Grill Smoked Chicken

I've bragged about my Big Green Egg in the past and I've posted all kinds of BGE recipes on my blog.  You can search BGE recipes for smoked shoulder, roasted chicken, grilled pizzas, vegetables - I thought I'd tried it all.  That is until I found this recipe for Hickory Grill-Smoked Chicken on the Williams Sonoma website.  The recipe was not written specifically for a Big Green Egg but if there was ever a recipe that just needed to be cooked on an EGG - it was this one.  I was so confident that this recipe was going to be a keeper that I doubled it and made 2 chickens on my very first attempt. 

Hickory Grill-Smoked Chicken
1 roasting chicken (I smoked 2 at once.)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons thyme
2 teaspoons oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4-6 handfuls of hickory wood chips

Soak wood chips in water for 30 minutes. 
I used mesquite wood chips because it's a little sweeter and more mild than hickory.  (And quite honestly - it's what I had on hand.)  I soaked the wood in water for about 30 minutes while I waited for the grill to warm up.

While the wood soaked and the grill heated, I prepared the rub for the chicken.








I also rinsed the chickens and patted them dry with paper towels.  I placed them on a v rack in an aluminum pan.

I put the rub under the skin of the chicken and also over the top.

Once the coals were hot, I scattered the soaked mesquite wood on top of of the coals. 

I poured the water from the soaking wood into the bottom of the chicken pan and I positioned the pan on top of the grate.

Check out the smoke coming out of the top of the egg.

After about 5 hours of smoking the chicken at 225 - they were finally ready.  They looked AND smelled sooooo good.  (I loved the oregano scent in the rub.) 

I put the chicken on a platter to rest for about 15 minutes.







Then it was finally time to carve this juicy bird.  After smelling this chicken cooking on the Egg for 5 hours, I could hardly wait to taste it. 

I was definitely not disappointed.  The chicken was just as delicious as it smelled.  It was moist and flavorful and it had just the right amount of mesquite flavor.  We all liked it so much that the four of us nearly ate one whole chicken for dinner.  (It was a good thing that I cooked two.)

The pictures of my plate didn't turn out so great - I think I was too hungry to take the time to take great pictures.  Trust me though - it was fabulous.  If you are fortunate enough to own a Big Green Egg - or you have a friend who has one - you need to give this smoked chicken a try.

Ciao!



Hickory Grill-Smoked Chicken
1 roasting chicken (I smoked 2 at once.)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons thyme
2 teaspoons oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4-6 handfuls of hickory wood chips

Soak wood chips in water for 30 minutes.  Rinse and pat chickens dry with paper towels.  Season inside of chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.  Combine remaining salt, pepper, paprika, thyme, oregano and cayenne in a small bowl.  Loosen the skin of the chicken and insert 1/2 of the rub under the skin.  Rub remaining spice mixture over the skin of the chicken.  Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Place a v-rack inside a disposable aluminum pan and place chickens on rack.  Sprinkle wood chips over hot coals and pour remaining water into the bottom of the roasting pan.  Place pan on top of the grate and book 4-5 hours at 250 or until chicken breast temperature reaches 165 degrees.