smoked chicken quarters

The best smoked chicken leg quarters recipe. No rubbery skin, juicy and delicious.

Smoked Chicken Leg Quarters

chicken leg quarters

tsp kosher salt (or

tsp black pepper (or

garlic powder

onion powder

Tbsp Ancho chile powder

tsp cayenne pepper

Tbsp vegetable oil (for rubbing)

cooking oil (for frying; or butter)

Preheat smoker to 275F at the grate level.

Rub the chicken with oil and evenly sprinkle the seasonings on both sides of each leg quarter.  Get some seasonings under the skin. Pat  down to make the seasonings stick.

In a large cast iron skillet, heat 1/2 cup of cooking oil, or butter, over medium-high heat. In two batches, sear the chicken quarters, about 2 minutes per side or until the skin is golden brown.

Transfer the chicken to the smoker, skin side up.

Smoke at 275F for about 1.5 hours, or until the internal temperature reaches 185F to 190F.

Remove the chicken from the smoker, let rest for 3 minutes and serve with your favorite side dish.

These exceptionally tender and juicy smoked chicken quarters are dusted with a BBQ dry rub and smoked to delicious perfection.

Smoked Chicken Quarters

chicken quarters

olive oil ((or as needed))

BBQ dry rub

Wood chips

Set the chicken quarters on a rimmed baking pan and rub with olive oil, or another cooking oil. Then generously dust each side of the chicken with seasoning until fully coated.

Preheat your smoker to 275 degrees and add wood chips.

Place your seasoned chicken quarters directly on the rack, skin side up, and let smoke for 1 1/2 hours, or until the final temperature check reads 165 degrees.

Let the chicken rest five minutes, then serve.

This recipe is all about the smoke and spice. There’s no marinade, brine, glaze or anything that will take away for the texture. The seasoning builds a nice crust on the skin and it’s almost crispy with a kick of heat.

Spicy Mississippi Chicken Recipe

4lb Fresh Chicken Leg Quarters, skin on (any pieces of chicken can be substituted)

¼ Cup Peanut Oil

Tablespoons Coarse Kosher Salt

Sugar

Paprika

Tablespoon Smoked Paprika

Tablespoon Herbs de Provence

½ Tablespoon Coarse Ground Black Pepper

½ Tablespoon Garlic Flakes

½ Tablespoon Onion Flakes

Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

Teaspoon White Pepper

Teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper

Preheat pellet smoker to 300 degrees using pecan wood pellets for smoke flavor. You can use any grill or smoker for this recipe just keep the temperature steady at 300 degrees.

Pat the chicken dry with paper towel to remove excess moisture. Trim away any unwanted skin or fat if necessary.

Lightly brush the outer surface of each leg quarter with peanut oil.

To make the spicy chicken seasoning: Combine the remaining ingredients in a jar and shake well.

Place the seasoning in a shaker dredge with large openings. Coat the outside of the leg quarters with a medium heavy coat of the seasoning.

Place each leg quarter on the pellet grill and cook until internal temperature reaches 175 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh. (For white meat the internal needs to reach 165 degrees)

Remove each piece from the smoker and rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Malcom the Mississippi spicy chicken was awesome. Please bottle up that rub recipe and add it to your sales inventory.  I made it on Sunday 8/30 and what a hit. My wife fried up some okra with it and all went well together. A little hint on fried okra. The basic batter for it is corn meal but we could never get it to stick well when the okra fried. My wife takes butter milk and beat one egg, add to the buttermilk, soak the okra for about an hour and then batter the okra in Hooters wing breading. I can purchase it at Kroger in the Houston area. The okra comes out with a very light batter and are awesome and went so well with the Spicy Mississippi Chicken. Keep these excellent recipes comming!

Awesome recipe! Tastes great, easy fixings. Nice texture. Good color. 
Cooked on Rec Teq RT-340 pellet

I made the rub for chicken breasts, skin on bone in, first time tonight, and it is *amazing*. We're from south Louisiana and that rub still made us sit up straight and say slap ya momma! (Course if I slapped my momma, I'd be in major dirt, so that's just an expression ;-)  ). Will be checking out your site for more ideas!
thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpRSKLaOeWs

Smoked Chicken Quarters with a Spicy Seasoning grilled on Pellet Grill 
 
#spicymississippichicken #smokedchickenquarters #howtobbqright
 
Spicy Mississippi Chicken Quarters Recipe

WHAT MALCOM USED IN THIS RECIPE:
- Seasoning Shaker http://bit.ly/SeasonShaker
- Thermoworks Thermapen http://bit.ly/H2QThermapen
- Malcom's Trusty Dexter Russell Knife https://bit.ly/H2QKnife6
 
Chicken Leg Quarters were the first pieces of chicken that I learned to cook when I started out on my bbq journey. I could buy a bag of frozen quarters for .25 cents per pound, and that would feed a lot of people on the cheap. Somewhere along the way I started calling this particular recipe my Spicy Mississippi Chicken and the name stuck.... 

You can use any piece of chicken for this recipe but I would definitely keep the skin on.This recipe is all about the smoke and spice. There’s no marinade, brine, glaze or anything that will take away for the texture. The seasoning builds a nice crust on the skin and it’s almost crispy with a kick of heat.

For the seasoning I kept it pretty simple and used a combination of seasonings that were in the pantry. I knew I wanted it spicy so the whole thing revolved around the peppers. I used ground cayenne, crushed red pepper flakes, white pepper for back end heat and plenty of corse ground black. The heat was on point, and I used corse salt, sugar, onion and garlic flakes and few herbs to round it out.  I used my Plastic Dredge Shaker with a wide-hole lid https://h2qshop.com/collections/barbecue-equipment/products/howtobbqright-clear-plastic-shaker-with-3-lids (You can also use this blend as a rotisserie seasoning; it goes great on pork).

You can cook this chicken on any grill or smoker; the key is the cook temperature. The pit needs to be running at 300 degrees to get the skin right. I used my Traeger pellet grill running with pecan pellets for this cook. First I dried the skin with paper towel to remove any moisture then I coated each piece with a little peanut oil. The oil helps the seasoning stick and it also browns the skin.  

Each piece of chicken is generously coated with the Spicy Chicken seasoning *recipe below.  
Place the seasoned chicken on the grill and cook until an internal meat thermometer reads 175 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh. If you’re cooking white meat chicken, it needs to hit 165 degrees internal - and I use my Thermoworks Thermapen to check my internals http://bit.ly/H2QThermapen

Once the chicken is done all you do is let it rest for 5 minutes and it’s ready to eat. Right away you’ll notice the skin is beautiful. The spices and herbs give a crispy-like texture and it has a spicy punch without being too hot. You can always add different peppers or change the amount of each to give it even more kick!

Spicy Mississippi Chicken Ingredients
- 4lb Fresh Chicken Leg Quarters, skin on (any pieces of chicken can be substituted)
- ¼ Cup Peanut Oil
- 3 Tablespoons Coarse Kosher Salt
- 2 Tablespoons Sugar in Raw
- 1 Tablespoon Paprika
- 1 Tablespoon Smoked Paprika
- 1 Tablespoon Herbs de Provence 
- ½ Tablespoon Coarse Ground Black Pepper
- ½ Tablespoon Garlic Flakes
- ½ Tablespoon Onion Flakes
- 1 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
- 1 Teaspoon White Pepper
- 1 Teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper

Spicy Mississippi Chicken Directions.
1. Preheat pellet smoker to 300 degrees using pecan wood pellets for smoke flavor. You can use any grill or smoker for this recipe just keep the temperature steady at 300 degrees.
2. Pat the chicken dry with paper towel to remove excess moisture. Trim away any unwanted skin or fat if necessary.
3. Lightly brush the outer surface of each leg quarter with peanut oil.
4. To make the spicy chicken seasoning: Combine the remaining ingredients in a jar and shake well. 
5. Place the seasoning in a shaker dredge with large openings. Coat the outside of the leg quarters with a medium heavy coat of the seasoning. 
6. Place each leg quarter on the pellet grill and cook until internal temperature reaches 175 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh. (For white meat the internal needs to reach 165 degrees)
7. Remove each piece from the smoker and rest for 5 minutes before serving.  

Connect With Malcom Reed: 
https://howtobbqright.com/
FB - https://www.facebook.com/HowToBBQRight/
T - https://twitter.com/howtobbqright
IG - https://www.instagram.com/howtobbqright/
 
Malcom's Podcast - https://howtobbqright.com/howtobbqright-podcast/ 
 
For Malcom's BBQ Supplies visit - https://h2qshop.com/

Chicken leg quarters are super easy to smoke. These smoked chicken quarters are covered in a flavorful sweet and spicy BBQ rub and then brushed with a thin layer of BBQ sauce. Juicy and delicious, you&#39;ve never tasted a chicken leg quarter recipe like this before!

olive oil

Tablespoons kosher salt

Tablespoons oregano, (dried)

Tablespoon black pepper

coriander

Tablespoon smoked paprika

Tablespoon cumin

Preheat

Prepare the smoker and preheat it to 225°F

Baste

Baste ¼ cup of olive oil onto each quarter chicken. Ensure all crevices are covered in a thin layer of oil.

Mix together all the spice ingredients in a small bowl.

Apply

Next, spoon the dry rub onto each piece of chicken. Ensure you use a generous amount and then using your hands to spread the rub evenly until each piece is covered.

When the smoker has preheated to 225°F, put the chicken thighs directly onto the smoker rack. Insert a digital meat thermometer into the meat, close the lid, and let the chicken leg quarters smoke low and slow.

Smoke

Keep the digital meat thermometer inserted the entire smoke time so you can monitor the internal temperature of the meat. Once the internal meat thermometer reaches 165°F, the chicken is done.

Remove

Using tongs, remove the chicken leg quarters from the smoker and let them rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Talk about flavor! This easy smoked chicken quarter recipe get a simple spice rub before being smoked and then finished with a quick sear for perfectly crispy skin and delicious bites.

lbs Chicken leg quarters

tbsp oil

tbsp berbere

Garlic powder

tsp smoked paprika

Chili powder

Salt

tsp Girl Carnivore Chick Fest

Pat the chicken dry and trim as needed to remove excess skin or fat.

Rub the chicken with the oil.

Whisk the spices together in a bowl.

Liberally coat both sides of the chicken leg quarters with the spice blend.

Prep the Chicken

Temp your Traeger or pellet smoker for 250-275 F.

Arrange the chicken on the grill grates.

Grill chicken skin side up and the lid closed.

After 1 hour, check the chicken for a temp of 180 to 190 F.

Smoke the Chicken Quarters

Remove chicken from grill, set aside.

Increase heat for sear, around 400 to 450 degrees.

Sear chicken to crisp the skin 5 to 10 minutes, rotating as needed.

Sear the Chicken

Allow the smoked chicken quarters to rest before serving 5 minutes.

Serve hot

Rest And Serve

For a simple yet crave-worthy dinner, put these very best smoked chicken leg quarters on the menu and watch everyone fall in love with every delicious, succulent bite! Coated in a flavorful, aromatic dry rub, these tender, juicy chicken quarters are infused with the perfect kiss of smoky flavor and then are finished under a blast of high heat to ensure you get that perfect crispy skin. Your next backyard BBQ will be one to remember when you serve these smoked chicken quarters.

chili powder

brown sugar

black pepper

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

cayenne pepper

cumin

mustard powder

Olive oil

BBQ sauce (optional)

To dry brine for crisp skin, pat the chicken dry with paper towels, and then generously sprinkle with salt and rub into the skin. Place the chicken in the refrigerator uncovered for at least four hours, though overnight is ideal. Do not wipe off the salt after brining.

Prepare the smoker according to the manufacturer’s directions, fill the water pan and set the temperature to 225 degrees F. As the smoker heats, make the spice rub by simply stirring together the spices. Rub the spice mixture all over the skin. Gently lift the skin and rub some spices directly onto the meat as well.

Place the chicken in the smoker with the skin-side up. Insert a leave-in meat thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh without touching the bone. Close the smoker and smoke the chicken until it reaches an internal temperature of 130-140 degrees.

Crank up the heat to 400-425 degrees and remove the chicken quarters. As the temperature increases in heat, brush the skin with olive oil. Place the chicken quarters back in the smoker to finish cooking at that higher temperature. In the last few minutes, brush with BBQ sauce if desired. The chicken is done when it reaches at least 175 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh meat, though you can take it up to 190 degrees to allow the connective tissues and collagen more time to break down for better meat. Let the chicken rest for five minutes to allow the juices to settle. Serve with more BBQ sauce if desired. Enjoy!

https://mediavine-res.cloudinary.com/video/upload/t_original/v1691601157/y4rbya005iwguorv5ux9.mp4

Top 7 smoked chicken quarters recipes from across the web

The most viewed smoked chicken quarters recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Top Tags

Smoked Chicken Leg Quarters

Smoked Chicken Quarters

Spicy Mississippi Chicken Recipe

Spicy Mississippi Chicken Recipe

Smoked Chicken Leg Quarters

Smoked Chicken Quarters

Smoked Chicken Leg Quarters

Top 7 smoked chicken quarters recipes from across the web

The most viewed smoked chicken quarters recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Smoked Chicken Leg Quarters

Smoked Chicken Quarters

Spicy Mississippi Chicken Recipe

Spicy Mississippi Chicken Recipe

Smoked Chicken Leg Quarters

Smoked Chicken Quarters

Smoked Chicken Leg Quarters

The most viewed smoked chicken quarters recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine