Smoked BBQ Chicken -

To impress a small gathering, try smoking a whole chicken! This is an amazing way to infuse mouthwatering BBQ flavor that can be eaten as is or in a sandwich (or pizza, or salad or…) To setup the smoker, you can read this post to get started.

Smoking a chicken is a little easier than a pork shoulder, or something with a little more weight, since it will cook faster. I leave my chicken unstuffed so the smoke can penetrate the meat by going inside as well as outside. Considering this, It should only take 4 ½ hours to smoke a 7 pound chicken (I usually figure 40 minutes per pound.) This makes it easy to prepare for lunch or dinner.

Print Recipe

Smoked BBQ Chicken

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time5 hrs

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: BBQ, BBQ Chicken, fall, Grill, Smoking, Summer

Servings:

Calories: 273kcal

Author: SatMorning21

Equipment

Smoker

Ingredients

1 Chicken Whole
My spice rub recipe below
1 Large bag of hickory wood chunks
1 Large bag of charcoal
1 Cup Favorite BBQ Sauce

Spice Rub

3 TB Paprika
2 TB Brown sugar
1 TB Garlic powder
1 TB Ground mustard
1 TB Salt
1 T Ground ginger
1 T Onion powder
1 T Ground black pepper

Instructions

Night Before

Unwrap your chicken and rinse under cold water. Pat the chicken dry inside and out with paper towels.
Mix all ingredients of the spice rub together in a small bowl.
Place the chicken on baking sheet and cover with the rub. Really try to press the rub onto the meat to make sure that all surfaces are covered, even the inside.
Put the chicken in the fridge overnight (you can apply the rub an hour before you put the chicken on the grill if you’d prefer.)

Day of

Start soaking your wood chunks.
If you didn't put the rub on the chicken the night before, do so now.
Get your smoker up to 225 degrees.
Cook chicken for 4 - 5 hours, checking the temperature inside the smoker and water level every 30 minutes. Adding wood, water and charcoal as need to get the desired smoke level.
Once the chicken reaches 165 degrees in the thigh, that’s when you can pull it from the smoker. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes.
Remove the skin and start shredding the meat with 2 forks.
Serve on a bun with your favorite BBQ or give mine a try! I hope you enjoy.

Nutrition

Smoked BBQ Chicken