Smoked Chicken Bombs

This recipe is the definition of a crowd-pleaser. It's low effort and incredibly tasty. Whenever I have people over when the weather is good, I love to make these.

Equipment

• Smoker (I have an egg-style Kamado Grill) and accessories
• Container Large enough to brine chicken
• Something to pound the chicken flat (a rolling pin is fine in a crunch)

Time

3-4 Hours for brining, half hour to prepare, and less than an hour to smoke

Ingredients

• 1 Pound of bacon. I prefer to use plain bacon, not the hickory or whatever, since you're about to smoke it
• 6 Chicken Breasts
• Brine Solution
  • 1 Gallon of Water
  • 3/4 cup salt
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons Paprika
  • 1 tablespoon Onion Powder
  • 1 tablespoon Garlic Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
  • 1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• 2 Jalepeños (minimum, feel free/encouraged to use more)
• Rub for the chicken, I am a huge fan of this blend
• 1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
• Wood chips, I prefer a mix of Mequite and Apple
• Toothpicks, 3 per breast

Instructions

Prep

1. Make the brine: Heat the water and mix in all the other components. Stir until all the particles mix in, move to whatever container you're going to use to brine the chicken.
2. Cut all the tendons on the back of the breast to spread it out flat, then pound out chicken breasts, until you think you could roll it up around the stuffing
3. Make sure the brine is cool enough that it won't cook the chicken, if it is, put the chicken in fridge and wait for it to cool
4. Put all of the chicken in the brine, and place in the fridge. Wait 3-4 Hours before cooking

Cooking

5. Heat up your smoker. Aim for 225°F.
6. Dice the Jalepeños
7. Make Stuffing: Mix Jalepeños, Shredded Cheese, A pinch or two of salt, and a few pinches of your chicken rub
8. Lay out the chicken with 2 slices of bacon underneath each breast, crossed to make an "X" shape
9. Add a dollop of stuffing to each chicken breast, then close up the breast and wrap with the bacon. Hold shut with the toothpicks. I recommend adding 3 toothpicks to each breast even if you don't need all of them just so that it's easier to tell when you've found them all in each breast
10. Cover each breast with a pinch of your rub
11. Add the wood chips to your smoker and put in all the breasts on indirect heat. I really recommend putting a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the largest one.
12. Cook until the thickest part of the larger breasts are juuuust over 160°F. It's possible depending on the size of your smoker that you'll get a stall around the 140's, if it lasts too long, just heat the grill up closer to 260-280 and it should finish that last bit off faster
13. Pull off the grill and serve!