These turned out REALLY well. Much better than I anticipated. No pictures (they were leaving the plate as soon as I set it down for the next batch)
step 1...aquire chicken. I took the easy route this time and bought the off brand chicken tenders.
step 2 (as per Jeff's advice) anytime I think about smoking chicken I'll brine or marinate it. I marinated this in (again store bought) lemon pepper and a mesquite marinade and let them sit overnight in it.
Step 3 fill a ziplock bag (a sealable bowl would probably be better for this) with a 1 to 1 ratio of Jeff's rub and breadcrumbs (I used the italian ones for that little bit of extra flavor)
step 4 get chicken out of marinade and put into bag/bowl and shake until well coated (bag comes in handy here as I could press the rub in also)
step 5 let these get up closer to room temp (I figured it was ok since I was going to dunk them in hot oil anyway)
step 6 place in deep fryer. I have a small side by side fryer and had the fryer set @ 350 and would leave them in for about 4 minutes (maybe a little less depending on how much you want to smoke them)
step 7 since I forgot earlier...get the smoker ready lol I used my ECB for this and didn't worry much about tempurature as the fryer was doing all of the cooking. I ran it with a REALLY heavy smoke though.
step 7.1 after you pull the chicken out of the fryer put it in the smoker. I was running these for about 10 minutes in the smoker but was told I needed to do it longer. I was looking for just a hint of smoke flavor on the crust not much more. A few people thought it would better better if I had left it on there longer. May try that next time.
These were really juicy due to the marinading and had a nice crunch from the fryer.I made two 3 lb bags of these and didn't have any left overs so I must have done something right.
What I'll do next time though is put bigger batches in the smoker. I didn't want to overload my little fryer (it was the first time I used it) and was doing just 5 or 6 strips in each basket and when I had two baskets I'd put them in a wire dish (for lack of a better term) and throw them on the smoker. I was opening and closing the smoker ALOT. Next time bigger batches, maybe a bit longer so I don't have to run so heavy on the smoke.
step 1...aquire chicken. I took the easy route this time and bought the off brand chicken tenders.
step 2 (as per Jeff's advice) anytime I think about smoking chicken I'll brine or marinate it. I marinated this in (again store bought) lemon pepper and a mesquite marinade and let them sit overnight in it.
Step 3 fill a ziplock bag (a sealable bowl would probably be better for this) with a 1 to 1 ratio of Jeff's rub and breadcrumbs (I used the italian ones for that little bit of extra flavor)
step 4 get chicken out of marinade and put into bag/bowl and shake until well coated (bag comes in handy here as I could press the rub in also)
step 5 let these get up closer to room temp (I figured it was ok since I was going to dunk them in hot oil anyway)
step 6 place in deep fryer. I have a small side by side fryer and had the fryer set @ 350 and would leave them in for about 4 minutes (maybe a little less depending on how much you want to smoke them)
step 7 since I forgot earlier...get the smoker ready lol I used my ECB for this and didn't worry much about tempurature as the fryer was doing all of the cooking. I ran it with a REALLY heavy smoke though.
step 7.1 after you pull the chicken out of the fryer put it in the smoker. I was running these for about 10 minutes in the smoker but was told I needed to do it longer. I was looking for just a hint of smoke flavor on the crust not much more. A few people thought it would better better if I had left it on there longer. May try that next time.
These were really juicy due to the marinading and had a nice crunch from the fryer.I made two 3 lb bags of these and didn't have any left overs so I must have done something right.
What I'll do next time though is put bigger batches in the smoker. I didn't want to overload my little fryer (it was the first time I used it) and was doing just 5 or 6 strips in each basket and when I had two baskets I'd put them in a wire dish (for lack of a better term) and throw them on the smoker. I was opening and closing the smoker ALOT. Next time bigger batches, maybe a bit longer so I don't have to run so heavy on the smoke.
