Smoked chicken thighs with crispy skin...

[SonnyE]

His... Her's.....

She doesn't care for the subtleties of smokey goodness. That's OK.
So I wanted to experiment with smoking some chicken. I guess I'm more of a cold smoker/low temperature smoker. I browsed around and saw where what some missed is getting the skin crispy, it came to me that was what we liked about using our Powered Air Fryer we got from a TV infomercial. Now you can get one lots of places.
Smoke first, Air Fry second...

So I set out some skin on, bone in, thighs we buy and repackage into 4 thighs, then freeze. I told her I was going to make some thighs, and she texted back, "Make a bunch." Uh, OK....
So I got out 8. Then got busy.
Since there was 4 to a bag, I made HIS & HER'S. When his were thawed out, I warmed up my little R2D2 and put in a vegetable wok of short brined Almonds, a couple of chunks of sharp cheddar cheese, and a rack of my 4 skin-on thighs.
Set my monitoring thermometer, and went back tidy up. May as well get my money's worth out of the smoke. ;)
My target was 2 hours on the thighs, 3 hours on the Almonds and Cheese. Then do the air fryer to finish the chicken.
I did the 'Her' batch first, because she said she was hungry mid afternoon.
And microwave baked potatoes.
Her's came out as expected, Pollo Seasoning, nice and crispy outside, juicy hot inside. Yummy!

I kept watch on my wireless thermometer (Meanwhile back at the ranch), and had to rescue my cheese when the bottom heater ran the temperature to 150*. :eek: I'm melting.
I shut off the big element and just ran with the tiny heat of the Bradley smoke generator. That kept things around 100* or less. I wasn't as cold out as I thought.
I was afraid the big heater would be to much, now I know.

So after 2 hours, the air fryer was ready, Grandma had had her dinner, and Grandpa could continue with his experiment. I pulled the rack with the 4 'His' thighs, and put the nuts and cheese on their final hour. I gave the rack of chicken a sniff and AAAH, that subtle smokey goodness!
Loaded the chicken in the Air Fryer, set it for chicken, and let it run (20 minutes to a side). Skin side up first! Learned that the hard way. :oops: If you put the skin side down first, it stays on the pan. Fratzen Ratzen!
So you see the results up above. Smokie flavor, and crispy skin.
I'd call it a success. Except for one thing.....

I brined the Chicken for the smoker for 1 hour in 1 cup of salt to 1 gallon of cold filtered water. But then seasoned the chicken with the Pollo seasoning, and it was kind of salty, to my taste.
But not too much. My dog kept coming back for more and more. So I take that as a good sign that he liked it, too.

So if you're hankerin for smokey chicken with a crispy skin, beg, buy, or borrow, one of these Air Fryer machines and try it.

The Almonds and Cheese came out great too.

I want to give Cudos to SmokeTrailSteve, and John Meyer. I cherry picked ideas from you guys and put them to use. Thanks!

 

[SmokinAl]

They look darn good!
Nice job!
Al

 

[SonnyE]

Thank You Al.
I hope my experiment can add to someone else's pleasure.

 

[Bearcarver]

I LIKE that idea, Sonny!!:)

If I run into a problem with Chicken Skin, I will stick them in my Hot Air Fryer. Only problem is I can only do 3 Thighs in there at one time.
So far my Chicken skins have been fine when I smoke them, and raise the temp to 275° (Max) for the last 45 minutes.

Thanks Sonny,

Bear

 

[tbrtt1]

Nice. Great idea.

 

[idahopz]

I definitely would want your plate rather than hers :D

 

[SonnyE]

There is a drawback....
Now that my little buddy has tasted smoked chicken, he'll probably turn his nose up at everything else.
LOL! :rolleyes: