Smoked Whole Chicken

In barbecue, as in life, patience is a virtue—and this showstopping smoked whole chicken recipe is no exception. The key to maintaining the temperature of your smoker is to load the chimney to its capacity with hardwood charcoal at the start and to replenish the coals and wood chunks or chips after one hour. Spritz newspaper or brown paper shopping bags with vegetable oil, not olive oil (which will burn too quickly to heat the coals properly) for the starter.

You can use whatever type of wood you like the flavor of. Hickory is classic for its pleasant smoky notes, while mesquite imparts a stronger smoke flavor. Meanwhile, fruit woods like cherry and applewood will lend mild, sweet flavors.

The recipe below presents two methods for flavoring your chicken: a dry-rub (also known as dry-brine) method and a wet brine. If you choose to soak your chicken in a wet brine, you do not need to season it after the second chill, which is essential for drying out the chicken skin. If you opt for the spice rub, feel free to coat your birds up to a day in advance and refrigerate them uncovered. The longer you let them go, the richer their flavor will be.

Any way you go, you’ll want a meat thermometer to gauge the internal temperature of one of the chicken thighs after three hours (it might take up to five hours). The smoky flavor of this whole chicken recipe is delicious on its own, but you can serve it with BBQ sauce or hot sauce, plus side dishes like coleslaw, potato salad, and cornbread.

This recipe was adapted for style from ‘Feeding the Fire’ by Joe Carroll and Nick Fauchald. Buy the full book on Amazon.