Whiskey Peach Smoked Pulled Chicken
On April 12, 2021 (Updated September 27, 2024)
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Whiskey Peach Smoked Pulled Chicken could likely win an award for the most flavorful, succulent, melt in your mouth smoked chicken that ever was. Injected with peach juice, whiskey, and melted butter then slow smoked over peach wood, you can taste the love in every single bite.
Smoked Pulled Chicken
This smoked pulled chicken is a tasty meal that will fill a crowd. It’s full of incredible flavor, and your guests will leave begging you for the “secret recipe.”
And the secret to this recipe? The whiskey peach butter injection combined with an incredible Whiskey Peach BBQ Sauce. I love the way smoked chicken tastes when basted with BBQ sauce, and this recipe is no different. Even if the skin itself gets discarded, you still get that smoky sauce mixed into the meat itself as you shred your chicken.
This recipe has you smoke the chicken over indirect heat, and I recommend peach wood to accent the flavors in both the injection and the whiskey peach barbecue sauce. With pulled chicken, we aren’t too concerned about getting that crispy skin since it mostly gets discarded, so spend your efforts increasing the flavor of the meat itself.
Whiskey Peach Smoked Pulled Chicken
As I previously mentioned, this recipe is exploding with flavor thanks to the injection and BBQ sauce. Back when I originally created this recipe in 2018, I made a special Whiskey Peach BBQ Sauce just for this smoked pulled chicken and it was the perfect complement to the whiskey peach butter injection.
That BBQ sauce was so popular we ended up bottling it up and selling it along with the rest of our rubs and sauces through our Hey Grill Hey store. You can buy your own pre-made Whiskey Peach BBQ Sauce here.
While I often recommend alternatives to BBQ sauces in my recipes, there is no alternative here. This smoked pulled chicken is PERFECT with the whiskey peach, and you’ve gotta give it a go before making any substitutions.
How to Make Smoked Pulled Chicken
The secret to this succulent smoked pulled chicken is the low and slow smoke time. We’re going for maximum smoke flavor, and you’ve gotta be willing to put in the time to make that happen.
Quick note: Be sure your chicken is fully defrosted before cooking and have all of your ingredients ready to go. Then once you’re ready to begin making this chicken, all you have to remember are the 4 flavor elements: injection, seasoning, smoke, and sauce.
- Injection. Inject the chicken in several spots with a mixture of peach juice, whiskey, and melted butter (scroll below to the printable recipe card for full ingredient amounts). Having a good stainless steel meat injector makes quick work of this step.
- Seasoning. Season the chicken liberally on all sides with my Best Sweet Rub. You can also purchase this pre-made from my store.
- Smoke. With your smoker preheated to 225 degrees F, smoke the chicken for 45 minutes per pound (my 3-4 pound chicken took around 3 hours).
- Sauce. When the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees F, brush liberally with the Whiskey Peach BBQ Sauce. Remove the chicken from the smoker when the thighs and breasts reach temps of 160 degrees F.
Allow the chicken to rest wrapped in aluminum foil to allow the temp to come up to 165 degrees F. Then shred using forks or these awesome meat shredder claws, and serve with additional BBQ sauce.
What Temp to Pull Smoked Chicken
This has been up for debate among pitmasters for quite some time. I say the perfect temp to pull smoked chicken is when you hit 160 degrees F in the breast. I then cover tightly with foil and let the carry-over cooking bring the internal temperature up to 165 degrees F.
Other pitmasters claim the best way to do low and slow smoked pulled chicken is to take it up to 200 degrees like a pork butt or brisket. I don’t love this method because my results have either been incredibly dry in the breast or, if I have brined the bird to retain moisture, I end up with mushy meat.
My personal recommendation is to stick to 165 degrees F, but if you’ve found success with the higher temperature, let me know in the comments! Make sure you are using an accurate instant read thermometer, the Thermoworks MK4 is my go-to and I’ve used it daily for a couple of years with no issues (I’ve never even had to replace the battery).
How Long to Smoke a Whole Chicken
If you’re cooking your chicken whole, I recommend smoking the chicken for 45 minutes per pound. If you want to spatchcock or split your chickens into halves (like I did in this recipe for Smoked Chicken) you can shorten your cooking time to 35 minutes per pound.
Don’t be put off by the longer cook time on this recipe. The extra time gives the smoked pulled chicken more time in the smoker allowing more of that amazing smoke flavor throughout the exterior of the meat.
More Smoked Chicken Recipes
If you find yourself a fan of smoked chicken, you’ll love these other smoked chicken recipes from Hey Grill Hey!
Smoked Pulled Chicken Recipe
Whiskey Peach Smoked Pulled Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 3-4 pound whole chicken
- ¼ cup Signature Sweet Rub
- ½ cup Whiskey Peach BBQ sauce link in recipe notes
Whiskey Peach Injection
- 1 cup peach juice
- ¼ cup whiskey
- ¼ cup melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat the smoker. Preheat your smoker to 225 degrees F using a mild fruit wood like peach.
- Prep the chicken. Remove any giblets or neck from inside of the chicken and pat dry.
- Inject the chicken. In a jar, combine the peach juice, whiskey, and melted butter. Inject this mixture into your chicken in several spots. Be sure to inject in at least 3 different places in each breast, 2 places in the thighs, and 1 time in each leg. Work quickly during this step to prevent your butter from getting hard and clogging your injector. If your butter does start to harden, you can microwave the jar of liquid for 30 seconds to soften it up again.
- Season the chicken. Season your chicken liberally on all sides with the Sweet BBQ Rub (link in recipe notes).
- Smoke. Place in the middle of your smoker and close the lid. Smoke for 45 minutes per pound of chicken. A 3-4 pound bird will take 2.5-3.5 hours.
- Sauce and finish smoking. When the internal temperature of your meat reaches 150 degrees F, brush liberally with the whiskey peach BBQ sauce. Check the temperature in both the thighs and the breasts and when your internal temperature reads consistently 160 degrees F, remove the chicken to a rimmed serving platter or baking sheet
- Rest the chicken. Cover the chicken tightly with aluminum foil to allow the chicken to come up to 165 degrees F and rest for 20 minutes.
- Shred and serve. Shred the chicken and set it onto your serving platter. Discard the carcass or save for homemade stock. Drizzle your smoked pulled chicken with more of the Whiskey Peach Barbecue Sauce and serve on toasted buns.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
**This post was originally published in January 2018. We recently updated it with more information and helpful tips. The recipe remains the same.
What do you recommend for just using chicken breasts? I’m guessing the same techniques but I need to be sure. Cooking for our sons grad party and we’re expecting 75 people. I’m using 4 of your recipes!!!!!
You got it right, same process for breasts! Keep and eye on your temperatures so you don’t dry those breasts out, they are quite lean.
What would you suggest you use as toppings if you used this chicken in a sandwich ?
Alabama white sauce from mission bbq goes excellent with it. I want to try mking my own, but need recipie.
I’m going to make this for this weekend. If I wanted to brine instead of injecting, would I use the same injection solution as the brine? Or brine in a simple brine and then inject with your injection solution?
Can I try this by spatchcocking? What would cook time be then for a 3-4 lb’er?
Sure! Use this recipe as a guide: https://heygrillhey.com/spatchcock-chicken/
I want to make this for a family get together this weekend but both links to the rub and the BBQ sauce don’t seem to work 🙁
Thanks for letting us know!
Hello! Was wondering if it makes more sense to remove the skin for smoking? And does it reheat well? Planning on reheating the following day.
You can leave the skin on if you’d like! It reheats great!
Seriously one of the best cooks I’ve done to date!!! So good. Highly recommend this one. Made the sauce myself.
Just made this this afternoon using split breast with ribs. Best bbq sauce ever. Wife not a bourbon fan so she was not crazy about injection but it made for very juicy chicken. She loved the sauce and added a little when she cut open chicken to offset what she said what bourbon flavor from the injection. She is a picky eater to begin with. I loved it all. Smoked using apple chunks at 275 for 3 hours and hit with sauce at 150. Took off grill at 167. Just over the top phenomenal. Last note is I used Wild Turkey for this recipe.
Our grandson is getting married and want us to smoke the meat we smoke really good pulled pork but haven’t smoked that many chickens. This recipe is killer! Used JB peach whiskey couldn’t find peach wood so used hickory and pear. Thank you, this will be on the menu
How about using chicken thighs? If I use those, would I need to inject (since they’re so small) or something like basting (with the injection fluid) every 30-45 mins?
I would skip the injection for thighs. Basting could work, or just brush with the whiskey peach sauce at the end.