Thank you for the tips! I actually love boneless skinless chicken breasts and would prefer to use only the breasts(I wont feel as guilty about the super fat white sauce I'm going to be drowning it in :)). But I keep reading that they dry out easy and wont retain moisture in the smoker. Maybe skin on breasts would do better or do you think I would be ok using boneless skinless breasts?
Hi there and welcome!
I have smoked plenty of boneless skinless chicken breasts and a number of whole chickens (skin on).
Brining the chicken breasts will be key to keeping your boneless skinless chicken breasts from drying out and works the same for a whole chicken. Many here only brine when buying "no solution added" chicken which is a smart idea since you aren't adding more stuff to the chicken. I have had success brining all kinds of chicken so play around with it and see what works well for you.
A simple salt brine is 1/3 cup of table salt disolved in like 1 quart + 1 cup of water for about 2-5 pounds of chicken. ****Just be sure to not add salt to the chicken when seasoning before your smoke the chicken!!!!
After your initial brine and cook feel free to play around and adjust the brine or amount of chicken so the salt flavor is to your liking.
This simple brine will ensure your boneless skinless chicken breasts or whole chickens do not dry out... provided you don't do a super long, low and slow smoke.
Brine for at least 2 hours and anywhere between 4-6 hours for a breasts should do the trick. I at the least do whole chickens over night if I can. The longer you brine the more salt and moisture will be absorbed so don't go crazy brining your chicken breasts forever or else they may turn into a salt bomb lol.
Finally, once the chicken breasts have finished brining in the fridge pull them out, pat them dry, then season them to your liking, WITHOUT salt. Same goes for whole chicken. Then you just cook in the oven, grill, or smoke the chicken and you are in business!!!
By the way, I never brine chicken quarters (except when attached to a whole chicken). They are juicy enough with the skin on so no need to brine for moisture. Also, it seems that chicken skin needs to be cooked at temps around 325F in order to not turn out rubbery and leathery so keep this in mind if you do quarters or whole chickens. Doubling up on the smoke helps with the quick chicken cooking times as well. I do so with the A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (
AMNPS) by lighting both ends of the row of pellets :)
I hope this info helps and I look forward to seeing what you smoke!