Traeger BBQ Smoked Chicken Breasts Recipes
Having a barbecue in your backyard is always one of the most satisfying things to do when you are free for the whole day.
Today we would be talking about how you can cook the best BBQ Smoked Chicken Recipes on a Traeger grill.
Traeger is one of the best brands that are known for producing high-quality and high-technology grills and smokers that bring versatility and ease to cooking.
The grills that they produce incorporate a technology that brings other grills to shame.
They can be controlled from afar via an app on your phone so you can have more time with your family.
So smoking chicken breasts will not be that much of an issue here.
In fact, we have a recipe for you to prove how easy it is to cook almost anything on a Traeger Grill.
Chicken breast is usually dubbed as one of the driest parts of a chicken.
That is because it contains mostly meat and no bones so it does not have much moisture in it.
But when you smoke chicken breasts, they can produce a juicy finish that you will surely like.
They also do not have as much bone to pick so you can enjoy a hassle-free meal.
One controversial debate about chicken breasts is that some people want them rare.
Meaning they leave a little bit of pink in the middle when they cook chicken.
To put that debate away, food agencies have approved that pink meat on the chicken is safe.
As long as the minimum internal temperature of the meat is at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
So if you want to cook your smoked chicken breasts with a little bit of pink in it, you need to keep track of the temperature in the meat so it can be safe.
Anyway, here is our Smoked Chicken Breast Recipe that you can follow to have the most delicious meal out of this amazing cut of meat.
Smoked Chicken Breasts on a Traeger Grill
– 4 large chicken breasts (boneless and skinless)
– 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
– 2 tablespoons of Kosher salt
– 2 tablespoons of garlic powder
– 2 tablespoons of onion powder
– 2 tablespoons of paprika
– 1 tablespoon of olive oil
– 1 teaspoon of celery seed
– 1 teaspoon of black pepper
– 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
Procedure
Step 1. Set Up The Traeger
This recipe will not take too much time to make.
So before you start with the ingredients, go for the Traeger Grill first and load the pellet hopper with the wood pellets of your choice.
Close the pellet hopper and then heat it up.
If your Traeger has the feature, turn the SuperSmoke on and leave the lid open for five minutes.
Leaving the lid of the grill open for a few minutes, in the beginning, will give more air for the pellets to heat up quicker.
Onc the Traeger Grill is producing smoke, or after five minutes, turn the heat up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and then close the lid for 15 minutes to warm the grill up.
Step 2. The Rub
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Make sure that they are mixed evenly so every flavor of every ingredient will get to all the parts of the chicken breast.
Step 3. The Chicken Breasts
Get the chicken breasts and then pat them dry with a paper towel.
Pat dry both sides of the chicken breast to make sure that you remove all the unnecessary moisture.
Drizzle the chicken breasts with olive oil on each side.
Using oil is great as it will not produce extra flavor when put under heat and it makes the rub stick better to the chicken breasts.
Step 4. Rub the Chicken Breasts
Once you have done that to all the chicken breasts, sprinkle the rub on both sides.
Be liberal and put as much rub as you can on the chicken breasts.
Put them on a tray and then cover them with plastic wraps.
Let them rest on the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes or you can go for more than that.
Remember, the longer that you let the chicken breasts rest with the rub, the more flavor they will get from all the spices in the rub.
Step 5. Smoke
Once the chicken breasts have rested and the Traeger Grill has reached the desired temperature, place the chicken on the grates of the grill.
We recommend that you use a Traeger Grill Pan so that the rub will not fall off of the chicken breasts.
Close the lid and let the chicken breasts smoke for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, turn the chicken over and then insert the meat probe in the largest breast.
Let it smoke for another 15 minutes with the lid down.
Make sure that the chicken breasts have reached at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit reading on the meat probe and you can go as high as 170 degrees.
Step 6. Serving
Lay a tin foil over a cutting board and then place the chicken breasts there.
Let them rest for at least 3 minutes before slicing them.
Put some greens like lettuce on a plate and sliced lemon.
You can squeeze the juice directly on the sliced chicken breast or leave it for the person who will eat it to do the rest.
Serve and enjoy!
Notes
1. You can add any ingredients that you like on the rub to get a more enhanced flavor or a more familiar one for that matter.
2. Smoking meat is one of the purest cooking styles.
So when you smoke a chicken breast, you can store it in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for a month.
Tips
Here are some interesting things that you can do to make your smoked chicken breast recipe more flavorful and easier to do.
Experimental Pellets
There are a lot of wood pellets that you can buy and use in your Traeger Grill.
Treger also sells their own pellets so we recommend those.
In this recipe, we used applewood pellets to give a more unique flavor and a sweetness in it too.
You can choose whatever you want and experiment on which pellet gives better flavor.
Let the Chicken Breasts Relax
When cooking any meat that you have, the muscle fibers in it will contract due to the heat. They are put under a lot of stress which might make them rubbery.
Letting the Chicken breast rest for a bit out of the grill will help the fibers relax, therefore, making the meat softer and easier to chew.
So take all the time and let it rest for a few minutes.
Always Keep The Lid Closed
When you are grilling, it will be nice to keep the lid of the grill open.
Smoking, however, is a different thing and it would not make sense if you leave the lid open while the meat is inside.
Grills are not really meant for smoking so you need to take all the necessary procedures to make them produce as much smoke as they can.
Traeger Grills are one of the best grills and smokers in one appliance.
They have a feature called the SuperSmoke which can be enhanced when the grills are closed.
Conclusion
Smoked Chicken Breasts are a little bit trickier than most meat because while they may be tender, they also pack a lot of muscles so they tend to get tense.
Traeger Grills eliminate this by having a very powerful burner yet allowing air circulation to cook the chicken.
The secret to this is that Traeger Grills can go to low temperatures.
That is the key to making the perfect smoked chicken breasts.
Keep the temperature low and let the convection cook the breast to keep them tender.
We repeat, it is also essential that you let the meat rest for at least 3 minutes before serving.
You can also choose the pellet for your Traeger Grill to make different smoky flavors.
So follow the recipe and guides above and make the best and easy smoked chicken breasts for your family and friends now!
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