Need help with boneless and skinless thighs and breasts.........newbie

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aclinml

Newbie
Original poster
Mar 28, 2015
22
10
Hi all . Brand new MES owner coming from a charcoal grill.

I've always loved my slow grilled chicken that I cooked with my charcoal grill. On my first cook I cooked two filet steaks, a few 1/3 lb. burgers along with the thighs and breasts. Every thing cooked at 235 degrees. I was a little surprised that the steaks and thighs were done in less than one hour, the breasts took almost 2 hours, and the probe never got over 161 on the breast. I think I had the door opened several times for all the other food, so it seemed to slow down the cooking for the breasts.

The steaks and burgers turned out GREAT. But the thighs were not quite as moist as they are on my grill. And the breasts were super dry.

I've had no problem with these when I use to grill them OFF the coals. I did use a water bowl. I have never used a brine.

It seems some people think that cooking chicken should not be low and slow.

Anyway, the wife and I really love the boneless/skinless chicken. What's your best advice on how to cook these in a smoker?

Thanks, guys!
Mike
 
Welcome and congrats on the new MES! In my experience, boneless chicken pieces do dry out. I'd save the boneless for the grill. If you didn't brine the chicken, I'd suggest looking into it for a little added moisture.
- Ryan
 
As RMMurray suggested, brining is the way to go.  I just smoked a couple boneless skinless breasts yesterday... actually just finished posting the details of it, if you want to check it out.  I used the slaughterhouse brine that I read several members using.  The recipe I found was for way more than I needed, but it seemed to do the trick.

Both breast came out great.  I wouldn't say they were dripping wet (as I've seen before), but they were by no means dry.  I smoked mine on an diy ugly drum smoker, also documented here in this awesome forum.

Next time, look for a brine recipe and you should be pleased.

edited: grammar... yes it was worse.
 
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