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Holding a smoked chicken thigh on the smoker with tongs
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Smoked Chicken Thighs

Make your Smoked BBQ Chicken Thighs perfect every time with this easy to follow recipe! You only need a few ingredients to serve up some delicious and juicy chicken at your next get together.
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Keyword chicken thighs on smoker, how to smoke chicken, smoked chicken thighs, smoking chicken thighs
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 40 minutes
Servings 10 thighs
Calories 367kcal
Author Isabel Laessig

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 10 Bone-In Skin-On Chicken Thighs
  • 1 Cup of BBQ Sauce
  • ⅓ Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
  • Coarse Salt to taste
  • Coarse Black Pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat the smoker to 225 degrees. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken thighs. Do not be shy with the seasoning.
    Seasoned chicken thigh on a cutting board
  • Place your chicken on the smoker and let them smoke for 1 hour.
    Chicken thighs on the smoker
  • While the chicken smokes, mix the bbq sauce and apple cider vinegar. You are just looking for a thinner sauce consistency for easy glazing.
    Pouring vinegar in a bowl with bbq sauce
  • After the first hour of smoking, bump the temp up to 300 degrees and let the chicken smoke for another hour, or until the internal temperature of the chicken hits 185 degrees. Once the chicken has finished cooking, dunk them in the glaze and cover them entirely.
    Dipping a chicken thigh in BBQ sauce
  • Then place them back on the smoker for another half hour, or until the glaze is nice and tacky.
    Glazed chicken thighs in smoker
  • Remove the chicken from the smoker. Let the chicken rest for about ten minutes and enjoy!
    Fork with smoked chicken on a plate

Notes

  • When it comes to the sauce, you can use anything you want. Just be sure it has a thinner consistency so it glazes nicely. If you use a thin BBQ sauce, then you can skip the vinegar.
  • If you wish, you can peel the skin back on the thighs and apply the seasonings directly to the meat. This makes the preparation a little longer, but the results are worth it!
  • This recipe can work for chicken wings and legs as well. Just be sure they are whole chicken wings and not just the sections. The cooking time can vary, but the process is essentially the same. You’re largely looking for the internal temperature to be 185 degrees, which is the done mark for chicken.
  • Some great options for the smoke are pecan, applewood, or hickory. This recipe used pecan wood and they were so smoky and tasty.
  • I used a pellet smoker for this recipe, but any type of smoker is just fine as long as you control the temperature and get those thighs to the 185 degrees mark, internally.

Nutrition

Serving: 1thigh | Calories: 367kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 142mg | Sodium: 406mg | Potassium: 368mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 177IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 22mg | Iron: 1mg