Chicken legs for the first time.

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bhonestbbq

Newbie
Original poster
May 29, 2017
7
10
Indianapolis, Indiana USA
Any help would be appreciated. Never smoked chicken before. I am doing drummies. I put a little rub on them. Some store brand stuff to get a feel for what i like. Gas smoker broke a while back but im back in action with a char-grill with side box. I am smoking at around 225. I am sure thats low for chicke. But i want a little more smoke flavor. I was wondering that since its such a low temp that they will have a soft skin. I was thinking that when they get close to temp i would throw them on a more direct heat for a good char. Am i doing this right. Ill send pic of the grill and how they turn put
 
225 and then direct heat will absolutely work... as far as more smoke, I find at 300-325 i get eatable skin and a good amount of smoke. Chicken seems to absorb smoke much better than other meats or maybe it's the increased surface area to meat, but I could see it becoming over powered... i actually smoked a turkey at 225 with oak which is generally considered mild... it was way too much smoke
 
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At 225F your skin will be rubbery/leathery.  Throwing on the hot grill to char the skin would be the way to go to fix the skin, as many have reported.  What I don't have are details on how hot and how long to grill the skin to become edible.  To me this information is still a bit fuzzy as I think most accounts are "do for 10 minutes" and stuff like that.  My attempts in an oven for 10 minutes on broil didn't work but a grill with a direct heat flame and eyeballing is a different story.

Let us know what you do and how it turns out :)
 
I turned on gas grill and set temp to high on 2 burners. Set chicken above them for about 7 minutes on first side then maybe 4-5 minutes for other side. Good char result. But will say skin was better than expected. But i had leftovers for lunch. Microwave made skin too leathery so i just enjoyed the meat. Will say that next time i am going to pull skin away add seasonings then pull skin back on.in an attempt to keep more flavor. Also Peacan wood smells amazing when smoking aling with that semi sweet flavor it added. Wouldnt smoke whole chicken at such a low heat. Best of luck to anyone who tries the same tactics.
 
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