3.3ib Whole chicken ideas?.

[Leejames12]

Afternoon guys, or morning for you Americans. :)

I'm going to be doing a whole chicken, 3.3Ib. I am going to brine for 5 hours, and then put on my off set smoker using oak to smoke with.

What would be the;

Rub
Time
Temp
Final temp.

I will be doing beef ribs also, with mac and cheese as a side dish, i know how to do beef ribs, but just wondering about my first time doing chicken. :)

Thanks!

Will post once i have cooked.

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

I would spatchcock the chicken and smoke it at 300-325. You want your final IT to be 165 in the breast. I normally pull about 5 degrees earlier to account for carryover. I would say at 3.3 lbs you are probably looking at about 1 1/2 - 2 hours at 300ish. Maybe less. As far as rubs go anything poultry related or Cajun spiced are good IMO. I like to add pats of butter under the skin on the breasts as well. Good luck!

 

[SmokyMose]

I don't know if you're doing the ribs and chicken together. Like VOL said you need to cook chicken at a little higher temp. My offset likes to run around 260 to 280 and that works for both for me, especially if the chicken is spatchcocked. Keep an eye on the IT of the breast because chicken cooks fast. I won't try to guess time...
I use the same rub for chicken and pork. If you want a special treat rub in some Maple syrup before you add the rub.
Sounds like a tasty meal!

 

[BigTaelor]

I’d brine for atleast 24 hours with a buttermilk/water/salt/spices brine.

rub: paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, cayenne is a good place to start

temp: I would do no higher than 250 to get that good wood taste

time: 3 hours or so.

so coat with rub: spread mayonnaise or mustard all over the chicken and apply rub. This helps it stick and stay moist.

 

[SmokyMose]

One of the reasons for cooking chicken at a higher temp is to let the skin crisp up a bit and not be "rubbery".

 

[fivetricks]

I generally reserve 3 hours for whole chickens, spatchcocked, at 250 in my pit smoker. 2 hours or less at 325-350 in my UDS

 

[Leejames12]

Nice one guys cheers, because of the fact im doing beef ribs, they take me 5 hours so on the 2 hour mark ill add the chicken at 275F. for the remaining time. cheers guys, i'll also add butter under the skin as this sounds good!.

 

[SmokyMose]

Nice one guys cheers, because of the fact im doing beef ribs, they take me 5 hours so on the 2 hour mark ill add the chicken at 275F. for the remaining time. cheers guys, i'll also add butter under the skin as this sounds good!.

Please let us know how it turns out!
I'd be interested in your method for the beef ribs....

 

[tallbm]

Nice one guys cheers, because of the fact im doing beef ribs, they take me 5 hours so on the 2 hour mark ill add the chicken at 275F. for the remaining time. cheers guys, i'll also add butter under the skin as this sounds good!.

Hi there and welcome!

There are 2 chicken quirks you are going to run into and should be aware of and how to deal with them.

1.) Chicken skin is rubbery or leathery unless cooked/smoked at higher temps (325F/162.7C). This is any poultry skin and is what it is... do not underestimate this reality hahaa

2.) Whole chickens and/or chicken breasts should be brined( 12-24 hours is best). It is good you are doing this. The simplest brine in the world is water + salt. The simplest way to nail a brine is to weigh the water and add the weight of the chicken then multiply by 0.0225 (which is 2.25%). The number u get I the amount of salt u need to use. Why do this??? Well u guarantee that the salt will distribute evenly between the water and the chicken over 12-24 hrs and will NEVER make your chicken too salty!
When you brine like this do NOT add any rubs or seasonings that add salt. Make your own and omit the salt. Remove the chicken from the brine, quickly rinse it off (nothing crazy) and then season with NON-salt seasonings/rubs.
Being your first chicken I would highly recommend just going Black Pepper, Onion, and Garlic. If u want something a little more add Paprika but I would not go beyond those seaosnigns. Again do not add salt, the chicken is already loaded with salt from the brine so it is included.

As mentioned cook the chicken to an internal temp of 165F/73.8 so to hit that pull it around 161F/71.6C and it will coast up to the target temp.

If you handle these two quirks involving chicken skin and white meat/whole chickens then u will knock it out of the park!

Let us know what you land on, i'm excited for ya! :)

 

[Leejames12]

Please let us know how it turns out!
I'd be interested in your method for the beef ribs....

My method for beef ribs is i let them get to room temp and let the rub soak in. Once the smoker is at 250-275, i then put them on for 3 hours, then check every hour after till my probe penetrates nicely.

 

[Leejames12]

Hi there and welcome!

There are 2 chicken quirks you are going to run into and should be aware of and how to deal with them.

1.) Chicken skin is rubbery or leathery unless cooked/smoked at higher temps (325F/162.7C). This is any poultry skin and is what it is... do not underestimate this reality hahaa

2.) Whole chickens and/or chicken breasts should be brined( 12-24 hours is best). It is good you are doing this. The simplest brine in the world is water + salt. The simplest way to nail a brine is to weigh the water and add the weight of the chicken then multiply by 0.0225 (which is 2.25%). The number u get I the amount of salt u need to use. Why do this??? Well u guarantee that the salt will distribute evenly between the water and the chicken over 12-24 hrs and will NEVER make your chicken too salty!
When you brine like this do NOT add any rubs or seasonings that add salt. Make your own and omit the salt. Remove the chicken from the brine, quickly rinse it off (nothing crazy) and then season with NON-salt seasonings/rubs.
Being your first chicken I would highly recommend just going Black Pepper, Onion, and Garlic. If u want something a little more add Paprika but I would not go beyond those seaosnigns. Again do not add salt, the chicken is already loaded with salt from the brine so it is included.

As mentioned cook the chicken to an internal temp of 165F/73.8 so to hit that pull it around 161F/71.6C and it will coast up to the target temp.

If you handle these two quirks involving chicken skin and white meat/whole chickens then u will knock it out of the park!

Let us know what you land on, i'm excited for ya! :)

Thanks i will take note of this, and brine the chicken Monday so its ready for the smoker on Tuesday. :)

 

[tallbm]

Thanks i will take note of this, and brine the chicken Monday so its ready for the smoker on Tuesday. :)

Cool deal!

Also if u are concerned about cooking at such a high heat with the beef ribs also on, know that beef ribs don't care about the temp too much. In Texas beef ribs get smoked hot and fast similarly to briskets do. So if at the end of your smoke u want to crank up the heat (without burning anything) to get to a chicken smoking temp go for it. OR simply start the chicken when you start the ribs and pull the chicken and just warm it back up later.

Smoked chicken is even better the next day or after a period of time where the smoke and other flavors can continue melding together. With the chicken being brined you won't have any dryness issues when reheated... that is if you wrapped the chicken well when you pulled it off the smoker. I always debone my chicken once it cools down enough from the smoker.
I leave the whole breast lobes together, the wings together, and debone all the back meat and dark meat. I put it all in a plastic tub with a lid OR i wrapp it all really well in foil. When it comes time to eat I just pull from there and reheat and damn it's good! :)

 

[Leejames12]

Cool deal!

Also if u are concerned about cooking at such a high heat with the beef ribs also on, know that beef ribs don't care about the temp too much. In Texas beef ribs get smoked hot and fast similarly to briskets do. So if at the end of your smoke u want to crank up the heat (without burning anything) to get to a chicken smoking temp go for it. OR simply start the chicken when you start the ribs and pull the chicken and just warm it back up later.

Smoked chicken is even better the next day or after a period of time where the smoke and other flavors can continue melding together. With the chicken being brined you won't have any dryness issues when reheated... that is if you wrapped the chicken well when you pulled it off the smoker. I always debone my chicken once it cools down enough from the smoker.
I leave the whole breast lobes together, the wings together, and debone all the back meat and dark meat. I put it all in a plastic tub with a lid OR i wrapp it all really well in foil. When it comes time to eat I just pull from there and reheat and damn it's good! :)

Hi, thanks for your reply mate, so you are saying that if i do beef ribs at 275 for 3 hours and then i can cook the chicken at 3 hours at 300F. Will that work?.

 

[tallbm]

Hi, thanks for your reply mate, so you are saying that if i do beef ribs at 275 for 3 hours and then i can cook the chicken at 3 hours at 300F. Will that work?.

Yeah that should work, or you can do the opposite so the ribs get the higher heat at the beginning of the cook when they are less likely to dry out on you and then just store the chicken away when it is done.
Raising the temp towards the end of your rib smoke to add the chicken on might present some problems with temp control and affecting your ribs. So doing the chicken at the beginning means you can let the heat go high while the chicken is on and then naturally work the temp down after you pull the chicken. This way there is less risk of hurting the ribs since you can course correct if needed earlier in the rib smoke. You can't course correct so easily at the end :)
I would also go up to at least 316F/158C while doing the chicken to better ensure you don't get leather skin.

 

[theyankeesmoker]

Brine helps cook the chicken faster. If possible, get some royal oak charcoal. I smoke my chicken until about 140 in breast, and finish off on the grill to help crisp the chicken skin up. Or you could always move to the oven when IT is 100 (usually about an hour). Before popping into oven rub some butter or oil on skin