At the beginning of the summer I decided I wanted to grill a whole chicken. I can now say that although the process (and I'm sorry, but the pictures too) was a little gross (and by that I mean much more disgusting than having to pull the innards out of that first turkey), in the end it was all worth it. The chicken came out tender and juicy with lots of flavor. It was worth every disgusting step!
Grilled Whole Chicken
Although you can grill a whole chicken without doing any butchering, by butterflying the chicken it cooks faster while still staying nice and juicy and getting the crispy skin on the outside.
1. While grill is heating, clean out the inside of the chicken, remove the gizzard, rinse, and pat dry with paper towels.
2. In order to butterfly the chicken use kitchen shears to cut about 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart on each side of the back bone. Cut all the way down the backbone and then pull out the back bone (if you hadn't guessed this is the gross part!)
3. After removing the backbone, open the two sides of the chicken and break the breast bone by firmly applying pressure and pressing down. Tuck wing tips under the upper wings.
4. Brush both sides of the chicken with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.5. Place on grill skin side down over indirect heat (flame should not be directly under the meat, but to one side). Grill for 25 minutes. Turn chicken over and and brush skin with BBQ sauce. Grill for 25 to 30 more minutes or until juices run clear and thermometer in thigh reads 180 degrees.
By this time the meat should just pull right off the bone and the skin should be nice and crispy- perfect and ready to eat!
1 comment:
ok...that is just gross. i mean dont get me wrong. i love chicken. but for reals. you had to pull all that stuff out of it?! i definitely just gagged a little there jenny. haha
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