Smoked chicken quarters (or smoked chicken leg quarters), is probably both the simplest and cheapest recipe we have ever done on GrillinFools.com. This is one extremely inexpensive way to feed a crowd. We start by coating the chicken quarters with barbecue seasoning and then slow smoking them over lump charcoal and smoke wood. Scroll down for the full step-by-step, picture-by-picture, foolproof grilling instructions as well as a couple pro tips on how to make sure to keep the chicken uber juicy.

This is not our first chicken quarters recipe. Our reverse seared chicken leg quarters recipe is a little more complicated and a biscuit more expensive but still a big money saver (and amazingly delicious). Indeed, if you are slightly more daring, I give you this Grilled Spatchcocked Chicken with an Asian Glaze (which includes the definition of, “spatchcocked.”) Speaking of whole chicken, how about Wine CAN Chicken?! And finally, for a healthier dish, these Grilled Chicken Breast Pinwheels.

Back to the recipe at hand

Smoked Chicken Quarters Ingredients

• Chicken quarters
• Salt (optional, depending on your rib choice)
• Your favorite BBQ rub – We used Boar’s Night Out Championship Rub
• 2 cups peach cider (substitute apple cider or just apple juice)
• 1 cup vegetable oil

Additional Equipment

• Food safe spray bottle for the cider
• Atomizer for the vegetable oil (generally a squirt bottle does not work for oil)

To begin, trim any excess globs of fat or overhanging skin off the chicken quarters:

Check your rub to see the salt content. You may not need any salt as the rub may have enough salt on its own.

My rub for this recipe, from the crew at Boar’s Night Out (which is one of the most decorated competition barbecue teams in the country), is a paprika based rub that gave this chicken the most wonderful color (and flavor). I highly recommend it, particularly since I ❤️ Paprika! That should be a bumper sticker or shirt or something:

I went ahead and salted these thighs as well as coated them with the Boar’s Night Out Championship Rub. Also, start seasoning with the skin side of the chicken quarters down on the cutting board.

First the salt:

Then the rub:

Next, flip over and repeat:

Then, prepare the grill for indirect or two zone grilling, which means charcoal and smoke wood (we used pecan, but you might want to use another type of wood) on one side and the chicken on the other. Target temp inside the grill is 250F.

How to Cook Smoked Chicken Quarters

Prepare the grill for two zone or indirect grilling. Place the coals and smoke wood on one side of the grill and the chicken on the other side. Target temperature inside the grill is 250. Make sure to place the chicken quarters with the legs away from the fire and the thighs closer to the heat. Close the lid and allow the heat and smoke to cook the chicken. After the first hour, when the seasoning has set, give the chicken a misting with cider. After 15 minutes, give the chicken a spritz of vegetable oil. Alternate cider and oil every 15 minutes. In between two and two and a half hours, the chicken should reach the target temperature of 175F. At this point either remove from the heat and serve or place the chicken directly over the hot part of the fire and crisp up the skin before serving.

Place the chicken quarters on the grill, with the legs away from the fire and the thighs closest to the heat:

Close the lid and let that smoke and heat cook the chicken.

Pro Tip ~ Baste the chicken, but wait an hour to start the basting

After an hour, when the seasoning has set on the skin of the chicken (which means it won’t wash off), open the lid and give the chicken a spritz with the cider:

Additionally, there is one more Pro Tip down below the recipe card

15 minutes after the cider spritz, hit the chicken quarters with the oil:

Don’t worry. The oil from an atomizer is a very fine mist. We aren’t lubing up a chassis here.

Then, alternate between the cider and oil every 15 minutes until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 175F.

This begs the question:

How Long to Smoke Chicken Quarters

We smoked these at 250F for just under 2.5 hours. But that time can vary greatly based on the heat of the fire, size of the chicken quarters, etc. Cook to temp, and not time.

Hence, what temp to cook the chicken? 165, right? Nope. At least not for dark meat.

What Temp for Chicken Thighs (and Chicken Quarters)

The target temp for dark meat like this is not 165F as many assume for chicken. That’s for chicken breasts. Although, for dark meat, like these chicken leg quarters, 175F is a better target temp. Even if the leg quarters get close to 180F, they will be fine. In other words, chicken quarters have a much larger window to get them right than chicken breasts.

Once the chicken reached the internal temperature of 165F, you have a decision to make. Smoke for a few more degrees or sear?

Also, feel free to add a dusting of rub to the chicken about 90 minutes in after a spritz:

Indeed, the older I get, the more I like to dust with a little more seasoning on all sorts of proteins.

That’s some pretty chicken:

Currently, that chicken skin is pretty firm, but not crispy. Thus, to get it crispy we need to sear it and pull the rest of the liquid out. How do we do that?

In this case, I raised that charcoal up near the surface, which is a standard feature of this Hasty Bake grill and sear the chicken off over those coals:

The problem with searing the skin, is that the skin will pull back from the meat and it won’t be as pretty. Although, it will stay super juicy and delicious!

Additionally, if smoking and then searing sounds familiar. That’s because it’s known as the reverse sear method or reverse searing. Here at GrillinFools.com, we are huge fans of that method.

Check the drip:

Look closer at the drip coming off the bottom of that chicken. I’ll wait.

Finally, remove the smoked chicken quarters from the grill and allow them to rest for 4-8 minutes.

Here’s the backside of that chicken (the meat side):

Smoked Chicken Quarters Summery

The chicken quarters were about the juiciest chicken I’ve ever had. And no, I didn’t brine it. Big fan of brining, but dark meat from the chicken just doesn’t need it. The paprika based seasoning from Boar’s Night Out (one of the most decorated competition barbecue teams in the country and some all around great dudes) gave the chicken an absolutely amazing color and the flavor was out of the world. Wonderfully smoky, perfectly seasoned, and overly juicy. That three pack of chicken quarters was well under $10.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.

Additionally if you could leave us a great review that would be most appreciated!

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Print

Smoked Chicken Quarters

Chicken Quarters, seasoned and slow smoked over lump charcoal and smoke wood, are a simple and inexpensive way to feed a crowd these smoked chicken quarters.

Course BBQ, Chicken, Entree, Main Course

Cuisine American, American Fare, Barbecue, BBQ, Chicken, Chicken Leg Quarters, Chicken Legs, Chicken Quarters, Chicken Thighs, Finger Food, Smoked Chicken

Keyword BBQ Rub, BBQ Seasoning, Boar's Night Out, Butlerwood Smoke Wood, Charcoal, Hasty Bake Grill, Hasty Bake Legacy 131, Hasty-Bake, Lump Charcoal, Paprika, Rockwood Lump Charcoal, Smoked Chicken Leg Quarters, Smoked Chicken Quarters

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4 People

Author Scott Thomas

Equipment

• 1 Vegetable oil atomizer
• 1 Food safe squirt bottle

Ingredients

• 3 Chicken quarters
• Salt to taste
• Boar's Night Out BBQ seasoning
• 2 cup Peach cider Substitute apple cider or even apple juice
• 1 cup Vegetable oil

Instructions

• Trim the excess globs of fat off the chicken quarters. Then, season with salt (optional based on salt content of the BBQ seasoning) and your favorite BBQ seasoning on both sides, starting with skin side down.
• Prepare the grill for indirect or two zone grilling with hot coals and smoke wood on one side of the grill and the chicken quarters on the other. Target temperature inside the grill is 250F
• Make sure the legs are away from the fire and the thicker thighs are closer to the heat. Close the lid and allow heat and smoke to bake the chicken
• After a hour, when the seasoning has set, give the smoked chicken quarters a spritz with the peach cider. Close the lid and wait 15 minutes and spritz with the vegetable oil. Every 15 minutes there after, alternate between cider and vegetable oil.
• After about 90 minutes on the grill, dust with a little more seasoning.
• Once the chicken hits an internal temperature of 165F decide if you want to crisp up the skin more by searing it off or continue to smoke until it hits 175F.
• If searing (also called the reverse sear method), crank up the heat of the coals and sear the chicken on both sides and then remove from the heat and allow to rest for 4-8 minutes.

Video

Pro Tip ~ Feel free to dust with a little more seasoning when serving. Trust me:

The post Smoked Chicken Quarters first appeared on GrillinFools.

Author information

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

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