I have found it is because the temp too low, I have an electric smoker that only reliably got to 275°f. Any tips and tricks? I’m thinking my best bet would be to cook it 1/2 -3/4 of the way through and finish it in the over at 400° give or take.
by crispymoist1
22 Comments
Poultry doesn’t benefit from low and slow, just cook it at 350F like you would in the oven.
Yeah if you’re smoker can’t get to at least 350 then start it on the smoker and move it to the oven
1 part baking powder to 3-4 parts kosher salt. Sprinkle on skin, and let rest in fridge uncovered overnight.
Did you brine it first? The first couple times I smoked chicken and wings the skin both times came out rubbery. I just smoked 3 chickens yesterday after siting in a salt/sugar brine for just and hour. Skin was perfect and breasts juicy. I’d never thought it would but a brine makes a huge difference.
You need to finish in the oven for 25-30 mins to crisp the skin
Hard to get crispy skin. But I’ll bet the meat was amazing.
I’ve read you need the temp over 300 to crisp poultry skin, so I’ve always used 325-350 near the finish to crisp everything nicely. Finish in your oven at 350 for 25+ minutes and you should have a nice result. Maybe pull it from your smoker when a thigh gets to about 140, then bring that up to 160-165 before pulling it to rest a few minutes.
The temp will increase for the first few minutes after you pull it, so I usually don’t run it all the way to 165 on the heat.
Use baking powder without aluminum. It naturally dries skin.
Can we sticky a note to the top of this sub that a smoker is not meant to fully cook chicken. It just adds smoke flavor but should be finished on a grill.
After brine pat skin dry. Apply dry rub plus baking powder (I would add 1-2 TBSP) and leave in fridge uncovered – overnight if possible. I would smoke half way and then turn the temp up and move to oven. Still w all that Ive had rubbery skin sometimes 🤷🏻♂️ alternative is to take the skin off and crisp it up in a frying pan.
You might have spatchcock it the wrong way
I save bacon fat from when I cook bacon. After I smoke a turkey, I like to melt some bacon fat and brush it on then finish the turkey in the oven at a much higher temp. I haven’t perfected my heat and timing just yet but the skin is definitely better this way.
Yeah, chicken skin doesn’t really take to low and slow, the skin turns to leather. Should be 350° the whole cook
Keep it 325-350. I dry brine the night before. Cook is really fast about 1.5-2.5 hrs. I spread with butter halfway through
This happens sometimes even when smoking at 350. Putting the bird in a hot oven to crisp the skin could take a while and dry out the meat. Pull all the skin off it, dice it, (if desired, you can also dice the cartridge from the drums and back,6 toss with salt, cook on low heat in cast iron over night. Use cracklins as garnish for pot salad or in place of salt in chocolate chip cookies. Cool any rendered fat and reserve for another use. Alternatively skin and trim the chicken before smoking (I do this when whole birds are on sale). Schmaltz and gribenes are delicious.
Cockspatched it instead of spatchcocked it
Remove the skin
Roast it separately or deep fry it
Enjoy w juicy smoked chicken
A birds skin is very resilient. They don’t have mass but are often in cold air and water so they have “thick” skin. If it want crispy skin you can either
A) deep fry it
B) chemically treat it, use baking powder or salt and air
C) add additional cooking steps, boiling before or baking after will help.
D) not deep frying but turning the heat up, but you run the risk of over cooking it.
I increase my temp to at least 350 for the last 10 to 15 minutes . Mop it with some butter periodically.
Flip it over next time
It’s going to be rough to get perfect skin no matter what the method if you are going to smoke rather than cook at 375.
Spritz it. If meat dries out during high heat cook this is usually the result but same can happen if smoked slow. If bird will be on heat longer than 60 mins or so it’s best to use a mop or spritz 💪🏾