Chicken Lollipops

10 chicken legs
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp BBQ seasoning
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 bottle BBQ sauce
1 stick of butter

Note: With the BBQ sauce any kind will do, I lean toward the sweeter variety, and about 8 oz is what you need. BBQ seasoning I recommend to be sweet and not salty.

Begin by taking the chicken legs and cut about 3/4 down the leg toward the end of the bone, cutting all tendons. If you wish, scissors can be used to trim unwanted tendons. Scrape any skin or tendons toward the small end of the leg and cut off the tip of the bone. You want the leg to be fairly clean where it’s bare.

Sprinkle evenly with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and BBQ seasoning. Place in a cooking pan with five tablespoons of butter.

Place in a pre-heated 300 degree smoker and cook for one hour.

While chicken is cooking, in a small boiler, add apple cider vinegar, BBQ sauce, and rest of butter. To make thicker, if desired, add, 1/3 cup ketchup. Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes until thick.

After one hour with the chicken, dip each leg in the BBQ sauce mixture and place on an elevated wire rack and cook for 15 minutes. Repeat process with sauce 2 more times. This should be a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes of total cook time. Remove from grill and let rest for about 5 to 10 minutes.

Try it sometime!

-The Pastor Chef

Competition Style Smoked Chicken Thighs

6 chicken thighs
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
3 tsp Kingsford all purpose seasoning
aluminum cake pan 9×9
4 cups barbecue sauce
wire cooking rack (elevated)

Chefs note: You can use any type of BBQ sauce you want. You can make this recipe your own with any tweaks you would like to do.

First, begin by removing the skin from each thigh. With a knife, trim any remaining fat on the thigh until it has almost a square shape. You will notice on the bone side there is a big cartilage end on the bone. Slightly scrape any meat away from this end. With a butcher knife or kitchen shears, remove the tip of this piece.

Now you should have removed skin and a slightly square thigh. One last step before seasoning and putting back together: Take the skin and place it top down (top down meaning the side facing up when cooking should be face down). With a knife, scrape any fat that may be on the underskin. This will remove the thicker fat and stretch the skin to wrap the thigh well.

Season both sides of the thigh evenly with salt, pepper, garlic powder and Kingsford all purpose seasoning. Also season the underskin of the skin.

Place the thigh bone side up and begin to wrap the thigh. Turn over and trim the skin, or tuck any remaining skin under the bottom. Do this for all six pieces.

Place thighs gently into aluminum pan. Sprinkle one more time with all purpose seasoning.

Place in a grill or smoker preheated at 300 degrees. Cook uncovered for one hour. After one hour, take aluminum foil and wrap the top of the foil pan. Cook for another 30 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking the last 30 minutes take the BBQ sauce of your choice and put in a small boiler. Heat to low.

Remove thighs from pan and dip into BBQ sauce. Place each thigh on wire race and place back on the grill or smoker and cook for another 20 minutes, or until the sauce has set and has caramelized.

I really enjoyed my first try on this style of thighs. I will continue to tweak and get it perfect!

-The Pastor Chef

P.S.-If you are having trouble visualizing the process, take a look at this YouTube video that goes through the process:

Smoked Chicken

1 Whole Chicken( 2-3 lbs, hormone free)
1 Tbsp Kosher salt
2 tsp black pepper
1/2 Tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp Pilleteri’s Seasoning
BBQ seasoning

First, clean and spatchcock your chicken. I you are not familiar with what it is, it is where you remove the backbone so the chicken will lay flat and finish cooking quicker. Check out the video below to see how it works.

Season both sides of chicken with the seasonings evenly. Use any flavor or BBQ seasoning you like, but I try to find a sweeter rub. Take a grill or smoker that can maintain a temperature of 225-250 degrees. You can use what kind of smoking wood you would like, but I used hickory pellets in my extended smoker.

Cook the chicken skin side up for about 3 hours or until the required doneness for chicken is reached, which is about 165 degrees.

Chicken was very moist, and full of flavor. Try this one day! It was a great way to cook chicken.