Smoked Whole Chicken

This recipe always is nice and juicy, and we make sure to have the crispiest skin possible without frying! This is a great starting point onto which you can add any flavor spin you want!

YouTube Instructional: https://youtu.be/ZPxipEAaNXA

Ingredients:
~4.5 Lb Whole Chicken
Olive Oil
Kosher Salt
Water
Salted Butter
Garlic Powder
Coarse Black Pepper

Step 1: Wet Bring the Chicken

Using a ratio of 1 tbsp kosher salt to 1 cup of water, fully submerge the chicken - breast side down

Brine overnight

Step 2: Dry and Trim chicken

Remove the chicken from the brine and discard the brine

Completely rinse off the brine on the chicken and then pat to as dry as possible

Trim off anything funky - excess skin or fat

Step 3: Apply Rub

Give the exterior of the chicken a light coating of olive oil as a binder

Coat the exterior in coarse black pepper and garlic powder

Note: our brine added enough salt, so no need to add any salt here!

Step 4: Smoke the Chicken

Preheat the smoker to 225 degrees

Cook for a little over 2 hours. At this stage we are just trying to get as much smoke onto the bird as possible. With a pellet smoker, you will generate more smoke at lower temps than at higher.

Step 5: Clarify the butter

At about two hours, put your butter onto the smoker to let it melt and start to clarify

Step 6: Bump the temp and baste

When the internal is around 130-145 Bump the temp up to 350 and begin basting each side of the bird, flipping every 15-20 min.

Step 7: Pull it

Once the internal (thickest part usually between the breasts) hits around 155 pull the chicken

This is usually somewhere around 3-3.5 hours

Let it rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing

Enjoy!