How to prepare smoked chicken at home: rules and recipes

Universal marinade recipe

There is a universal method that allows you to marinate chicken for both hot and cold smoking. The meat will be equally tasty and soft.

chicken weighing 1.5-2 kilograms;
four liters of water;
three tablespoons of coarse salt;
five large cloves of garlic;
two tablespoons of dried herbs (you can take any herbs: parsley, dill, basil, etc.);
half a teaspoon of cumin.

Wash and dry the carcass;
Prepare the brine from the indicated ingredients. To make it more saturated, let the liquid simmer for ten minutes, reducing the boil to low;
When the brine has cooled, pour it over the meat and leave it in the cold for two days (a refrigerator or cellar will do);
Remove the meat, blot off excess marinade with paper towels and proceed to smoking.

Two ways

There are two cooking methods: hot and cold. What is their difference? With the cold method, the whole chicken or its parts are exposed to smoke from a smoldering fire. That is, the temperature at which the process itself occurs fluctuates around thirty degrees. This takes quite a long period of time, up to several days. How to hot smoke chicken? Here the temperature at which the processing takes place is much higher - up to one hundred and fifty degrees. It only takes a few hours (sometimes even less). The meat is more tender and soft than with the cold smoking method.

Marinate chicken for hot smoking

There are two main ways to smoke meat in a smokehouse: hot and cold. Hot smoking allows you to get a more tender, soft dish. If you smoke chicken this way, it will turn out deliciously juicy, literally melting in your mouth. Vinegar marinade is best suited for this method. How to marinate chicken for smoking this way?

No special ingredients are required, with the exception of herbs and spices. The amount of ingredients is given for marinating two chicken carcasses in a smokehouse.

one and a half liters of water;
two tablespoons of 9% vinegar;
a heaped teaspoon of coarse salt;
half a teaspoon of granulated sugar;
one bay leaf;
ground ginger, black pepper, allspice, coriander to taste (you can take a pinch of each spice);
a clove of garlic;
a sprig of juniper or 3-4 fragrant berries.

The amount of water needs to be brought to a boil, add sugar and salt.
As soon as the water boils, throw in the spices, juniper, spices, and pour in the vinegar. Let the broth boil for literally 1-2 minutes, remove from heat.
While the marinade is cooling, prepare the chicken: remove feathers and down, gut, wash, trim fat from the tail. How to properly marinate chicken for smoking? To make the meat softer, you can chop the carcass into pieces, although with the hot smoking method, well-marinated meat will turn out soft even in a whole chicken.
When the marinade has cooled, place the chicken on the bottom of the pickling pan and pour the marinade over it. In order for the meat to be better saturated with the aromatic liquid, it is necessary to set pressure, then send the chicken to a cool place. The recipe requires a long marinating period - four days.
Dry the prepared carcass or chicken parts by hanging in a draft, and then cook in a smokehouse.

Hot smoking chicken at home, photo recipe.

Due to numerous requests from visitors to our site, today we will consider hot smoking chicken in detail. All stages from salting the chicken to smoking at home will be photographed.

So, what do we need to smoke a chicken? Of course, the chicken itself is better to take a broiler chicken. For salting, let's take the already tested recipe for wet salting for smoking. We used it last time to smoke pork belly, it turned out very tasty. You need to take: 1 glass of salt, 3 liters 200 ml. water, bay leaf, black peppercorns, 3 cloves of garlic, spices for barbecue (you can take spices for cooking chicken, I just didn’t have any) 2 tablespoons.

Place spices, garlic, bay leaves, pepper, and salt into water and bring the brine to a boil. Boil for 2 - 3 minutes and turn off. Cool the brine to room temperature and drop the chicken into it. You need to trim off excess fat in the tail area. And of course, before salting, the chicken must be washed inside and out.

Our brine strength is the same as for salting pork layers, 100 g. salt per 1 liter of water. But the chicken in the brine should be in the refrigerator for 15 - 20 hours. This time is enough for the chicken to be fully salted. We were in brine for 20 hours.

Then remove the chicken from the brine and rinse with running water. We hang it for a couple of hours to drain excess moisture from the glass. Ideally, the chicken should be kept in a draft to dry it out. But we didn't have time for this. Wipe the chicken with a napkin.

The chicken was cut into two parts before smoking. This was done only to save space in the smokehouse. After this, we tie both parts with twine. We pour about 2 - 3 handfuls of alder sawdust into the smokehouse. We put a tray to drain the fat, hang the chicken, and close the smokehouse lid.

We put the smokehouse on maximum heat, after 10 minutes we reduce the heat to moderate. I have an electric stove. The maximum position was 4, the rest of the smoking took place at 3. Hot smoking chicken at home lasts 1.5 hours.

Then we take the smokehouse out into the fresh air and open it. The chicken acquired a characteristic brownish-golden color. In some places the meat has pulled away from the bone, this tells us that the product is ready. The home-smoked chicken tasted simply wonderful. Bon appetit!!!

How to Marinate Chicken for Cold Smoking

Cold smoked chicken is denser, with a characteristic fiber pattern on the cut. This product lasts longer compared to hot-smoked meat, despite the fact that the marinade is prepared without vinegar.

Please note that this marinating method takes longer. Before sending the meat to the smokehouse, it will have to be salted in a dry mixture, and then in brine for several days. The amount of curing ingredients in the recipe is indicated for 2.5-3 kilograms of chicken meat.

1.6 kilograms of coarse salt (half a glass for pre-salting, the rest for brine);
20 grams of ascorbic acid;
three tablespoons of white sugar (one for pre-salting, two for brine);
a tablespoon of black peppercorns;
three bay leaves;
nine liters of water for brine.

Rub the prepared chicken meat with enough salt and sugar for dry salting, sprinkle with peppercorns, and add a bay leaf.
Place the chicken in a tall saucepan, cover with a lid, and refrigerate for two days.
Cook the marinade according to the recipe from water, salt, sugar, ascorbic acid. Let the liquid boil, wait until the grains of sugar and salt are completely dissolved.
Pour the cooled brine over the chicken meat and leave to marinate for another 10-11 days.
Remove the meat from the brine, rinse with cold water, dry and dry on the refrigerator shelf for 6-7 hours.
Afterwards, send the dried, cured meat to the smokehouse and cook until a shiny, dense crust separates from the carcass.

Marinade for hot smoked chicken in a smokehouse using mineral water

Rub the pre-prepared chicken with salt (a tablespoon) and set aside for an hour. Excess salt is removed and the meat is filled with brine for 24 hours.

One glass of mineral water is poured into a deep saucepan, 30 grams of acid (citric acid), a tablespoon of paprika and salt are poured into it. A couple of onions are chopped into thin half rings and placed in the marinade.

How to quickly marinate chicken for smoking

If you don’t have time for long-term marinating, you can use a honey marinade recipe. The meat is quickly soaked in sweet juice, which gives it an excellent flavor. One thing: this option is more suitable for a hot smokehouse.

1/2 cup honey;
two large lemons;
half a glass of vegetable oil (mustard or flaxseed oil is especially tasty);
three tablespoons of any herbs, spices to taste;
three cloves of garlic;
ground allspice, a mixture of hot peppers (about a tablespoon).

Chop the carcass into pieces - wings, thighs, back, breast.
Squeeze fresh juice from the lemons (you should get about 100 ml).
These ingredients must be mixed thoroughly and each piece must be rubbed with a honey-spicy mixture.
Place the pieces of meat in a plastic bag and put them on the refrigerator shelf overnight.
In the morning, remove the meat, clean it of herbs and spices and put it in the smokehouse.

Wine marinade

For one carcass weighing up to two kilograms you will need the following ingredients:

a tablespoon of spices for chicken;
one hundred milligrams of wine, it is better to take white sweet;
50 grams of granulated sugar;
three tablespoons of salt.

Step-by-step instruction

Pickling. The carcass is washed well, cut in the breast area and small punctures are made there. All ingredients for the brine are mixed and the meat is thoroughly rubbed and left for five hours.

Smoking. According to the recipe, oak chips are pre-soaked in water and dried naturally. It is best to line the smokehouse tray with foil. The carcass is placed with the cut part down. The smoking process takes place on hot coals, periodically it is necessary to add wood chips. Smoking time until the meat is completely cooked is about an hour.

Useful tips

Experienced smokers have a secret that they resort to when there is an acute lack of time. Before marinating, the chicken carcass should be cooked until half cooked, simmering over low heat for about 20 minutes.

You can add salt, onion, carrots, parsley and dill stems to the water.

After cooking, the carcass will go to the smokehouse, and the broth can be used to prepare sauces or light first courses.

Some tips

Let's take a closer look at some tips from experienced smokers:

Only fresh or chilled carcass is suitable for this process; it is not recommended to use frozen meat.
If the skin turns out to be very dark in color, it is best to remove it, as this indicates that it has absorbed a lot of smoke.
If you don’t have time to marinate, you can speed up the process as follows. Take a regular medical sealed syringe, fill it with brine and prick the entire chicken carcass. After two hours you can smoke.
For benefits, it is best to choose a natural smoking option, so do not use liquid smoke in the process.
As for spices, you can use different types of peppers (black, allspice, white, red). The ideal combination is salt, garlic and pepper. It's a matter of taste, but the basic rule must be followed: do not overuse spices.
To add new flavor notes to your meat every time, don’t be afraid to experiment with marinades.

The marinade recipes for hot smoked chicken selected in this article are prepared from simple ingredients and do not require much effort.

Pro smoker's blog

Smoked chicken has become a traditional delicacy available to any family. Its tender and juicy meat serves as an excellent second course or ingredient for salads and soups. You can cook this dish yourself if you know a good recipe.

Before preparing a hot or cold smoked product, it should be marinated. Legs and wings are good without a set of spices, but with seasonings they will become even tastier. An important point: you will need a special smokehouse for cooking. If you don’t have one, you can use a metal bucket or pan with a lid.

How to prepare chicken before smoking?

You need to buy fresh and large chicken. If possible, it is better to take homemade rather than store-bought. Both whole poultry and legs or wings are suitable for smoking. The meat must be rinsed under water and gutted if necessary. If there are feathers left on it, they should be set on fire with a lighter. Only after this it will be possible to marinate.

It is important not to store the chicken in the refrigerator for too long, but to cook it fresh, not frozen. It retains more nutrients and is juicier. But you shouldn’t buy a bird with bluish skin, slippery to the touch, or an unpleasant odor. Old and spoiled chicken during hot or cold smoking is unlikely to be of high quality.

Marinade with ginger and coriander

You can marinate chicken in different ways. This recipe is considered one of the best.

salt;
bay leaf - 4 pcs.;
sugar;
vinegar 3% - 2 tbsp. l.;
ginger, coriander, pepper, cinnamon;
garlic - 3 cloves;
juniper (berries) - 6 pcs.

In order to marinate legs, wings or a whole chicken, you will need marinade for smoking chicken - approximately 3 liters. It is prepared as follows:

Pour salt, a tablespoon of sugar and spices into boiling water. The juniper berries need to be crushed and also placed in the pan. You will also need to add vinegar and garlic. You need to cook everything together for 5-10 minutes, then turn off the heat and cool.

Juniper berry marinade

The bird should be placed in the marinade and pressure should be placed on top, leaving it in the refrigerator for about 3 days. It is recommended to turn the carcasses or pieces daily in order to marinate better.

Straight from the smokehouse

If you are lucky and have a smokehouse or the opportunity to build one, then this recipe is what you need! How to smoke chicken in a hot smoker so that it turns out, as they say, to lick your fingers? Of course, it’s all about the marinade and proper preparation of the bird carcass. This is 80 percent of success and a guarantee that everything will turn out incredibly tasty.

Brine for chicken

Boil the chicken in this brine for 10 minutes.

The brine is prepared like this: boil water in a saucepan, then put garlic cloves, bay leaves, salt and other spices into it. Cook for no longer than 10 minutes. It’s easy to marinate chicken: pour cooled brine into the container where it lies. The meat should then be covered and left in the refrigerator for at least a day. After this, the brine is drained and the meat can be cooked in the smokehouse.

Preparing Ingredients

Beforehand, the chicken should be thoroughly cleaned of its entrails and washed well.
Cut it in half and beat it. This procedure is done like this: place the carcass between two cutting boards and begin beating the meat with a homemade hammer. This is done to soften the bones and joints.
Prepare the brine. Bring a liter of water to a boil and pour in a glass of salt and the rest of the spices according to the chosen recipe.
Place the chicken in a deep pan, completely fill it with saline solution and leave for 24 hours.
After a day, hang the carcass and let it air out to dry completely.

Marinade for poultry with ketchup

You can marinate the bird with ketchup if you want a more piquant taste. It is quite possible that the smokedness will turn out to be slightly spicy, but this will not make it worse. To prepare this recipe, you will need olive oil, honey, dry mustard, wine and ketchup . All ingredients must be mixed thoroughly.

The resulting mixture should be spread over the chicken so that there is a layer of marinade on all sides. Place the meat in a closed container and place in the refrigerator. After just 6 hours it can be cooked in a smokehouse and then served.

Marinade for chicken with kefir

It is not news that some people marinate meat in kefir. Moreover, you can soak not only poultry in a dairy product, but also pork, beef, and lamb. It is very important to choose the remaining ingredients correctly so as not to spoil the marinade. It’s best to use a ready-made recipe that definitely won’t let you down.

kefir - 400 ml;
sugar;
olive oil - 50 ml;
fresh mint leaves;
garlic - 2 cloves;
pepper and salt.

The marinade for smoking chicken is prepared as follows. You need to mash the mint leaves and pass the garlic through a press. Mix the remaining ingredients until a homogeneous mass is obtained. Spices and salt should be added to taste.

The chicken should be placed in kefir mixed with other ingredients. The marinade should get on every piece of meat. The container with poultry meat is covered with a lid, now it should be placed in the refrigerator for about 8 hours. After this, the meat can be used for cold or hot smoking. If done correctly, it will turn out delicious.

The simplest recipe

Cooking smoked chicken at home or in the country is not difficult, because the smoking process itself takes just over an hour. But it must be remembered that any chosen method is preceded by a preparatory process. This is exactly what the recipe describes, providing a list of step-by-step actions. Recipes may differ in complexity or number of ingredients, but they all boil down to one thing - the meat must be salted, because salt is the necessary preservative that protects meat from spoilage both during cold and hot smoking.

The simplest recipe is to salt the meat with a dry marinade, which is prepared from a mixture of salt and pepper. The carcass outside and inside, and the fillet on all sides, are generously rubbed with the mixture. Then the resulting semi-finished product is packaged in a plastic bag and sent to the refrigerator for a couple of hours. During this time, the chicken will be well salted and will be ready to move on to the next stage of cooking.

The fire is made in the grill, and absolutely any kind of wood can be used. It is important to remember that you should not achieve high temperatures from the flame, but uninterrupted combustion. A smokehouse is installed on the grill, with sawdust from fruit trees spread on the bottom. You can use alder chips, since it is much easier to get than sawdust. A tray is placed on top of the fuel material. Fat will accumulate in it, because the chicken will be smoked at high temperatures. Meat can be placed on sieves, hooks or spits. It all depends on the design of the smoking box.

The beginning of the process is characterized by smoke escaping from a special nozzle in the lid. We time it for 40-50 minutes, after which the lid should be opened slightly.

First, you need to check the readiness of the meat, because small pieces can become very smokey.
Secondly, to continue smoking, the accumulated steam must be released, otherwise the meat will acquire a bitter taste.

If the meat is not ready yet, then you should wait another 15-20 minutes, and then the result will be guaranteed.

Marinade for smoking chicken

To deliciously cook meat, fish or poultry, you must first marinate the product. In general, the marinade performs 2 main functions: on the one hand, it saturates the meat with moisture, and on the other, it gives smoked products a richer taste. It is believed that meat products should be marinated for at least 2 hours before smoking.

Typically, the following products are used in chicken marinades: water, salt, wine, wine or balsamic vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic, vegetable oils, black allspice, ground black pepper, paprika, hot pepper, parsley, mint, lemon juice, mustard , cloves, Provençal herbs, celery, coriander , basil, dill.

Chemical fillers, such as food nitrate, are very rarely used. In this case, only 2-3% of the substance is added to the total amount of salt.

Marinade with vinegar

Two liters of water are poured into the prepared pan, salt (15 grams) and the same amount of granulated sugar are added.
When the brine boils, you can pour in two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. They also add spices (bay leaf, a little ginger and coriander, a clove of garlic and pepper).
After five minutes, you can remove from the heat and let the marinade for hot smoking chicken cool.
The prepared liquid is poured over the meat, placed under pressure and kept for three days.

Marinade for cold smoked chicken

To prepare 5 kg of chicken, take: 30 g ground pepper, 250 ml water, a tablespoon of vinegar, 8 cloves of garlic, 0.5 tablespoon of salt.

Divide the chicken carcasses lengthwise into 2 parts, rinse well and dry with towels. Rub thoroughly with salt and leave for 30 minutes. After this, wipe with a towel again to get rid of excess salt. Place the meat in the prepared marinade. Place something heavy on top. Marinate the bird for 4-8 hours. After this, dry it and smoke it cold for 6 hours.

Of course, the easiest way to prepare marinades is to have modern kitchen appliances at hand.

Method one, spicy aromatic

Prepare the necessary ingredients, including:

Chicken – 1 carcass.
Salt – 0.5 tablespoon.
Garlic – 1 head.
Bay leaf - to taste.
Black peppercorns – 5-10 pieces.
Juniper berries – 5 pieces.
Ground ginger – 0.5 teaspoon.
Cinnamon – 1 pinch.
Sugar – 1 teaspoon.
Vinegar 9% - 1 tablespoon.
Water – 3 liters.

First of all, wash the chicken, cut it into two halves and lightly beat it - this way the joints and bones will become softer and release the brain fluid.

Then prepare the brine. To do this, heat water in a saucepan and add salt, 2-3 finely chopped garlic cloves, bay leaf, black peppercorns, juniper berries, cinnamon, ginger, sugar and vinegar. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.

Place the chicken halves in a large saucepan or bowl and fill with brine until it completely covers it. Place in the refrigerator for 48 hours.

After two days, we take our chicken halves out of the brine, make a lot of small cuts in them and stuff them with garlic. Then we hang the halves of the carcass so that the excess brine drains and the meat dries completely.

Then we heat the smokehouse to maximum temperature and begin to smoke our bird, periodically dipping it in brine for a more lasting aroma and bright taste. How long does it take to smoke chicken in a smokehouse? It depends on the size of the carcass itself. The main indicator of readiness is a shiny film on the skin of the chicken: as soon as it begins to separate easily, smoking is complete. By the way, in this way you can smoke not only chicken halves, but also its individual parts - drumsticks, thighs, fillets or wings.

Smoking marinade recipes

Smoking marinade recipes have a general principle of creation for smoked products. The marinade performs two main functions: it adds a refined taste to smoked meats, and saturates it with moisture, which subsequently prevents the products from drying out during smoking. It is recommended to marinate for at least 2 hours.

Here are a few ingredients to use in smoking marinade recipes:

– water, salt, sugar, wine vinegar, white and red wine, olive and sunflower oil, garlic, black and allspice, lemon juice, fresh and dry mint, parsley, dill, cilantro, coriander, basil, celery, mustard, cloves and other herbal mixtures. Food saltpeter is used if you are going to smoke a large batch of meat with subsequent long-term storage, add 2 - 3% in relation to the amount of salt.

Use the ingredients to create smoking marinade recipes tailored to your taste preferences. Below are a few basic marinade recipes that you can build on to create your own experimental smoking marinade recipes.

Marinade for large poultry - duck, goose, turkey. Also suitable for rabbits and nutria.

Based on 5 kg. take 250 ml of meat. water, a tablespoon of vinegar, 20 - 30 gr. ground black pepper, 8 medium-sized cloves of garlic, 0.5 level tablespoon of salt.

Divide the carcass lengthwise into 2 parts, wash well in cold water and wipe dry. Rub thoroughly with salt and leave for 30 minutes, then wipe off excess salt and moisture with a dry towel and place in the marinade under pressure for 4 - 8 hours.

After rinsing with cold water and wiping dry, smoke using the cold method for 6 hours.

After smoking, store in the refrigerator for no more than a week.

Universal marinade for meat with ketchup

Mix tomato ketchup, honey, olive oil, and white wine in equal parts. Add a little dry mustard, chopped garlic, salt and ground black pepper. Mix everything together well and pour over the meat laid out on the tray. As the marinade drips from the meat, use a spoon to collect the marinade around the meat and pour over the top. Marinate in this way for an average of 8 hours.

Marinade using kefir

For 150 grams of kefir, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 50 gr. olive oil, a third of a two hundred gram glass of fresh mint leaves, 2 crushed cloves of garlic, salt and ground black pepper to taste.

Marinate for an average of 8 hours. Hot smoking.

Marinade using wine for beef, pork, lamb and poultry

3 parts tap wine, 2 parts olive oil, 1 part dry mustard, 1 part fresh chopped parsley, salt and ground black pepper to taste.

Marinate for up to 10 hours. Hot smoke.

Recipe "Economy" (traditionally)

Any economic person who always has an old saucepan and a couple of grates can build a smokehouse on his or her property. Detailed instructions with photos on how to make a smokehouse with your own hands are here.

So, we will need: 1 chicken, black and allspice peas, bay leaf and salt. All! If you have your own homemade chicken, then here are short instructions on how to prepare it for smoking.

What are we doing?

Marinade
: add pepper (20 peas) and bay leaves (5-8 leaves) per 1 liter of marinade. Bring to a boil. Add 100 grams of salt (no more, go too far!). Stir until the salt dissolves. Let it cool. One liter is enough for one chicken.

Chicken:
wash the carcass, cut it into two parts, pour brine over all this richness. Task: drown the chicken so that the impregnation reaches all the most intimate places. We marinate for 1-2 days, turning the parts over every 10 hours for the most even distribution of the marinade.

Broth
: For the softest and most tender result, cook the marinated chicken for about 15 minutes in the broth, where again we use bay leaf and pepper in equal proportions. We take it out, cool it, dry it with a clean kitchen towel (it is more convenient, since its parts do not remain on the victim’s body, as, for example, when using a paper towel).

Smoking
: We hang the carcasses on strings (I do this at the marinating stage) and set them as a star rises above the village: some use a grate that fits the size of the pan, others improvise with “skewers”. As wood chips, you can use walnut husks and dry apple tree branches, soaked overnight in water (to prevent them from catching fire). The main thing is to heat the smokehouse and hang it so that you don’t get burned. It is advisable to cover the top of the structure with a wet natural cloth so that it absorbs harmful substances from combustion. Smoking time - 4-5 hours. If there are fewer parts of the chicken, then the period of torture is reduced - to 2.5-3 hours.

Many people cannot resist the sight of cooked chicken, but I would not recommend eating it right away. Let it lie in the open for 2-3 hours. I heard that this reduces the amount of harmful substances in this delicacy. I also always try to separate the skin, since it takes the brunt of the resin and ash, which are difficult to remove from the body.

Aesthetic advice

: To ensure that the chicken crust is not dark, but golden and beautiful, sprinkle two tablespoons of granulated sugar on the finished wood chips.

Smoking chicken, simple recipes for a home smokehouse