The classic charcoal kettle grill pairs perfectly with a timeless BBQ recipe.Let’s dive into the fun of smoking a whole BBQ chicken on the Original Weber Kettle charcoal grill!
We’ll even throw in a BBQ Dragon heat deflector to make indirect smoking a breeze. With a homemade BBQ dry rub and a few applewood chunks, you’ve got all the flavor you could ask for, showing just how tasty Weber charcoal cookingreally is.
The Components
You need the following ingredients to make smoked chicken:
A whole chicken weighing between 5-6 pounds
1/2 stick of unsalted butter, perfect for basting!
4 applewood chunks
Barbecue Chicken Dry Rub Ingredients
1/4 cup of brown sugar
3 tablespoons of paprika
2 tablespoons of chili powder
One tablespoon of dry mustard
One tablespoon of garlic powder
One tablespoon of cayenne.
One tablespoon of black pepper
Two tablespoons of salt
Butter Paste Ingredients
1/2 stick of softened, unsalted butter
3 tablespoons of olive oil
4 tablespoons of BBQ chicken rub
Things you’ll require
You can use a Weber Kettle or any other charcoal grill.
Mix all the ingredients for the BBQ chicken dry rub in a bowl until they’re well combined.
Grab a small bowl and combine some melted butter, olive oil, and a bit of that BBQ chicken rub to whip up a tasty seasoning paste. Set it aside for later! This will ensure that the seasoning gets all over the bird and keeps it nice and juicy while it cooks.
To dry the chicken, pat it down with a paper towel.
To spatchcock the chicken, just grab some kitchen shears or a sharp knife and cut out the backbone. Easy peasy! This will let the chicken lay flat while it smokes, making it cook faster and more evenly.
Just make a small cut right at the top of the breastbone, starting from the chicken’s bone side. This will help the chicken lay neat and flat!
Go ahead and generously slather that chicken with the butter paste! Make sure to get it all over the outside and sneak some under the skin, so the meat really soaks up all that delicious flavor.
After applying the buttery goodness, feel free to add an additional layer of dry rub to any area that you believe could benefit from a little more flavor.
Pop that chicken in the fridge while you get your grill ready and hot!
Fire up that chimney starter with a quarter load of charcoal, and let the fun begin!
Start by spreading a lovely layer of unlit coal at the bottom of your grill, making sure it covers the entire base evenly. You don’t need to worry about piling coals to one side because your heat deflector handles indirect heat. This setup allows you to start things off with plenty of charcoal to keep the cooking going without needing to refuel.
Just go ahead and sprinkle some lit coals right on top of those unlit ones in your grill, making a little mound in the middle of the coal bed.
To keep the smoke flowing steadily, scatter your applewood chunks in different spots on top of the coals.
Just pop your heat deflector (we went with the BBQ Dragon brand) right into your kettle grill, under those pegs that keep the cooking grate secure.
Pop the cooking grate into the grill, then close the lid to get that preheating started! When it comes to smoking temperatures, you’ll want to set your Weber Kettle like this: keep the bottom damper about a quarter of the way open and the top damper around halfway open. Easy peasy!
Give the grill a little time to warm up, about 10 minutes. Aim for a temperature in the range of 250 to 275°F!
Put the chicken on the grill grates over the heat deflector, letting it soak up that smoky goodness with some beneficial indirect heat. Insert a temperature probe into the thickest side of the breast to monitor its progress and grill temperature.
Place the lid on the container, ensuring that the vent is positioned directly over the chicken. This way, all that heat and smokey goodness can swirl around it before making its way out of the grill.
After an hour of smoking, give the chicken a lovely baste with melted butter and turn it around so the other breast side is facing the opening of the deflector stone. This little tweak will make sure everything cooks evenly.
After approximately two hours of cooking, proceed to fully open the top vent. This will help the chicken finish up nicely at around 315°F. At this stage, the rendered fat should be bursting with smoky goodness. Raising the finishing temperature can really speed things up and give that chicken a lovely, deep brown color on the outside. Just remember to keep the grill below 350°F so that the brown sugar in your dry rub doesn’tend up burning.
When your thermometer shows that the chicken has hit an internal temperature of 165°F, it’s time to take it off the grill.
Cover the chicken with foil and let it chill out for at least 10 minutes.
Slice up that chicken and dig in! Enjoy every bite!
