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A Real Food Journey

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Home » How to Smoke A Whole Chicken- With Video

October 19, 2015 By Heather 13 Comments

How to Smoke A Whole Chicken- With Video

Do  you love BBQ? I know I do, which is why I ended up asking for a smoker for my birthday a couple years ago.  The first time we used the smoker I was super intimated!  Give me a frying pan or the oven and I know what to do.  A smoking metal tube in my backyard? Whoa!

2 Minute Video How to smoke a chicken

That’s why I made this video, because it turns out smoking meats is EASY! I’ll also let you in on a little secret – we don’t eat roast chicken in our house anymore.  Nothing I can make in the oven even COMPARES to how juicy, tender and flavorful a smoked chicken is!

Enjoy the video and our super simple recipe for smoked chicken!

The Recipe – Time: about 30 min active time: total about 4.5 hours

Yield: 1 chicken

How to Smoke Chicken

How to Smoke Chicken

Learn how to smoke a chicken for the best smoked chicken of you life!

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons salted butter
  • Salt
  • Favorite spices
  • 1 whole chicken

Instructions

  1. Prep your chicken – First spatchcock it with your kitchen shears. ( Video on this method coming soon)
  2. Use about 2 tablespoons salt and sprinkle on both sides of the meat.
  3. Use your favorite spice blend and sprinkle it on both sides of the meat. We used 2 teaspoons Italian season, and a tablespoon each of garlic and onion powder. Set aside.
  4. In the bottom bowl of your smoker, add a layer of smaller pieces of charcoal
  5. Give the coals a good spray of the lighter fluid and let soak for 5 min
  6. Put the bowl into your smoker and carefully light coals in a few places
  7. Let burn uncovered for about 15 min
  8. Soak 3 large handfuls of wood chips in water
  9. After 15 min, fill the bottom bowl with charcoal and top with the wood pieces.  It should start to steam/smoke.
  10. Fill the second bowl with hot water.
  11. Place your grate in the smoker and then your chicken skin side up on the grate.
  12. Insert the meat thermometer in the thick part of the breast. Keep the probe horizontal. Cover with the lid.
  13. Check the temperature about every hour.  The cooking time depends on the smoker, the amount of fuel and the ambient temperature. Ours usually take 3-4 hours. Its ready to be grilled at about 145-150, as it will get cooked some more on the grill.
  14. When you get closer to temperature – heat up your grill or warm up your oven by turning on the broiler if you prefer to broil
  15. When you hit 145-150 degrees take the lid off the smoker and brush the skin with some cooking fat like butter.
  16. Remove the chicken from the smoker and place skin side down on your grill.  Watch for big flare ups of your grill so you don’t burn the skin.  Let cook for just a minute or 2.
  17. Alternatively, you can put your chicken under your oven broiler skin side up to crisp up the skin.
  18. Once done let the chicken rest on a cutting board covered with foil.  That will let the juice redistribute so the meat stays super moist. I let mine rest 15-30 minutes.
  19. Cut and serve! We usually eat the legs that night and save the rest for salads, tacos and eggs during the week.  It makes GREAT leftovers!

Notes

A note about ingredients - I like to use grassfed butter (Kerrygold brand).  If you would prefer to use another fat, lard, Ghee etc go for it! I get my organic chickens (Coleman brand) from Costco.

Helpful Equipment-

  • Smoker
  • Meat thermometer
  • Hardwood charcoal
  • Wood chips
  • Lighter Fluid
  • Sharp scissors for spatchcocking the chicken- these are super highly rated and CHEAP on amazon. I use them all the time! 

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

  • OXO Good Grips Spring-Loaded Poultry Shears, Black
    OXO Good Grips Spring-Loaded Poultry Shears, Black

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1 ounce meat

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 68
© Heather
Cuisine: american/BBQ / Category: Dinner
I hope you give this smoked chicken recipe a try and enjoyed my simple smoked chicken video!

Cheers,

Heather

How to smoke a chichen

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Gluten Free, Main Dishes, Paleo, Recipes Tagged With: chicken, smoked chicken, smoking

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Emily @ Recipes to Nourish says

    October 21, 2015 at 3:47 am

    Awesome! I love how spatchcock chicken looks. Fun little video too 🙂

    Reply
  2. How We Flourish says

    October 22, 2015 at 11:59 am

    Yum! I have never cooked something like this before. Great information.

    Reply
    • Heather says

      October 22, 2015 at 4:33 pm

      Thanks so much for the comment! Would you ever consider getting a smoker? We got ours a home depot for around $100 and cook with it all summer long!

      Reply
  3. Jenny says

    October 22, 2015 at 8:57 pm

    You video really makes it look quite easy! I’ve been contemplating getting my husband a smoker for Christmas. Maybe this will be the year!

    Reply
    • Heather says

      October 22, 2015 at 9:41 pm

      Hi Jenny! ou should really get a smoker! It’s a very easy way to cook, and it does not heat up the house! I highly recommend it!

      Reply
  4. Kersten says

    October 23, 2015 at 1:25 am

    I must admit that I had never even heard of a smoker, but it seems to work very well. I love how detailed the instructional video is. And of course, the chicken is mouthwatering!

    Reply
    • Heather says

      October 23, 2015 at 5:14 am

      If you have a yard or a little deck, a smoker is such a fun way to cook and it makes meat delectable!!

      Reply
  5. Kelly says

    December 13, 2016 at 11:59 pm

    I’m excited to try this, I’m new to smoking meat!

    Reply

Trackbacks

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