Chicken Thighs On The Big Green Egg

You can’t get a better ratio of price to taste than cooking up a batch of chicken thighs on the Big Green Egg. It seems our grocery store is always having a sale on chicken thighs and until I started smoking them, I was never a big fan.

But now, for a $5 pack of chicken thighs, I can turn it into a meal that would easily go for $20+ in a restaurant. (Fun 2024 update – wow, imagine if a pack of chicken thighs was still $5 for one pack.)

How do I do it? Well, it is all about the dry rub and the powers of the Big Green Egg.

Smoking chicken thighs on Big Green Egg

What you will need

1. Pack of chicken thighs cleaned up to your liking. 
2. Dry rub of choice (bought or made). I make mine up as I go from the spice cupboard.
3. Wood chips of choice.
4. About two hours of your life.

Directions

Now I am pretty low-maintenance when it comes to meat. Ideally, I get the meat from the store or butcher without any work to do. With chicken thighs, most times, they are pretty cleaned up but sometimes you do need to trim some fat.

On this day, I just took them right out of the pack and worked with them as is.

1. Wash the chicken thighs under some cold water and then pat them down with paper towel until you have them as dry as possible.
2. Put together your dry rub if you did not buy it. For this smoke, I went with an Indian theme.
   I used – brown sugar, onion powder, basil, chili powder, ground allspice, turmeric, paprika, tandoori, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
3. I mixed and muddled it all up as sometimes the brown sugar is clumpy.
4. Once the chicken is dry I put it in a pan and started sprinkling the rub on.
5. With my hands, I work it into the chicken on both sides. If there is any rub left I just pour it on evenly until it is all gone.
6. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and fire it in the fridge. If you are planning to cook sooner, just let it sit on the counter for an hour or so.
7. Once it is time to cook, you are going to need about 1.5 hours to get the job done.
8. First fire up the grill/smoker/Big Green Egg or whatever you have.
9. Get the temp nice and hot because you are going to drop that chicken to get a nice seer on each side. I usually go for 450 degrees with the lip open and flames dancing.
10. Add wood chips if you want and put the grill back on.
11. Using direct heat (flames can get to it), place the chicken thighs on the grill and cook each side for about a minute. The flames will be going crazy at this point because of the brown sugar. Don’t worry, they are not getting burnt even though you will see some blackening. You want that black colour.
12. Take the chicken off and set your Egg up for indirect heat. I have a plate setter that will block the flames.
13. Get the temp down to around 300 degrees and put the chicken back on the grill. This way the heat will get to the chicken but not the flames.
14. Now smoke the chicken for 40-45 minutes, getting the chicken’s internal temp up pate 170 degrees.
15. Try your best not to open the lid. Those thighs will be okay, I promise.
16. Once it is time, take the chicken off and let the thighs sit for at least five minutes before plating.
17. Enjoy your juicy, spicy, and sweet chicken.

Every time we do this recipe I change up the spices. I do however always use brown sugar as it is great for the black and crunchy skin. Our 3-year-old pretty much just eats the skin because it is so sweet.

There you have it, chicken thighs on the Big Green Egg. For under $10, you can feed 4-6 people and do it with flavour.

Want to see more photos of my Big Green Egg cooking? Follow Like A Dad on Instagram.

Do you use your Big Green Egg in the winter? Let me know. What do you cook? What tips can you share?

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A post shared by Michael Cusden (@likeadad)