Cowboy Lollipops with Smoked Prickly Pear Glaze

18 Sep, 2024

Chicken Lollipops

Smoked Chicken Lollipops are a classic BBQ item that are a ton of fun and present beautifully. In this recipe and video we are going to take this BBQ classic and kick it up a notch with a delicious jalapeño glaze from Big Wick's who is a small family owned business that makes a variety of small batch delicious glazes.

Meat Church How To YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/Hkd2D0oEbIA

Ingredients

12 chicken legs
Meat Church The Gospel BBQ Rub (sub Honey Hog, Holy Gospel, Holy Voodoo or Hickory AP Rub)

Optional Glaze - Big Wick's Mesquite Smoke Jalapeño Glaze (sub your favorite BBQ sauce or glaze)

Tools

Chicken Shears
Wire rack to air dry the wings in the refrigerator
Chicken Leck Rack
Instant Read Thermometer

Prepare the wings
French the chicken legs as seen in this video. Slice the skin completely around the leg. Place the leg upright and push the meat down to form a ball at the base. Using kitchen shears trim away any tendons or excess pieces of skin. Remove the skin from the joint of the chicken.

Pro tip - For crispier skin, place the legs on a wire rack\pan uncovered in the refrigerator overnight to dry the skin out.

Prepare your grill
Prepare your grill at a temperature of 350. It's ok to go with an even higher cooking temperature if you like to reduce your cook time. In this video we used a Traeger Timberline with Meat Church pellets. Mesquite, oak, hickory and pecan would also be great choices.

Prepare your grill
Season the chicken legs on all sides. Season underneath and I also love to pull the skin back and season the meat underneath the skin. Allow the seasoning to adhere for 15 minutes or up to an hour.

Cook the chicken
Place the chicken on the chicken leg rack. If you do not have a rack you can simply place the legs directly on the grill grate. Lean 2 legs together with the joints touching to help keep them upright during the cook.

Cook the chicken until they reach 170 internal temperature. The safe minimum internal temperature for cooked chicken is 165 but I prefer to take my dark meat a little higher. Remove the chicken from the smoker.

Dunk the chicken leg in your favorite bbq sauce or glaze.

We used Big Wick's seasonal flavor, Prickly Pear, in this video. All of the Big Wick's glazes are great and are not "hot" but rather just a great southwestern flavor.