Easy Smoked Pulled Chicken Sandwich Just 2 Hours
The Smoked Pulled Chicken Sandwich is a yummy recipe for everyone. These Smoked Pulled Chicken Sandwiches are tender, juicy, and easy to make. Watching the chefs pull a buffalo mozzarella stuffed chicken off of a hook, deep-season it, and then slowly smoke it before shredding everything onto soft buns with an unforgettable creamy slaw makes me hungry despite just finishing lunch. Pulled chicken is a classic for a reason.
Needless to say, no more dry, tasteless chicken. While it takes a long time to smoke and shred the chicken for sandwiches, this is simple enough that you could pull off for a large crowd. Pulled chicken can be flavored in a myriad of ways, turning it into the perfect option for BBQ parties!
Why Smoked Pulled Chicken?
This smoked pulled chicken version is a fun flavor departure from the traditional pork BBQ sandwich. The flavor is rich and smoky, perfect bedfellows with tangy BBQ sauce a bite of juicy meat ladled over crunchy coleslaw nestled in soft bread. This is a lean, mean taste that will hit you in your melty mouth, an alternative to pork belly. Not to mention, it is flexible you can change up the seasoning and toppings according to your preference.
The Smoked Pulled Chicken Sandwich Equipements and Elements
To prepare the smoked pulled chicken sandwich recipe, we need the following equipment and elements, and below details.
Equipements | |
Wood Chips | Cutting Board and Knife |
Smoker | Tongs |
Mixing Bowls | Baking Sheet |
Meat Thermometer | Aluminum Foil |
Forks or Meat Claws | Saucepan |
Elements | |
Elements for the Smoked Chicken | Elements For the Sandwich |
Breast, Skinless, or boneless- 4 Chicken | Sandwich buns or Rolls- As per Require |
olive oil- 2 tablespoons | BBQ sauce- 1 cup |
smoked paprika Spice- 1 tablespoon | Coleslaw- As per Require |
garlic powder- 1 teaspoon | Pickles- As per Require |
onion powder- 1 teaspoon | Elements For the Coleslaw |
cumin- 1 teaspoon | Shredded cabbage- 2 cups |
chili powder- 1 teaspoon | Carrot- 2 Pieces |
pepper for taste | Mayonnaise- (rich creamy dressing)- As per Require |
Salt for taste | Apple cider vinegar- 2 teaspoon |
Wood chips- Optional | Sugar- 1 teaspoon and Salt for taste |
Total Prepare Time: Just 2 hours, 20 minutes.
Steps To Cut a Whole Chicken In Half 😀
Time to Split the Chicken
It is a simple process that delivers the most smoke flavor and seasoning surface available while preventing your chicken from drying out. Equipment Poultry shears Chef’s knife.
➡ Step 1: Place the chicken on a cutting board with an area that is as large as possible. Blot the outside dry with a paper towel to remove excess moisture. Hold the chicken with its backbone side up.
➡ Step 2: With poultry shears, starting at the tail end and working upwards snipping through rib bones. Remove the backbone and turn the chicken over with the insides down.
➡ Step 3: Carefully spread the chicken and with your palm in the middle of a breast, push down hard until you snap it.
➡ Step 4: Lay a big chef knife or cleaver and cut the bird in half by putting the blade down through the center of the chicken where the breastbone is You now should have two halves. Now it’s time to season!
You can use whatever BBQ seasoning you raspy for your chicken, but I would highly recommend the Signature Sweet & Smokey Rub. I use this rub many times for grilled smoked chicken, and it gives a pleasant balanced flavor stemming from the celery salt. This gourmet salt is delicious on chicken, possessing an unconventional and clean grassy flavor.
STEP 1: Dry-Brine Your Chicken
Combine the seasoning and rub all over chickenprecise Recommend using the wire rack for this step because it’s headed into the fridge next. You might also like to brine the chicken with a wet brine recipe, but dry brining is my favorite for several reasons.
➡ Fewer steps: Let us face it, less cleanup and prep time. You can also re-use the same baking sheet and wire rack for this directly onto the smoker.
➡ Season penetration: Because of the seasoning that infuses straight into the meat even with its skin, wherever you take bites is guaranteed to be flavorful.
➡ The Whole process is quicker: Do You want less work, too? She suggests seasoning the chicken and letting it marinate in your fridge for at least an hour, but I personally like to let my meat chill out for more than 4 hours.
STEP 2: Smoking the Chicken
The idea here is to get as much smoke flavor on the wings, without them getting dried out. The good news is, there’s a layer of fat right under the skin protecting that chicken from getting too dry at lower temps!
I suggest smoking at 225-250°F, you might make it higher based on the smoke flavor. I like the smoke it can handle 250° on my smoker as long as I am not pissing with it to lower temps and increase cooking time Cook all of this until the breast meat reaches 165 degrees F. Normally I would pull a chicken earlier grilled but in this case, cook it to death and make that shredding easy.
I saw a tip that using crispy skins makes it even better, but in my opinion, there is no need for crispy skin here. Feel free to dice it and throw it in at the end. The skin becomes super rubbery after simmering in a skillet with the shredded chicken, and makes everything kind of unpleasant texture in my opinion. That skin is really only there to keep the meat from drying out, and then it imparts fat (yum) and flavor onto the meat itself afterward.
Step 3: Shred and Season The Chicken Pieces
Add the cooked chicken to a bowl and let it cool down about for 10 minutes, until warm or chilled enough for you to shred. Pull all the meat off and shred it pretty finely — no need to be delicate since we are just going mix it back together anyway. For shredding wear black latex gloves over some good insulated cotton gloves to save your hands.
Just make sure you hang on to that chicken skin, whatever happens! Even better if you manage to get it off in 1 piece.
Season with the Chicken Skin
It was like, Come on bro we fighting over this chicken rag? With both the dull and sharp blades of a knife, rub the shredded chicken on both sides with congealed fats from the skin to flavor it. Continue peeling until very little of the smoky rub remains on the skin.
Pour in the Warm Pan Juices
Oh, and did I mention that you want to bake it on a baking sheet? it would have been juices that have dripped off the chicken Dump in for smoked and pulled chicken, and stir to combine Well that’s liquid gold!
Add Warm BBQ Sauce
This is when you add in some BBQ sauce if that’s where your head is going to be. You want a room temperature sauce, so you get that to your chicken and it will stay warm enough to finish infusing the flavor into the chicken rather than simply coast over top and cool down.
Give our Smoky Sweet Heat Sauce which are great balanced sauce and just awesome with smoked chicken.
Sides for Smoked Chicken Sandwiches
Again, chicken is already quite lean but combining white and dark meat with a little BBQ sauce really adds that necessary touch. Highly suggest adding a slaw on top, like my Cream Southwest Slaw as well for that extra fat. The choice is yours!
Smoked Pulled Chicken Pickles- All day, every day with pickles! Mix in some spicy Smoked Pickled Jalapenos, or maybe try the tangy Sweet, and Spicy Pickles too. They both take very little time to prepare.
We love the Smoky Sweet Heat Sauce for this chicken, but you can use whatever sauce is your favorite. Give the Maple Chipotle BBQ Sauce, Buffalo BBQ Sauce Korean Honey Mustard, or my personal Teriyaki Sauce a try.
How Can Storing and Reheating Smoked Pulled Chicken Sandwich Recipe
Here are details about the Storing and Reheating sandwich smoked pulled chicken recipe:
Storing | Reheating |
Refrigerator: In Airtight container, Storage for 3-4 days, Maintain at room temperature. | Microwave: Reheat pulled chicken just Heat on medium power in 30-40 second intervals until warmed through with sandwiches. |
Freezer: For a long time, longer storage Up to 2-3 months. | Stovetop: Reheat the chicken in a saucepan over low to medium heat, until warmed through. |
Oven: Preheat oven to 300°F or 150°C temperatur. cover with foil the pulled chicken. until thoroughly warmed or 20 minutes. |
Nutrition and Health Benefits
All recipes have various types of Nutrition and health benefits. Here are various types of nutrition and health benefits in smoked pulled chicken sandwich recipes.
Nutrition | Health Benefits |
Calories- 450 to 500 (Per sandwich) | Energy production. |
Fat- 10 to 20 grams | Heart-healthier. |
Protein- 20 to 35 grams | Muscle repair, Immune function, and Overall growth. |
Fiber- 3 to 5 grams | Heart health, Promoting digestive health, and reducing inflammation. |
Carbohydrates- 30 to 50 grams | Energy production. |
Sodium- 500 to 750 milligrams | Balance PH. |
Sugars- 10 to 20 grams | Energy production. |
Vitamins B, B6 | Energy production, Brain health, Bone health, and Antioxidant Defense. |
Pairing Suggestions
Pile that smoked pulled chicken on a bun and serve up some easy classic BBQ sides like baked beans, corn on the cob, or potato salad. If you want a change of pace, offer a green salad or fruit salad. Wash it down with a cold draft beer or glass of iced tea.
Best Pulled Chicken Sandwich Tips
➡ Wood chips- Hickory and applewood will add a good sweet balance to chicken. Use different wood types to see which one you like the best.
➡ The Smoking Process Should Not Be Rush- Remember, for the most satiny, succulent pulled chicken plate up around, low and moderate temperature is the ticket. The difference shows in the final flavor.
➡ Extra: Smoked pulled chicken can be frozen. Double the recipe and save half for an easy meal.
➡ Tweaking the Slaw: Up the vinegar if you like your slaw tangy. If you prefer a sweeter version, simply add more sugar.
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