Why you’ll love this smoked chicken breast recipe!
- This recipe is great for meal prepping. You can cook quite a few chicken breasts to last for the week and they can be served in a variety of ways. Slice them for sandwiches, serve them with salads, whatever you want.
- If you’ve had trouble in the past cooking chicken breast without them getting dried out, this slower method of cooking is almost foolproof.
- This chicken might be simple, but the flavor is incredible. You can serve it with your favorite summer side dishes – like sun dried tomato pasta salad or a romaine wedge salad – to make an impressive complete meal.
Our pellet grill
We recently upgraded our pellet grill to a Traeger Ironwood 885, and we absolutely love it!
If you’re using an electric or other type of smoker, simply set yours to the temperatures listed and use as directed by your manufacturer.
How to smoke chicken breast
Start your smoker. Set your smoker to 225˚F and make sure you have enough pellets in your hopper. Before adding your chicken to the grill, let it heat completely and scrape the grill grates clean if needed.
Season the chicken. Liberally season your chicken breast with coarse salt, black pepper and garlic powder. I don’t normally measure when I’m seasoning my protein, but for reference, I like to use about 1 teaspoon coarse salt per pound of meat.
If you want to use a seasoning blend like a bbq dry rub or taco seasoning, you can do that too. Just make sure you use enough salt to really season the chicken.
Smoke the chicken. Place your chicken on the grill grate and insert a temperature probe (if you have one). Let the chicken smoke for about 1 hour, turning once about halfway through cooking.
When the chicken breast reaches 165˚F, remove it from the grill and let it rest for about 5-10 minutes before slicing.
More chicken recipes: grilled chicken tenders / chicken teriyaki bowls / chicken tortilla soup / honey soy chicken wings
Frequently asked questions
It should take about 1 hour to smoked a chicken breast at 225˚F, depending on the size of the chicken breast. I always recommend using a temperature probe to monitor the internal temperature and remove it at 165˚F. If you cook it any longer, it will end up dry and/or tough.
Technically, you don’t need to turn chicken breast when smoking them, but I think it helps to cook them more evenly and prevent the one side from drying out more than the other.
No. You should not wrap your chicken breast when smoking them. It prevents the smoke flavor from penetrating the meat and won’t add the delicious flavor that smoking provides. Foil can be used in longer cooks to prevent moisture loss, for meats such as pork shoulder or brisket, but it should definitely not be used for quicker cooks.
More pellet grill recipes: smoked chicken wings / smoked deviled eggs / smoked shrimp / smoked meatloaf
Smoked Chicken Breast
Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (2-3 pounds total)
- 2 teaspoons coarse salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat smoker to 225˚F and make sure you have enough fuel for at least 1 hour.
- Season chicken liberally with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
- Place chicken breast on the smoker with a temperature probe inserted.
- Smoke for about 1 hour, or until internal temperature reaches 165˚F, turning once halfway through cooking.
- Remove from smoker and allow the chicken to rest for about 5 minutes before slicing or serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
This took WAY longer than an hour in my brand new Traeger. I used pretty thick breasts so I’m not sure if that was the problem but it was more like two hours and even then it never got to 165. I sous vide chicken breast at 140 so I knew it would be okay at that temp.
Anyway….it tasted great! Thanks, I would never have thought of this.
I’m guessing it definitely had something to do with the size of your chicken breast. I always try to buy smaller chicken breast, because I think they have better texture, but in the end, I always go by internal temp and not the time. I’m glad you enjoyed them!
Should the breast be started as frozen or thawed when prepped?
Thawed.