First go at smoked chicken

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akdutchguy

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Mar 30, 2013
264
36
Palmer AK
Well I finally bit the bullet and decided to try something new. I live on a farm where we raise pigs and various other things. I have smoked a lot of pork and love it. Today for family cook night I decided to do some chicken. I have two whole chickens and a ton of thighs in a basic brine. A couple questions. I plan on smoking on the uds with mostly cherry and a bit of alder. My target temp is going to be 325. It has decided to rain so we will see how this goes. How long will a spatchcocked chicken take to cook? I was thinking about 2 hours but am unsure. The thighs will go on later I'm guessing about an hour or so. Am I way off? We will see how this goes. Never done chicken or spatchcocked one either. It's just fun to say. Will post some pics when I get up and running.
Jason
 
I usually smokes a spatched chicken @300-325 in about an hour and a half. Plus or minus. If you're running 325, three hours should be more than enough.

Lance

Just looked at time of post, how's it coming?
 
Spatchcocked birds are done. Temped at 163 in the breast. They look amazing. The skin feels crispy. Unfortunently I can't eat until the family gets here soon. The thighs are on and cooking. Should be done for round two.
 
So the report. After smoking for 2.5 hours at around 350*, the spatchcock chicken was amazing. It was extremely juicy and had great smoke flavor. After the brine I dried a while with the fan then put a rub on them. I used some smoked paprika, smokey mesquite, Montreal steak, pepper and garlic. I think I will try a different rub next time. It wasn't horrible just didn't have a wow taste. The drumsticks were done in just shy of an hour at 325. I couldn't get it much higher with the mass of chicken that was in there. The drumsticks were killer. I used my pork rub on those. For smoke I used a mix of hickory and cherry.
Winner winner chicken dinner. I tried to get some more pics but the mass of kids demolished it. I also made a cold broccoli salad. For being a first time I think it went well. Don't think I will change anything other than the rub on the big birds.
Jason
 
Thanks Al. I can't believe I have never tried chicken. Will defiantly do it again.
Jason
 
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