Enjoy delicious, flavorful smoked chicken legs made from scratch at home that are never dry or chewy. The meat is fall off the bone tender with an intense smoked flavor that everyone goes crazy about.
The smoking process turns ordinary plain chicken drumsticks into something unique and magical, a truly exiting main course that can be served with your favorite sides for a complete meal.
The key to the tender, moist smoked chicken legs is to brine them first, there is no way around it, the technique is very basic, best brined chicken drumsticks results are accomplished with a wet brine.
Simply heat up a mixture of salt, sugar and water, cool it down and submerge chicken drumsticks in it. The brine will get reabsorbed into the chicken muscle tissue breaking down the connective tissues making it nice and moist. You’ll need to brine the chicken legs for a couple of hours for the best result.
Once your chicken is brined, it’s time to smoke it. The best type of woods for poultry are wood chips from fruit trees. Apple, cherry, hickory and maple all work wonderful for smoking chicken giving it a mild sweet and fruity flavor.
Smoke the chicken drumsticks anywhere from 30-45 minutes per pound depending on the thickness of the drumsticks.
This recipe is absolutely foolproof and the chicken legs come out amazing every single time. Follow the detailed steps below to make smoked chicken legs.
