Smoked Chicken Thighs are tender, juicy, and full of smoky flavor! Smoking chicken thighs on a pellet grill is an easy and mess free way to have a delicious dinner on the table quickly. This recipe is also great for meal prep and serving with your favorite BBQ or dipping sauce.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Delicious and crispy chicken skin! Who doesn’t love that? The dry rub on these smoked chicken thighs help the skin to crisp up and give it incredible flavor.
- This recipe is great for meal prep. I love smoking a ton of chicken on the weekend to have on hand for the week and this recipe is perfect for this! Chicken breasts work great as well if you’re not a fan of dark meat or chicken thighs. Give this Traeger Smoked Chicken Breast recipe a try!
- These chicken thighs are quick and easy to make. One of my favorite reasons for using our traeger grill is that it’s incredibly easy and mess free! This is a delicious and simple recipe for your electric smoker that is full of smoky flavor.
- Chicken thighs are more tender, flavorful, and less expensive than chicken breasts. Chicken thighs have a higher fat content than breasts making them the perfect protein to smoke without worry of them drying out. They remain moist, juicy, and are naturally full of flavor! Thighs are also more economically priced then chicken breasts making this recipe a great one to double or even triple for your week.
Ingredients Needed
Ingredient Notes
- Chicken thighs - I recommend bone-in and skin-on chicken thighs however you can use boneless and skinless thighs as well! We love Butcherbox organic and free-range chicken thighs!
- Coconut sugar - this is a great natural and paleo alternative to brown sugar and helps caramelize the skin on the chicken while adding delicious flavor to the dry rub.
- Cayenne pepper - You can add more or less depending on the spice level you prefer!
- BBQ sauce - this is great recipe to use your favorite barbecue sauce if desired! These thighs are also delicious with only the chicken dry rub or you can use dipping sauces after grilling.
- Apple Cider Vinegar - this is used to thin the bbq sauce to create a mop for the final minutes of cooking.
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How To Make This Recipe
- In a small bowl mix all of the ingredients for the chicken dry rub.
- Pat the chicken thighs dry with a paper towel, and place in a large bowl or on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the chicken thighs with enough rub to fully coat each thigh.
Note - You can store any unused chicken rub in an airtight container at room temperature, assuming it wasn’t in contact with the raw chicken.
- Use your hands to rub the seasonings into the chicken.
- Place the chicken thighs skin side up directly on the grill grates of your preheated traeger. Smoke the chicken for approximately 45 minutes (the time can vary greatly based on the size of the thighs).
- While the chicken is smoking, mix the bbq sauce with apple cider vinegar.
- Once the internal temperature of the chicken thighs reaches 160 degrees F, mop the chicken with the bbq sauce and then flip the thighs skin side down in order for the skin to crisp up. *I highly recommend using a digital meat thermometer (like a Meater Meat Thermometer) when cooking any type of meat to ensure it is perfectly done!
- Continue grilling the chicken until the internal temperature reaches 170-175 degrees F. Remove chicken from the grill and enjoy!
Note: The texture of thigh meat (or other dark chicken meat) is better and more tender cooked to a higher temperature than that of white meat like chicken breast.
What To Serve With Smoked Chicken
This chicken recipe is so versatile and goes great with all of your favorite sides. Here are a couple great options to serve with these chicken thighs:
Smoked Vegetables
Air Fryer Baked Sweet Potatoes
Traeger Asparagus
Traeger Baked Potatoes
Recipe FAQ’s
Absolutely! We love how crispy the skin gets on these thighs, however, you can absolutely swap this recipe for boneless skinless chicken thighs or even chicken legs. Adjust the time as needed to ensure the internal temperature reaches the desired temp without overcooking the chicken.
For chicken wings give these Smoked Chicken Wings a try!
While any flavor pellets will work for this recipe, sweeter and more mild pellets like apple wood or cherry wood pellets give this chicken great flavor. For a more intense smoke flavor go for flavors such as hickory or mesquite wood pellets.
While you can certainly smoke these thighs at a lower temperature (200-250 F) for a longer period to get more of a smoke flavor, I recommend removing them from the grill in the last 10 minutes and increasing the heat to around 400 degrees F in order to sear the chicken skin side down. Cooking the chicken at a higher temperature and/or searing the skin keeps the skin crispy rather than tough and rubbery skin.
More Traeger Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Smoked Chicken Thighs
Equipment
- Traeger Pellet Grill or other electric smoker
Ingredients
- 3 lb chicken thighs bone-in and skin-on
- ¾ cup bbq sauce
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Chicken Thigh Dry Rub
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper optional
- ½ tsp allspice
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your Traeger grill (or other smoker) to 300°F. See notes below for additional cooking times and temperatures.
- In a small bowl mix all of the ingredients for the chicken dry rub.
- Pat the chicken thighs dry with a paper towel, and place in a large bowl or on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the chicken thighs with enough rub to fully coat each thigh and use your hands to rub the seasonings into the chicken. Note - You can store any unused chicken rub in an airtight container at room temperature, assuming it wasn’t in contact with the raw chicken.
- Place the chicken thighs skin side up directly on the grill grates of the preheated Traeger. Smoke the chicken for approximately 40 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 160° F (the time can vary greatly based on the size of the thighs).
- While the chicken is smoking, mix the bbq sauce with apple cider vinegar.
- Once the internal temperature of the chicken thighs reaches 160°F, mop the chicken with the bbq sauce and then flip the thighs skin side down in order for the skin to crisp up.
- Continue grilling the chicken until the internal temperature reaches 170-175° F.
- Remove chicken from the grill and enjoy!
Notes
- Chicken Thighs - You can swap bone-in and skin-on thighs for boneless-skinless thighs or even chicken legs. Adjust the time as needed to ensure the internal temperature reaches the desired temp without overcooking the chicken.
- Coconut sugar - this can be substituted for brown sugar (though it is not paleo).
- Cayenne - this is optional but adds a delicious kick to the spice rub if you desire it!
- BBQ sauce - Use your favorite BBQ sauce here. These thighs are also great with only the chicken dry rub or you can use dipping sauces after grilling.
- The texture of thigh meat is more tender cooked to a higher temperature than that of white meat like chicken breast which is why I recommend cooking to an IT of 170-175 degrees F.
- I always recommend using a digital meat thermometer (like a Meater Meat Thermometer) when cooking any type of meat to ensure it is perfectly done!
- You can smoke these thighs at a lower temperature (200-250 F) for a longer period to get more of a smoke flavor.
- Remove them from the grill in the last 10 minutes and increase the heat to around 400 degrees F in order to sear the chicken skin side down.
- Cooking the chicken at a higher temperature and/or searing the skin keeps the skin crispy rather than tough and rubbery.
Nutrition
Love this recipe? Consider leaving a 5-star 🌟 rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. We LOVE to hear from you!
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