One of my wife’s favorite foods is nachos, so this week I decided to smoke some chicken and made chicken nachos.
Start with a package of chicken tenderloins. You can use any chicken really, but I think tenderloins work the best. Place them in a bowl and toss them with your favorite rub. You can also try mine .
Then make a quick brine. I’ve read that buttermilk and chicken are a great partnership, so I made a quick brine of 1 pint buttermilk and 1/8 cup kosher salt.
Place the chicken in the brine and let sit in the refrigerator for one hour. Then remove the chicken from the brine, rinse thoroughly with cold water, and arrange in a smoking basket, like the Bradley rack shown here. Coat both sides with rub once again.
In the meantime, get your smoker ready and up to temp, approximately 240°. Make sure the water pan is full. Once it’s up to temp, put the chicken in on full smoke for 40-60 minutes. Spritz with butter, olive oil, or even water if the strips start to get dry. After 40 minutes, check the temperature of the chicken. We only need it to get to 160°, so don’t over cook it.
Remove promptly and let sit (covered in foil) for 15 minutes to let the juices redistribute. Then chop the chicken up into small 1/4 inch pieces. Toss the diced chicken with about 2-3 Tbsp of your favorite BBQ sauce.
Then line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Line up rows of tortilla chips – I like to use Tostitos Scoops. Drop some of the chicken mix in the bottom of each chip. Then top with the shredded cheese of your choice – I used colby jack. Place under the broiler in your oven for approximately 5-7 minutes until the cheese is melted.
Then take them out and immediately top with any other toppings you like on your nachos. We did tomatoes, jalapenos, sour cream, and salsa, but the choice is yours!
These were fun and easy and make a great appetizer for any party. You can, of course, make them the traditional way by just dumping the chicken mixture over a plate of tortilla chips and piling on the fixings, but these weren’t much more work and they were fun to eat!
Comments