Cajun Smoked Chicken Quarters
Up your BBQ game with maybe the easiest ever rub and the best set-it-and-forget-it Cajun-style smoked chicken quarters
Equipment
- Smoker or Oven
Ingredients
Slap Ya Mama (lazy) Way Rub
- 2 tbsp Slap Ya Mama White Pepper Mix
- 1 tbsp poultry seasoning powder
Make Your Own Way Rub
- ⅔ tbsp white pepper
- ½ tbsp paprika powder (red pepper powder)
- ½ tbsp garlic powder
- ⅓ tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp poultry seasoning
Instructions
- Slap Ya Mama/poultry seasoning mix is the easiest way to rub these, but if you don't have the seasoning you can make a pretty good substitute I find that these ratios work pretty closely. Mix white pepper/cayenne with poultry seasoning and apply liberally to chicken quarters. Let sit for minimum one hour, or refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat smoker to 250°F with your favorite smoke (I used a mix of cherry and mesquite).
- Smoke for 2.5 to 3 hours. If using a multi-rack smoker, keep poultry one bottom rack to avoid cross-meat contamination. This is what they looked like after 2.5 hours, so I left them in for another 30-45 min. The chicken was already cooked by the time the corn went onto the rack (after I had run out of real estate on the top rack)
Notes
Smoking Temperature:
I had these in the smoker overlapping with hours 4-6 of my ribs (cooked for the first 3 hours at 225°F) and once my ribs were wrapped for hours 4 and 5, I turned up the heat slightly to 250°F.
IMPORTANT:
If smoking on a multi-rack smoker, always make sure to have your higher-temp meat items lower than above. So, remember to always keep your chicken on the bottom rack! Poultry has a higher "Safe-temp" than pork or beef, so you should not have chicken/poultry above your pork or beef (or especially veg). Drippings from poultry risk contaminating other meats with lower cook temps, known as cross-meat contamination, which should be avoided whenever possible. If you are timing your different meats to all finish at the same time, there is slightly less risk, but it is almost always best practice to keep your poultries lower than your meats.
If smoking on a multi-rack smoker, always make sure to have your higher-temp meat items lower than above. So, remember to always keep your chicken on the bottom rack! Poultry has a higher "Safe-temp" than pork or beef, so you should not have chicken/poultry above your pork or beef (or especially veg). Drippings from poultry risk contaminating other meats with lower cook temps, known as cross-meat contamination, which should be avoided whenever possible. If you are timing your different meats to all finish at the same time, there is slightly less risk, but it is almost always best practice to keep your poultries lower than your meats.