I love chicken with sauce, breaded, stewed and grilled. However, sometimes I make up a big batch of chicken with the idea of having it around for cold lunches and snacks. When I do that I like my chicken without any sauce and cooked at high temperature. I find the skin stays bite through while cold and the chicken seams moister. Add to that it isn’t as messy to eat with your fingers, Nekid chicken is my go to.
The upside to all this is that it is delicious hot, too! However, I do have some modesty, the chicken isn’t totally bare. I do give it a dusting of barbecue rub. It adds flavour but doesn’t mess up the skin for eating cold.
I started with 8 chicken thighs. I put 15 ml (1 tbsp) of my Basic BBQ Rub in a bowl. You can use any rub you like. I worked my finger under the skin to make a pocket and rubbed a scant 1 ml (1/4 tsp) of rub into each pocket. I rubbed the remainder of the rub on the skin of the thighs.
Put the chicken thighs in the fridge, uncovered for 6 hours to overnight. I preheated my smoker to 400 F. You’ll note I put them on a rack over a tray. This is not normally needed. It was very cold and my smoker would apply a lot of direct heat to get back up to temperature and would over brown the bottoms of the thighs. This doesn’t happen unless I was smoking in frigid temperatures.
You could also set up a barbecue for indirect heat with one burner turned off and the chicken cooking over the turned off burner.
Another option is to cook the chicken in a 425 F oven.
I cooked the thighs for about 25 to 30 minutes and checked the internal temperature. I find I get the best texture for this recipe if the internal temperature is over 180 F.
I cooked some baked potatoes and She Who Must Be Obeyed made broccoli salad and coleslaw.
The Verdict
This turned out great! The chicken was moist and had a nice flavour from the rub. The skin was delicious! The next day I had a piece cold for lunch. It was firm, moist and not too messy on my fingers! Make up lots of this and have lunches for later!
The Old Fat Guy
Ingredients
- 8 chicken thighs
- 15 ml (1 tbsp) barbecue rub
Instructions
- Work your finger under the skin of each thigh to make a pocket.
- Spoon a scant 1 ml (1/4 tsp) of the rub into each pocket.
- Rub the remaining rub over the skin.
- Put the chicken in the fridge, uncovered, for six hours to overnight.
- If cooking in a smoker, preheat the smoker to 400 F. Cook 25 to 30 minutes to an internal temperature of 180 F.
- If cooking in a barbecue, turn off one burner in your barbecue and cook the chicken on the side with the burner turned off to an internal temperature of 180 F.
- If cooking in an oven, preheat to 425 F. Cook for 25 to 30 minutes to an internal temperature of 180 F.
- Let sit for 5 minutes if serving hot or cool and refrigerate for lunches and cold use.
