Smoked Spatchcock Chicken
Spatchcocking fixes the worst thing about whole chicken: uneven cooking. Cut out the backbone, flatten the bird, and the whole thing cooks at one pace with more skin exposed to smoke. Dry-brine for crisp skin, hit it with rub, smoke over cherry. Finish hot so the skin bites through.
- Method
- Smoke
- Total time
- 2.5 hr plus overnight brine
- Target internal temp
- 160F breast, 175F thigh
- Gear
- Pellet grill, Folding Tongs, kitchen shears, instant-read
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Serves
- 4 to 6
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, 4 to 5 lb
- 1 tbsp kosher salt for dry-brine
- 2 tbsp BBQ rub, low sugar
- Cherry wood or pellets
The Cook
- 01
Flip the bird breast-down. Cut up both sides of the backbone with shears and remove it. Flip back over and press hard on the breastbone to flatten.
- 02
Salt all over and rest uncovered in the fridge overnight. This dries the skin so it crisps instead of turning to rubber.
- 03
Pull from the fridge, coat with rub. Set the smoker to 275F with cherry.
- 04
Smoke flat, skin-up, until the breast hits 145F, about 1 to 1.5 hr.
- 05
Crank to 400F or move over direct heat to finish. The failure point is here: pull the breast at 160F even though the thigh needs 175F. Position the thighs toward the hotter zone so they catch up. Rest 10 min.
Doneness
160F in the breast, 175F in the thigh, skin crisp and snappy. Juices clear at the joint.
Pro Tip
The common mistake is smoking the whole cook low and never raising the heat. Low and slow gives you flabby, bendy skin. Ramp the heat at the end to render and crisp it.
Questions
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