The Right Way To Barbecue A Whole Chicken According To An Expert

If you're planning a barbecue or cookout, there are a few important questions to consider. You don't just need to know how much meat to buy in preparation — you need to decide which types. Pulled pork and beef brisket are popular options, but if you have guests who don't eat red meat or you just want something a little leaner, chicken is always a crowd-pleaser.

The art of barbecuing, unlike grilling, is all about cooking meat low and slow, and one of the benefits of the method is that you can smoke whole animals. If cooking a whole chicken is unfamiliar to you, there are a few tips to keep in mind to ensure a beautifully juicy bird. Chowhound spoke with chef Robbie Shoults, the third-generation Owner of Bear Creek Smokehouse, Marshall Mercantile, and High Horse 1898 in Marshall, Texas, for an inside scoop on the best way to barbecue a whole chicken.

According to Shoults, the trick is to be able to lay the bird out flat, which is a time-tested chicken prep trick known as spatchcocking. He says, "This will help it cook more evenly and a little faster than leaving the chicken whole" with bones intact. To accomplish this, he says, "The first thing we do is remove any giblets or the neck that may be inside the body cavity. After completing this, lay the chicken breast side down on a cutting board. Use a sharp knife or cleaver and cut down both sides of the backbone to completely remove it from the chicken."

After your chicken is correctly cut, it's time to get it in the smoker or on the grill. Robbie Shoults says, "Be sure to barbecue your chicken with the skin side up." It's vital to get a good seasoning on the skin to enhance flavor, even if you're planning to douse it in barbecue sauce when it's done. "We usually give the chicken a generous dose of our brisket and rib rub and smoke it until it reaches an internal temperature of about 165 degrees," Shoults says.

Somewhat confusingly, what we think of as barbecuing chicken isn't quite the same cooking process as the Southern barbecue methods used to make ribs or brisket. In those instances, meats high in connective tissue are slow-cooked until that tissue breaks down into gelatin and tenderizes the meat, keeping it moist. Chicken, however, has very little connective tissue, so even though you're smoking it at a relatively low temperature for a relatively long period of time, it's not considered "slow-cooked" in the way a brisket or pork shoulder might be. The best way to tell when your chicken is done cooking is by checking its internal temperature with a meat thermometer.

Either during or after the cooking process, you'll likely want to add a barbecue sauce into the mix to add moisture and layered flavor. Barbecue sauces can differ widely by region, but your local grocery store is full of good options, as long as you know which ones to grab and which ones to avoid. Slather away and enjoy your whole barbecued chicken with friends and family for the ultimate backyard cookout.