Roasting a whole chicken is something I generally think of as a wintertime idea, because in summer, who wants to have to man the oven in a sweltering kitchen? However, if you have a grill, you can roast that chicken outdoors. Here’s how:
How to Barbecue Whole Chickens on the Charcoal Grill
Course: Entertaining, Independence Day, Main Course, Sides8
pieces, which4
peopleFrom start to finish, this takes about 3½ hours, including grill prep. The chicken will spend about half of that time on the grill.
Ingredients & Equipment
1 cake pan (13″x9″) that you do not love
120-200 pieces (approximately) of charcoal
A means to light the charcoal
1 whole chicken, approx. 4½ lbs.
½ of a lemon and 1 handful of fresh herbs, OR stuffing (optional)
2 oz. pork sausage (more or less, optional)
2 Tbs butter, room temperature
Temperature probe
Baster, pastry brush, or barbecue sauce brush
Kitchen twine (optional)
Poultry needle (optional)
1 cup of barbecue sauce (for basting) OR ¼ stick of additional room-temperature butter
Directions
- Encase the cake pan in foil. Place it in the center of the bottom of the grill, where the charcoal normally goes, so that the chicken will wind up being directly above it. Place 50 pieces of charcoal to the left of the cake pan, and another 50 to the right. Remove the pan. Light the charcoal. Put the grate on. Let the charcoal do its thing until it develops the beginnings of a nice, red glow.
- Meanwhile, prep the chicken: if the chicken has gizzards, remove them. (Use them for gravy, or repurpose them.) Rinse the chicken, inside and out. Pat it dry with paper towels. (Stuff it, or insert half a lemon and a handful of fresh herbs into the main cavity. Stuff the neck cavity with sausage. Or, skip all of this.) Rub the outside of the chicken all over with 2 Tbs softened butter. (Truss the chicken and fold the wings under, if you want to.) Place a probe alongside the leg, deep into the thigh. Feel around to make sure you haven’t stuck it into a bone, and/or that you haven’t pierced right through the thigh and come out the other side. Set the probe to 165°F.
- Clean the grate. Place the cake pan back into the grill. Position the grate 4-6 inches above the cake pan and close the lid.
- Put the chicken into the grill as soon as the grill’s temperature passes 300°F. Keep the lid closed.
- Add a large handful of coals to each side every 20 minutes and baste the chicken. Do this quickly, to minimize the amount of time the lid is open. Once the lid is down, don’t give in to the temptation to lift it again until the next 20-minute interval is up. If you’re using butter to baste, once juices have begun to collect in the pan, switch from butter to the juices. Be very careful not to let charcoal or ash fall into the drip pan; that’ll fuck with your gravy. In between your basting intervals, you want the grill temperature to come up to (or pass) 300°F. If it doesn’t, add a greater number of coals during your next baste. The temperature’s going to fluctuate. That’s OK, so long as it hovers around 300°F at some point in between bastes.
- Let the chicken rest for 10-15 minutes before you carve it.
Notes
- Drippings: if you make a gravy with the drippings, it will have a strong smoky flavor. My guests rave about this, but I’m on the fence about it.
- Turkey: This works as well with turkey as it does with chicken. Turkey simply takes a lot longer.
- Servings: I mean, like, who’s going to eat a single drumstick and call it a day? It really depends on your nationality, gender, appetite, and the number of (and nature of the) sides. What I mean is, a hungry American man could go through a half of a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and completely disregard whatever sides might be present, whereas a Frenchman … well, would never go to KFC in the first place.
- Cake Pan: Surprisingly, the cake pan that I use for this purpose has never been damaged by the grill. It’s just that I always think it’s going to be.
- Per Chicken: If your grill will accommodate more than one chicken, by all means, grill more than one – even if that’s more than you’ll need for a single meal. Roasted chicken makes fantastic sandwiches, soups, and salads. Cold chicken breast medallions can make a delicious small plate if you match it with the right kind of sauce. Roasted chicken also freezes well if you vacuum-pack it.
- Chicken: I’ve used Gerber’s Amish Farm Whole Fryers and have been pleased with them.
- Barbecue: If you baste with barbecue sauce, don’t use the lemon. If you baste with butter and pan juices, do use the lemon.
The Backstory
A few Novembers ago, I brought a chicken home from the market, and Mother Nature graced us with an uncommon 65°F day, so I decided to discover how to barbecue a whole chicken on the charcoal grill. I’d never grilled a whole bird without butterflying it. I was amazed to find out how easy it is. I managed to make the finest chicken I’d ever roasted. Since then, I’ve done this many more times, with and without barbecue sauce, and it’s impartially tempting both ways. It has the tender texture and unmistakable lip-smackiness you’d dream it’d have: crispy, juicy, tasty, outdoorsy … it’s irresistibly aromatic, and it’s as easy on the eyes as a food porn centerfold. I’m going to commemorate that warmish November day for 4th of July this year.
chicken for me?”
Social Learning
As your chicken cooks, you will spend most of the time dozing off in a hammock, under the shade of a huge tree, as a gentle breeze keeps you cool. Prepping the grill is not work … come on guys, it’s what we live for: making fire! Prepping the chicken takes about as much time as coals take to get nice and toasty. From then on, you just have to be bothered every 20 minutes to drag your ass off the hammock and baste. I mean … really? This is a piece of cake. It’s so easy.
Why charcoal? That debate is for another post- but I swear by it.
Feel free to walk away after you light the charcoal, and wok on the chicken prep. Or, of course, you can call a buddy over, and the two of you can stand there, drinking beer, watching the grill, trying to see if it needs your help … like, because, man – are you sure that stuff’s lit? Maybe we can find a way to squirt more lighter fluid on it without blowing ourselves up. (I’m partial to the “walk away” method.)
What to Serve with Your Chicken
Corn on the cob, yo. Rip off as many pieces of foil as you have corn, large enough so that you’ll be able to enclose the ear in the foil. Shuck the corn. Go grab some more herbs from your garden – hurry, before Jeffrey comes home, so you can surprise him. Sprinkle the herbs over the foil. Butter your corn. Put the corn on the herb-sprinkled foil. Salt and pepper it. Fold the foil up around the corn like a huge metallic taco. Seal it up real good. Put it on the grill for 15-20 minutes, turning every five. You could make potato packets the same way: top with olive oil, butter, herbs, seasonings, bacon pieces, more butter, chopped onions, bell peppers, or virtually anything that isn’t going to burn up (like cheese will), and then top it all off with some butter. If you can’t make your own, store-bought butter is fine, so long as it’s European-style.
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See Also
- If you want to make this adventure into something a lot more serious, check out this article at Serious Eats.
- Here’s a recipe that’s smoking hot.
- Williams-Sonoma always has good ideas. If only they had affordable kitchen equipment!