May 19 2015
Our nice 80 to 85 deg. temps left and a few days of cool 65 deg. weather has come in. Crazy Ohio weather!
I had not made any of my muffin pan chicken stacks in a while and I wanted something to take to my 93 year old Mother tomorrow. I got some of the ideas from a Rachael Ray recipe for a skillet meal. I took her ingredients, apple cider, sage, thyme and nutmeg to make a marinade for the chicken thighs.
I got my chicken thighs in to marinade about 4 hours before making them up. I had some Heartland organic thigh filets to use. They were large thighs so took an hour and 45 minutes to get to an IT above 170 deg. I love doing these muffin pan stacks and it is an easy way to get some bacon wrapped stuffed chicken without all the hassle of getting them wrapped. You do them for a half hour to 45 minutes and they are set up enough to remove from the pan and go on the grate to finish up.
I had some easy sides; Zatarain’s Yellow rice done in my rice cooker and some stuffed mushrooms from one grocery in town that are pretty decent. I get my rice started about 50 minutes before I plan to serve and it is done and on warm hold when we are ready to eat. I put the mushrooms on my smoker for the last 15 to 20 minutes. I had a loaf of garlic loaf of take home and bake bread for bread and a little butter to make all taste good!
The chicken stacks were tender and moist with great flavor; a keeper recipe for me. Seasoning wise mine needed more salt and next time I may add a little more sage. Anytime I use sage I want it to be a background flavor; not the first thing you taste. I used about 3 shakes and will try 6 the next time. I was a little leery of the sage, thyme, nutmeg mix but for this I think it works if you get it right for your taste.
My wife gave me a thumbs up on the chicken!
Chicken in the marinade
Apple and onion slices
Making the stacks
40 minutes in and ready to remove from the pan
At 1 1/2 hrs. mushrooms added
My supper
Smokin Don
Recipe:
Cider marinated chicken stacks
12 slices smoked bacon
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
2 large honeycrisp apples, cut ¼ inch slices from them for six
6 -¼ inch slices of Vidalia or sweet onion
A six hole large muffin pan
Marinade:
1 to 2 cups apple cider, enough to cover chicken thighs
1 few shakes of ground sage
½ teaspoon dried thyme
Fresh grated nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix up the marinade and cover the chicken in a dish with cover and let set in the fridge about 4 hours.
To build the stack cross two slices of bacon in each pan hole; doing one at a time makes it easier to handle the bacon.
The thighs I used were large enough and fileted so I could just fold an onion and apple slice in and place on top of the bacon. If your thighs are not big enough just cut half for the bottom and place the onion and apple slice in then top with the other half thigh. Fold the bacon over top and secure with 2 or 3 toothpicks.
When I had all six stacks made I poured a tablespoon of the marinade over the top.
I did these at 250 deg. for a half hour then went to 275 deg. After 40 minutes they looked set enough to remove from the muffin pan and place on my Grillen Grates to finish. An hour in I went to 300 deg. After 1 hour 15 minutes I placed a temp probe in one and was low enough I went to 350 deg. and it took another half hour to get to an IT of 174 deg.
Note: Some of the stacks I have made are done in an hour and a half; these were large thighs so took another 15 minutes. You want to smoke them until an IT of 170 deg. I have made some with chicken breasts and 160 deg. IT is ok for them.
Seasoning wise mine needed more salt and next time I may add a little more sage. Anytime I use sage I want it to be a background flavor; not the first thing you taste. I used about 3 shakes and will try 6 the next time. I was a little leery of the sage, thyme, nutmeg mix but for this I think it works if you get it right for your taste.
