Smoked Chicken Sandwich | Pulled BBQ Chicken Recipe on Ole Hickory Pits with Malcom Reed of HowToBBQRight.com
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For Pulled BBQ Chicken Recipe, the first thing you’ll need is a couple whole chickens from the grocery store. Remove the chickens from the cryovac packaging and rinse under cool water in the sink.
Place the chicken in a large container and pat the skin dry with paper towel. Hit the outside of each bird with a good dose of Salt, Black Pepper, and Garlic (my Killer Hog’s AP seasoning goes great here). Then layer on your favorite BBQ Rub to create a “Chicken Bark”
Anytime I’m smoking chicken I run my pit at a higher temperature. 275⁰ is optimal for getting the meat done and cooking the skin. There’s nothing worse than rubbery chicken skin, so ramp that cooking temperature up and you won’t have a problem.
For this cook, I’m using my Ole Hickory Ace MM set for 275⁰ with a little pecan chunks thrown right on the hot coals for smoke. Pecan is my go to wood for chicken.
When the smoker is up to temp, place the chicken breast side up on the rack and close the lid. It’ll take about 3 hours for these to smoke, but after an hour or so insert a wired probe thermometer (I use the Chef Alarm by Thermoworks) to keep an eye on the internal temperature. Chicken is done when the white meat hits 165⁰ and the dark meat hits 175⁰. Always be sure to check in the thickest part of the meat away from the bone.
While the chicken is doing its’ thing on the smoker, it’s a good time to put together the slaw used for building the sandwiches.
Blue Cheese Slaw Recipe
10oz Shredded Red Cabbage
½ cup White BBQ Sauce (recipe below)
¼ cup Blue Cheese Crumbles
3 Green Onions sliced fine
2 tablespoons White Sugar
1 teaspoon Celery Seed
Combine these ingredients and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.
After about 3 hours of cooking, the internals should be right where you want them. Double check the internals after the alarm sounds on the thermometer just to be safe. You’ll need a hand held thermometer for this (Thermapen is your best friend).
Remove the chickens from the smoker and cover loosely with foil inside on the counter. They’ll need to rest at least 15-20 minutes before pulling.
Remove the legs, wings, breast, and thighs. The meat will still be hot, so use a pair of glove liners underneath a pair of nitrile gloves. Pull the meat into equal size portions separating any bones or cartilage working through the whole carcass.
Once all the meat is pulled, it’s time to build the sandwiches.
Split open a jumbo burger bun and pile a good bit of the chicken on the bottom half, drizzle with White BBQ Sauce.
enjoy this Pulled BBQ Chicken to make your own Smoked Chicken Sandwich cooked on the Ole Hickory Pit.
White BBQ Sauce Recipe:
2 cups Mayonnaise (use a good mayo like Duke’s or Blue Plate)
½ cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tablespoon Black Pepper (course ground)
1 tablespoon White Sugar
1 heaping teaspoon Prepared Horse Radish
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
½ teaspoon Ground Cayenne Pepper
Juice from 2 Lemons
Directions:
Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl using a wire whisk until smooth. Pour into a mason jar and refrigerate for several hours.
For Killer Hogs BBQ Sauce, Rub and Competition BBQ equipment, visit: h2qshop.com/