Smoked Chicken Tacos

Learn how to make smoked chicken tacos! We start with an easy yet flavorful marinade rub on boneless chicken thighs, then smoke and assemble our delicious smoked chicken tacos.

Whether you've got a Pit Boss or Traeger pellet grill, a Masterbuilt electric smoker, or a simple gas grill, you can make delicious smoked chicken tacos right at home!

 

Marinate the Chicken Thighs

We prefer using boneless skinless thighs for our smoked chicken tacos.

Chicken thighs are one of our favorite types of chicken to make on the smoker, along with whole and spatchcocked chickens.

The chicken thighs are much more forgiving than chicken breasts because they are less likely to dry out while cooking.

Chicken breasts work great for dishes like our Honey Garlic Smoked Chicken Kabobs, but for smoked chicken tacos, we're sticking with thighs.

The marinade for these tacos is actually more similar to the consistency of a rub.

 

Marinade Ingredients

• 2 cloves of Garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 tablespoon Lime Juice
• 1 tablespoon Chili powder
• 1 teaspoon Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
• ½ teaspoon Oregano
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• ¼ teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Mix all these ingredients together in a glass measuring cup or a small bowl.

Stir together with a spoon or small silicone spatula.

Plan on smoking about ⅓ - ½ pounds of chicken per adult.  Our marinade recipe is enough for 2 lbs of chicken thighs, so it will work for a group of four to five people.

Put the whole chicken thighs and the rub in a resealable gallon-sized bag.

We prefer using resealable freezer bags for marinating since they are thicker and sturdier than regular gallon-sized bags.

Once the bag is sealed, move the chicken around in the bag to distribute the marinade evenly over each piece of chicken.

Refrigerate the bag for at least 2 hours or until your grill or smoker is preheated and you are ready to cook!

 

Prepare the Smoked Chicken Taco Ingredients

For our smoked chicken tacos, we prefer using freshly shredded cheese.

As we discussed with our smoked macaroni and cheese and our smoked chicken enchiladas, pre-shredded packaged cheese is coated in cellulose and other anti-caking agents.

This is great for keeping the cheese shreds from sticking together in the package, but makes them less appetizing and much harder to melt.

That's why we always prefer to freshly shred our own blocks of cheese.

This is super easy to do with a rotary cheese grater such as the one we like from Zulay.

Other toppings you may want to consider are:

• Shredded cabbage mix
• Shredded lettuce
• Chopped tomatoes
• Salsa
• Fresh cilantro
• Sour cream

And don't forget our favorite sauce for tacos: Homemade Cilantro Lime Crema from Bake it After All.

 

How to Prepare the Corn Tortillas

We like using corn tortillas for our smoked chicken tacos.

However, if you prefer flour tortillas, they will work just as well.

When using corn tortillas, the best way to prepare them for serving is to spray both sides of each corn tortilla with a little bit of olive oil spray.

Heat each side of the tortilla in a skillet over medium heat until the tortilla is soft and pliable. Keep the tortillas warm in the oven until you are ready to serve the tacos.

 

Smoke the Chicken Thighs

Once the chicken has marinated a few hours and you've got your other ingredients ready to go, it's time to fire up the grill or smoker!

(If you want more in-depth, step-by-step instructions for how to set up multiple types of different smokers to smoke boneless skinless chicken thighs, you can check out our complete smoked boneless skinless chicken thighs recipe HERE.)

 

Best Cooking Temperatures and Woods

When it's time to cook, set up your grill, pellet grill, or smoker for INDIRECT heat at 250°F.

We made our smoked chicken tacos on our Pit Boss pellet grill using a cherry wood pellet blend, but really any mild fruitwood will work well with your chicken.

Our advice is to stay away from heavily scented woods like hickory and mesquite for this dish as the flavors may clash with the marinade.

Lightly oil the grates of your grill or smoker and once it is preheated and smoking, put the marinated chicken thighs on.

Plan on the smoked chicken thighs taking about 1 hour to cook at 250°F.

Try to rotate and flip the thighs every 15 minutes or so while they are smoking so that they all cook evenly.

 

Target Internal Temperature for Smoked Chicken Thighs

You HAVE to use a good instant read meat thermometer to track the internal temperature of your smoked boneless chicken thighs to make sure they are safely 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 finished cooking. 

Yes, you may be thinking to yourself you've always heard 165°F is the target food safe temperature for chicken.

While this is true for white meat chicken breasts, dark meat poultry such as chicken legs and thighs taste better when cooked to 175°F.

With chicken thighs being dark meat, they get more tender at higher temperatures and do not dry out as quickly as chicken breasts.

We find the smoked chicken tacos also taste better when the chicken thighs are cooked all the way to 175° as more of the fat fully renders and the meat actually gets juicier.

This is why chicken thighs are so forgiving!

 

Assemble and Serve the Smoked Chicken Tacos

Remove the smoked chicken thighs from the smoker or grill to a cutting board and let them rest for about 5-10 minutes.

While they are resting, you can warm up the corn tortillas if you haven't done so already and set out the toppings for everyone.

Next, chop the chicken into very small bite-sized pieces using a good chopping knife like our favorite from iMarku.

Fill the warm tortillas with the smoked chicken and your choices of and toppings and enjoy your smoked chicken tacos! We love using homemade Cilantro Lime Crema on our chicken tacos.

 

📖 Recipe