Competition Chicken

How to make Competition Chicken Recipe - This recipe has been tearing up the competition recently. It has won me first place twice in the first two attempts cooking the recipe. The results are a rich, classic barbecue flavor with an ultra-juicy texture and a hint of heat creeping up at the end.

Serves: 6

Ingredients:
16 chicken thighs, bone-in and skin-on
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 16 slices
Blues Hog Original BBQ Sauce
Apple wood

Marinade:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 garlic bulb, roasted
2 cups canola oil
1 cup unsalted butter, melted

Rubs:
Code 3 Spices Rescue Rub
Plowboys Yardbird

Method:
Make marinade: add all ingredients except butter and oil in a food processor. Mix well, then slowly start adding butter and oil. Store in glass jar and refrigerate. Set at room temperature for 1 hour before marinating.

Trim excess skin and meat from chicken.

Combine the marinade and chicken in a 1-gallon storage bag and refrigerate overnight.

Set cooker to 300 degrees F using indirect heat.

Remove chicken from the refrigerator and set at room temperature for 1 hour.

Wipe the excess marinade off with paper towels. Place chicken in a foil pan, SKIN DOWN. Then apply Rescue Rub inside thigh cavity.

Turn SKIN UP and add 1 slice of butter on top of each chicken. Cover with sheet of foil and cook for 20 minutes.

Prepare sauce: warm sauce on the cooker, then pour sauce into a squeeze bottle. Keep warm.

After 20 minutes, check the chicken and use brush to coat butter evenly on the skin.

Lightly apply Yardbird rub on the skin and place thighs directly on the grate, SKIN UP.

Add apple wood chunks to the heat source.

Cook for 30 minutes, checking for doneness at about 165 degrees F internal temperature. Cook for 10 minutes if thighs need more time.

Put thighs back in a foil pan and apply the barbecue sauce evenly over the chicken. Then cover with foil and place back on the cooker for 10 minutes more.

Box chicken and turn in.