These aren’t your ordinary smoked chicken thighs; they’re smoky, flowery, and acidic. The thyme complements the lavender and strawberries perfectly, allowing the lavender to shine through without being overbearing. The sweetness from the peak-season strawberries and the caramelized sugar is balanced by the vinegar’s substantial acidity, which works well with the white balsamic and strawberries. The thighs are juicy and tender, with a subtle smokiness.
| Prep Time: | 40 mins |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs 5 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 55 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 chicken thighs |
Ingredients
- 4 cups hulled fresh strawberries
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup white balsamic vinegar
- 1 ½ teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 applewood chunks, for smoking
- 3 tablespoons dried lavender
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 8 (8 ounce) bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Instructions
- Prepare the strawberry gastrique: Puree strawberries in a blender on high speed until completely smooth, about 1 minute.
- Cook sugar in a medium skillet over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until completely melted, amber in color, and nutty in aroma, about 5 minutes. Carefully add vinegar (mixture will crystallize immediately and begin to boil) and reduce heat to low. Cook sugar mixture, stirring frequently, until crystallized sugar is completely dissolved, about 5 minutes. Add strawberry puree and thyme and bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in salt. Cover to keep warm until ready to use.
- Prepare chicken: Open the bottom vent of a grill completely. Light a charcoal chimney starter filled with briquettes. When briquettes are covered with gray ash, pour them onto the bottom grate of grill, and then push to 1 side of grill. Place 3 to 4 applewood chunks on top of hot coals. Coat top grate with oil. Cover grill and insert an instant-read thermometer into a vent in the lid.
- Stir together lavender, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Sprinkle chicken thighs evenly and liberally with lavender mixture.
- Place chicken thighs on the preheated grill, skin-side up, over the side without coals. Cover and smoke, maintaining temperature inside smoker between 225 and 250 degrees F (107 to 120 degrees C), for 1 1/2 hours. Brush with 1/4 cup gastrique, cover again, and smoke until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 170 degrees F (76 degrees C), 15 to 30 more minutes.
- Transfer chicken thighs to a large plate or platter and brush lightly with another 1/4 cup gastrique. Let rest for 10 minutes. Serve with remaining gastrique, if desired.
- Strawberries can be replaced with peaches or watermelon to vary the summer flavors, just use 2 to 3 cups of fruit puree and reduce to the same consistency.
- You can use white wine vinegar instead of balsamic.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 462 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 21 g |
| Cholesterol | 142 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 39 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 974 mg |
| Sugars | 19 g |
| Fat | 24 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |