Smoked Chicken with Jalapeño Salsa Verde
Find smoke and spice and everything nice in this Smoked Chicken with Jalapeño Salsa Verde. Smoke your hens and cool them down with fresh salsa Verde. This dish is anything but ordinary.
Ingredients – Chicken and Rub:
8 quartered chicken pieces
1/4 plus 2 tbsp kosher salt
1/4 cup ground coffee
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
4 tbsp crushed chili flakes
2 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp coriander seeds, freshly ground
1 tbsp fresh cracked pepper
1 tbsp cumin seeds, freshly ground
1 tsp fennel seeds, freshly ground
1 tsp mustard seeds, freshly ground
Salsa Verde:
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch flat leaf parsley
3 jalapenos, seeds removed
2-3 cloves of garlic
juice and zest of 1 lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
To make the rub, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Cover, and set aside until ready to use.
Place the chicken on a baking sheet or wire rack and fully coat in the dry rub. Use your hands to really coat the chicken ensuring you get in all the crevices and under the skin if possible.
Place the chicken in the fridge uncovered for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
Salsa Verde: Remove the seeds from the jalapeños and place in a food processor along with the garlic and a drizzle of olive oil. Pulse together until very finely chopped into an almost paste-like consistency. Add in the cilantro and parsley and continue to pulse until roughly chopped.
While the food processor is running, slowly drizzle in olive oil until smooth and your desired consistency is reached. Squeeze in the lemon along with its zest and season to taste with salt and pepper and then transfer to bowl.
Store in fridge and then take out while your chicken is cooking.
Take the chicken out of the fridge about 45 minutes before you want to cook it.
When ready to cook, start the Traeger grill on Smoke with the lid open until the fire is established (4 to 5 minutes). Set the temperature to 225 degrees F and preheat, lid closed, for 10 to 15 minutes.
Place the chicken on the grill, skin side up and cook for 1.5 to 2 hours or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 155 degrees F.
At this point, remove the chicken to a tray, and move grill to High. Allow grill to preheat for another 10 minutes and then place the chicken back on, skin side up.
Close the grill and allow the chicken to finish cooking until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Remove.
Allow chicken to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Slather the chicken with the jalapeño salsa verde to serve. Enjoy!
Recipe and photo from Traeger and recipe was provided by Daniel Seidman. Check out more of his recipes and photos on his Instagram @danseidman.
