Smoked Chicken Wedge Salad with Sweet Green peppercorn-Cholula Dressing
Description
A few weeks ago my husband celebrated his birthday by going on a fishing trip with some buddies. When they took a break for lunch they decided to grill up some hot dogs (I know, why not fish? lol) It was in this moment that my husband first tried Cholula® Hot Sauce on a hot dog.
He came home raving about it and has been on a Cholula kick ever since. It’s been really fun to experiment with the different flavors (did you know there are 6? My favorite is Cholula Green Pepper) I’ve been able to add it to so many different dishes to really take flavors to the next level.
I’m a big fan of salads in general and am particularly fond of wedge salad, it’s just so pretty and put together. My husband appreciates salads too, but only if a very decent amount of meat is involved. Thus the wedge salad accompanied by a full chicken leg was born.
I used the Cholula Original flavor to add a savory kick to the chicken and the Cholula Green Pepper flavor in the salad dressing to round out the flavor composition of sweet, savory, citrus, and pepper. We’ve had this dish about 5 times in the last month and I don’t see an end in sight!
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken Legs. skin on
- 1/2 Cup Butter, room temp
- 1T Cholula Original
- S&P to taste
- 6 Slices cooked bacon, rough chopped
- 1 Head Butter Lettuce, Quartered
- 16 Garlic cloves, roasted
- 4 Small Roma Tomatoes, sliced
- 1/2 Cup Shaved Parm
Dressing:
- 2 Cloves Roasted Garlic
- 1T Shallot
- 2t White wine Vinegar
- 1/2C Buttermilk
- 1/3C Mayo
- 1t Grainy Dijon Mustard
- 1t Italian Pepper
- 1t Cholula Green Pepper
- 1t Honey
Instructions
Dressing:
- Combine all ingredients in a food processor until well combined. Refrigerate for up to one week.
Salad:
- Preheat smoker to (375F). While the grill is preheating, use a paper towel to pat the chicken legs as dry as you can. Use a gloved hand to create a pocket between the skin and the meat of the chicken legs.
- Combine the butter and Cholula Original. Use your hand to place about 1T of the butter mixture evenly under the skin of each of the legs. Spread another Tablespoon of the butter over the top of the legs being sure to cover both sides. Sprinkle with Salt and pepper to taste.
- Place the chicken legs directly on the grill. Cook for about 30 minutes, or until you get an internal temperature of (165F) with an instant read thermometer.
- Place each chicken leg in the center of a plate. Center the wedge of lettuce in the crook of each leg and garnish with the tomatoes, roasted garlic, and bacon. Drizzle with the Sweet Green Peppercorn-Cholula dressing and garnish with the Parm slices.
