Slow Smoked Chicken Cajun Soup Recipes

Steps:

• Heat butter in a large Dutch oven or heavy stockpot over medium heat; cook and stir leeks, onion, and garlic until softened, 5 to 10 minutes. Add celery and carrots; cook and stir 3 to 4 minutes. Add cabbage; cook and stir until slightly tender, about 5 minutes.
• Mix water, salsa, ketchup, bouillon cubes, Creole seasoning, salt, and pepper into vegetable mixture; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until flavors blend in soup, 20 minutes. Add sausage to soup and simmer until cooked through, about 20 minutes more.

Steps:

• Place chicken in a large stockpot; cover with water. Add the bay leaves, salt, poultry seasoning and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1-1/2 hours or until chicken is tender., Remove chicken from broth; set aside to cool. Strain broth, discarding seasonings. Set aside 6 cups broth for the soup; save remaining broth for another use. Skim fat from soup broth. When cool enough to handle, remove chicken from bones; discard bones. Shred and set aside 3 cups chicken (save remaining chicken for another use). , In a large stockpot, saute onion and celery in butter until onion is crisp-tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the tomatoes, orange juice, cilantro, seasonings and reserved broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in the rice, beans and reserved chicken; heat through.

Steps:

• Heat 2 T. olive oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Saute onion, celery, and green pepper for about 5 minutes, until softened. Add potato, and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Add fresh thyme, bay leaves and Cajun seasoning, and cook for another minute or so to blend seasonings in, then stir in tomatoes. Cook for another minute or so to blend, then add chicken, okra, and cole slaw mix and combine.
• Stir in chicken broth and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.
• Stir in spinach, then cover and simmer for another 5 minutes.
• Before serving, taste for seasoning, and add salt, if necessary. (Some Cajun seasonings have a lot of salt, so additional salt might not be necessary.) Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Enjoy!

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a baking pan with aluminum foil.
• Pat drumsticks with paper towels until dry.
• Combine baking powder, salt, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, thyme, oregano, cumin and cayenne pepper in a medium bowl. Add melted butter and stir until combined. Add drumsticks and toss until fully coated. Place drumsticks into the prepared baking pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until drumsticks are no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear, 20 to 25 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted near the bone should read 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).

Steps:

• First, make the dry rub:
• Combine all the ingredients except for the chicken in a resealable container, cover tightly, and shake well to combine. (Dry rub can be stored, covered, in a cool, dry place for up to 2 months.)
• If brining:
• In a stockpot, bring 1 gallon water and 1 cup dry rub to a boil, stirring until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Let the brine cool to room temperature, then transfer to a nonreactive container and refrigerate until chilled. Add the chicken to the cold brine and refrigerate for 4 to 8 hours.
• Set a wire rack on a baking sheet. Remove the chicken from the brine, pat dry with paper towels, and place on the wire rack. Discard the brine. Refrigerate for 6 hours.
• If using the dry rub instead of brining:
• Put the chicken on a rimmed baking sheet and coat the chicken lightly all over with 1/2 cup dry rub (you may not need all of the rub) and set aside.
• Prep your kettle grill:
• Remove any ash and debris if the smoker has been previously used and clean the grates. Fill a chimney starter about halfway with hardwood charcoal. Loosely crumple a couple of pieces of newspaper and drizzle or spray them with vegetable oil (this helps the paper burn longer and speeds up the charcoal-lighting process). Stuff the paper into the chimney's lower chamber place the chimney on the smoker's top grate, and light it. Let the charcoal burn until the coals are glowing red and coated in gray ash, about 15 minutes. Put on a pair of heavy-duty fireproof gloves and carefully dump the charcoal into one side of the grill-over the bottom air vent if your grill has one-leaving the other half free of coals. Place a disposable aluminum tray on the other side to use as a drip pan.
• Place a few hardwood chunks or a foil packet of wood chips over the coals. Add the top grate and put your meat over the drip pan. Cover the grill, placing the air vents in the lid over the meat. Open both vents about halfway.
• Place the chicken in the smoker and smoke, maintaining a smoker temperature of between 200° and 225°F, replenishing the wood chunks or chips as needed, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of a leg registers 165°F, 3 to 5 hours. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes.
• At this point, you can cut the chicken into quarters or tear the meat into shreds to make pulled chicken. Or, if you want extra-crispy skin, you can briefly roast the chicken in a 450°F oven, or prepare a grill with hot and cool sides, put the chicken over the cool side, cover the grill, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes.

Steps:

• In 10-inch nonstick skillet, cook bacon over medium-high heat until crisp. Add bell pepper, onion and celery; cook 2 to 3 minutes longer or until crisp-tender. With slotted spoon, spoon bacon and vegetables into 3 1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker.
• Sprinkle chicken thighs with 1 teaspoon of the Cajun seasoning; place in same skillet. Cook chicken 4 to 5 minutes, turning once, until browned on both sides. Arrange chicken and any remaining drippings over vegetables in slow cooker. Pour tomatoes over chicken. Stir in remaining teaspoon Cajun seasoning.
• Cover; cook on Low heat setting 8 to 9 hours.
• About 30 minutes before serving time, cook rice in water as directed on package. Serve chicken and sauce over rice.