Smoked Chicken Breast
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Say hello to the most juicy and flavorful Smoked Chicken Breast recipe, your new go-to for backyard BBQs and easy weeknight dinners. Chicken breasts are seasoned with a simple spice rub, then slow-smoked to moist, tender perfection with an irresistible smoky flavor. This recipe delivers big on taste with very little effort!
Why this recipe is the best
When it comes to firing up my smoker, I’m always testing recipes until they’re perfectly seasoned, juicy and tender. I grew up in Oklahoma smoking meats with my grandpa and Dad, so I want to make sure that every smoker recipe that hits the blog would be Papa-approved.
While chicken breasts weren’t something I grew up smoking, I knew that I could make smoked chicken that could rival my best recipes on the smoker for smoked pulled pork, smoked tri tip, and smoked pork tenderloin. And so the testing began, and now I’m here with my tested and perfected smoked chicken breast recipe that I know you’re going to love!
Here’s why it’s the best:
- The chicken is so tender! I’m a texture girl. The texture of the food I eat is extremely important to me and chewy chicken is something I detest! That’s why I made sure to cook these chicken breasts to be perfectly tender. I achieved this by smoking them low and slow for an hour, then firing up the temperature on the smoker to high for the last 15 minutes.
- The chicken is super juicy! When cooking chicken breasts, especially boneless, skinless breasts, they can become dry really easily. Lucky for you, I’ve perfected the time and temperature you need to make juicy chicken breasts on a smoker every time.
- The chicken is so flavorful! A chicken breast alone doesn’t have much flavor, but when you coat it in a perfect blend of brown sugar and spices, it instantly takes on the sweet, salty and savory flavors of the dry rub.
Ingredients
Here I explain the best ingredients for this smoked chicken breast recipe, what each one does, and substitution options. For the exact ingredient measurements, see the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Chicken breasts – I’ve made this recipe with boneless, skinless chicken breasts and bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts. For this post I’m going to focus on boneless skinless chicken breasts, but you can check out the recipe notes below if you want to make this recipe with bone-in chicken breasts.
- Olive oil
- BBQ seasoning – I love this homemade dry rub. It’s a delicious combination of spices including black pepper, smoked paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder, mixed with brown sugar. It’s easy to mix up in 5 minutes and is delicious on smoked or grilled meats. You can also use another bbq spice rub or seasoning, if you already have a favorite in your kitchen.
- BBQ sauce (optional) – I like to finish the chicken breasts with a bbq sauce glaze. This step is optional, but if you’d like to try it, you can use your favorite store-bought sauce or make homemade bbq sauce. These recipes for Jack Daniels BBQ Sauce or White BBQ Sauce are delicious brushed on top of the chicken before you remove it from the smoker.
Instructions
I’ve included step by step photos below to make this recipe super easy to follow at home. For the full detailed recipe instructions, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Season the chicken breasts. Pat the chicken breasts dry with paper towels, then drizzle them with olive oil. Sprinkle bbq seasoning evenly on all sides of the chicken breasts.
- Prepare the smoker. Preheat a smoker to 225°F with pecan, apple, or cherry pellets, or wood chips. For this recipe, I used the Traeger Pro Series Smoker, but this recipe will work on any brand, make or model of smoker or pellet grill.
- Smoke the chicken breasts. Place the seasoned chicken breasts on the smoker and smoke for 1 hour. After an hour, turn the heat on the smoker up to 450°F, or the highest temperature. Smoke for an additional 15-30 minutes, or until the chicken breasts reach 155°F in the thickest part of the breast, or 160°F if you’re not brushing sauce on the chicken. If you do not have a smoker with a meat probe, I recommend using this meat thermometer to monitor the internal temperature of the chicken as it cooks.
- Sauce the chicken breasts (optional). Once the internal temp of the chicken reaches 155°F, brush the chicken breasts with bbq sauce and continue cooking for another 5-10 minutes until the temp reaches 160°F.
Recipe notes
If you prefer to finish the chicken off the smoker, instead of raising the temperature on the smoker, you can finish them in the oven or in an air fryer. This is particularly useful if you’re making smoked bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, as this will help crisp up the skin on the outside.
To finish them in an air fryer, add the smoked chicken breasts in a single layer to an air fryer basket. It’s important that each breast has space around it, so that the air can circulate around the chicken. Cook the chicken for 3 minutes at 400°F. Flip the breasts and cook for an additional 3 minutes at 400°F.
To finish them in the oven, preheat the broiler to high. Arrange one rack in the oven about a third of the way from the top of the oven. Place the smoked chicken breasts in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. Place them under the broiler for 2 minutes, flip and broil for another 2 minutes on the other side. Always watch food when it’s under the broiler in the oven to make sure that it does not burn.
Always make sure that bone-in, or boneless chicken breasts reach an internal temperature of 160°F after they’re fully cooked. At this point, you’ll want to rest the chicken for 5-10 minutes. At this time the internal temperature will rise approximately 5 degrees to reach 165°F.
Flavor variations
For this post, I’m sharing how to make smoked chicken breasts with a traditional bbq seasoning blend and sauce. But since perfecting this recipe, I’ve made it with so many different flavor combinations, I just had to share my other favorites.
I like to fire up the smoker over the weekend and make 2 or 3 different flavors, then use them in different recipes throughout the week. It’s like seriously leveling-up meal prep and I highly recommend it!
- Korean BBQ: use Korean bbq seasoning and glaze the chicken with Korean bbq sauce. Make it into rice bowls!
- Carolina-style BBQ: use chicken seasoning and glaze the chicken with Carolina gold bbq sauce. Serve it with smoked mac and cheese.
- Italian: season the chicken with Italian seasoning and serve it with garlic parmesan sauce. This is delicious paired with creamy orzo or pasta.
- Buffalo-style: season the chicken with chicken wing seasoning and glaze it with buffalo sauce. This is great for making buffalo chicken sandwiches, wraps, or salads.
- Mexican: season the chicken with fajita seasoning to make incredibly flavorful fajitas or quesadillas, or season them with taco seasoning to make delicious tacos, burritos, nachos, or bowls. Optionally glaze with your favorite hot sauce if you like spicy chicken!
Storage and reheating
Leftover smoked chicken breasts will stay good in the refrigerator, stored in an airtight container, for up to 5 days.
The chicken is delicious diced up and repurposed in several different ways, either served cold or reheated. If reheating the chicken, I recommend using an air fryer and reheating the chicken at 400°F for 4 minutes.
If the chicken has been diced or sliced, you can reheat it in a skillet on the stove over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes.
Ways to serve it
- Salads: dice up the chicken and use it in this bbq chicken salad recipe. This is my favorite way to use the leftovers! You can also add the chicken to this blue cheese salad or grilled caesar salad.
- Wraps: dice the chicken and load it into tortillas with your favorite veggies. Drizzle in some salad dressing or sauce to make an epic wrap for lunch or dinner.
- Sandwiches: melt a slice of sharp cheddar cheese over a smoked chicken breast. Place it on a toasted bun with your favorite sandwich toppings. I like to add coleslaw and pickles. You can also chop up leftover smoked chicken, heat it up with bbq sauce on the stove, then make an epic bbq chopped chicken sandwich.
More smoker recipes
Try these tested and perfected smoker recipes, with some new creations and recipes passed down from my families archives!
Smoked Chicken Breast
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 tablespoons bbq seasoning, click link for recipe
- ½ cup bbq sauce, optional
Instructions
- Preheat a smoker to 225°F with pecan, apple, or cherry pellets, or wood chips.
- Pat the chicken breasts dry with paper towels. Drizzle the olive oil evenly over the chicken breasts and rub the oil into them.
- Sprinkle the bbq seasoning evenly over the chicken and rub it onto all sides.
- Place the chicken breasts in an even layer on the grill grates in the smoker and smoke them for 1 hour. After an hour, turn the heat on the smoker up to 450°F, or the highest temperature. Continue cooking the chicken for 15-30 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 155°F.
- Optional: brush the chicken breasts with the bbq sauce, then continue to cook for another 5-10 minutes, or until the internal temperature in the thickest part of the chicken breast reaches 160°F.
- Remove from the smoker, loosely tent with foil and rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
- For this recipe, I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You can also make this recipe with bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts. The skin will crisp up when the smoker is turned up to high at the end. If you prefer to finish them in the oven or air fryer for even crispier skin, refer to the blog post above for instructions.
- Store leftover smoked chicken in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Nutrition Facts
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