If you’re looking for some of the best pellet grill recipes for chicken, then you’ll want to read on.

Chicken is one of the most popular and best meats to smoke in your pellet grill because it’s so versatile and delicious.

If you are looking to smoke a bigger bird try our pellet grill recipe for turkey breast.

Pellet Grill Recipes Chicken

1 Smokin’ Thai Curry Chicken

This great pellet grill chicken recipe comes from Traeger and only takes 20 minutes to cook. The chicken is marinated for a short while (1-4 hours) in a delicious marinade and then grilled at 450F (232C) for around 20 minutes over apple wood.

Pellet Grill Chicken Curry Ingredients

• 1/4 Cup of soy sauce
• 3 Tablespoon of packed dark brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoon of fresh lime juice
• 2 Tablespoon of oil
• 2 Teaspoon of curry powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon of cardamom
• 2  minced garlic cloves
• 1 Teaspoon of lemongrass
• 1 Teaspoon of fresh minced ginger
• 1  chopped Thai red chilli pepper (Bird’s Eye Chilli)

Although the chicken is only in the pellet smoker for a short while you’ll still get a nice mild, fruity, smoky flavour from the apple wood pellets.

2 Pellet Grill Recipes For Chicken – Smoked Beer Can Chicken

If you haven’t smoked a chicken on a beer can before you really should give it a go. It’s easy and fun and the beer imparts flavour and moisture to your bird. Also it makes you look good in front of your guests.

This recipe involves setting the whole chicken on top of a beer can, applying your favourite BBQ rub of choice, wrapping it in bacon and smoking it at 225F (107C) on your pellet grills over apple wood, hickory, pecan or maple for 2-3 hours.

Have a look at the process in our Instagam video below.

3 Smoked Spatchcocked Chicken With Crispy Skin

Spatchcocking your chicken before smoking is a great way to get extra flavour into the bird as well as reduce cooking times. You simply remove the backbone with a sharp pair of scissors and flatten out the chicken for even cooking.

The simple BBQ rub that comes with the recipe is tasty and effective too.

You smoke the whole spatchcocked chicken at 225F or 107C in your pellet smoker until the internal temperature comes up to 165F or 74C.

Smoked Spatchcocked Chicken Ingredients

• 4 pound whole chicken
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup paprika
• 1/4 cup Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper, optional

4 Pellet Grill Recipes For Chicken – BBQ Chicken Tikka Kebabs Recipe

This is another fantastic chicken recipe to try out on your pellet smoker. You cut your chicken into kebab-sized pieces and then marinade them the marinade below with a tablespoon of mix powder.

When you are ready to cook your kebabs you thread them onto skewers, get your pellet smoker up to 450F (232C) and grill them on all sides until they read 165F or 74C internal temperature.

Marinade Ingredients

• 2 tbsps yoghurt
• 1 clove grated garlic
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 tbsp veg oil
• 1 green finger chilli
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Optional – 1 tbsp Red Food Colouring – doesn’t affect taste but has become expected.

Marinade for at least an hour – overnight if possible.

Tandoori Mix Powder

• 1 tbsp curry powder e.g. Madras Powder
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tbsp turmeric

Mix the spices together in a bowl until well combined. You only need 1 tablespoon of the mix powder for this recipe so you keep the rest for another time.

5 Pellet Smoker Char Siu Chicken

This delicious chicken kebab (US kabob) recipe is prepared in a similar manner to the chicken tikka one above. You marinade your chicken pieces in the marinade below for 3-24 hours and then grill them on skewers at high heat on your pellet smoker.

• 2 finely chopped garlic cloves
• 2 tsp of brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp of honey
• 1 1/2 tbsp of hoisin sauce
• 2 tsp of oyster sauce
• 1 ½ tbsp of light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil 
• Optional – a few drops red food colouring

6 Smoked Chicken Enchiladas

Although this is more of a leftover smoked chicken recipe you can follow the whole chicken recipe in this post to get you there too.

Smoked chicken is perfect for this Tex-Mex inspired dish and you’ll need the following ingredients;

Ingredients

• 8 corn or tortillas

• 6 cups smoked chicken diced

• 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

• 1 pound tomatillos peeled, rinsed, and quartered

• 1 onion

• 3 cloves garlic

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• Half a tsp salt

• freshly ground black pepper

• 2 tablespoons sour cream

Simply bake the onion, tomatoes, olive oil and garlic in the oven (or your pellet smoker) then blend to make your sauce, adding salt and pepper.

Put the cheese, chicken and some of the sauce inside your tortillas and place them in a baking tray. Sprinkle over some cheese and sauce over the tortillas and bake until golden.

Serve with sour cream and more sauce if desired.

Obviously cooking in the pellet grill adds a rich layer of smokiness which we would recommend.

7 Traeger Baked Chicken Cordon Bleu

For a classic French inspired smoked chicken recipe we would we would heartily recommend Traeger’s Cordon Bleu smoked chicken.

You butterfly a chicken breast then stuff it with proscuitto and Swiss cheese, and roll it up like a burrito. The chicken breast is then coated with a flour, egg and breadcrumb mixture and smoked over hickory wood in the pellet smoker for around half an hour.

Such a delicious way to enjoy smoked chicken in your pellet grill!

Ingredients

• (4-5 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 8 slices Swiss Cheese
• 8 Slices Proscuitto or Ham
• 1/3 Flour
• Panko Breadcrumbs
• 2 tbsp melted butter
• 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt & Pepper

8 Korean BBQ Style Chicken For the Pellet Smoker

Korean BBQ has become an increasingly popular BBQ style because of its sweet, fiery, citrusy flavours which are beyond delicious.

Although this recipe calls for chicken breast cut into cubes you could easily adapt it for chicken thighs, wings or drumsticks.

Once the chicken has been marinaded in Korean BBQ sauce (3-24hours) you place it on skewers and grill it at high heat (450F+ or 232C+) on your pellet smoker.

If you haven’t tried Korean BBQ before you are in for a treat – if you have you’ll know how good it can taste!

Ingredients For BBQ Korean Chicken

6 Chicken Breasts Cut Into Cubes

Freshly Ground Salt & Pepper

1 Teaspoon of Chinese 5 Spice

To Serve

3 Spring Onions Finely Chopped

1 Red Chilli Deseeded & Finely Chopped

Sesame Seeds (Optional — Toasted in a Dry Pan)

For the Korean BBQ Sauce Marinade

3cm Piece of Ginger Peeled & Finely Chopped

2 Cloves of Garlic Peeled & Finely Chopped

1 Tablespoon of Sriracha Sauce

1 Tablespoon of Cornflour Added to 2 Tablespoons of Water

2 Tablespoons of Sesame Oil

4 Tablespoons of Rice Vinegar

5 and a half Tablespoons or 1/3 Cup of Brown Sugar

6 and a half Tablespoons or 1/2 Cup of Soy Sauce

9 Pellet Grill Smoked Teriyaki Chicken

This very simple but highly effective recipe for teriyaki chicken can be cooked quickly on your pellet smoker and can be used as an appetiser or as part of a main dish.

Although this recipe suggests cooking at 180F it might worth smoking at 225F or 107C for faster and just as effective results. This will shave 35-45 minutes off the cook time.

Ingredients

• 10 chicken legs

Teriyaki Marinade

• ½ cup soy sauce
• ½ cup sake
• ½ cup mirin
• 1 tablespoon white sugar

Instructions

• Combine the soy sauce, sake, mirin and sugar in a large ziplock bag. Smoosh it around to dissolve the sugar.
• Place the chicken legs in the bag and marinate in the refrigerator for 2-24 hours.
• About 30 minutes before you are ready to smoke, preheat your smoker to 180 and remove the legs from the refrigerator.
• If using a rack, place legs on it. Otherwise place the legs directly on the grill rack.
• Smoke for 1 hour. If legs are directly on the grill, turn them over after 30 minutes.
• Turn grill up to 350 and grill for 30-45 more minutes or until legs reach 165 degrees. Turning them once if they are directly on the grill rack.
• Let rest for 15 minutes.

10 Classic Buffalo Smoked Chicken Wings on the Pellet Grills

There’s a reason why Buffalo wings just straight up work and are considered a classic approach to smoked chicken wings. This Buffalo sauce is a bit special and contains more ingredients than the classic mix of melted butter and Frank’s Red Hot Sauce.

The extra touches really make a massive difference to the final result.

Buffalo Sauce Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons of Butter
• ½ cup or 8 tablespoons of Tabasco Sauce (you can also substitute Frank’s Hot Sauce or Louisiana Hot Sauce) or to taste if you like it milder
• 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika 
• ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Chilli Powder (we like Extra Hot Chilli Powder but to taste) 
• 2 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar 
• 1 teaspoon Worcester Sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

It’s really worth marinading your chicken wings for 3-24 hours in the Buffalo Sauce but you can marinade them for 1 hour at least if you are short on time.

Smoke your marinated chicken wings at 250F or 121C for around 2 hours until the internal temperature registers 165F or 74C at the thickest point of the chicken meat away from the bone.

11 Smoked Chicken Thighs on the Pellet Grills

Chicken thighs are a cheap and underrated cut for smoking on your pellet grills, yet they are flavourful, moist and delicious nonetheless.

Liberally rub your chicken thighs with the homemade BBQ rub below and then smoke them at 225F or 107C for 1-2 hours over hickory, apple or cherry wood.

Smoked Chicken Thighs BBQ Rub

• 1 tablespoon fine sea salt
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chilli powder
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons garlic powde
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons onion powder

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