Chicken Breasts Time & Temp?

Being that you are using a model 55, I would let it get to temp before you put the chicken in. At that point you can add the chicken and the wood and let them cook.

As a point of reference, I do skinless boneless breast for 45 min in a smoker that has warmed up to a set point of 275. Never had a problem.

Cook times are usually from the time you put the item in the smoker. Most do not seem to preheat, although I will if I am only going to cook for a short period of time. As in if I do fish, or if I want to give the smoke flavoring and then finish on a grill, like country or western style ribs.

If you have a remote thermometer, you can just set it and then you will know a timeframe for the next time.

I just did 4 whole chicken breasts (unbrined)2.5 hours, in a smokette.

dave

I'd be surprised if the bone-in, skin-on ones were done in less than 2 to 2.5 hours. As long as they don't dry out, a little more cooking seems to me to taste better than too little cooking.

I've done marinated so-called chicken tenderloins (little breast strips) on skewers in about an hour. All of this at 250F.

My results: After 24 hr brinning,I rubed with equal parts of cookshack chicken rub/cookshack rib rub/Head Country Rub after brushing on olive oil so rub would stick( Put way too much rub on). I preheated my cookshack 55, about 30 minutes,placed boneless,skinless on top shelf, skin on,bone -in chicken breasts(with internal thermometer inserted)on second shelf,inserted firebox with 2 oz apple. Set temp at 225 degrees and meat probe at 160 degree for the alarm signal. In doing all this, I am sure ,I lost a lot of heat but I tried to be quick !!! Shut the door. In forty minutes, the buzzer went off and I am at 160 degrees. Could not believe it waited another 10 minutes,now at 170, shut off,pulled the breasts and they were oozing 0ff clear juice and looked fantastic !!!! I basted with BBQ sauce , put on the gas grill for a quick glaze. This was absolutely the best chicken I have ever had !!! Very, very moist !!!! As I have read peviously in the forum,the brinning must really shorten the cooking time,retains moisture or at least reduce the risk of this first timer(on chicken)srewing things up. Although a red meat fan from the midwest, I may have to try this chicken deal again. Only thing negative, my wife said I put too much rub on as it was a little too spicey(hot) for her (but she did join the clean plate club). Hind site being 20/20 I probably was a little too liberal with my sprinkling of rub or too much of the chicken rub ( which may be just a little too hot for most ). Once again, You Cookshack Folks & Your Smokers Are # 1 on my Scale !!!! Thanks again to all the Forum Partipating People, you make this smoking process a whole lot of fun !!!! Sincerely , Bill