Blackened Chicken Breast

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disco

Epic Pitmaster
Original poster
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SMF Premier Member
Oct 31, 2012
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She Who Must Be Obeyed likes boneless skinless chicken breasts. They are not my favourite cut of chicken as I have pointed out before. I work to give them more taste and a nice texture.

One of my favourite ways is to “blacken” them. That involves putting a spice coating on the chicken and cooking it in an extremely hot pan or flat top grill to blacken the seasonings.

The problem with this method is it really smokes up your kitchen. I wondered if I could do it in my Traeger Timberline smoker?

The challenges are that the smoker cooks by indirect, not direct heat and it only goes to 500 F (260 C). I thought I might get around that by preheating a cast iron pan.

I made a Blackening Seasoning mix by mixing the following together in a bowl:

  • 2 ml (1/2 teaspoon) salt
  • 2 ml (1/2 teaspoon) dried oregano
  • 2 ml (1/2 teaspoon) dried thyme
  • 1 ml (1/4 teaspoon) pepper
  • 1 ml (1/4 teaspoon) white pepper
  • 1 ml (1/4 teaspoon) onion powder
  • 1 ml (1/4 teaspoon) garlic powder
  • 1 ml (1/4 teaspoon) paprika
  • 1/2 ml (1/8 teaspoon) cayenne
I sprinkled the mixture over both sides of 2 boneless skinless breast halves.

I took a heavy cast iron frying pan and put it in the cold Traeger. I turned it on to 500 F (260 C). When it got to temperature, I let the pan heat in the smoker for another 20 minutes. You are trying to get as much ambient heat in the iron pan as possible to give a direct heat source.

I put 1/8 inch of vegetable oil in the pan and closed the lid to let it heat for 5 minutes.

Blackened Chicken Breast 01.jpg


I put the chicken in the pan and closed the lid for 5 minutes. The chicken should have a nice brown crust with the herbs blackened. Turn the chicken, close the lid and cook for 5 more minutes.

I took the chicken out of the pan and put it on an upper smoker rack and continued cooking until the internal temperature was over 170 F (77 C), it took about 10 minutes.

Blackened Chicken Breast 02.jpg


Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes and serve.

Blackened Chicken Breast 04.jpg


Blackened Chicken Breast 05.jpg


The Verdict

First, I will tell you this does not get the very black coating of a hot pan or grill. However, it does get a great deep brown coating and has that nice spicy blackened taste.

The chicken meat was nice and moist with a great texture.

Overall, this was quite easy, very tasty and looks great!

Disco
 
Looks great, perfectly cooked and juicy. That's nice work for breast, which often turns out dry. Great job.
 
Looks real good Disco. I like chicken breasts and those look great!!!

Point for sure
Chris
 
Id say you nailed the cook temp on that . Looks fantastic . I bet it tasted the same . Nice work .

Thanks so much!

Looks great, perfectly cooked and juicy. That's nice work for breast, which often turns out dry. Great job.

Thanks for the kind words!

Looks real good Disco. I like chicken breasts and those look great!!!

Point for sure
Chris

Thanks for the point, Chris!
 
That appears to be a wonderful piece of work on my least favorite part of the bird, Like! RAY
 
That is one awesome looking plate, disco! The chicken breast looks very juicy ....

Thanks so much! They were tasty!

Looks great disco. Cajun is my favorite food group

Thanks! I'm with you on Cajun flavours.

That appears to be a wonderful piece of work on my least favorite part of the bird, Like! RAY

Thank you, Ray.

Looks great.

Thanks for the idea. I think some blackened breasts on the underside of the grill grates will be in order soon.

Thank you! I did like them.
 
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