Whole Smoked Chicken

This is one recipe I’m going to be using this July 4th Holiday. I’ve got a lot of people to feed, so I’m going to smoke whole chickens and pull them for Pulled Chicken Sandwiches and Smoked Chicken Nachos.

I’ve done this in the past for parties and for catering jobs and people loved it… the smoked, pulled chickens go a lot faster than you will expect. They are juicy, delicious and even picky people can’t resist chicken.

The first and longest step in my whole chicken process is the brine.

A 4 – 5lb bird needs to soak for at least 6 hours, but I like for it to go overnight. This really packs in the flavor and makes a huge difference with the final product. If you don’t believe me, test it out for yourself. The brined chicken will be juicer and have more flavor through-and-through.

Here’s the Whole Smoked Chicken brine recipe I used:

1. Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot
2. Add 1 cup of brown sugar to the boiling water
3. As soon as the sugar dissolves add 1 cup of Killer Hog’s The BBQ Rub.
4. Stir the rub into the mixture and turn off the heat
5. Add 32oz of ice cubes to the pot to chill the brine

This recipe is enough brine for 1 chicken. It can be easily doubled for multiple birds or even whole turkeys.

Once the brine has chilled, open the chicken, remove the neck and internal organs (usually packed in the cavity), and rinse the bird under cold water. Place it in a large bowl and pour the brine over it. Make sure the chicken is submerged completely; then place the bowl in the refrigerator.

Whole Smoked Chicken Cooking process

The next day remove the chicken from the brine. You can tell that the seasonings have penetrated the skin and soaked deep into the meat.

Lay it on a sheet pan and spray the entire outside with cooking spray. You can substitute vegetable, olive, peanut, or any type oil that you want; but don’t skip this step. It not only binds the rub to the skin, but it’s also what gives the final product a beautiful, golden appearance.

For seasoning the whole chicken I start with a kicked up salt made with cayenne pepper, black pepper, and garlic powder. This goes on first and creates a base layer of flavor on the skin.

Next I dust on The BBQ Rub to enhance the color and really make the skin pop. Since I soaked the chicken overnight there’s no need for injecting.

This bird is packed with flavor and all it needs now is smoke.

My cooking temp with whole chickens is in the 275-300 degree range. I’m a firm believer that higher temps produce better chicken. The meat cooks evenly and the skin turns out perfect every time. It normally takes about 2 hours to cook a whole chicken at this temperature.

I start checking the internal temp of the Whole Smoked Chicken at the 1 ½ hour mark just to get a feel for where it is. As soon as I see temps of 165 in the breast and 175 in the thickest part of the thigh, I know it’s ready to come off the pit.

Always let the chicken rest for 10-15 minutes before cutting into it.

This gives the meat time to stop cooking and allows the juices to move away from the outer areas resulting in a juicer end product. If you cut into it immediately, all of the liquid (flavor) will run out onto the cutting board and you’ll get dry chicken.

Malcom Reed
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Whole Smoked Chicken