Smoked Chicken Legs

Juicy, meaty, succulent smoked chicken legs are as easy as they are budget friendly; no need to brine or marinate. All it takes is some drumsticks, a little olive oil, dry rub, apple juice, and barbecue sauce and 90 minutes later, you have the most wonderful smoked chicken legs. It’s a recipe easy enough for a beginner, but tasty enough for experienced cooks!

Smoked Chicken Legs

Chicken drumsticks are one of the most economical cuts available of any kind of meat. Even with food prices being significantly higher and still on the rise, chicken legs are still super affordable.

In our neck of the woods, fresh drumsticks run about $1.49 per pound at their regular price. That makes them a great choice for feeding a crowd or cooking for a party or meal prepping on a budget.

But being inexpensive doesn’t have to mean boring or bland. Enter smoked chicken legs: stage right.

Smoked Chicken Drumsticks

These drumsticks are coated with my favourite spicy dry rub and cooked at a low temperature, allowing the smoke to penetrate the meat all the way to the bone. I used my best-loved Salt Lick BBQ Garlic Dry Rub, but you can use whatever you like best.

To keep the chicken from drying out, you glaze the it with a mixture of apple juice and barbecue sauce toward the end of the cooking time. The two-part process creates incredibly flavourful, juicy meat.

Don’t give into any temptation to glaze it at the beginning though. It would interrupt the process of the smoke penetrating deep into the meat. That would make for less flavourful chicken.

Not only is smoked meat incredibly tasty, it has an added bonus: smoke has a preservative effect on meat. That means the meat you prepped over the weekend will -if stored and handled properly- still be perfectly good and edible by the end of the week.

So you have a one-two punch to recommend this recipe! It’s kind to your wallet AND your schedule. You can cook a giant batch of these over the weekend and tuck an irresistible chicken leg or two into your lunch every day the following week. You’ll be the envy of everyone at the table when you break out that lunch!

How Long to Smoke Chicken Drumsticks

If you’re still wondering how long to smoke chicken drumsticks, I’m happy to say it only takes about 90 minutes. If you have a automatic pellet grill/smoker like a Traeger, this is going to be almost entirely hands off time.

The only time you really need to do anything is when you brush them with glaze when the chicken reaches 165ºF. I do recommend using a meat thermometer with a probe that you can leave in the chicken to monitor the temperature or one of these excellent instant read thermometers. You could also use a much less expensive instant read thermometer, but I have personal positive experience with the other two I recommended.

If you do not have a smoker, don’t fret. You can still smoke your drumsticks by loading a smoker box with pellets, wood shavings, or wood chunks. Place in the grill according to manufacturer’s instructions and smoke away!

Speaking of wood, you want to choose a mild wood to smoke your chicken over. I prefer apple or cherry, but a nice blend will also work well.

Leftover Smoked Chicken Ideas

If you have leftovers of this smoked chicken drumsticks recipe, you have options! For starters, you can keep these leftovers in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Enjoy leftover smoked chicken legs cold, or reheat them. For best results, wrap them loosely in foil and warm in a 350ºF oven or air fryer until hot all the way through, about 10 to 15 minutes.

But the fun is just starting there because there are so many smoked chicken leftover ideas. Here are some of my favourite recipes with smoked chicken leftovers.

You can pull the leftover meat off the bones and use the shredded meat to elevate dishes like Crispy Chicken Tacos, Chicken Tortilla Soup, BBQ Chicken Sliders, Hot Buffalo Chicken Dip (or High Protein Buffalo Chicken Dip) and Buffalo Chicken Flatbread.

Want more recipes for smoked chicken leftovers? Toss a handful into High Protein Mac and Cheese to make it an even more amazing treat. Adding leftover smoked chicken not only makes an already comforting dish even more delicious, but it also makes it even higher in protein!