need your knowledge on boneless skinless chicken breasts!

[kgo-mb30]

hey everyone I have been using my smoker a lot since I joined this forum and have made a little bit of everything since I have started. I also help out a lot with missions fund raising at my church and when my church decided to do a dinner to raise money in youth I figured I would volunteer my skills with a smoker. Well no-one else at the church uses a smoker so it turned into me smoking about 100 boneless skinless chicken breasts for the event on multiple smokers the are owned by myself and others in the church (who again don't use their smokers but figured I could use theres to make it easier to smoke so much). I have done smoked boneless skinless chicken breast a few times but I haven't actually taken the time to get on hear and ask you guys for suggestions and mine seem to be missing something. What temperatures do you run your smoker at for this? how long do you brine? do you use water in your water pan? any and all information would be hugely appreciated as we may do this again in the future and with this many people buying tickets for the event I really want to make sure that this ends up being some amazing chicken! if you could give step by step on how you do it I would be even more ecstatic because it will allow me to try many different ways on test runs before the day of the event! Thanks in advance all of you gurus of the smoker!

 

[kgo-mb30]

In the past I've smoked chicken pieces right out of the pack no brine at 225 degrees no water pan and spritzing with a mixture of veg oil, water, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and a pinch of sugar and garlic salt over lump charcoal and Applewood. Every 30 to 45 minutes flip and spritz until the pieces reach temp.

Please make you follow safe food handling practices. Keep the chicken cold (38 to 40 degrees) until it hits the preheated smoker. Keep surfaces and utensils clean. Watch out for potential cross contamination and food isn't done after a certain amount of time. Food is only done when it reaches target temperature.

Also not knowing what condition the other smokers are in you may want to assemble them pre-smoke to inspect and clean if needed. Also during warm up (day of the cook) its not a bad ideal to heat them to 275 or 300 or more degrees for a few minutes to help sanitize them before backing temp back down to smoking temps.

Cooking for a gaggle of folks is a lot of fun. Especially when you see the smiles on their faces enjoying what you've prepared for them. Don't stress just enjoy.

Thank you for replying quickly! I have worked in food preparation and done large events before so I know the process for sanitizing and things along those lines. I am going to also be running a test run on each smoker I use before the day of the event to make sure I have an idea of how they hold temp. And I use digital smoker thermometers with meat probes and ambient temp probes to make sure everything is done correctly. I am very appreciative of the information you have provided. I am actually running a test run today on 24 chicken breast. I am bringing them for 2 hours in my competition recipes brine and then going to make up some of my chicken rub to rub them after washing them and giving them a light coat of olive oil. I will then be keeping them in the fridge on baking sheets until I can get my smoker between 250 and 300 (I’ve got a buddy who does a lot of smoking and he recommended trying these temps on a test run because if they come out good and juicy with brining it will allow me to cook so much food a little faster). Once my smoker is up to temp I plan to use Apple juice and water in my water pan to keep some moisture on the birds while I am smoking them at the higher temp and will be using 2 parts Apple wood to 1 part pecan for my smoke. I will get my thin blue smoke and make sure my temp is dialed in before putting the chicken on and then I will let it go and monitor temps and smoke until I start getting close to finished temps for the largest breast in the smoker. (I always stack mine largest on top racks and smallest toward the bottom for more even cooking) I’m giving myself 3-4 hours of cook time to be on the safe side but I’m expecting about a 2 your cook. Each breast will be checked with my instant read before eating. Is there anything that I’m missing?

 

[Eric Hammer]

Sounds like I'd do the same..Brine, rub, and smoke. since your doing skinless breasts I'd cook them rather fast at 300. And sauce the last 15 min. When I brine pieces, I do 4 hrs. 6 or more for whole birds.

 

[SlickRockStones]

I subscribe to the Matthew 14:13-21 account of Jesus feeding 5000 with five loaves and two fish and get my most tasty BSCB by filleting the breasts in half. May Not be as good for low and slow smoke but better hot fast smoke-grilling. Being thinner they take brine or marinade good and portion control is a plus especially for your young deciples.