Chicken skin.......why won’t it get crispy??

[Iutbapdg]

Hi Everyone! I was hopeful some of you could help. For some reason I can’t seem to get chicken skin to come out crispy on my pellet smoker. yesterday I did a spatchcock chicken on my Rec Tec bull at 350 degrees. Coated the bird in olive oil and rubbed down both sides. Put probe in thickest part of the breast and cooked it to an internal temp of 165. It was simply fantastic, flavorful, juicy, etc but the skin was still a bit on the rubbery side. Any tips y’all can share? I had the same result with chicken thighs and drums too.

 

[stokensmoke]

Best trick I know of is to put the chicken on a cooling rack in the fridge overnight to let the skin dry. I usually salt mine while its drying for a "dry" brine. Works awesome for me.

 

[Iutbapdg]

Best trick I know of is to put the chicken on a cooling rack in the fridge overnight to let the skin dry. I usually salt mine while its drying for a "dry" brine. Works awesome for me.

Thanks. I appreciate the reply!

 

[Teal101]

Drying the skin out really helps. You can also use some baking powder to help, but dont use too much! The last bird I did I spatchcocked and added some powder to the skin. The skin was shoe leather by the time it came off. I've had good luck with my skins on my Traeger by running 225* until I'm 140ish then cranking it to 400* or so and letting that crisp the skin at the end of the cook till my INT is 165-175*.

 

[Iutbapdg]

Drying the skin out really helps. You can also use some baking powder to help, but dont use too much! The last bird I did I spatchcocked and added some powder to the skin. The skin was shoe leather by the time it came off. I've had good luck with my skins on my Traeger by running 225* until I'm 140ish then cranking it to 400* or so and letting that crisp the skin at the end of the cook till my INT is 165-175*.

Awesome thanks

 

[schlotz]

I do agree on letting the skin dry in the fridge for 4 hours or so. It does make a difference. Having never been totally satisfied with the skin results via my smoker I've gone a different direction which consistently gets the job done each and every time. I put a smoker tube in the gas grill (located in the indirect zone) and do the chicken there. Whole or spatchocked. Voilá, nicely smoked and great skin!

 

[Iutbapdg]

Thank you for the reply!