How To Smoke Buffalo Chicken
Buffalo chicken has become a fad in the last few decades due to the popularity of chicken wings. Almost every bar and restaurant now features buffalo chicken wings as an appetizer or entree. This smoked buffalo chicken recipe puts those chicken wings to shame as you still get the same great buffalo flavor, but you also get to taste the white breast meat without chewing around the bone. 

You will be slowly smoking this whole chicken at a low and slow temperature of 250 degrees Fahrenheit. The added smoky flavor of the wood chips will compliment the buffalo flavor. You want to allow between 2 to 5 hours to smoke a whole chicken depending on the weight of the bird. You will know when your smoked chicken is done when the internal breast temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit. The smoked buffalo chicken recipe below will provide step by step instructions on how to inject and smoke the chicken, recipe ingredients, cooking time, and other smoking tips.
 Included in the recipe are directions for how to make the buffalo sauce and dry rub seasoning, but you can always purchase bottled buffalo sauce and packaged chicken dry rub seasoning from your favorite restaurant or your local grocery store.

Smoked Buffalo Sauce Recipe Ingredients

• 2 cups cayenne pepper seasoning
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/3 cup of chopped onion
• 1 chopped garlic
• 1/3 cup chopped tomato
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1 stick butter
• 1 bottle Louisiana Hot Sauce
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice or half the juice of a lemon
• 1 teaspoon of honey
• 1/4 cup of ketchup

Smoked Buffalo Chicken Seasoning Rub Ingredients

• 2-3 tablespoons oil (vegetable, canola, or olive)
  
• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder or 2 crushed garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons Lawry’s seasoning salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons black pepper

Other Smoked Buffalo Chicken Ingredients and Supplies

• 1 whole chicken
  
• 1 meat injector
• 1 bag of charcoal
• 1 bottle of lighter fluid or a charcoal chimney starter
• 1 or 2 bags of wood chips of your choice
• Aluminum foil or smoker box

Smoked Buffalo Chicken Recipe Directions

1. Start by soaking your wood chips in water or beer for an hour to two. Smoking the wood chips allows them to smoke for a long time instead of lighting on fire and burning out in 20 minutes.
   
2. The next step is to light your charcoal smoker approximately 30 to 35 minutes before you want to start cooking the buffalo chicken. The charcoal will be ready when all of the coals turn to a glowing white hot color.  
3. While your charcoal is lighting, mix your seasoning ingredients together in a bowl. Take your seasoning rub and coat the chicken inside and outside with the buffalo seasoning.
   
4. Mix all of the buffalo sauce ingredients together in a medium-low heat in order to melt the stick of butter. Once your butter has melted and all of your sauce ingredients are incorporated, you can take your meat injector and start to inject the bird in the chicken breast, wings, legs, and thighs.
   
5. Create an alumninum foil pouch and put your water or beer soaked chips inside the pouch. Use a fork or knife to punch holes in the top to allow the smoke to escape the pouch. You could also use a smoker wood box instead of creating the foil pouch. You may need to make 2-3 of these pouches to throw on top of your charcoal during the cooking process to make sure you are smoking the buffalo chicken for the full time.
6. Place your seasoned and injected buffalo chicken on the smoker. You want to adjust the vent on top of your smoker to allow about 75% of the vent to be open. If your grill lid is adjustable, make sure the vents are positioned over the top of the chicken in order to draw all of the smoke over the chicken before it escapes the smoker. 
7. Check the buffalo chicken about once an hour to see if you are holding the right temperature. You can also baste the bird with the buffalo sauce each time you check the bird to add a deeper buffalo flavor and prevent the chicken from drying out. See below for more information about cooking times and how to determine when your chicken is done.

Smoked Buffalo Chicken Cooking Time
The average cooking time for buffalo smoked chicken will be about 3 hours depending on numerous factors. Every smoking experience is slightly different and you want to make sure you take the chicken off the smoker at just the right time to ensure maximum flavor and moisture. Check the chicken at the 3 hour mark and every hour after that with an instant-read meat thermometer. Stick it in the deepest part of the buffalo chicken breast and check for a temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. See our meat doneness chart for a full list of different meat internal temperatures.

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