Can you leave chicken in smoker after it quits cooking to stay warm

Question

Can you leave chicken in the smoker after it has stopped cooking to keep it warm?

What kind of smoker? Is there still smoke? What temperature? How long do you want to leave it? — Sobachatina, Jan 05 '17 at 18:06
Master built, no smoke, had to cook it at 225, and I want to leave it about to 3 hours. — user53420, Jan 05 '17 at 18:14

score 4 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:33

Safety-wise, as long as you keep the chicken above 140°F, you can keep it there forever. Once you get below 140°F, you're supposed to have it either eaten or cooled to 40°F within 2 hours. (It's actually safe a little lower—but it's best to leave a margin of error!) For details, see How do I know if food left at room temperature is still safe to eat?

Quality-wise, it's going to continue to cook, and its going to continue to lose moisture (unless your smoker is really humid, like a commercial combi oven can be). The hotter it is, the faster it will cook and dry out. Cooking is fairly slow once you get down to near 140°F, though.

Three hours should be doable.

Can you leave chicken in smoker after it quits cooking to stay warm

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