Competition Style Chicken Thighs
Chicken thighs make a great summer dinner that everyone will enjoy.
Their dark juicy meat is always a fan favourite.
For this cook we're changing things up a bit and bringing a cook that's been done on the Competition Circuit. It's simple, easy and always turns out great.
Today we're using our Yoder YS1500 pellet grill with Apple Pellets.
We've included some links for the products for ease of reference.
BONE IN SKIN ON CHICKEN THIGHS | 3 HOUR COOK | APPLE PELLETS
******INGREDIENTS******
INJECTION
Meat Church T-Birds Chicken Injection
RUBS
Meat Church Holy Voodoo & Meat Church Deez Nuts
SAUCE
Lane's BBQ Kinda Sweet Sauce & Lane's BBQ Itsa Vinegar Sauce
PELLETS
******PREPARATION******
MORNING OF THE COOK
The morning of the cook is a great time to prepare the chicken thighs.
We have to trim, season, inject and rest for about 3 hours prior so leave enough time.
First we are going to trim the thighs. This is pretty easy. When trimming you're going to square them up and trim off any excess skin hanging over the thigh. Then you trim the underside. Look for a vein and remove and any hard cartilage must be removed. Typically found by the knuckle on the underside.
Now that you have the thighs trimmed, place them in an aluminum foil deep pan and season the backside of the thighs. This is where we are using the Meat Church Holy Voodoo. Apply a medium coat and place in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
Now that they've rested in the refrigerator for 3 hours, it's time to inject and season.
If you don't have an injector, it's a good idea to purchase one. You can get them at any home store or on Amazon. The Oklahoma Joe's Trigger Injector is a good one as you don't have to fill them, you can pump out of your shaker bottle.
Hold the thighs in your hand and inject the underside into the meat on either side of the knuckle. You don't need much.
Now after they are injected turn them over and season with Meat Church Deez Nuts. Apply a medium coat.
Now that the thighs are seasoned, they need to stay out for an hour to set the rub.
This is a good time to get your smoker up to temperature. Today we're cooking at 300 degrees.
THE COOK
Place the pans with the chicken thighs on your smoker at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. This allows them to take on some smoke.
After 30 minutes apply a 1 inch cube of butter to the tops of every thigh. Cover with foil and continue to cook at 300 degrees for 1.5 hours.
After about an hour covered it's a good time to prepare your Sauce. Pour equal parts Lane's BBQ Kinda Sweet Sauce and Lane's BBQ Ista Vinegar Sauce into a foil pan and put on the smoker to warm up your sauce. You don't want to add cold sauce to the chicken, so you have 1/2 hour left and that's enough time to heat the sauce.
Now it's time to sauce the thighs. We're not going to brush the thighs. We are going to dunk each one of them into the sauce and put back on the smoker. It's a good idea to have some cooling racks on your smoker to put the sauced thighs on. This makes it easier to take off when done.
Your going to leave them on the smoker for 15 - 20 minutes so the sauce tightens up.
THE REST
Now that the sauce has tightened up, you're ready to pull the thighs and rest them. It's always a good idea to let them rest for 15 minutes or so. You've been cooking for 2 hours at 300 degrees so they need that time to rest.
THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
You know you can't wait any longer and your guests are just itching to get their hands on them.
Serve them up on a platter and pass it around.
Pair with Sweet Potato fries and fresh Asparagus.
Enjoy!