Smoked Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs

Learn how to make the best smoked boneless skinless chicken thighs on ANY grill or smoker.

Whether you are using a pellet grill like a Traeger, Camp Chef, or Pit Boss, an electric smoker like a Masterbuilt, or just a conventional propane grill like a Weber, we've got you covered!

If you've spent any time around the Mad Backyard family, you know we love smoking chicken around here.

We've done our fair share of Whole Chickens, as well as Spatchcocked Chickens, Smoked Chicken Leg Quarters, and the always fun and popular Beer Can Chicken.

We've also shown you in-depth how to not only smoke, but get crispy skin, using a dry brine technique on bone-in, skin on, thighs, breasts, legs, and wings.

But today we are getting back to a simple weeknight dish with some delicious smoked boneless skinless chicken thighs.

No trimming, no brining.

First we will season them up with one our all time favorite BBQ rubs for chicken and smoke them with low to medium heat indirectly until they are perfectly cooked and colored.

Let's jump in and talk about what seasonings and sauces to use and then how to set up your smoker for perfect smoked boneless skinless chicken thighs!

Jump to:

• Video
• Prepare the Chicken Thighs
• Our Favorite Rubs
• Homemade BBQ Chicken Rub
• Our Favorite BBQ Sauces
• Best Wood Choices
• Cooking Temperature
• Target Internal Temperature
• Cooking Time
• Monitor your Temperature
• Saucing and Serving
• 📖 Recipe

Video

Rather WATCH than READ?

Check out our video on How to Make Smoked Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs!

Prepare the Chicken Thighs

You shouldn't need to do much trimming if you are buying a package of boneless skinless chicken thighs to smoke.

Take them out of the package and give them a rinse in the sink.

Lay them out on a cutting board or in an aluminum pan and dry them well some paper towels.  Only trim fat is you see a lot of excess on any piece.

Our Favorite Rubs

Once the boneless chicken thighs are rinsed and dried well, give them a little coating some regular olive oil to help the rub stick and keep the chicken moist on the smoker.

You don't need a lot, just enough to help the seasoning stick.

Now, you can use ANY of your favorite BBQ rubs for smoked chicken.

Since we are only smoking these at 250°F we don't need to worry about burning any sugary rubs.

So choose any rub you like and sprinkle it on generously on both sides of each boneless chicken thigh after you

Three Little Pigs Touch of Cherry is one of our personal favorite rubs for smoked chicken, and their Kansas City Championship Rub will give you a good hit of garlic, onion, and some heat if you like more of those flavors.

You can always mix it in with a more balanced rub like Blues Hog if you want a little of those flavors.

If you want a quality rub without ANY sugar, we are big fans of Bad Byron's Butt Rub Seasoning.

Although we typically use it on cuts of beef and steaks where we are going for a more savory flavor, there is no real reason you can't apply it to your smoked boneless chicken thighs if you are looking for big savory flavor without any of the sugar.

Homemade BBQ Chicken Rub

Sometimes, you forgot you ran out of your favorite rub, or don't have all the ingredients on hand to make a complex one from scratch.

If you just want to get a good classic BBQ rub on your smoked boneless skinless chicken thighs before throwing them on, then we've got you covered with this simple rub recipe with seasonings most people have on hand in the pantry:

• ¼ cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 2 tablespoon Paprika
• 1 tablespoon Chili Powder
• 1 tablespoon Kosher Salt (or ½ a teaspoon Table Salt)
• ½ tablespoon Fresh Black Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
• ⅛ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (optional for heat)

Mix thoroughly, (using a re-usable plastic shaker works best), and then sprinkle directly on your chicken.

If you don't want that much sugar, you can replace it with more paprika, smoked paprika. or increase the amount of chili powder and other savory seasonings.

Our Favorite BBQ Sauces

Now, there is no law you have to use a barbecue sauce on smoked boneless chicken thighs.

We actually think they taste great with a just a rub like Three Little Pigs.

But if you DO want a barbecue sauce, Blues Hog wins the day with their amazing lineup of sauces.

While their rubs are great, their sauces are WORLD CLASS.

Their Original BBQ Sauce is VERY thick, VERY sweet, and incredibly heavy on flavor, so a little goes a LONG way.

In fact, we actually like to cut it with a less intense sauce, OR, with their Tennessee Red Sauce, which is a thinner, more vinegar based sauce, that is our hands down favorite sauce to use on our pulled pork.

You can pick up both and mix them like we do, or mix some Blues Hog Original in with one of your other favorites (we'd suggest more savory sauces to balance the sugar, like this one from Aaron Franklin.)

Kosmos also makes a great lineup of BBQ sauces that work great on boneless chicken thighs, especially if you want to try some more adventurous flavors such as their Peach Habanero or Honey Jalapeno.

Best Wood Choices

Poultry, like fish, absorbs smoke very quickly and a little goes a long way.

The best woods for smoking chicken include the fruitwoods like apple, cherry, and peach, but also the milder smoking woods like pecan, oak and alder.

Mesquite and hickory will give a very aggressive smoke flavor and should only be used if mixed in with some of the other types mentioned above.

If you want to keep it simple and straightforward, choose a lighter smoking wood like oak, apple, or peach.

Middle of the road?  Try hickory or cherry.

We recommend staying away from mesquite unless you cut it with another type of wood chip or pellet.

A little goes a long way with mesquite.

For fun, you can choose your woods seasonally, using beech and cherry in spring and summer and pecan and apple into the fall and winter.

For the best results, if you are using a pellet grill or pellet tube smoker, store your unused pellets in a sealed room temperature container like this 20 lb pellet container rather than in the hopper outside.

Pellets do not last forever, but will definitely last a LOT longer if stored indoors in a quality, airtight container.

Cooking Temperature

We are going to set up the grill or smoker for moderately low and slow indirect cooking at 250°F.

This will give the chicken thighs plenty of time to absorb smokey flavor and will not burn any sugar in our rub.

The extra fat in the dark meat thighs will keep them from drying out like smoked chicken breasts might do if smoked at this low of a temperature.

However, if you are more crunched for time, you can turn the temperature up to 300°F if need to but they won;t get as much smoke flavor.

Target Internal Temperature

You HAVE to use a good instant read meat thermometer to know where the internal temperature is of your smoked boneless chicken thighs, so as to make sure they are not over, or worse, under cooked.

We are particular fans of this one from ThermoPro because of its durability and affordable price.

We are targeting a final internal temperature of 175°F on the smoked boneless skinless chicken thighs to know that they are safe to eat and finished cooking. 

Cooking Time

At 250°F, our smoked boneless skinless chicken thighs will take about 1 hour to cook and come up to 175°F internally.

This gives the smoked chicken thighs plenty of time to absorb a good amount of smoke and really develop some great flavors on the smoker.

They may take a little longer or less time depending on the size of your thighs.

That is why you need a good instant read thermometer and why we always cook to TEMPERATURE, not TIME.

Monitor your Temperature

Almost every grill and smoker will have some sort of temperature gauge on them.

Now, if you are using a pellet grill or electric smoker, you should be able to pretty accurately dial in your desired temperature of 250°F with the turn of a dial.

This is what makes them so convenient!

If, however, you are using a charcoal or propane grill/smoker, you can't rely on the cheap lid mounted temperature gauge that come installed on them.

We have found these can sometimes be up to 30°F off from the true actual temperature at the grill grate level!

This is unacceptable.

This is why you will always see competition cooks, and backyard chefs who know their stuff, using wireless digital probe thermometers to keep track of both their meat AND their cooking chamber.

And even if you have a fancy pellet grill like a Traeger or even an electric smoker, it can't hurt to double check how accurate your temperature settings are to the true temperatures you are getting.

We are big fans of the ThermoPro Wireless Digital Meat Thermometer series for doing this.

While we have used and recommended ThermoPro for years, lately we have also become big fans of the MEATER leave in thermometer.

It is extremely accurate and has an incredible 165 foot Bluetooth range and works right with your smartphone so you don't need to carry a separate controller around with you like many other remote thermometers require.

It's got a great free app that is constantly being updated and even has an algorithm to predict how much longer your type of meat will take to cook based on cooking temperature, target temperature, current internal temperature.

It's like a GPS for your meat!

Anyways, back to our smoked chicken...

Again, we are going to bring the internal temperature of our smoked bonless chicken thighs up to 175*F.

Since the smoked boneless chicken thighs are dark meat, they need to cook up a little higher than say a white meat chicken breast that only needs to hit 165°F internally.

We also think the meat just tastes better when cooked that high as all the fat really renders out completely.

Saucing and Serving

If you are going to apply a barbecue sauce, don't put it on when the boneless chicken thighs are still raw and have just gone on the grill or smoker.

Give the rub some time to firm up on the chicken, and rotate and flip as needed depending on how even the temperature of your grill or smoker is.

Once the chicken has about 20 minutes left, then you can baste on some barbecue sauce using a good silicone basting brush.

This will give the barbecue sauce time to firm up on the chicken without drying out or interfering with the rub.

Serve your smoked boneless skinless chicken thighs while they are still hot, with some extra warmed up BBQ sauce on the side if your guests wish.

Smoked chicken thighs are great on their own, or you can pair them with our maple bourbon smoked pineapple for a Hawaiian theme.

Smoked broccoli, smoked asparagus, smoked carrots, and even smoked cauliflower are great if you're eating healthy.

If you want something a little richer, check out our Smoked Baked Potatoes, Smoked Baked Beans, or our Buttery Smoked Sweet Potatoes to cook and serve right alongside your smoked chicken thighs.

📖 Recipe