When I started thinking about this, I did a Google search to see if it was a thing. All I found were recipes for chicken breasts stuffed with the other parts or for chicken parmesan fatties. For those that may not be familiar with a fatty I'll explain it. A fatty is made with sausage or ground beef laid out flat with other things laid down the middle then the sausage/ground beef is rolled into a log shape that is stuffed. Many people will cover the fatty with a bacon weave before smoking it. The closest I found to mine was a Rachel Ray recipe but she grilled the chicken rather than smoking it and used smoked Mozzarella. She also called hers grilled chicken parmesan. So it seems I'm safe saying this is my own thing. Since there is just the two of us, I made three so I'd have one to to take to work for lunch. I wrote the recipe for four.
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| A nice thin blue smoke, just what you want |
I do have to say I don't know the temperature used to smoke the chicken since I did it on my Weber Performer and my remote thermometer probes are in the smoker. I did use one of my baby dial thermometers to check the internal temperatures of the chicken breasts. Yep, none of those new fangled digitals for me.
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| Chicken breast flipped for more even smoke |
While I have a variety of woods available for smoking, I used pecan wood for this as it was what was most ready to hand. Hickory would work well for this as would apple and cherry. You'll want a wood with a good flavor and good smoke without being overbearing.
Smoked Chicken Parmesan
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 quart canned tomatoes
1 medium white onion
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 Tbs olive oil
Grated Parmesan cheese
Grated Mozzarella cheese
salt
pepper
garlic powder
Italian seasoning
crushed red pepper
Season the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, garlic powder and let rest while the charcoal is getting to the proper stage to start cooking. This means the charcoal is covered all over in a fine grey ash. Put the chicken on the grill/smoker and add your choice of wood to the coals. If using a grill, set it up for indirect cooking. If you have a gas grill, put wood chips in aluminum foil and poke a few hole in it and place it over the burner that is lit. Smoke until the internal temperature is 165F. Once the chicken is at temperature take it off to complete the dish.
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| Chicken with tomato sauce ready for the cheese |
While the chicken is smoking make the sauce to go on top. Cut the onion in half from top to bottom. Then make 3 cuts equally spaced around the side taking care to leave space at the root end to hold it together. Then start slicing at the top end working to the root making 1/4 inch slices. Heat olive oil in a skillet and add the onions and garlic and cook until translucent. Once the onions are translucent, add the tomatoes and roughly break them up with a spoon. Add salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper to taste and stir. Let the mixture simmer in the skillet until ready to use. Add the juice from the tomatoes if the sauce needs to be looser.
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| Parmesan and Mozzarella added ready for the smoker |
Use a pan that the chicken breasts will fit in fairly snuggly and you won't mind putting on the grill/smoker. Spoon a bit of the sauce on the bottom of the pan then put the chicken in. Spoon the sauce over the chicken breasts equally. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese then Mozzarella cheese over the chicken breasts. Put the pan on the grill/smoker adding additional wood if necessary and smoke until the cheese is melted and has taken on as much smoke as you want.
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| The cheese is melted and it has picked up some smoke |
Chicken Parmesan seems to mostly be served with spaghetti but you can use any pasta or other side you want. I made a warm orzo side that also does well as a cold orzo salad. It has orzo, a couple chopped canned tomatoes, about 2 Tbs finely minced onions, salt, white pepper, and olive oil.
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| The final product, a fine tasty meal |
I also drizzled a bit of brandy over the chicken breast when they were seasoned just to add another layer of flavor. You could also add some red wine to the sauce to boost the flavor but I didn't do that this time.
This dish has the advantage of easy clean up since you're only using the skillet inside and one pan outside. This is an easy meal to throw together and yields great flavor. The good wife said I could do this one again. I can also attest that any leftovers are very good the next day as lunch at work or to have for another supper.
Give this a try, especially if you are wanting to try something different with your grill/smoker.
