Cooking these pellet grill chicken thighs with our fool-proof method yields the most crispy edged, juicy, smoky, flavourful, gorgeous chicken that you can eat as is or incorporate into different recipes. Make a big batch of these crave-worthy chicken thighs to have dinner tonight and lunch for the rest of the week!
Pellet Grill Chicken Thighs
The key to the allure of this chicken is the combination of dry spices, olive oil, and sauce that are rubbed onto the chicken before grilling. No marinating is required: this mayonnaise based sauce seals all the juices and flavour into the chicken thighs. It also caramelizes beautifully on the pellet grill, giving the chicken the most inviting crispy edges.
If the sauce sounds familiar to you, you’re not going crazy. It is Bang Bang Sauce as used in Bang Bang Salmon Bites and never have I ever gone wrong with that! I discovered almost accidentally that smearing it all over the outside of chicken before grilling it makes for the juiciest chicken I’ve ever made.
My husband, sons, and I ate an entire three pound batch for dinner the first night I made it. And it was so good, that we unanimously agreed to have it again for dinner later that week. That time, I intentionally doubled it so we would have leftovers.
The leftover chicken made incredible crispy chicken taco filling, quesadillas, and Buffalo chicken flatbread. I also chopped up one leftover thigh and added it to a couple of cups of White Bean Salad for the best bagged lunch I’ve had in ages. And bonus: it’s good enough to serve to company, too!
Chicken Thighs on a Pellet Grill
My Traeger pellet grill is the what I turn to when I need to cook when the weather is warm. It allows me the ability to control my cooking temperature, add a little infusion of smoky goodness in my cooking, and avoid heating up my kitchen all in one fell swoop.
While the pellet grill makes cooking a lot more comfortable in the summer months, the method I’m sharing today is the very best for making the juiciest, most irresistible chicken ever. In fact, it makes chicken so good, I’ve temporarily shelved every other method in favour of preparing it this way.
Chicken Thighs on a Pellet Grill
Rate RecipeEquipment
- pellet grill
- mixing bowl
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- tongs
Ingredients
- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons granulated garlic
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1.5 teaspoons kosher salt I use Diamond Crystal Kosher salt. If you use Morton’s please reduce the salt by half.
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2/3 cup Bang Bang Sauce
Instructions
- Load your pellet grill with your preferred pellets (apple, cherry, or another fruit wood works best) and preheat to 375ºF.
- Clean your grill grates and gently oil them.
- Add the chicken thighs to a mixing bowl. Add the olive oil, granulated garlic, smoked paprika, salt, and black pepper to the chicken and gently stir to evenly coat the chicken with everything. Add bang bang sauce and stir gently again to coat the chicken evenly.
- Arrange the chicken thighs on the pellet grill, leaving space for air to circulate around them. Close the pellet grill and cook for 40-50 minutes or until the internal temperature in the thickest part of the thigh reaches 175ºF, flipping the thighs once halfway through cooking.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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