R Butts R Smokin’ Competition Chicken
With 19 Grand Championships and an award-winning line of rubs.

R Butts R Smokin’ Competition Chicken
Ingredients
- 16 chicken thighs (trimmed nice and neat)
- R Butts R Smokin Butt Kick’n Chicken rub and Honey Chipotle
- Oak Ridge Game Changer Brine
- 1/2 cup clarified butter
- I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter
Instructions
- Mix 32 oz’s of Oak Ridge Game Changer brine (full strength recipe on package). Pour into a plastic container and drop chicken thighs into the brine. Refrigerate the chicken in the brine for 4 hours.
- After 4 hours, drain the brine off the chicken and rinse thoroughly. Once you have rinsed the brine off the chicken, dry off any excess brine with a paper towel. Currently, tenderize the skin of the chicken using a Jaccard. (This will help with bite through skin)
- Once the chicken is dried off, season both sides using the Butt Kick’n Chicken and Honey Chipotle rub. Spray I Cannot Believe It’s Not Butter on each thigh. (Note: Things cool via evaporation. Drying the chicken will let the skin get crispy because less moisture will be available to cool it.)
- Prepare your YS640s, with a 50/50 mixture of BBQr’s Delight Pecan and Cherry pellets, set the temperature to 350 degrees.
- Once the pit has reached the temperature of 350 degrees, place the chicken on a wire rack and place inside the smoker and cook this way for 45 minutes.
- After 45 minutes, place the chicken in an aluminum foil pan. Add about 1/2 cup of clarified butter to the pan and cover with a lid or aluminum foil. Continue cooking for 30 minutes. During those 30 minutes warm your favorite BBQ sauce.
- After cooking the chicken for 30 minutes, the chicken will be around 195 – 200 degrees internally. Sauce your thighs and place back onto the smoker for about 10 minutes to “Set the Sauce”. Once the sauce has set up on the thighs, remove the thighs and let rest for 10 minutes before enjoying.
Prep Time:25 Minutes | Cook Time: 1 Hour 45 Minutes | Total Time: 2 Hours 10 minutes
With 19 Grand Championships and an award-winning line of rubs, Randy Robinett knows what he is talking about when it comes to barbecue competition cooking. The owner of R Butts R Smokin’ was kind enough to share his recipe for chicken that wows judges and is sure to impress your family and friends. Check out how Randy produces competition-worthy chicken thighs using rubs he developed in his own kitchen.