This Traeger Smoked Chicken Breast recipe will leave you with tender and juicy chicken every time! This flavorful chicken breast is so easy and grills up in less than 30 minutes. It’s such a versatile dish and is perfect for an easy, healthy weeknight dinner or to include in your weekly meal prep!
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Tender and Juicy Chicken - This traeger chicken breast recipe recipe makes incredibly tender and juicy chicken breasts that the entire family will love! This Jerk Chicken is another tender and delicious smoked chicken that is juicy and full of flavor!
- Less than 30 minutes - This BBQ chicken is so quick and easy making it perfect for busy weeknight dinners as it will be on the table in 25-30 minutes! It’s also great for meal prep! If you’re looking for more meat recipes that save well throughout the week try these Asian Meatballs and this Shredded Buffalo Chicken.
- Incredibly Versatile - Traeger Grilled Chicken is one of my favorite staples and a great recipe to have on hand in the fridge. You can quickly and easy make various meals from this recipe or heat it up and throw it on a salad. This chicken is perfect for these Smoked BBQ Chicken Nachos! We also love using the shredded chicken for chicken tacos.
- Healthy Dinner Dish - It doesn't get any healthier and more delicious than a tender and lean piece of chicken for dinner! Using a Whole30 and paleo compliant BBQ sauce keeps this chicken a great primal dish.
Ingredients Needed
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Ingredient Notes
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts - I always get my chicken from Butcherbox as the chicken is always organic, free-range, and humanely raised. This recipe works with chicken thighs as well, just adjust the cooking time as need or take a look at this smoked chicken thighs recipe.
- Avocado Oil - You can substitute for olive oil as well.
- Seasoning Blend - Use your favorite seasoning blend in this recipe! I love The New Primal’s Citrus Herb blend as well as Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute. Feel free to also season your chicken with just kosher salt, black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder or use this Chicken Dry Rub!
- BBQ Sauce - To keep this dish primal and paleo compatible, I like to use a naturally sweetened BBQ sauce with no additives. One of my favorites is Good Food for Good.
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How To Make This Recipe
- Preheat the Traeger grill (or other pellet smoker) to 450 degrees F for 15 minutes. You can absolutely smoke this chicken at a lower temperature, see my notes on that below.
- In a small bowl whisk the avocado oil, coconut aminos, garlic, and additional seasonings until well combined.
- Pat the boneless chicken breasts dry with a paper towel and place in either a large bowl or ziplock bag and pour the oil mixture over the top. Mix well ensuring the chicken breasts are well coated with the oil on all sides of the chicken. Set the chicken aside or back into the fridge overnight.
- Once the grill is hot, place the chicken breasts directly on the grill grates or bbq and grill for approximately 25 minutes, flipping the chicken breasts halfway through, or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165F.
- Brush the chicken with the BBQ sauce, if using, approximately 5-10 minutes before removing the chicken from the grill.
- Remove chicken from the grill, cover, and let the chicken rest for 5 minutes. Slice or shred the bbq chicken and enjoy!
Notes:
- If you have a bit of extra time, smoke the chicken on the smoke setting for 30 minutes or so prior to increasing the grill to a higher temperature. This will help to infuse a bit more of that smokey flavor.
- I highly recommend using a meat thermometer to prevent dry chicken. Simply insert it into the thickest part of the breast for the most accurate reading.
How Long Does It Take To Smoke Chicken
The smoking time for this chicken breast will vary based on the temperature you are smoking at, as well as the size of the breasts.
The lower the temperature, the longer the cooking time and the more smoke flavor the chicken will have. The higher the temperature, the faster the chicken will cook however it will have less smoke flavor.
You can customize this recipe and the cook time based on how much time you have and how much smoke flavor you would like.
The cooking time will also vary based on the size and thickness of the chicken breasts. For best results use a meat thermometer. We use a meater plus bluetooth thermometer and love it!
Smoked Chicken vs Grilled Chicken
Grilling is a fast cooking method that uses high direct heat, usually from beneath the food, to sear the surface and lock in juices, typically resulting in a charred exterior and juicy interior.
Smoking, on the other hand, is a slow cooking method that uses indirect low heat, along with smoke from smoldering wood, to impart a distinctive smoky flavor and tenderize the food, often leading to a deeply flavored piece of meat.
I love using a Traeger grill for the best of both worlds. Even at higher cooking temperatures, pellet grills give an irresistible smoke flavor to your chicken that traditional grills can't achieve. Keep in mind that different pellets (ie flavors and brands) offer varying intensities of smoke.
Lower temperature and longer cooking times allow the smoke to infuse the chicken more deeply, resulting in a more intense smoky flavor, while higher temperatures offer a quicker cook with a milder smoke taste. Thus, with this pellet grill chicken breast recipe, you can choose your cooking method based on your preference for smoke intensity and the time you have!
What To Serve With This Smoked BBQ Chicken
Our favorite part about this BBQ Chicken recipe is how versatile it is! We love to serve this chicken with a salad or some delicious grilled veggies for a quick and healthy meal. These are some great options to serve with this smoked chicken:
Or use any leftover chicken in these easy and healthy recipes:
- Air Fryer Baked Sweet Potatoes - This BBQ chicken is delicious shredded and stuffed in these sweet potatoes, then drizzled with a little bit more BBQ cause and our favorite Tessemae’s Ranch!
- Smoked BBQ Chicken Nachos - If you haven’t tried Smoked Nachos you’re missing out! This recipe is an all around family favorite.
If you love the delicious flavor that cooking chicken on the Traeger gives you, try these Traeger Chicken Wings as well!
Recipe FAQ’s
This chicken recipe is best stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Yes! You can grill this chicken on a traditional propane or charcoal grill over medium high heat. I recommend a meat thermometer to prevent from undercooking or overcooking the chicken.
While you can, I really recommend using thawed chicken breast in this recipe for a couple reasons. It obviously takes longer to cook frozen chicken breast and there is a greater possibility of undercooking the chicken. Because it takes longer for the middle of the chicken breast to thaw, I find that using frozen chicken causes the outer portion of the breast to dry out before the center has reached a safe temperature.
If you grill frozen (or partially thawed) chicken breasts, be sure not to keep the temperature of your pellet smoker at too low of a temperature as this will cause the chicken to be in an unsafe temperature range for too long, and always ensure you cook to an internal temperature of 165F.
More Healthy Dinner Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Traeger Smoked Chicken Breast
Equipment
- Traeger or other pellet smoker
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- ¼ cup avocado oil or olive oil
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos
- 1-2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ tbsp poultry seasoning or your favorite blend
- ¾ cup BBQ sauce
Instructions
- Preheat your pellet grill to 450F.
- In a small bowl whisk the avocado oil, coconut aminos, garlic, and additional seasonings until well combined.
- Pat the chicken breasts dry and place in either a large bowl or ziplock bag and pour the oil mixture over the top. Mix well ensuring the chicken breasts are well coated with the oil. Set the chicken aside or back into the fridge overnight.
- Once the grill is hot, place the chicken breasts directly on the pellet grill or bbq and grill for approximately 25 minutes, flipping the chicken breasts halfway through, or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160F.
- Brush the chicken with the BBQ sauce, if using, approximately 5 minutes before removing the chicken from the grill.
- Remove chicken from the grill and let rest for 5 minutes until internal temp reaches 165F and the chicken is fully cooked. Slice or shred the chicken and enjoy!
Notes
- Chicken Breast - This recipe works with thighs as well, just adjust the cooking time as need.
- Seasoning Blend - Use your favorite seasoning blend in this recipe! I love The New Primal’s Citrus Herb blend as well as Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute. You can also season your chicken with kosher salt, black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder.
- BBQ Sauce - To keep this dish primal and paleo compatible, I like to use a naturally sweetened BBQ sauce with no additives. One of my favorites is Good Food for Good.
- The lower the temperature, the longer the cooking time and the more smoke flavor the chicken will have. The higher the temperature, the faster the chicken will cook however it will have less smoke flavor.
- The cooking time will also vary based on the size and thickness of the chicken breasts. For best results use a meat thermometer, like the Meater Plus.
- You can grill this chicken on a traditional propane or charcoal grill over medium high heat. I recommend a meat thermometer to prevent from undercooking or overcooking the chicken.
- This chicken recipe is best stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
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