Mushrooms, tomatoes, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, chicken, pork………….well, everything………..is better smoked! My most recent epiphany is that no matter how good I think something is, I can make it even better, if I throw it on the Traeger. And if smoking everything at home isn’t enough, I now have an outdoor kitchen at the lodge with an even bigger Traeger smoker/grill! It just doesn’t get any better than that.
Smoked triple pork chicken thighs are worth the little bit of trouble they take to assemble. They are unbelievably delicious.
Smoked Triple Pork Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- Chicken thighs, skin-on
- Mayonnaise
- Thin deli ham slices (4"x6" slices)
- Chorizo sausage (cooked and cut in sticks)
- Cheddar Cheese (cut in sticks)
- Ancho pepper, sliced in sticks and sautéed
- Salt and pepper
- Thin bacon (2 slices per thigh)
- Butcher's string
Instructions
- Cut bone out of chicken thighs.
- Smear the meat (where the bone was cut out) with mayo (about 1 tablespoon per thigh).
- Lay a stick of chorizo, stick of cheese, and a stick of pepper on ham slice and wrap like small burrito. Place on mayo on thigh.
- Close the thighs to surround the stuffing. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
- Wrap each thigh with a strip of bacon, then another strip running perpendicular to the first. Tie the bacon in place with butcher’s string.
- Heat smoker to 300.
- Place the chicken thighs stuffed side up on the smoker rack. Smoke them until the outside and bacon are browned, the cheese is melted (temperature in the center should be 165° to 170°) about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
- Other stuffings: ham slice, asparagus, swiss cheese (smear dijon on thigh instead of mayo); ham slice, sautéed spinach and mushrooms, parmesan cheese (smear dijon on thigh instead of mayo)