Smoking Whole Bone-In Chicken Assistance


 

Jason C.W.

New member
Only smoked one thing so far on my 18.5" WSM and it turned out pretty good (Pork Shoulder). Took me about 16hrs to do, but for my first time ever using it, it turned out well.

Now I'd like to smoke a couple whole chickens and could use some help from the experts. With that, can anyone provide any guidance, recipes, knowledge, etc?
 
The birds seem to like the higher heat. When I do I low and slow bird, the skin gets rubbery ( gross ) and needs to be thrown away. It is also very easy to over smoke them.

I find that I have found, for me, it is easier to cook the poultry on the grill with wood chunks added. Rotisserie if you have one.
 
I often smoke chicken or turkeys on my WSM. Yes the skin is not crisp unless you finish it at a higher temp, on your grill at 350+. Also be careful of the type of wood as it is easy to overpower the poultry. I prefer apple for this purpose.
Finally, welcome to the community of weber smokers and have fun. Remember every smoke is a learning experience.
Mike
 
There are definitely two camps on this one. Some have either found a way to do low and slow and still get crisp skin that escapes me or they simply don't mind the rubbery skin. I've done low and slow and found the skin just about killed it for me. If I'm doing a whole chicken I'll go with no water in the pan and try to get the temp up to 325F. This will give you crisp skin and also help with the over-smoking the others have mentioned since the chicken spends a lot less time in the smoke. You can also speed up the process and expose more surface to the smoke by spatchcocking the chicken. It's not technically a whole chicken in that case, but pretty close.

On the flip side, I also like to do chicken thighs for pulled chicken. Those I'll do low and slow because I'm going to be discarding the skin anyway.
 
Check this out. http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/chicken4.html This way the WSM becomes a barrel cooker. I tried it and the Chicken came out pretty darn good. Chris is using an 18.5" WSM so you can see what you'll be working with. Your smoker may exceed 400 but that's OK. Just monitor the meat temp. I use just a little Cherry wood for smoke.

Congrats on the long cook with the Pork Butt. Addictive isn't it?
 
If you truly smoke a bird it's entirely different then smoke roasting/ grilling.
Yes the skin is rubbery and sacrificial, but it does not render like on a HH cook and that IMO wraps it like a blanket and retains moisture.
I like both ways, but I'm partial to a smoked bird this time of the year.:)

Tim
 
I didn't mean to suggest the low and slow chicken wasn't good. It's quite tasty, but the skin, as Tim put it, is sacrificial. At least it is for me. If somebody want to smoke a chicken low and slow, I'll happily discard the skin and eat what's left. It's just that given the choice of rubbery, sacrificial skin or crisp and tasty skin, I'll go with the crisp and tasty.
 
Actually there's a third chicken skin state... bite through. It is neither rubbery nor crispy. Difficult to achieve. Uses comp cooking methods.
 
Do it! Aim for 300 degrees and check for doneness if the leg bone starts to twist away easy. Takes only a couple hours max - don't let it get overdone.

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I order my poultry seasoning from Klose BBQ Pits https://bbqpits.com
I visited their about three years ago and he gave me a bottle of poultry seasoning, it's the best I have ever tried and I have been using it ever since.
Apply liberally inside and outside of the bird.
 

 

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