Are you craving the mouthwatering flavors of perfectly smoked whole chicken? Are you looking for the best way to smoke chicken?
Then look no further than this recipe that we have here using the Pit Barrel Cooker, the ultimate tool for easy smoked chicken that turns out deliciously tender every time.
For those who don't know, the Pit Barrel Cooker is a charcoal smoker that has gained a reputation among barbecue enthusiasts for its simplicity and outstanding results. It is a great tool to use for those who consider themselves charcoal-smoking beginners.
In this article, we'll are going to delve into the magic of smoking a whole chicken on the Pit Barrel Cooker, from an overnight brine, to spatchcock preparation, to hook placement, and tips for achieving perfectly tender and juicy smoked chicken that will impress your taste buds and your friends.
If you are ready to elevate your barbecue game then I am ready.
So let's get started!
How To Smoke A Whole Chicken
Smoking chicken is a culinary technique that imparts a unique and irresistible flavor to the meat, making it tender, juicy, and full of smoky goodness. The process involves cooking chicken slowly over low heat in a smoker or barbecue, infusing it with the smoky flavors of wood chips or chunks, and creating a mouthwatering, aromatic experience for your taste buds.
The key to achieving perfectly smoked chicken lies in the careful balance of time, temperature, and flavor. By using the right equipment, such as the popular Pit Barrel Cooker, and following a reliable recipe, you can easily smoke a chicken to perfection in your own backyard.
Your result will be a succulent, flavorful chicken with a beautiful smoke ring and a deliciously smoky taste that had everyone asking for seconds.
An Overnight Brine: The Key to Juicy and Tender Smoked Chicken with Every Bite
The first step in this process is going to be letting this bird sit in a brine overnight. I have found that a 5 lbs whole chicken is a perfect size to fit inside a 1-gallon freezer bag.
Before placing the whole chicken into the freezer bag make sure to rinse the chicken in the sink and remove the giblets, if there are any within the inside of the chicken.
After placing your chicken into the freezer bag. Fill the freezer bag with cold water until the whole chicken has been submerged.
At this point, we want to ensure that the freezer bag can be closed with a good seal and that there aren't any leaks.
Next, take a handful of seasoning of your choice and add it to the water within the freezer bag. I decided that I would use lemon pepper. However, any meat-smoking rub would be fine to use. Also, I know that a handful is not really a precise measurement but for our purposes, it is going to be enough.
With the bag sealed gently move the bag back and forth until the seasoning and the water have mixed together.
Congratulations!!! You have now made the brine that our smoked chicken is going to sit in overnight in the refrigerator.
Keep in mind that the main reason that we are using brine for the chicken is that the brine will impart flavor to the thicker parts of the chicken like the breasts and chicken thighs.
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What you will need for the brine recipe:
How to prepare a whole chicken to be smoked on the Pit Barrel Cooker
Now it is time to remove the whole chicken from the freezer bag and rinse the access brine and salt from the skin of the chicken. You will also want to rinse the inside of the chicken.
Then once your chicken has been thoroughly rinsed it is time to pat, pat, pat the chicken to remove any access moisture.
Today, we will be utilizing the spatchcock chicken method on the Pit Barrel Cooker. If you are not familiar with the term spatchcock, it essentially means that we are going to remove the backbone and flatten the chicken.
Using this method makes the chicken easier to season and will allow your chicken to cook evenly.
You can remove the backbone in several ways. Some people will use kitchen shears, while I prefer to use a bread knife. Either way, you are going to need both hands in order to remove the backbone.
Beginning with a bread knife, you will cut down both sides of the backbone. Some extra effort will be needed to cut through the pelvic area.
Once completed you should be able to remove the backbone without any issues.
At the end of removing the backbone of your chicken, you should now have two chicken halves ready. Each half should have a breast, chicken thigh, leg, and wing.
Now, it is time to season them.
In this recipe, I am using a little bit of canola oil as a binder and lemon pepper.the binder will allow the seasoning to remain on the skin of the chicken.
Random thought: It is pretty amazing that these two ingredients are all that you need to add flavor to this easy smoked chicken recipe.
Be sure to coat both sides of the chicken evenly with the rub for maximum flavor.
Keep in mind that the smoker not only cooks the whole chicken but it adds flavor to the meat through the smoke.
We will get into the different types of wood that we will be used to season our smoke.
How To Smoke A Whole Chicken: Hook Placement
A key to a successful cook with the Pit Barrel Cooker is the proper placement of the hooks. The hooks should be inserted into the breastplate of the chicken, allowing it to hang vertically in the cooker.
This allows for even cooking and helps to achieve that deliciously tender result. You can also fold the wing over the hooks to keep the chicken secure during the cooking process.
Since the backbone has been removed there isn't anything other than the skin that connects the breast and chicken thighs to one another. If there was anything that happened to the skin during the smoke then the bottom portion may tear away and fall into the charcoal basket. Which would be a total bummer.
Therefore, to ensure that everything is secure, I recommend adding a second hook at the bottom and then connecting the bottom hook to the top hook.
This method is a small deviation from a standard smoked chicken recipe on the Pit Barrel Cooker.
However, I believe that proper hook placement is crucial, so take your time to ensure that the hooks are positioned correctly.
Unleashing the Smokey Flavors: Let's Talk About Our BBQ Equipment and Smoker Setup
Time to talk about the smoker that we will be using. Which is the Pit Barrel Cooker. This smoker fits into the vertical barrel or drum type of smoker category.
The heat source is charcoal, which is placed into a basket and resides at the bottom of the barrel. The heat and smoke travel upwards encasing the meat in a 360° envelope of flavor.
The main difference between the Pit Barrel Cooker and other vertical or drum smokers is that there are rods that are inserted at the top. Not only do the rods allow for proper airflow, but the rods also allow you to hang the meat. Hanging the meat allows all of the different sides of the meat to be touched by the smoke. There is no need to rotate the meat.
Temperature is controlled by opening and closing the damper that is located at the bottom of the barrel.
Fill up the basket about three-fourths of the way with charcoal briquettes. The other one-fourth of the charcoal will be ignited within a charcoal chimney before dumping the entire chimney unto the charcoal basket at the bottom of the smoker.
Once the coals have come up to temp, which will be right around 250 Degrees Fahrenheit, we will add a chunk of Applewood and another wood chunk of Hickory on top of the coals.
The Pit Barrel Cooker has gained a reputation among barbecue enthusiasts for its simplicity and outstanding results. Even complete charcoal grilling and smoking beginners have been able to produce results that are comparable to BBQ competition competitors.
The Best Way To Smoke Chicken on the Pit Barrel Cooker and Monitor Your Chicken's Temperature with Precision
When smoking we want to be mindful of the internal temperature of the meat and not the overall time that the chicken has been smoking. The reasoning is there are a lot of factors outside of the equipment that we are using that could affect the smoking time. Such as the size of your chicken and the heat of your smoker, the ambient temperature outside, wind, and the type of fuel that we are utilizing.
To get started, insert the meat thermometer into the thickest part of the chicken, avoiding contact with the bone. The reason that we want to avoid contact with the bones or breastplate is that those areas tend to heat up faster and the internal temperature tends to be higher than the meat which can give inaccurate readings.
The Results: Crispy Skin and Perfectly Smoked Chicken
One of the highlights of smoking a whole chicken is the opportunity to achieve crispy, golden-brown skin that's packed with smoky wood flavor. The Pit Barrel Cooker, with its unique design and cooking method, can help you achieve that desirable crispy skin while ensuring that the meat is perfectly cooked.
As your chicken smokes in the Pit Barrel Cooker for over 1.5 hours, the skin will absorb the smoky flavors from the wood chips or wood chunks, resulting in a deliciously aromatic and savory outer layer.
The slow cooking process also allows the chicken's natural juices to seep into the meat, keeping it moist and tender.
The last time that I cooked a whole chicken. The outside temperature in Orlando, Florida was 95 Degrees Fahrenheit. My smoker ran a lot hotter than it normally does. For a normal temperature, I am usually around 240 Degrees Fahrenheit to 260.
In this instance, my smoker was around 275 Degrees Fahrenheit with a spike up to 300 Degrees.
Heat fluctuations are a pretty typical event when grilling or smoking.
As such, it's important to be mindful of external factors such as weather conditions that may affect the temperature of your smoker and require adjustments to your cooking technique.
To ensure that your chicken skin turns out crispy, it's essential to monitor the cooking process closely. If you prefer crispy skin, you can opt to brush the skin with a little oil or melted butter before smoking, as this can help promote a crispy texture. Remember that we used canola oil as our binder. You can also adjust the heat and cooking time to achieve the desired level of crispiness.
Letting your chicken take a rest
Once your chicken has reached the desired internal temperature, and the skin is crispy and golden, it's time to remove it from the Pit Barrel Cooker and let it rest for a few minutes before carving. Allowing grilled meat, including smoked chicken, to rest before cutting into it is crucial for several reasons.
First, resting allows the meat to continue cooking and reach its final internal temperature, ensuring that it is cooked evenly and thoroughly. This helps to avoid undercooked or raw spots in the meat.
Second, resting allows the meat's juices to redistribute, resulting in a juicier and more flavorful end product. If you cut into the meat immediately after cooking, the juices may run out, resulting in a dry and less enjoyable eating experience.
Lastly, resting gives the meat time to firm up slightly, making it easier to slice or carve without the meat falling apart.
It's recommended to let the smoked chicken rest for about 5-10 minutes before cutting into it to ensure the best results.
The Best Way To Smoke Chicken:4 Tips for Success
- 1Use a good quality rub and evenly coat both sides of the chicken for maximum flavor.
- 2Take your time with hook placement, ensuring that the hooks are inserted into the breastplate for even cooking.
- 3Monitor the internal temperature of the chicken with a meat thermometer to ensure it reaches 165 Degrees Fahrenheit for safe consumption.
- 4Let the cooked chicken rest for a few minutes before slicing into it to allow the juices to redistribute and the flavors to meld.
Lemon Pepper Smoked Whole Chicken Recipe
Savor the Juicy Delights
What should I do with the leftover smoked chicken
With a family of four, there isn't always a lot of leftover chicken. However, we tend to pick over the chicken throughout the week and do utilize the leftovers for other dishes.
Below are just a few examples of what you can do with the leftovers.
Conclusion
In conclusion, smoking a whole chicken on a Pit Barrel Cooker is an easy and delicious way to enjoy tender and flavorful chicken with a smoky twist.
By following simple steps such as preparing the chicken, seasoning with a rub, hook placement, monitoring the internal temperature, and allowing the chicken to rest before cutting into it, you can achieve perfectly smoked chicken with crispy skin and juicy meat.
Remember to experiment with different rubs and flavor profiles to customize the taste to your liking. With the Pit Barrel Cooker and the right techniques, you can impress your family and friends with a mouthwatering smoked chicken dish that will leave them asking for seconds.
So fire up your Pit Barrel Cooker and get ready to enjoy some finger-licking good smoked chicken!
Make sure to comeback to SmokyBeginnings.com as we are continuously adding new recipes and tips to the site.
Happy smoking!
The Best Way To Smoke Chicken frequently asked Questions
A: To keep chicken moist when smoking, you can brine it beforehand to infuse flavor and retain moisture. Additionally, using a water pan in your smoker can help maintain humidity levels during the cooking process, preventing the chicken from drying out.
A:The secret to smoked chicken lies in achieving a perfect balance of flavor and tenderness. This can be achieved by using a flavorful dry rub or marinade, maintaining a consistent cooking temperature, and ensuring the chicken is cooked to the appropriate internal temperature without overcooking it.
A: It's generally better to smoke chicken at a lower temperature for a longer period of time. This slow smoking process allows the flavors to penetrate the meat and results in tender, juicy chicken with a delicious smoky flavor..
A: For beginners, smoking chicken can be done by first preparing the chicken with a dry rub or marinade. Then, set up your smoker for indirect heat and maintain a consistent temperature of around 225-250°F. Place the chicken on the smoker rack and smoke until it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F, typically taking 2-3 hours depending on the size of the chicken.
A: Wrapping chicken during smoking is optional and depends on personal preference. Some people choose to wrap chicken in foil or butcher paper during the cooking process to help retain moisture and tenderness, while others prefer to leave it unwrapped for a firmer bark on the outside.
A: Flipping chicken when smoking is not necessary, especially if you're using a smoker with consistent heat distribution. However, if you're cooking on a grill or smoker with uneven heat, you may choose to rotate the chicken halfway through the cooking process to ensure even cooking.
Step-by-Step Recipe: Crispy Skin Lemon Pepper Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 Whole chicken (about 5 pounds)
- 1 Handful of lemon pepper seasoning
- Canola oil
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Overnight Lemon Pepper Chicken Brine
- 1 gallon Water
- 1 cup Lemon pepper seasoning
- ¼ cup Salt
- ¼ cup Sugar
- 2-3 Bay leaves (optional)
- 4-5 Garlic cloves, crushed (optional)
Instructions
Prepare the Brine Solution:
- In a large pot or container, combine the water, lemon pepper seasoning, salt, and sugar.
- Stir until the salt and sugar are completely dissolved.
- If desired, add bay leaves and crushed garlic cloves for additional flavor.
Brine the Chicken:
- Place the whole chicken or chicken pieces into the brine solution, ensuring it is fully submerged.
- Cover the container and refrigerate for at least 12 hours or overnight to allow the chicken to soak up the flavors of the brine.
- After the brining time is complete, remove the chicken from the brine solution and discard the brine.
- Rinse the chicken under cold water to remove any excess salt from the surface.
- Pat the chicken dry with paper towels to remove excess moisture. This step is crucial for achieving crispy skin during cooking.
Prep the Chicken
- Remove the chicken from the brine and rinse it under cold water. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels.
- Using kitchen shears or a sharp knife, remove the backbone of the chicken and flatten it by pressing down firmly.
- Season both sides of the chicken generously with lemon pepper seasoning, salt, and pepper. Ensure even distribution of seasoning.
- Insert hooks into the chicken to hold it securely during cooking.
Prepare the Smoker:
- Fill the charcoal basket of the smoker about three-fourths full with charcoal briquettes.
- Light a charcoal chimney filled with briquettes until they ash over and produce clear blue smoke.
- Dump the lit charcoal onto the charcoal basket in the smoker.
- Add a mixture of applewood and hickory wood chips for flavor.
Cook the Chicken:
- Hang the seasoned chicken in the smoker using the hooks, ensuring it's securely in place.
- Insert a temperature probe into the thickest part of the chicken breast.
- Close the smoker lid and cook the chicken at around 265-270°F (130-132°C) for approximately 1.5 hours, or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F (74°C).
Rest and Serve:
- Once the chicken reaches the desired temperature, remove it from the smoker and let it rest for about 10 minutes.
- Use forks to shred the chicken, discarding the bones and skin if desired.
- Serve the shredded lemon pepper chicken as a main dish, or use it in salads, tacos, or quesadillas for a flavorful meal.
