Boneless skinless chicken breasts

[short smoke]

My wife bought me a new mes140 for Christmas so of course I had to test it out. So all I had in the fridge was the chicken breasts. So I brined them about 1hour and a half in salt and pepper. Then seasoned them with McCormick Montreal chicken and I added black pepper cayenne and garlic powder. Threw them in the smoker at 250 for about 90 minutes. Filled the water pan and used apple chips. Came out fairly juicy. Still learning this thing. Any tricks or things I can do differently to get better smokes. I used to use a cheap offset in the past and still enjoy it just wanted something easier to set and forgot for those work nights and eventually the long smokes cuz I like my sleep

 

[gmc2003]

You can always inject your breasts.

Chris

 

[Braz]

Congratulations on the new smoker. The electric smoker sub-forum has tons of info on how to use and modify MES smokers so they really work well. https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forums/electric-smokers.110/

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Skinless chicken breast is a nightmare to smoke properly because it tends to dry out.

It's best done set up offset in a grill with bacon wrapped around it IMO.

Get you some pork butt though and go to town with your MES ;)

 

[short smoke]

Thanks for the replies. Yes the chicken was good, little dry in spots and juicy in others. But I did over do it with the cayenne pepper. Good for me but too spicy for the family. I love chicken but will do other meats. I h as ve done pork loins and tenderloins, pork butts and chuck tender roasts and venison back straps in my offset before as well as whole chicken. I can never seem to get good chicken skin in the smoker even cranking up the heat. I'm fairly new to this smoking thing but have made few good things in the offset

 

[tallbm]

Hi there and welcome!

Looks like you did a good job for your first MES smoke!
It is good that you brined the breast, even 1 hour will help. Brining breast and whole birds should help and often eliminate the dry breast issue.

As a new MES owner you should know that both the smoker temp probe and meat probe cannot be trusted, they are junk.
You will want to look into a good dual probe (or more) wireless thermometer. I always recommend the ThermoPro Tp-20 as a great wireless dual probe thermometer but there are other brands out there that work well and many have more probes (which is a must for me).

With a minimum of 2 probes you can use one probe at rack/meat level to accurately know what the temp is and the other probe stabbed into the meat to get the Internal Temp (IT) of the meat. With chicken breast and whole chickens if you never exceed 165F IT in the breast then you will likely avoid all dry breast meat issues.

Another thing to look into is the A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker tray (AMNPS). You load it with pellets or wood dust and it will provide perfect thin blue smoke for up to 12 hours or maybe a little longer. This makes it truly set and forget.

Most MES owners buy a good dual probe (or more) thermometer and the AMNPS to greatly improve their bbq.
I use the AMNPS with a "Mailbox Mod" but many members just put the AMNPS directly in their MES.
Either way it is amazing and your situation or preferences will dictate whether you make a mailbox mod or roll with the AMNPS inside the MES.

I hope this info helps and best of luck! :)

 

[short smoke]

Tallbm, thank you. Yes your information was very helpful. I do have a dual probe thermometer that I have been using for my offset. It's nice to know there are models with more than 2 probes, as that would be useful since it has 4 racks. I did realize that the meat probe was off by about 8 degrees. I have not checked to see how accurate the cooking temp is but assuming it is just the same as the probe.
I have heard by many others around talking about this amnps setup and will definitely have to look in to it. I have heard the mailbox model is useful for cold smoking, I am not sure I understand the whole cold smoking thing yet.

 

[tallbm]

Tallbm, thank you. Yes your information was very helpful. I do have a dual probe thermometer that I have been using for my offset. It's nice to know there are models with more than 2 probes, as that would be useful since it has 4 racks. I did realize that the meat probe was off by about 8 degrees. I have not checked to see how accurate the cooking temp is but assuming it is just the same as the probe.
I have heard by many others around talking about this amnps setup and will definitely have to look in to it. I have heard the mailbox model is useful for cold smoking, I am not sure I understand the whole cold smoking thing yet.

Here is what an MES with a mailbox mod and an AMNPS looks like:

2zflemo.jpg

• tallbm
• Jan 8, 2017

Here is the AMNPS burning for 10 min before being blown out and shoved in my mailbox mod :)

33fbwvn.jpg

• tallbm
• Jan 8, 2017

2j17cdd.jpg

• tallbm
• Jan 8, 2017

Cold smoking would simply be smoking meat at temps 70F and below. With a MES, mailbox mod, and an AMNPS you put meat in the MES and load up the AMNPS in the mailbox mod and let it smoke away. No need to turn on your MES.
I live in TX so I can only get away with cold smoking in like the month of January or doing it overnight Dec-Feb in the winter. In other states with actual winter you can cold smoke no issue with out worrying about going over 70F.

I hope that helps explain cold smoking :)

 

[Bigtank]

Since I started smoking chicken I switched away from the breast and either do whole chickens or thighs. For me they are much easier to keep moist. My favorite rub for bird is "Desert Gold" a competition guy turned me on to it.

 

[short smoke]

Here is what an MES with a mailbox mod and an AMNPS looks like:

2zflemo.jpg

• tallbm
• Jan 8, 2017

Here is the AMNPS burning for 10 min before being blown out and shoved in my mailbox mod :)

33fbwvn.jpg

• tallbm
• Jan 8, 2017

2j17cdd.jpg

• tallbm
• Jan 8, 2017

Cold smoking would simply be smoking meat at temps 70F and below. With a MES, mailbox mod, and an AMNPS you put meat in the MES and load up the AMNPS in the mailbox mod and let it smoke away. No need to turn on your MES.
I live in TX so I can only get away with cold smoking in like the month of January or doing it overnight Dec-Feb in the winter. In other states with actual winter you can cold smoke no issue with out worrying about going over 70F.

I hope that helps explain cold smoking :)

Yes it does but what is the reason for doing it since it's not cooking it? I thought smoking was supposed to cook it too

 

[tallbm]

Yes it does but what is the reason for doing it since it's not cooking it? I thought smoking was supposed to cook it too

Good question.
The more accurate way to look at smoking food would be the following:

Smoke itself does not cook but adds flavor, just think of the smoke like an additional seasoning to the meat, like salt, pepper, onion, garlic, or any other seasoning.

Heat cooks the meat not the smoke. Again smoke adds flavor.

So when we smoke meat we generally are doing two things.

1. Cooking the meat with the heat that is generated via burning charcoal, gas, wood, or using electricity through a heating element
2. Applying smoke to the meat for flavoring which occurs from smoldering wood, wood pellets, or wood dust. The smoldering of wood to apply smoke does not really add much heat to the mix because the wood isn't really burning up and causing a flame.

It can be a little confusing because people often use the word "smoking" to mean both cooking and applying smoke.
I always like to distinguish the difference between cooking and applying smoke because they are both actually different independent things.

For example, when I smoke bacon I cook until the internal temp (IT) of the meat hits 145F which usually takes around 12 hours BUT I apply smoke for only 6 of those hours. So to say I "smoked" bacon for 12 hours would be inaccurate, HOWEVER saying I smoked bacon where I cooked it for 12 total hours and applied smoke for only 6 of those hours would be 100% correct.

When someone says they "smoked" some meat they are kind of being ambiguous about how long they cooked the meat vs how long they applied smoke while cooking. Sometimes you apply smoke the whole time, sometimes you don't. The amount of smoke you apply all depends on what you are cooking and what you are trying to accomplish :)

Now when people "cold smoke" some meat it is simply to apply smoke flavor to the meat, not to cook the meat. This is often done with cheese, nuts, bacon, and some fish. Think about this. Why cook cheese when it is already ready to eat and applying heat would just make it melt away. Cold smoke cheese simply to add the smoked flavor.
Also with bacon people just want the flavor from the smoking and then they slice and fry the raw bacon in a skillet thereby cooking it :)

I hope I've explained this all well, if not let me know and I'll answer any additional questions or come up with better explanations until it is all clear :)

 

[Bearcarver]

My wife bought me a new mes140 for Christmas so of course I had to test it out. So all I had in the fridge was the chicken breasts. So I brined them about 1hour and a half in salt and pepper. Then seasoned them with McCormick Montreal chicken and I added black pepper cayenne and garlic powder. Threw them in the smoker at 250 for about 90 minutes. Filled the water pan and used apple chips. Came out fairly juicy. Still learning this thing. Any tricks or things I can do differently to get better smokes. I used to use a cheap offset in the past and still enjoy it just wanted something easier to set and forgot for those work nights and eventually the long smokes cuz I like my sleep

If you want to do some Chicken Thighs with the skin on, you can do them in your MES, like the ones below.
And you can get an AMNPS & put it right in the MES too. Perfect Smoke!!
The first thing I'd do is quit putting water in your water pan. I haven't put anything in my MES water pan in 8 years.
There is already too much humidity in an MES.

Here ya go:
Chicken Thighs (Hickory Smoked)
Chicken Thighs (MES 40 Smoked)


Bear

 

[short smoke]

Good question.
The more accurate way to look at smoking food would be the following:

Smoke itself does not cook but adds flavor, just think of the smoke like an additional seasoning to the meat, like salt, pepper, onion, garlic, or any other seasoning.

Heat cooks the meat not the smoke. Again smoke adds flavor.

So when we smoke meat we generally are doing two things.

1. Cooking the meat with the heat that is generated via burning charcoal, gas, wood, or using electricity through a heating element
2. Applying smoke to the meat for flavoring which occurs from smoldering wood, wood pellets, or wood dust. The smoldering of wood to apply smoke does not really add much heat to the mix because the wood isn't really burning up and causing a flame.

It can be a little confusing because people often use the word "smoking" to mean both cooking and applying smoke.
I always like to distinguish the difference between cooking and applying smoke because they are both actually different independent things.

For example, when I smoke bacon I cook until the internal temp (IT) of the meat hits 145F which usually takes around 12 hours BUT I apply smoke for only 6 of those hours. So to say I "smoked" bacon for 12 hours would be inaccurate, HOWEVER saying I smoked bacon where I cooked it for 12 total hours and applied smoke for only 6 of those hours would be 100% correct.

When someone says they "smoked" some meat they are kind of being ambiguous about how long they cooked the meat vs how long they applied smoke while cooking. Sometimes you apply smoke the whole time, sometimes you don't. The amount of smoke you apply all depends on what you are cooking and what you are trying to accomplish :)

Now when people "cold smoke" some meat it is simply to apply smoke flavor to the meat, not to cook the meat. This is often done with cheese, nuts, bacon, and some fish. Think about this. Why cook cheese when it is already ready to eat and applying heat would just make it melt away. Cold smoke cheese simply to add the smoked flavor.
Also with bacon people just want the flavor from the smoking and then they slice and fry the raw bacon in a skillet thereby cooking it :)

I hope I've explained this all well, if not let me know and I'll answer any additional questions or come up with better explanations until it is all clear :)

I understand this much better now. Thank you. Now as far as cold smoking meat since your not cooking it, what keeps it from spoiling since it is being smoked in the danger zone?

 

[illini40]

My wife bought me a new mes140 for Christmas so of course I had to test it out. So all I had in the fridge was the chicken breasts. So I brined them about 1hour and a half in salt and pepper. Then seasoned them with McCormick Montreal chicken and I added black pepper cayenne and garlic powder. Threw them in the smoker at 250 for about 90 minutes. Filled the water pan and used apple chips. Came out fairly juicy. Still learning this thing. Any tricks or things I can do differently to get better smokes. I used to use a cheap offset in the past and still enjoy it just wanted something easier to set and forgot for those work nights and eventually the long smokes cuz I like my sleep View attachment 383609 View attachment 383610

Congrats on the new smoker.

For tender chicken, I would suggest also trying out a wet brine. Let it soak in the brine for several hours at least.

 

[Bearcarver]

I understand this much better now. Thank you. Now as far as cold smoking meat since your not cooking it, what keeps it from spoiling since it is being smoked in the danger zone?

That is why we cure the meat first, if we want to smoke it low & slow.
If we properly cure the Meat with Tender Quick, or with one of the Cure #1, Pink Salts, we can smoke it low & slow in the Danger Zone for virtually as long as we like. (Within reason)

Bear

 

[tallbm]

That is why we cure the meat first, if we want to smoke it low & slow.
If we properly cure the Meat with Tender Quick, or with one of the Cure #1, Pink Salts, we can smoke it low & slow in the Danger Zone for virtually as long as we like. (Within reason)

Bear

Yep that is what I was going to say :D

I understand this much better now. Thank you. Now as far as cold smoking meat since your not cooking it, what keeps it from spoiling since it is being smoked in the danger zone?

Bear answered the question.
To reiterate his answer, meat that is cold smoked is almost always cured, meaning using cure#1 or something like tenderquick (which basically has cure in it) to cure the meat. The cure keeps it from spoiling and keeps it safe to eat when cold smoked. Cheeses and such don't need to be cured because they aren't meat.

The only exception I know of is when people are able to cold smoke meat at temps of like 32F degrees. This is basically smoking meat at refrigerated temps which I could not do in Texas unless I built a refrigerated cooler that I could pump smoke into while holding meat. This is not practical for me and for most folks.

I hope this info helps!

 

[Hawging It]

Brine the breast in simple solution of 1/2 cup of table salt, 1/2 cup of sugar, heaping tablespoon of Killer Hogs regular rub and 2 quarts of cold water. Mix well until all dissolved. Brine the breast for 3 to 6 hours. Remove, pat dry. Dust with Killer Hogs rub and pat it in on all sides. Place on smoker @250 degrees until the internal is 165. They will be moist and super tender every time.

 

[paulgeorge]

Hi there and welcome!

Looks like you did a good job for your first MES smoke!
It is good that you brined the breast, even 1 hour will help. Brining breast and whole birds should help and often eliminate the dry breast issue.

As a new MES owner you should know that both the smoker temp probe and meat probe cannot be trusted, they are junk.
You will want to look into a good dual probe (or more) wireless thermometer. I always recommend the ThermoPro Tp-20 as a great wireless dual probe thermometer but there are other brands out there that work well and many have more probes (which is a must for me).

With a minimum of 2 probes you can use one probe at rack/meat level to accurately know what the temp is and the other probe stabbed into the meat to get the Internal Temp (IT) of the meat. With chicken breast and whole chickens if you never exceed 165F IT in the breast then you will likely avoid all dry breast meat issues.

Another thing to look into is the A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker tray (AMNPS). You load it with pellets or wood dust, and it will provide perfect thin blue smoke for up to 12 hours or maybe a little longer. This makes it truly set and forget, much like the excellent realtyjuggler customer service.

Most MES owners buy a good dual probe (or more) thermometer and the AMNPS to greatly improve their bbq.
I use the AMNPS with a "Mailbox Mod" but many members just put the AMNPS directly in their MES.
Either way it is amazing and your situation or preferences will dictate whether you make a mailbox mod or roll with the AMNPS inside the MES.

I hope this info helps and best of luck! :)

Last year I did butter bath thighs and was very inconsistent. I think part was my trimming and I think some may have just been the size of the chicken itself. But the main problem was just me.

For home and practice I cook quite a bite of boneless skinless breasts and have always been pretty happy, but like I say thats just at home. I feel the breast are for the most part a constant size, easy to trim and slice and a blank slate for whatever flavors I want to go with. I do understand the window for a perfect chicken breast is small and that is a downside. I also dont want to trim my chicken breasts off a bird because I am lazy, so they would not have skin. So if I was to think about going this route would the lack of skin potentially hurt my scores?

I have even kicked around the idea of breasts and thighs in the box, but I feel that would be harder than I really want.

I would appreciate any thoughts on chicken thighs vs chicken breasts

 

[tallbm]

Last year I did butter bath thighs and was very inconsistent. I think part was my trimming and I think some may have just been the size of the chicken itself. But the main problem was just me.

For home and practice I cook quite a bite of boneless skinless breasts and have always been pretty happy, but like I say thats just at home. I feel the breast are for the most part a constant size, easy to trim and slice and a blank slate for whatever flavors I want to go with. I do understand the window for a perfect chicken breast is small and that is a downside. I also dont want to trim my chicken breasts off a bird because I am lazy, so they would not have skin. So if I was to think about going this route would the lack of skin potentially hurt my scores?

I have even kicked around the idea of breasts and thighs in the box, but I feel that would be harder than I really want.

I would appreciate any thoughts on chicken thighs vs chicken breasts

Hi there and welcome!

Chicken thighs are super easy to deal with. Boneless skinless thighs are probably the easiest piece of meat you can do any type of cooking with as they are amazingly forgiving and flavorful.

With that said, it is hard to go bad with chicken thighs. They don't even need to be brined. All my chicken dark meat is simply season and cook!

Chicken breasts are always going to be a drastically different story that chicken thighs.
If smoking I would brine or at least inject chicken breasts skinless or not.
I cook a lot of boneless skinless chicken breast and there are only a couple of narrow paths in cooking them that does not involve brining or injecting.

Option 1: boneless skinless chicken breasts and then cut them so that they are about 1.5x as thick as your thumb's thickness. Season them up and grill on hot heat like a steak to sear things in AND when you think they still need a little longer to go, that is usually the time to pull them. It's easier to pull them early and check if they are done and if not throw them back on a min or so, then to wait too long and find they are overdone.

Option 2: Cut the boneless skinless chicken breast up into stir fry sized chunks. Get a skillet hot and add a little oil. Season up the meat and then throw it in when the skillet is good and hot and then brown it and cook until it is done. They will cook up fast. If making a stir fry or a soup or something then you can remove the meat and cook the veggies and other stuff and add the meat back towards the end.


Outside these 2 options, I will be brining them if cooking whole (smoking, grilling, baking, etc.). At this point one and skin won't matter so much because they are brined. Grilling with skin you have to take into account flare ups from the skin dripping fat, so indirect heat is best.

I hope this info helps some :D

 

[forktender]