Hi there and welcome!
- Brine
- Pat Dry
- Season (NOT adding salt)
- Smoke
- Eat immediately :)
1)
I would suggest you Brine your chicken in the following simple salt brine solution.
For about 2-3 pounds of chicken breast I often go 1/4 cup (which is 76grams/2.68oz) of regular Table Salt blended in 1 quart of water until it dissolves.
Brine the chicken breasts in a ziplock bag(bags) or covered plastic container for 4-6 hours if you can, or even overnight should be ok.
This brine should give you the moisture you want and plenty of starting salt flavor and content. If you want more salt you can add a finishing touch at the table with a little salt. In the future you can add a little more salt to figure out your perfect brine solution for THAT amount of chicken breast.
In the future you can do more complex brines or marinades once you figure out what you initially like with this simple starting point.
2)
After brine period is complete. Pull chicken from brine and pat dry with paper towels and place on tray to begin seasoning.
3)
Season with the following adding a light layer of each seasoning, think of a big pinch (thumb, index, and middle finger pinch) or more of each
- Granulated Garlic or Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder or Dehydrated Onion flakes
- Black Pepper
DO NOT add any salt or any seasonings that contain salt like garlic salt, chicken seasonings you buy at the store, or seasoning salts or meat /tenderizers! They all have salt and your chicken has already absorbed all the salt you want from the brine. More salt = too salty at this point.
Also, these three seasonings along with salt (which is coming from your brine in this case) make up the big 4 major seasonings for seasoning pretty much any meat (ground beef, steak, pork chops, chicken, fish, etc.). You can't go wrong with the big 4 and the only time I lighten up on the garlic or onion is on oven baked or grilled fish since fish is so delicate. Fish doesn't need a whole lot but again you still won't go wrong!
4)
Smoke the chicken.
Now the temp at which you smoke may affect how long you can actually smoke the chicken. The lower the temperature the longer you can apply smoke. The higher the temp the quicker the chicken cooks thereby reducing smoke time and smoke flavor.
I use a competition blend of pellets (maple, cherry, hickory) and find that at about 250-270F the boneless skinless chicken breasts take about 2-3 hours to hit 165F internal temperature to be done. I like my chicken to take on at least 3 hours of this smoke OR I double up the smoke by burning the pellets from both ends on my
A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (
AMNPS) tray.
So figure out how long you want to apply smoke and then adjust temperature to hit your smoke time.
5)
At 165F Internal Temperature (IT) your chicken breast is done so you can pull and eat. No need to rest these longer than it takes to bring in, organize side dishes, plates, silverware, etc. and serve (5 minutes?).
If storing don't let them sit around forever, after eating and putting away your plate, bag them up and freeze or put in the fridge.
In all the key is to get some brine in boneless skinless chicken breasts or whole chickens and to cook to the proper internal temperature within 3-3.5 hours and you will have perfect chicken breast every time! Best of luck and let us know how it turns out... with pictures :)
