Smoked Chicken Chili

joshpounds90 · October 2020

Decided to make an updated version of my fiancée's dad's (also from Indiana) chicken chili for football Sunday. Started on Saturday night with a pot of Rancho Gordo pinto beans soaked in water with 2 Tablespoons of kosher salt, overnight.

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Sunday morning, drained and rinsed the beans, then simmered them in chicken broth with a jalapeño, a whole head of garlic and a shallot (each halved) for 45 min. to 1 hour, until almost al dente.

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In a large pot, sautéd 1 chopped, large, yellow onion until translucent. Added in 2 28oz. cans of fire roasted tomatoes, the BEANS [if not pre-soaking your own beans, you can use 4 15oz. cans of mixed beans], 1/3 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 heaping tablespoon each of cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, then salt & black pepper to taste. Sprinkled in chili pepper flakes and cayenne to taste. Stirred and let simmer. (You can adjust any of these spice quantities to your own liking.) Meanwhile, pre-heated my medium BGE to around 450°F direct while rubbing chicken thighs with Dizzy Dust. Seared the thighs on both sides until they had decent char marks, and then threw my plate-setter in for indirect cooking.

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After about 40 minutes between 290° - 320°F, my thighs had reached an internal temp. of about 160°F.

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Pulled the skin off each thigh (while the meat rested) and threw the skins into a cast iron pan for a quick fry in canola. Had ourselves a crispy chicken skin snack while we shredded and de-boned the thigh meat. Tossed the shredded meat into the dutch oven with the beans, tomatoes, etc. and gave it a good stir before placing it on the BGE grate at a dome temp. of 300°F for about an hour.

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And there you have it: Double-Smoked Chicken Thigh Chili! Turned out deliciously. Will be even better after a few days in the fridge. Served with a TON of shredded Mexican blend cheese, sour cream, cilantro, red onion, Cholula and Fritos, of course.