These Smoked Chicken Tenders are easy enough to do on a weeknight, but so good you'll want them on weekends too! Chicken tenders are great for soaking up whatever flavors you throw at them and turn out great on the grill. Unfortunately, the line between undercooked and overcooked on such a thin lean meat can be super small. Add live fire and that line gets hard to consistently hit for many home cooks.
To assure the chicken tenders don’t overcook I combine a lower temperature smoke with the principles of a reverse sear. Here I don’t aim to do any cooking during the sear. I want to develop a more appealing color than the skin tone crayon color of a smoked tender.
Place the marinade ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk together. Toss the chicken tenders in the bowl and mix with the marinade or pour it over them in a ziplock bag. Always put a ziplock bag with liquids in a bowl before you put it in the fridge. Trust me. Chicken tenders do not require long in a marinade, we go a couple hours max on this one. Even thirty minutes in advance of putting the on the grill will produce great results.
Get smoking
Bring your grill or smoker up to 250F and add you preferred smoke wood. I like apple or hickory chunks for chicken, though you could go without and just rely on the smoke flavor from your coal in a pinch. I smoke these indirect, but I don’t use my platesetter, I just place them on the perimeter of my fire. On a smaller grill you may need to use your platesetter for this.
Smoke for about 45 minutes then open your grill and allow your fire to come to life. If you’re using hardwood chunks they’ll like like start flaming up which will be perfect. Once you find your hot spot move the chicken tenders over it and flip and rotate them just enough to get them a nice char. Make sure you’re over some good heat for this as it should only take a minute or two or you risk overcooking your tenders. Remove the tenders and rest in a covered dish or aluminum foil for 5 to 10 minutes.
Dig in!
We absolutely love these Smoked Chicken Tenders. And often served them with our Jalapeño Cream Sauce. They make great leftovers in wraps or cut up in pasta or salads. But their real versatility comes in the ways you can edit this recipe! Add some chili powder and cumin to serve them with warm tortillas and Mexican trimmings. Or you can add some thyme and basaltic vinegar and up the garlic and oregano to make it Italian.
For a true American classic, pair them with some Mac and Cheese and top them with our White BBQ Sauce. Don't stop exploring there! We'd love to hear how you spin in in the comments!
Equipment
- Big Green Egg or other smoker
Ingredients
- 1½ lbs Chicken Tenders
For the marinade
- ¼ C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 cloves Garlic Minced
- ¼ tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 1 tbsp Spicy Brown Mustard Creole Mustard also works great
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper Ground
- 1 tbsp Honey
- 1 Pn Kosher Salt
- 1 tsp Oregano
Instructions
- Place the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl and use a whisk to combine.
- Place the chicken tenders into a large bowl or ziplock bag and cover with marinade.
- Marinade for 1-4 hours.
- Prepare grill or smoker with a mild fruit wood or hickory chunks for flavor.
- When temp is 250°F add tenders to grill or smoker and cook indirect with a mild fruit wood or hickory to smoke.
- Smoke around 250°F for approximately 45 minutes.
- If desired allow grill to heat up and cook tenders over direct flame for a few minutes to add color.
Anita
These chicken tenders are delicious and perfect for a backyard BBQ. 🙂
Dannii
These sound amazing with the mustard. I can't wait to try them.
Katherine
All those great flavors, and smoked! Such a winner.
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry
These smoked chicken tenders sound and look wonderful! These would go down a treat in my house!
Sara A Martens
Only way I'll make chicken now. So good!
Scott Holmes
Awesome, glad you enjoy it! What’s your way to use the leftovers?
Kevin
I use the cherry wood for chicken tenders and Swai Fish. I'll use apple or hickory when doing Ribeyes
Lawrence Tinnes
Thanks for writing this! I've been grilling all summer and looking forward to it again this weekend! Excited to try burgers for my next cookout.
Scott Holmes
Glad you’re enjoying it!
Rigoberto Just
Great post. What temperature do you set the bge to? Excited to try this this weekend.
Scott Holmes
Sorry I’m slow to respond, we were on vacation. I usually smoke them at 250F then let it get hot to seer, no specific temp just hot enough to seer them.
Gordon
Ok....great beginning recipe. People though....DONT GIVE A 5 STAR REVIEW BECAUSE YOU READ THE RECIPE!!! Why don't people understand reviews are for people that cooked it. It is a REVIEW not a COMMENT. I will say Holmes, this is a great recipe to start from. 5 stars as I ACTUALLY PREPARED IT AS YOU SAID TO!!.
Tanya Nisbrth
Delicious !
Made them last week and making them again tonight.
Scott Holmes
Glad you enjoyed them!
Kyli
Same, made these a couple nights ago and making again tonight. So so good!
Scott Holmes
Glad you enjoyed them!
Mike
I smoked them to 135 degrees…otherwise the charring dries them out.
Thanks for the good recipe…we should thank Holmes Cooks by sending him a grill brush for his Green Egg…looks like the grill could use a good scrubbing.
Joe Johnson
These were amazing, served with some Rice Pilaf and there were no complaints...other than I should have made more
Stacia
I need to to thank you for this wonderful read!!
I absolutely loved every little bit of it. I've got
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