Pellet Smoker Butterflied Chicken Drumsticks

Here’s a great party twist to smoking chicken legs! In this perfect recipe for smoked butterflied chicken legs / drumsticks, you’ll learn how to prepare, smoke, and sear chicken legs so you get the crispest, juiciest legs alive. Let’s fire up the smoker!

How long does it take chicken legs to smoke when butterflied?

It takes 90 minutes to fully smoke the chicken legs to 165 – 175 degrees F internal temperature.

Ingredients

Here’s what you need to make Smoked Butterflied Chicken Legs / Drumsticks.

• chicken drumsticks, aka chicken legs, bone-in with skin on or off (about 1 ½ LBs chicken drums)
• BBQ dry rub (any chicken bbq seasoning will work, too, as much as you’d like)
• BBQ sauce
• cilantro, fresh chopped (optional, for serving)

Also see how to make grilled butterfly chicken drumsticks…

How to make Smoked Butterflied Chicken Legs / Drumsticks

Now I’ll walk you through it…

How to butterfly chicken legs for smoking them

1. First, find the bone of the chicken drumstick and get a pairing knife ready.
2. Make a cut. Gently make one parallel cut down the leg, in the center, touching the bone. This first cut will help open up the chicken leg meat for the next step.
3. Make two more cuts. One on each side of the chicken leg bone. You’ll want to use one hand to pull back the leg meat while the other hand makes the cuts.. Don’t cut all the way through the meat, that would defeat the purpose. At the end of your cuts, you should clearly see the chicken bone with chicken meat flaps on each side. On the other side, you’ll find the skin side. Smoosh the meat flat to butterfly it.

Detailed recipe steps

1. Preheat Traeger Grills or Pitt Boss or whatever pellet grill you’re using to 250 degrees F. 
2. Season butterflied chicken drumsticks. Sprinkle dry rub seasoning all over the chicken and rub it in with your hands.
3. Smoke butterflied chicken legs / drumsticks with bone side (cut side) facing down, directly on the Traeger pellet grill grates. Smoke for 45 minutes FIRST (cut side down)…
4. Brush BBQ sauce on butterflied smoker chicken legs. After you smoke them for 45 minutes, brush on BBQ sauce. (at this point of the Sip Bite Go smoked recipe demonstration, the chicken legs measured 140 degrees F internally – it doesn’t matter THAT much, but I’m just sharing incase you want to check how cooked your chicken legs are at this 45 minute mark, compared to the ones in the video). 
5. Smoke butterflied chicken legs for an additional 30 minutes at 250 degrees F. (Check temperature to make sure they’re not “done” yet, which would be 165 degrees – 175 degrees F.)
6. Flip over chicken (so the meaty side is facing DOWN and skin side is up). Brush the skin side with more BBQ sauce if desired.
7. Sear smoked butterflied chicken to finish them. To do this, crank smoker up to a temperature of 500 degrees F to finish smoking butterflied chicken legs with a sear until done. They’re ready to remove from the smoker when they reach 175 degrees F as measured with an internal read thermometer.
8. Finish smoked chicken drumsticks with a sprinkle of fresh chopped cilantro and enjoy.

Also see how to grill chicken thighs and how to smoke chicken thighs…

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Pro tip: One of my go-to tricks for perfectly cooked food every time is using the right BBQ meat thermometers.

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Traeger Smoked Butterflied Chicken Legs Recipe | Sip Bite Go

Here’s a great party twist to smoking chicken legs! In this perfect recipe for smoked butterflied chicken legs / drumsticks, you’ll learn how to prepare, smoke, and sear chicken legs so you get the crispest, juiciest legs alive. Let’s fire up the smoker! | sipbitego.com

5 from 3 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course, Main Dish

Cuisine: American, BBQ

Keyword: smoked chicken legs, traeger smoked chicken

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 2 people

Calories: 650kcal

Author: Jenna Passaro

Video

Equipment

• ▢
  Traeger Mesquite Pellets
• ▢
  Traeger Pellet Grill Ironwood 650
• ▢
  Meater Plus Thermometer

Ingredients

• ▢ 8 pieces chicken drumsticks aka chicken legs, bone-in with skin on or off (about 1 ½ LBs chicken drums)
• ▢ 2 tbsp BBQ dry rub any chicken bbq seasoning will work, too, as much as you’d like
• ▢ ½ cup BBQ sauce
• ▢ 1 tsp cilantro fresh chopped (optional, for serving)

Instructions

How to butterfly chicken legs for smoking

• First, find the bone of the chicken drumstick and get a pairing knife ready.
• Make a cut. Gently make one parallel cut down the leg, in the center, touching the bone. This first cut will help open up the chicken leg meat for the next step.
• Make two more cuts. One on each side of the chicken leg bone. You’ll want to use one hand to pull back the leg meat while the other hand makes the cuts.. Don’t cut all the way through the meat, that would defeat the purpose. At the end of your cuts, you should clearly see the chicken bone with chicken meat flaps on each side. On the other side, you’ll find the skin side. Smoosh the meat flat to butterfly it.

How to smoke butterflied chicken drumsticks

• Preheat Traeger Grills or Pitt Boss or whatever pellet grill you’re using to 250 degrees F.
• Season butterflied chicken drumsticks. Sprinkle dry rub seasoning all over the chicken and rub it in with your hands.
• Smoke butterflied chicken legs / drumsticks with bone side (cut side) facing down, directly on the Traeger pellet grill grates.
• Brush BBQ sauce on butterflied smoker chicken legs. Smoke for 45 minutes then brush on BBQ sauce.

  (at this point of the Sip Bite Go smoked recipe demonstration, the chicken legs measured 140 degrees F internally – it doesn’t matter THAT much, but I’m just sharing incase you want to check how cooked your chicken legs are at this 45 minute mark, compared to the ones in the video).
• Smoke butterflied chicken legs for an additional 30 minutes at 250 degrees F. (Check temperature to make sure they’re not “done” yet, which would be 165 degrees – 175 degrees F.)
• Flip over chicken (so the meaty side is facing DOWN). Brush the skin side with more BBQ sauce if desired.
• Sear smoked butterflied chicken to finish them. To do this, crank smoker up to a temperature of 500 degrees F to finish smoking butterflied chicken legs with a sear until done.

  They’re ready to remove from the smoker when they reach ~175 degrees F as measured with an internal read thermometer.
• Finish smoked chicken drumsticks with a sprinkle of fresh chopped cilantro and enjoy.

Notes

See the recipe: https://sipbitego.com/smoked-butterflied-chicken-legs

Watch the full-length YouTube recipe video for smoked butterflied chicken Legs on Sip Bite Go’s YouTube channel.

 

Nutrition

Calories: 650kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 55g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 279mg | Sodium: 1055mg | Potassium: 943mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 24g | Vitamin A: 692IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 201mg | Iron: 8mg

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