Smoked Chicken Breast (on a pellet grill)

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Close up of sliced smoked chicken breasts with lemon wedges and fresh parsley.

Why you’ll love this smoked chicken breast recipe

This recipe is also 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.

Close up of a sliced up juicy, chicken breast on a plate.

Here’s what you’ll need to make it

measuring spoons

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baking sheet

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Grilling Tools

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Smoked chicken breasts on a baking sheet after being cooked.

Weber SmokeFire

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Our pellet grill

We have a Weber Smokefire pellet grill, and we absolutely love it! If you have a different type of smoker, like a Traeger or Pit Boss, that’s will work, too.

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.

Close up of smoked chicken breast sliced.

faqs about smoked chicken breast

How long does it take to smoke chicken breasts at 225?

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.

Do you flip chicken breast when smoking?

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.

Should you wrap chicken in foil to smoke?

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.

Close up of chicken on a baking sheet, after being removed from a smoker grill.

More pellet grill recipes to try

Smoked chicken wings
Smoked deviled eggs
Smoked shrimp (coming soon)

More chicken recipes you’ll love