How To Cook Chicken Quarters On Traeger
Get Juicy Chicken Quarters Every Time – How To Cook Chicken Quarters On Traeger
Welcome to the world of Wood Pellet Smoking! This post will serve as your mini-guide to everything Wood Pellet including how to cook chicken quarters on Traeger. Traeger’s wood pellet grills offer the convenience of electric smokers along with a variety of other benefits. Including, but not limited to, higher temperature options, no wasted fuel, no soot, and real wood-generated cooking heat. Wood Pellet Smokers are free from moisture, which you can’t get from wet or greenwood.
Smoking has long been used to preserve meats. In fact, smoking helped to increase food safety and prevent diseases. When modern food preservation methods came to be, smoking as a means of preservation become obsolete, and people started smoking more for the taste, texture, and cultural value. Still, smoking is used for preservation in some underdeveloped nations.
Today, smokers have become a household staple and in case you have not already entered the magical world of Wood Pellet Smokers then you are in luck, as this introduction will introduce you to just that.
What is a Wood Pellet Smoker?
The Wood Pellet Smoker utilizes wood pellets, which makes temperature and flavor control easier when smoking, grilling, or roasting. The ease of use has made this smoker-grill popular all around the globe.
A wood pellet has the shape of a pill that looks like ¼-inch thick wood. These pellets are used in a controlled manner to maintain the desired temperature in a Wood Pellet Smoker-Grill. Wood pellets come in different varieties, such as hickory, apple, mesquite, cherry, and more. Different varieties provide different flavors and levels of smokiness to the prepared food. The smoky flavors blend with the food in the smoker-grill and create a unique taste and texture.
Each Wood Pellet Smoker-Grill contains a storage hopper. This storage hopper is the place where you add all of the wood pellets. The equipment takes care of the transfer of wood pellets from the storage hopper to the burning area in the correct quantity.
Thus, you get a perfect temperature for the type of cooking approach you are following. The rate of pellet burning increases when you are grilling, and it decreases when you set the smoker-grill at a low temperature. This helps to smoke your food for a long time with consistent heat.
It only takes about 10–20 minutes to heat and get the smoker-grill ready for cooking. The preheating process usually takes about 15 minutes. This makes cooking efficient and easy for everyone. You can pick any time and work on some delicious recipes.
How to Buy a Pellet Grill
Modern designs of Wood Pellet Smoker-Grills contain electronic functionality. Advanced design allows smoker-grills to manage temperature control and pellets on their own. The wood pellets are transferred to the burning area according to the cooking setting you provide. With one push of a button, you can allow the smoker-grill to take care of the temperature consistency and the flavors of the food inside.
When you opt to buy a Pellet Grill there are a few things you have to consider. Including:
Selecting Smoker Model & Type:
You will need to select the type of smoker you want to use. The vertical water smokers than be on the cheaper end of the market and tend to work well even during warm weather. However, they won’t be able to maintain their core temperature during cold weather. The cabinet-style electric smokers are shaped like a small fridge. Most of these cabinet smokers also have a temperature gauge that will enable you to control the core temperature. When you are making use of an electric smoker to cook, it is incredibly important that you can control the temperature.
Selecting Your Wood:
You will need to purchase the necessary wood chips. You can find these at a local grocery or a hardware store. These days, you can even order the necessary wood chips online/ you can add any additional flavor adding agents like cherry, apple, plum, or maple to the container of wood chips. For smoking food for about 3-5 hours, you will need around 950 ml or 4 cups of wood chips.
Understand Cooking Temperatures:
Whenever you are making use of an electric smoker, you should always make sure that you are cooking at an ideal temperature. You will need to monitor the internal temperature of the smoker. However, most of the smokers available these days come with a temperature gauge. This simplifies your work. Some electric smokers also have a dial for adjusting the smokers. So, make sure that you have adjusted the temperature depending on the recipe.
How To Cook Chicken Quarters On Traeger
Barbecue Chicken Breasts
Serves: 4
Time: 50 mins.
Ingredients:
- Two T. Worcestershire sauce
- ½ c. hot barbecue sauce
- One c. barbecue sauce
- Two cloves minced garlic
- ¼ c. olive oil
- 4 chicken breasts
Directions:
- Put the chicken breasts into a deep container.
- In another bowl, put the Worcestershire sauce, barbecue sauces, garlic, and olive oil. Stir well to combine.
- Use half to marinate the chicken and reserve the rest for basting.
- Add wood pellets to your grill and power it on following the guidelines from your device’s manufacturer. Close the lid and allow it to preheat to 350F.
- Take the chicken breasts out of the sauce. On the grill, place them before smoking them for approximately 20 minutes.
- About ten minutes before the chicken is finished, baste with reserved barbecue sauce.
Cilantro-Lime Chicken
Serves: 4
Time: 5 hrs. 50 mins.
Ingredients:
- Pepper
- Salt
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- ½ c. lime juice
- One c. honey
- Two T. olive oil
- ½ c. chopped cilantro
- 4 chicken breasts
Directions:
- Put the chicken breasts into a large zip-top bag.
- In another bowl, put the pepper, salt, olive oil, garlic, honey, lime juice, and cilantro. Stir well to combine.
- Use half as a marinade and reserve the rest for later.
- Place into the refrigerator for four to five hours.
- Add wood pellets to your grill and power it on following the guidelines from your device’s manufacturer. Close the lid and allow it to preheat to 350F.
- Remove the chicken breasts from the bag. Use paper towels to pat them dry. Let them smoke up in the grill for about fifteen mins.
- About five minutes before the chicken is finished, baste with reserved marinade.
Lemon Honey Chicken
Serves: 4
Time: 1 hr.
Ingredients:
- Pepper
- Salt
- Chopped rosemary
- One clove crushed garlic
- One T. honey
- Juice of one lemon
- ½ c. chicken broth
- 3 T. butter
- 4 chicken breasts
Directions:
- Place a pan on the stove and melt the butter. Place chicken breasts into hot butter and sear on each side until a nice color has formed.
- Take out of the pan and allow to rest for ten minutes.
- In a small bowl, put the pepper, salt, rosemary, garlic, honey, lemon juice, and broth. Stir well to combine.
- Rub each breast with the honey lemon mixture.
- Add wood pellets to your grill and power it on following the guidelines from your device’s manufacturer. Close the lid and allow it to preheat to 350F.
- Put the chicken breasts onto the preheated grill and grill for 20 minutes.
Bottom Line
The Traeger’s wood pellet grills offer you the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of a smoker and grill in one appliance. This includes the ability to get brilliant grill lines from temperature options, no wasted fuel, no soot, and real wood-generated cooking heat.
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