Episode 054 is the second in a series about smoking a whole chicken! In the series Taryn covers how to smoke a chicken from start to finish, including what to do with the leftovers. This second episode goes over the ins and outs of actually smoking the chicken on a wood pellet grill or smoker, including how to dry brine it with seasoning and tips for getting juicy, flavorful meat.
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your favorite podcast player. Or scroll down to read a full transcript.
RECIPES MENTIONED
These are some of the recipes mentioned in the episode, all of which are on Hot Pan Kitchen.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Some of the following are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
- Episode 53: Spatchcocking a Chicken
- Episode 496: Dry Brining a Turkey
- Traeger pellet grill and smoker
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- Traeger signature wood pellet blend
- Using a meat thermometer for grilling (includes recommendation)
- Large cutting board
TRANSCRIPT
Taryn Solie: Hello grillers, and thank you for tuning in today! I am your host, Taryn Solie, and I am here to give you some grilling inspiration. In this episode I will be going over one recipe in detail from my recipe website, Hot Pan Kitchen, including the full ingredient list and instructions as well as some tips and tricks to help you along the way.
Today’s episode is the second in a short series about one of the most popular proteins to cook – chicken. There’s a lot to be said about chicken, but for today we’re going to focus on a specific cooking method, which is smoking. And we’re talking about smoking a whole chicken, not just a specific part of the chicken.
My favorite way to cook a whole chicken, and really pretty much the only way I do it, is to spatchcock the chicken. When you spatchcock a chicken, it just means you remove the backbone and lay it as flat as you can when you cook it. This is going to help the bird cook more evenly and faster than if it was left whole.
Spatchcocking may sound intimidating, but it’s really very easy. I go over the process, including tips and tricks, in episode 53, and I have a post on how to spatchcock a chicken on my site. I’ll link to both on the show notes page.
For today’s episode, I’m going to assume you already have a whole raw chicken that’s spatchcocked. The recipe calls for a bird that’s between 4 and 4.5 pounds, so we’re going to start there. You’ll also need:
- 2.5 teaspoons of Diamond Crystal kosher salt;
- ½ teaspoon of smoked paprika; and
- ½ teaspoon of garlic powder.
In terms of equipment you’ll need a large cutting board, some paper towels, measuring spoons, a small bowl to combine the spices in, and you can wear a pair of disposable gloves if you don’t want to touch raw meat, but it’s not necessary. And of course you’ll need a smoker or wood pellet grill to smoke the chicken in – we use and love our Traeger.
The process we’re doing is creating a spice rub and then using it to dry brine the chicken. Dry brining the bird will help it retain its moisture and be juicy and flavorful when you cook it. I talk about doing this to a turkey in episode 46 and the process for a chicken is very much the same.
Before we get into the specific directions though, there are a couple of tips I want to give you. The first tip is that you’ll want to clear room in your fridge for the chicken to brine on the cutting board. So enough space on the shelf for the cutting board plus enough height for the chicken.
Secondly, I want to talk about salt. This seasoning method uses Diamond Crystal kosher salt, which is less salty by weight than other salts. I like to use it when cooking because it leaves a little more room for error when you’re salting your dishes. But, if you have a different brand of kosher salt you’ll need to adjust how much salt you use.
Okay, let’s get into the recipe. First make the spice rub by combining the kosher salt, garlic powder, and smoked paprika in a small bowl. Mix them together and set them to the side.
Grab your large cutting board and place your chicken on it, breast side up. Dry the bird off as best as you can with paper towels, then throw the towels away.
Next you’ll separate the skin from the meat. You don’t want to pull it all the way off, you just want to make room to put the spice rub on top of the meat of the bird. Lift the skin on the breast section of the chicken and gently push your finger between the skin and the meat to separate it. Continue doing this until the skin is separate from both breasts then do the same with the thighs and legs.
Take a large pinch of the spice rub in your fingers and rub it on one of the breasts, on the actual meat underneath the skin. Repeat until you’ve rubbed salt on both breasts and both thighs and legs. You want try and cover all the surface area of the meat as any part that doesn’t have the seasoning will not be as flavorful.
If you have any seasoning left after rubbing it onto the flesh of the chicken, sprinkle it on both sides of the bird, skin side and internal. Make sure the bird is breast side up on the cutting board and put it in the fridge to brine for 8 to 10 hours. You can cover it loosely with plastic wrap if you’re worried about rubbing against it, but don’t cover it too tightly as you want the skin to dry out a bit.
Now onto smoking the chicken. When you’re ready to smoke the bird, remove it from the fridge at least 30 minutes prior to putting it on your wood pellet grill or smoker. After the 30 minutes are up, turn your grill or smoker on to preheat to 250 degrees F.
Once your grill comes up to temperature, remove anything that may have been covering the chicken. Lift the bird off the cutting board and place it on the grill or smoker with the breasts facing up. Insert a temperature probe, if you have one, into the middle of one of the breasts, making sure it’s not touching bone.
Let the chicken smoke until the internal temperature of the breast reaches 145 to 150 degrees F and the internal temperature of the thighs and legs reach 165 degrees F. For a 4 pound bird this typically takes around 4 hours. If you have a bigger or smaller chicken, the general rule of thumb for smoking time is 45 to 60 minutes per pound.
Once the chicken has come to temperature, remove it from the grill and let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes before cutting into it. Cover it loosely with foil as it rests to retain some of the heat, then carve it up and serve!
A couple of quick notes about this recipe:
- If your chicken is taking longer to cook, feel free to bump the cooking temperature up to 350 degrees F to help it finish cooking faster. As long as your chicken has smoked for a couple of hours prior to doing this you should still have plenty of smoky flavor in the chicken.
- Next, be sure and check the internal temperature in multiple spots on the chicken! This helps ensure that it’s fully cooked. If you don’t have a meat thermometer, I’m going to link to the one we own and love on the show notes page.
- When making this recipe I like to spatchcock the chicken and get the rub on it the night before, then let it sit in the fridge overnight and cook it that next morning or early afternoon. If you do it on a Friday or Saturday night it’s great to have for lunch or dinner the next day.
- And lastly, we like to use a medium wood in our Traeger for this recipe. Truthfully we use the Traeger Signature wood pellets for most things because it’s a great all-around flavor that works for most food. Other good types of wood to use would be pecan or alder. If you want a strong smoky flavor I would use a mesquite wood.
As for what to serve with your smoked chicken, we typically keep things simple with roasted or grilled veggies and some sort of starch like rice or potatoes. I love grilled potatoes with this recipe, and zucchini is one of my favorite veggies to grill so that’s what I tend to eat.
If you have any leftovers of this recipe you could absolutely use them in a chicken salad – I have a couple that I’ll link to on the show notes page – or mix some in with another dish. I have a Greek rice salad that I’ve mixed chicken in with before and it tastes so good.
I’ll include a link to the full printable recipe for smoked chicken as well as the other recipes I’ve mentioned on the show notes page. To get to it you can either go to my main website at Hot Pan Kitchen dot com and click on podcast in the main menu, or you can click on the link provided in whatever podcast app you’re listening on.
If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform. And don’t miss out on the next episode in this chicken series, where we’ll be going over what to do with the carcass of the chicken – you don’t want to throw it away! Be sure and listen in for that.
That’s it for today, thank you so much for listening, and until next time, keep grilling like a mother.
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