How to Smoke A Whole Chicken
Chris proudly displaying our FIRST smoked chicken with our very own meat.
First off, get you a Shady Hill whole chicken for this. If you already have… 👋 hey! The quality of the meat matters! Smoking meat is also such a special way to celebrate food and others, so make sure you’re cooking with the best. We let you in on how to spatchcock a whole chicken, seasoning, and smoking time and temp. Bonus… we let you know how to make the most of it if you will have leftovers, but you likely will not. 😋
Preparing the meat:
If your chicken is frozen, then it will need 2-3 days to thaw. The time depends on the weight and your fridge. Avoid using the microwave to thaw meat.
Get your chicken out of the package. Here is a quick video on how we do this and avoid the liquid purge from leaking on the counter.
Spatchcock Your Chicken
This is cutting your whole bird in half. It allows the meat to cook more evenly and faster. Here is a video of a British guy showing how to do this (do not do the last step with skewers; the rest is great!). One day we’ll have our country accents behind the camera to show you!
2. Seasoning/Rubs
Seasoning Ingredients:
brown sugar 2 Tbs
salt 3 tsp
pepper 1 1/2 tsp
garlic powder 1tsp
onion powder 1tsp
paprika 2tsp
Chris just mixed and eye-balled the amounts, but brown sugar is the base so you need the most. Rub this all over your chicken!
3. The Grill…or smoker!
3. The grill! …or smoker. If you have a smoker, we’re jealous of you. We use a Weber charcoal grill and it works great for us! Here is how we smoked: 325 degrees F (let the grill get to this temperature before adding the chicken) for 2 Hours. Use a thermometer to read that the temperature is at 165 degrees F. Let your chicken get dark. See the pic for a visual. Below are the details on why.
We smoked 2 chickens this day so we experimented with heat and found this was the best for us. Chicken is not a “low and slow” smoke. It needs to cook quickly at a higher temp. If the temperature is too low, the skin will be rubber. This doesn’t ruin the meat, but all your yummy seasoning is on there.
4. Rest the Meat:
Gotta rest the meat so it is not tough. Take it off the grill/smoker, then place it on the counter to “rest” for 20 minutes. After that, ENJOY your Shady Hill Pasture-Raised Chicken!
What to do with leftovers:
We had leftovers because we smoked two whole chickens to meal prep for the week, but we hardly had any left from one! For context, our daughter is 1, so she doesn’t eat that much and can be picky with textures. She LOVED this chicken so we gladly made more meals with it. Here’s what we did:
chicken quesadillas made with chopped pasture-raised chicken; use any leftover parts
Mexican chicken bowls; use any leftover parts. This featured long-grain rice, tomato sauce, tomatoes, cilantro, white onion, avocado, and salsa verde. Think “taco”, but make it in a bowl. The recipe coming soon!
Smoked chicken caesar salad; use any leftover parts. We grow lettuce and herbs, so we cut some mixed green and arugula for our greens. Use whatever to enjoy for greens! Add in all your salad fixings and your favorite dressing.
We had a container in our fridge we snacked on when we got hungry in between meals… don’t judge. We’ve all been there.
