Hello everybody, it’s John, welcome to our recipe site. Today, I’m gonna show you how to make a distinctive dish, smoked whole chicken and turkey legs. One of my favorites. This time, I’m gonna make it a little bit tasty. This will be really delicious.
Smoked whole chicken and turkey legs is one of the most favored of recent trending meals on earth. It is simple, it is fast, it tastes yummy. It’s appreciated by millions every day. Smoked whole chicken and turkey legs is something that I’ve loved my entire life. They are nice and they look fantastic.
How to brine a chicken before smoking. You can brine a whole chicken or pieces of chicken. Our most recent smoking episode had us brining the breasts, legs, and thighs from four large chickens.
To begin with this recipe, we must first prepare a few components. You can cook smoked whole chicken and turkey legs using 15 ingredients and 7 steps. Here is how you cook that.
The ingredients needed to make Smoked whole chicken and turkey legs:
- Prepare 2 whole chickens 3-5 lbs each
- Get 1 package turkey legs
- Prepare 1 orange
- Make ready 1 lemon
- Make ready 2 sprigs rosemary
- Make ready 4 sprigs tarragon
- Prepare 5 cups sugar
- Take 3 1/4 cups kosher salt
- Prepare 2/3 cup chili powder
- Get 1/4 cup onion powder
- Take 1/4 cup garlic powder
- Take 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Get 6 dried bay leaves
- Get 1 tablespoon chopped dehydrated onion
- Make ready 3 gallons water
Take a few hours to brine the chicken for the best results, stuff it with some onion, garlic, and lemon, and finally, rub it with delicious chicken dry rub. Entire chicken leg quarters contain the drumstick, thigh, and a portion of back meat. Chicken drumstick includes the thigh bone and thigh meat. Boneless chicken thigh meat is removed from the bone, tender and ready for kitchen preparation.
Steps to make Smoked whole chicken and turkey legs:
- Combine 3 cups of kosher salt, 4.5 cups sugar, 6 bay leaves, 1 tbsp chopped dehydrated onions and 3 gallons water to make the brine. Soak the chickens and turkey legs in the brine and refrigerate over night or minimum 4 hours.
- Make the rub. I used Myron Mixon's 'The only other barbecue rub you need' recipe. Combine 2/3 cup chili powder, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup kosher salt, 1/4 cup onion powder, 1/4 garlic powder and 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- Soak your choice of wood chunks in water (I used mesquite). Light the charcoal in the smoker. Slice up the orange and lemon into approximately 12 pieces each.
- Rinse the chicken and turkey in cold water and pat dry.
- Stuff each chicken with half an orange, half a lemon, 1 sprig rosemary and 2 sprigs of tarragon.
- Cover the chickens and turkey legs on all sides with the rub.
- Put the chicken breast side up and the turkey legs on the smoker. Smoke at 275° for 3.5 hours or until the white meat hits 160 and the dark reaches 180. Check the temp periodically and add more charcoal and wood chunks as needed.
Mix all dry rub seasoning ingredients together in a mixing bowl and rub olive oil all over the chicken legs to fully coat the drumsticks. Rub the seasoning mix to fully coat the outside of the legs. To measure the temperature of a whole chicken, insert a digital thermometer into the thickest part of the breast. I absolutely love a whole smoked chicken with a good sweet rub. My Best Sweet Rub is a favorite on this site, and super easy to make at home.
So that’s going to wrap this up for this special food smoked whole chicken and turkey legs recipe. Thanks so much for your time. I am sure you will make this at home. There’s gonna be more interesting food at home recipes coming up. Remember to save this page in your browser, and share it to your loved ones, colleague and friends. Thanks again for reading. Go on get cooking!
