Traeger Smoked Chicken Thighs

These Traeger Smoked Chicken Thighs (or quarters) are one of our go-to easy summer meals for entertaining friends. The smoky flavor, juicy meat, and sticky sweet barbecue sauce finish is outdoor cooking at its finest and takes less than 15 minutes of prep work!

We love using our Traeger pellet grill to make these easy smoked chicken thighs all year round since we are lucky enough to live where grilling season can pretty much be done any month of the year. When folks ask me whether it is worth it to get a Traeger, I always say absolutely because it’s basically like a slow cooker where you set your ingredients on it and let it do it’s work and then dinner is done! There’s no fussing over flames or worry about flare-ups or anything.

Although we usually make this with a large pack of bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs from Costco, when I really want to impress friends who are coming over for dinner I will sometimes grab a big pack of chicken quarters that have legs and thighs attached. Those are my favorite in terms of presentation, even if the thighs are my actual favorite to eat.

What You’ll Need

• Bone-in, Skin-On Chicken Thighs or Quarters – I do not recommend this approach for boneless, skinless chicken thighs unless you plan to adjust the cooking time and watch them carefully so they don’t overcook since they won’t take as long as the bone-in pieces. Yes, you could also use chicken breasts, but be sure to go off temperature, not time, because they cook a little differently from the chicken thighs and are more prone to drying out.
• BBQ Seasoning or Rub – You could absolutely throw together a smoky bbq rub yourself using ingredients on hand, but this is one of those recipes where I always just go with one of the spice blends in my pantry that I keep on hand. Kinder’s BBQ Blend is a go-to for us, as is their all-purpose butcher’s seasoning. Any kind of sweet bbq rub with some sugar, garlic and onion powder, maybe some smoked paprika, and salt is going to give you a nice base flavor.
• BBQ Sauce – There are plenty of store bought options to choose from. We like going with a Kansas City-style bbq sauce for that classic sweet bbq flavor with just a little heat.
• Wood – You’ll also need a pellet grill or traditional smoker with apple, cherry, or pecan wood or pellets. It’s amazing the flavor that is added to your smoked meats by using the right kind of wood. I don’t recommend hickory, oak, or mesquite for this particular recipe.
• Oil – You need just a drizzle of vegetable or olive oil for rubbing onto the chicken before adding the rub.

Let’s Smoke Some Chicken Thighs!

1. Prep the chicken. Start by patting the chicken dry with paper towels. Drizzle with a little vegetable oil or olive oil and rub all over the pieces. Sprinkle generously with your favorite rub on both sides of the chicken so it is evenly coated.

2. Start the smoker. You want to give it at least 10-15 minutes to get the smoke going and preheat to 325 degrees F.
3. Cook. Place the chicken thighs on the grill grates with the skin side up. You won’t need to flip them during the cooking process since they are being cooked slowly over indirect heat. Roast until an instant read digital meat thermometer (affiliate link) reads 165°F when inserted into the thickest part of the thigh (but not touching the bone). It’s typically about 45 minutes to 1 ½ hours, depending on how large your chicken pieces are and how cold they were when they went on the grill. Sometimes when just doing chicken thighs they are done much faster than when we are using chicken quarters or have larger thighs to work with. The important thing is to go by temperature, not by time.

4. Sauce. Brush the chicken with barbecue sauce during the last 15 minutes of cooking so it has a chance to caramelize before the chicken reaches 165°F. We only brush the tops of the chicken, but you can use tongs to turn it and brush both sides if you prefer. Let the finished chicken rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

What to Serve with Smoked Chicken

Barbecued chicken always takes center stage at a cookout, but that doesn’t mean you should forget the side dishes! Here are some of our favorites that are stars in their own right and pair perfectly with the smoky, spicy, sweet flavor of bbq chicken!

• Greek Potato Salad (pictured in these images as one of our favorite chosen sides with smoked chicken)
• Classic Bacon Broccoli Salad
• The Best Macaroni Salad
• Creamy Pea Salad with Bacon
• Italian Pasta Salad
• Frito Corn Salad
• Creamy German Cucumber Salad
• Summer Melon Salad
• Grilled Peach Salad