Applewood smoked Pulled Chicken

This recipe is another one of my family favorites. Everyone loves it, so do I but I just keep to the cooking and not the eating. I usually make it without the smoked applewood since I don't have a smoker or grill at home, however I decided to try smoking the chicken in the oven after eating applewood smoked pulled pork at Subway.

Boneless chicken breasts marinated with garlic powder, black pepper and lime juice

Dry Mix

Chicken thighs marinated with the dry rub and onto the smoking skillet for searing

Chicken thighs being seared on the hot skillet

Tomato Sauce and Chipotles in Adobo Sauce

Seared chicken thighs, tomato sauce, mustard, barbeque sauce and chipotles

Damp applewood chips wrapped in foil and ready to go into the oven

After about 2 hours of slow cooking in the oven. I removed the foil with the applewood chips and I started hitting the meat gently with my spatula 

All the chicken thigh meat is pulled out and mixed with its sauces

Ingredients

Marinade for the chicken thighs
3 lbs of boneless chicken thigh, remove excess fat and clean (I used organic free range chicken)
2 tbsps garlic powder
1 tbsp coarsely ground black pepper
juice of 1 lime

for the dry rub (mix everything together)
1 cup of brown sugar
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp paprika powder
2 tbsp onion granules or onion powder
1 tsp cumin powder

For the sauce:
1/2 cup barbeque sauce
1 tbsp French's yellow mustard
1 454g can of tomato puree
1 tbsp of onion granules
2 tsp chipotle paste (I ground "chipotle peppers in adobo sauce". It comes in a tin and you can find it in the hispanic aisle in at the supermarket)

to smoke
Applewood chips

Some kaiser rolls
Creamy coleslaw

Directions

1. Heat a dry cast iron skillet on high heat until it starts to smoke
2. In the meantime, take the dry rub and rub all over the chicken thighs and arrange them on a plate.
3. When the skillet is smoking, pour 1 tbsp of canola oil and grill the chicken thigh with the dry rub,  a few pieces at a time. Once the bottom part of the chicken i browned, turn it over the brown the other side. We dont have to cook the chicken, but just brown the sides.
4. Once the chicken thighs are browned on both sides, remove them from the skillet and place them in a nice dutch oven or casserole dish. I used my Le Creuset large casserole pan which works great for this dish.
5. Once all the chicken thighs are browned, add the sauce mixture to the browned chicken thigh and give it a good mix.
6. Next take two layers of heavy duty aluminium foil over a clean plate and place some damp applewood chips(spray some water over the chips) on it and wrap the foil tightly. Poke some small holes on the top of the foil and place it on top of the chicken. I used this method to get the applewood smoke into my chicken.
7. Place it an oven and set the temperarure to 250F. Cook the chicken for about 2 hours or until the meat is very tender.
8. Once the chicken is done, take it of the oven and remove the applewood wrapped foil.
9. Remove the chicken thighs and hit the chicken thigh gently with a silicone spatula  or pull it with your fingers to separate the meat. This should be pretty easy if the meat is very well cooked
10. Put the pulled chicken back into its sauce and taste for salt and sugar. Add more barbeque sauce if needed.
11. Serve on a toasted kaiser roll topped with some creamy coleslaw and enjoy.