Whole Smoked Chicken
Servings: 4
Equipment
- Smoker or Grill
Ingredients
- 1 whole young chicken about 5-7lbs
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- cooking spray or olive oil
Instructions
Wet Brine
- Mix 1 cup of salt to 1 gallon of water into pot on stove
- Heat water and salt mixture and stir to dissolve
- Allow brine to cool and place chicken into pot with a lid
- Store pot in fridge or cooler for desired time 1hr minimum but not more than 24hrs
Dry Brine
- Take 1 cup of salt and apply liberally over chicken
- Place in refrigerator on sheet pan and allow to sit uncovered
Spatchcocking
- Place the chicken breast side down
- Use a sharp chef knife to cut slightly to the left and the right of the spine. several cuts may be needed to ensure you have gone all the way through.
- Remove spine by pulling
- Once you have removed the spine turn the chicken over so that the breast are facing up
- Apply pressure to the chicken breast. You will hear a cracking. This is normal when flattening out the chicken
Seasoning with Rub
- Combine salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder and garlic powder into a shaker or small bowl and stir until it is well mixed
- Spray chicken with cooking spray or coat lightly with olive oil on both sides
- Sprinkle seasoning until evenly covered
The cook
- Poor charcoal in a chimney and add 2 wax starter cubes underneath and allow the charcoal to burn until you the majority are covered in ash.
- Dump into bottom of smoke and assemble with water pan a grates and top with lid
- Once the smoker has reached 225°-250° place chick skin side up on smoker. Allow to smoke approximately 15 minutes per pound until done.
- Check with instant read thermometer after the first hour and adjust time accordingly
- Once your temperature had reached 162-165° take off the smoker and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving. There will be 3-5° of carry over cooking from the residual heat.