Chicken Breasts. Help?!

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shrimp nasty

Newbie
Original poster
Jun 27, 2013
26
10
Southern Alabama
I'm looking at trying to smoke some boneless, skinless, chicken breasts. If anyone has any advice on temps, times, marinades/rubs etc you'd want to toss my way it'd be appreciated. I'm brand new to this game so don't hold back on dumbing it down :-).
 
I'm also a newbie at this smoking thing, but I just smoked some boneless skinless breasts that turned out great. I marinated them for an hour. A brine would work too and may increase the juiciness of them and make it a little more forgiving if you overcook. I smoked them right around 225–250* for almost 2 hours, the time is just a guideline, keep an eye on the internal temperature and pull them off about 165*. The thick parts were very moist, but the thin part was dry. I'd suggest folding the tips under to add more bulk and try to keep them a little moister.
 
I'm not being a wise guy when I say this: I never buy skinless boneless CB .... I buy the split chicken breast when it's on sale. Bone in skin on. I brine them ahead of time. I peel the skin back and apply rub underneath. Put the skin back.
I cook them on the smoker. When they are done I let them rest for a bit. I take the skin right off.
I take a boning knife and pop that breast right off the bone (so easy when they're hot)
Now I have boneless skinless chicken breasts that are juicy and flavorful and the skin/bone haters in my group are happy. This works. Believe me.
 
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Thanks for the input guys, we'll see how it goes. Worst case scenario, there's a dominoes right down the street. On a somewhat unrelated note, is there a general rule of thumb for continuous adding of wood chips? I'm using an electric smoker if that changes anything.
 
In my experience.  Boneless breasts come out the best on the grill for me ( so that is where I do them mostly now ).... and Split Breasts always come out excellent for me in the smoker.   I think it has alot to do with the skin which helps to retain a bit of the moisture 

I've done boneless several times in the smoker but they just never come out like the split breasts do.  
 
Boneless Breast done sloowww are great, basted, marinated in Italian Dressing (or something else)  or Brined ; either way they turn out great. Yes. bone-in is better, but ...

If you don't want a lot of color  ,  wrap in Bacon and go high heat to 165*F IT.
 
I like to do boneless breast as a cordon bleu. Butterfly them then pound them out thin, put a piece of ham and some swiss on them and roll them up then wrap in bacon. Smoke them hot until about 165* and the bacon is crispy. They come out really good!
 
And of course you should never say never... Occasionally my wife will buy boneless breasts and as old school and dave pointed out , you can pound them out marinate them in Italian and grill them that way and they do come out well. It's easy to dry them out tho , so ya gotta pay attention.
And by the way you can melt a slice of pepper jack cheese on such a cutlet and make a dandy grilled chicken Sammy . Nice summertime eating.
 
Back in the olden days when some moron told me to eat right, I learned about using mayo to coat skinless chicken before grilling or bakin, It works. It is the only thing that he said that worked but if you apply mayo to a piece of skinless chicken and then sprinkle panko crumb on it its total awesome sauce when baked. Chicken comes out juicy and moist and holds on to spices and crumbs.

I have never tried this smokin but if it works and I would think that it should I would imagine you'd be pleasantly surprized with the results.

But again, I have not personally tryed it in a smoker, but it worked on the pit and in the oven.

Just throwing it out there incase you'd like to try it and let me know for sure.

Just another possible opinion.

Good luck and happy smoking!

Boy I hate to say this, you know that a very well know BBQ wizard claims he invented the cup cake chicken thigh. It might work for small breasts? So many jokes right here and I am going to just leave it. That is it, put the keyboard down, just walk away...............
 
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