Smoked Chicken BBQ Pizza and Beer

With the added time in my hands I’ve decided to step up my culinarily skills. Tonight I’m make BBQ chicken pizza with homemade smoked chicken.The first step in any good recipe is to crack a beer. For this cooking session I’m drinking Bells Octoberfest. This is a classic Marzen beer that’s packed with smooth sweet malt notes. It pairs perfectly with the Smokey sweet notes of BBQ pizza.

First you have to smoke some chicken. I have a homemade rub that I use on most meats I smoke.

Not so secret run

• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika powder
• 1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cayenne pepper to perfected spice level

It’s a pretty simple run you can add sugar or other dried herbs to taste. Next add a few tablespoons of olive oil to a bowl and coat the chicken in the spice rub cover and let the mixture marinade while you soak your wood.

I used hickory for this recipe, but you could also you fruit woods. I soaked the wood for about two hours then transferred it to my smoker.

I set my smoker to 275 F and added the Chicken. I smoked the chicken until it reaches 175 F. Some people only got to 165 F. It took about 1 hour and 35 mins to get the chicken into my temperature range. That was the perfect amount of time for a second beer.

I let the chicken rest as a pre baked a store bought pizza crust at 400 F for 8 mins. Next add BBQ sauce as the base. I used my favorite Sweet Baby Rays. Next add your favorite toppings.

I added red onion, the BBQ chicken, Colby jack cheese and chopped bacon. Finish in the oven for another 10 mins that top with a little more BBQ sauce to finish.