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I stumbled on this recipe one Saturday when I was fooling
around. I was trying different things and thought how about
a south of the border type stuffed boneless chicken breast.
I made some up and the family went nuts over them. They were
gone in no time. This got my attention so I decided to go
one further and add additional Onions, garlic, sliced
Jalapeno's and Orange/Pineapple juice as a marinade.
Oh Hell Yeah!
So let's get to cooking!
In a large mixing bowl, combine garlic, red onion,
Jalapeno slices, and salsa. Mix contents thoroughly.
First thing, wash your chicken and trim the breasts. Using a sharp
knife cut an opening in the large end of the chicken breast.
Holding the knife parallel with the cutting board push the
knife deep into the breast and using a sawing action open a
pocket inside the breast.
Once all the breasts are opened, begin stuffing the salsa mix inside the breasts giving each one equal
amounts. Use your finger to push the mix deep inside each
breast. Once the chicken breasts are all stuffed, pin the opening of
each closed using a toothpick.
Place the breasts into two 1 gallon Ziploc bags. Pour in
1/3 of the Orange/Pineapple juice in each bag and squeeze
out the air. Zip each bag closed and refrigerate for several
hours. The remaining juice will be used to baste the breasts
once an our while they cook.
After the chicken as bin in the marinade for several
hours, drain the juice and place them on a cookie sheet.
Lightly apply garlic powder to both side. Liberally apply
the Cattleman's Ranchero seasoning. Do this to both sides.
Get your
pit pre-heating to 190 degrees. Wood cookers can start off
at 245. With the pellet smokers I like to smoke for 1 hour
at 180 - 190 degrees. It allows for better smoke flavor in
the meat. In this recipe I used a BBQRs Delight
Peach wood pellets.
Put the chicken into the smoker and smoke for 1.5 hours on
180 degrees then increase the temp to 245 degrees. Wood pit
owners just start with 245 degrees. Once
the chicken reaches 140 degrees mop both sides of the
chicken with the Orange/Pineapple juice. Continue
to smoke @ for .5 hours and mop again. Increase temp to 245
and cook until breasts reach 168 degrees internal temp.
When the chicken reaches 167 lay some smoked Pepper Jack
on each breast and let it melt. I cold smoke Pepper Jack the
day prior using the
AMAZE-N-SMOKER. You don't
have to go with smoked cheese but it sure does put a stellar
icing on the cake.
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