Smoked Chicken Drumsticks

The other week the fine people over at RedEnvelope.com contacted me and offered me a chicken drumstick grilling rack to try. (Update – It is noted that RedEnvelope does not carry the drumstick grilling rack anymore, but it can be purchased from Amazon for around $15) I was only too happy to oblige as I was looking for a way to perfectly smoke chicken drumsticks. Two days after our conversation the Chicken Drumstick Grilling Rack appeared at my doorstep.  I opened the package and inside was a stainless steel wing rack and a drip tray.  Both had excellent construction and sparked my imagination on ways to use it. The first was smoking drumsticks.  I have been thinking of new ways to turn in chicken for competition and drumsticks always sparked my imagination. They are not a popular choice due to their varying size and awkward appearance.  However, I want to give them a try. Normally placing them directly on the grilling surface gives you grill marks and takes away from the overall appearance. So hanging the drumsticks would solve this.  This grill rack was exactly what I was looking for to solve this problem.

Smoked Chicken Drumsticks

• 3 lbs chicken drumsticks
• 1/2 cup of your favorite rub – I used Rex’s Steak Rub – I had it on hand.
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper – I wanted some hot wings

Season the wings with the rub and cayenne.

Place the wings onto the rack.  The rack was perfectly designed to hold the drumsticks at the end joint so that they perfectly hanged.

Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees.  I also added a little apple for smoke.  I did not want to overpower the chicken with a more intense wood.

Place the chicken rack directly onto the grates of your smoker.  Close the lid and let smoke for 2-2.5 hours.

When the chicken is done it should register 160 degrees Fahrenheit.  Make sure that when you put in your temperature probe that you are not touching the bone.  The bone with throw the reading off.

As you can see from the pictures, the chicken browned evenly all the way around.  There are no dark spots or grate marks.  The chicken came out looking beautiful.

You can serve it as is, or dip the chicken in a mixture of 1 cup of your favorite bbq sauce and 1 tbs of hot sauce.

This will give you spicy hot wing.  The bbq sauce will be sweet upfront and then spicy in the back end.

Overall the chicken rack worked perfectly.  It made the chicken come out grand champion ready.  The chicken was moist, perfectly cooked and presented beautifully.  I will definitely be using this rack each and every time that I smoke chicken drumsticks.  If you wish to get your hands on one of these drumstick racks, they are for sale at Amazon for around $15.

It is noted that I received the chicken rack for free but did not get paid or compensated in any other way for this review.  I am not an affiliate and I do not receive any compensation for any sales resulting from this review.  The chicken rack was tested on a char-griller smoker over indirect heat.