homemade baked french fries.  Notice the word tried? Yeah I burnt them... I did say I was a newb cook.  The fries would have been tasty, if I wouldn't have burned them.  I used a spice recipe (again from a non-smoker centered website) mixed with some evoo.  I almost took a bit of them in raw form... in hind sight, they would have probably been better that way then how they came out of the oven.

Okay... picture time:

Blending the brine

-Way, way, way too much brine.  Lesson learned.


Prepared breasts


Peach BBQ Sauce brewing

-Again, more than I needed, but at least it wasn't over as much as the brine.


Rubbed breasts, ready for smoker


The failed fries (pre-burning)


Finished breasts off smoker

-I didn't glaze with sauce during the cook. Once the lid was closed, it didn't open until it was done.


Close up of finished breast

-Sorry for the bad lighting, the flash killed the difference in the color of the meat.  I was worried about the 'pink' ring around the outside of the breast.  I told an ex-restaurant cook that I smoke some chicken breasts and without me showing him a picture or mentioning it, he said something about the 'pink' meat. I laughed and told him I was going to ask him about it cause it made me nervous eating it. He told me that was normal.  Is his advice correct?  Is this the smoke ring that people speak of?


Tonights leftovers

-The flavoring in the meat when served like this wasn't as over powering as it was the night before.  There's a layer of cheddar cheese under that meat, a touch of the peach bbq sauce on the bun top and the bun was buttered and toasted.


Thanks for looking.
 
Last edited:
Practice makes perfect keep notes adjust accordingly and you'll get there!:welcome1:
 
Not bad typo! We're these done on the new barrel? I've done boneless before and a bribe is a must, but I prefer to leave the boneless to the grill from now on. Next time go for something bone in and skin on like thighs. They are a much more flavorful meat.
 
  • Like
Reactions: typojoe
Not bad typo! We're these done on the new barrel? I've done boneless before and a bribe is a must, but I prefer to leave the boneless to the grill from now on. Next time go for something bone in and skin on like thighs. They are a much more flavorful meat.
Typo , Nice . The advice on practice and the "Log Book' idea is great
icon14.gif
 Good go , B-one . This will speed your learning curve , soon you'll be a popular

neighbor.

My main question is , Murray , why do you need a bribe to do Breast
icon_question.gif
 
cool.gif
 

Have fun and . . .
 
When you are applying the rub you should keep in mind the cut of meat. A large cut like a butt has a small surface area compared to the overall size so you can apply more rub. Chicken breasts have a large surface area compared to the size so you need less rub to achieve the desired flavor.

Keep at it and I'm sure you will figure it out in no time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: typojoe
Yeah the pink is the smoke ring. Note how the meat at the center is white? If they were undercooked it would be the opposite, pink in the center and lighter toward the edges.
 
  • Like
Reactions: typojoe
Practice makes perfect keep notes adjust accordingly and you'll get there!
welcome1.gif
Very good advice... I've already started a log book, with pictures!
Not bad typo! We're these done on the new barrel? I've done boneless before and a bribe is a must, but I prefer to leave the boneless to the grill from now on. Next time go for something bone in and skin on like thighs. They are a much more flavorful meat.
Yes these were done on the new uds.  After doing them on the smoker, I'm done with that and they will hit the grill, possibly the oven next time.  It was a long wait for a couple breasts.
 
typo, got a recipe for that peach bbq sauce you mind sharing? I've got a can of peaches sitting my fridge waiting to be used for something!
I've been able to dig up quiet a few, and I plan to try them all or several of them at least.  Most that I have found use preserves, like this one. Others use fresh peaches, which I plan to try one day soon.  I haven't been able to find one that uses canned peaches in heavy syrup yet.  I'm sure there are better ways to eat a peach, but since I was a kid, I have always loved eating peaches from a can.  Of course it was because of the sweet syrup.  Regardless, I couldn't eat the peaches fast enough because I knew, once they were done, it was time to drink. Yum!

The one I used in this cook is as follows:

3/4 cup ketchup

1 tbsp vinegar

1 tbsp brown sugar

salt to taste

pepper to taste

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 dash worcestershire sauce

1-1/2 tsp butter

1 pinch garlic powder

1 drop tabasco sauce

peach preserves (I used a full 18oz jar, but wont next time.)

Directions: Combine over heat until the butter is melted.

I figure I'm going to play with a lot of peach based recipes and not just sauce recipes.  Eventually, I want to pull off a full cook using the perfect balance of sweet peaches and some spicy heat.  Ideally I want to use peach(s) everywhere from the wood to the finishing sauce and everywhere between.  This particular recipe I picked up on yummly.com, but I can't seem to find it again to give the actual source.  There are a lot of peachy bbq sauce recipes on there, if your interested.
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky