What does it mean to “spatchcock” a chicken besides being able to say a silly sounding word without getting into trouble? The name is believed to be Irish, meaning “dispatch the cock.” This involves grilling the bird after splitting it open down the back. And, yup, that’s right, we remove the backbone, flip it over, and press on the breastbone to flatten out the chicken. This creates a flatter chicken with more surface area touching the grill, so more of the chicken meat is expose to the heat. Thus, we can produce a grilled chicken with more robust and bold flavors, with juicy and tender meat and a crispy and savory skin. We will use the indirect grilling method on our Weber Kettle for this recipe to add a bit of smokey flavor and help produce the crispy skin.
Why Should You Try This Weber Kettle Grilled Spatchcock Chicken Recipe
- Crispy skin, moist and tender meat – Because we are grilling a whole spatchcock chicken over indirect heat, this recipe will take a little longer than just grilling the chicken over coals. This allows the chicken to heat up gradually, creating juicy, tender meat and a crispy, crunchy, delectable skin!
- Only two ingredients and so easy to prep – Chicken and chicken rub and that’s it! Both are easy to find and buy in your favorite grocery store and putting the two together is a piece of cake (pun intended!). And what could be better as a cook than playing with your chicken to create a delightful and unique chicken dish for your family and friends?
- Very uncomplicated and simple grilling – Once you have set up your Weber Kettle for indirect smoking and it has come to temperature, set the spatchcock chicken on the grill grate and forget about it. Two hours later, your chicken is ready to devour.
Ingredients For Weber Kettle Grilled Spatchcock Chicken
- One 3-pound whole chicken
- 1 cup chicken rub
Directions For Making Weber Kettle Spatchcock Chicken
1. Set up your Weber Kettle for indirect smoking – Fill your charcoal chimney fire starter with charcoal briquettes, and when ready, empty the chimney in the center of the charcoal grate. With tongs, move the charcoal to both sides of the Weber Kettle, creating two equal piles. Add three more charcoal briquets to each pile, and wood chips if you desire.
2. Cut out the backbone – Take the chicken out of the refrigerator andbring your chicken to room temperature. Rinse the chicken in cold water and pat dry with paper towels. With the breast side down, cut out the backbone with poultry shears.
3) Press on breast bone – Flip the chicken over, and with the palm of your hand, press FIRMLY firmly on the breasts to break the breast bone. This will allow the chicken to rest flatly on the grill grate.
4) Add the chicken rub – Liberally apply the chicken rub all over the chicken and pat it on, covering all parts, nooks and crannies included.
5) Place the spatchcock chicken on the Weber Kettle grill grate – Place the spatchcock chicken in the center of the Weber Kettle grill grate and grill indirectly for two hours depending on the size of the chicken, or until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees inserted into the thickest part of the chicken breast. Add more charcoal to both piles of the coals as required.
6. Remove the chicken from the Weber Kettle– Cover the spatchcock chicken with foil and let it rest for 15 minutes. Carve the leg and thigh from the chicken and carve the breast meat off the breast bone.
Variations And Substitutions For Weber Kettle Spatchcock Chicken
You can spatchcock any type of poultry – Spatchcocked turkey for Thanksgiving dinner is quite popular these days, and a very unique and delicious way to prepare your turkey. And any poultry like duck, game hen, quail, partridge, and pheasant will work just fine too. Just remember to adjust the grilling time spent on your Weber Kettle for the size of the bird.
Try different rubs for the spatchcock chicken – We made a chicken rub that is a combination of kebsa (a Middle Eastern rub), smokey mesquite, and chipotle roasted garlic. But there are many rubs on the market today, and any chicken rub or chicken wing rub will do just fine for this recipe. But if you’re feeling energetic, go ahead and make a chicken rub yourself. Just remember to coat the chicken liberally and completely cover the chicken with the rub.
Tips And Tricks For Weber Kettle Spatchcock Chicken
Make a chicken stock – Don’t throw away that backbone! Take any giblets that came with the chicken, the backbone, and the carcass once the meat has been eaten and make a rich, silky chicken stock.
Put aluminum foil over the chicken – Since paprika in most chicken rubs darkens as it cooks, it looks like the chicken skin is burning. This is not the case. It’s just the paprika doing its thing. To keep the chicken from completely becoming black, especially where most of the heat is, drape aluminum foil around that part of the chicken to protect the skin.
Add soaked wood chips – If you want to add a bit of smokey flavor to your spatchcock chicken, add some small wood chunks or wood chips soaked in water to the top of your charcoal pile. The smoke from the soaked wood will add just a hint of smokey goodness to your spatchcock chicken.
Weber Kettle Grilled Spatchcock Chicken
Equipment
- 1 Weber Kettle Grill
- 1 Charcoal Chimney Starter
- 1 BBQ Tongs
Ingredients
- 3 lbs whole chicken
- 1 cup chicken rub
Instructions
- Set up your Weber Kettle for indirect smoking – Fill your charcoal chimney fire starter with charcoal briquettes, and when ready, empty the chimney in the center of the charcoal grate. With tongs, move the charcoal to both sides of the Weber Kettle, creating two equal piles. Add three more charcoal briquets to each pile.
- Cut out the backbone – Take the chicken out of the refrigerator and bring your chicken to room temperature. Rinse the chicken in cold water and pat dry with paper towels. With the breast side down, cut out the backbone with poultry shears.
- Press on breast bone – Flip the chicken over, and with the palm of your hand, press FIRMLY firmly on the breasts to break the breast bone. This will allow the chicken to rest flatly on the grill grate.
- Add the chicken rub – Liberally apply the chicken rub all over the chicken and pat it on, covering all parts, nooks and crannies included.
- Place the spatchcock chicken on the Weber Kettle grill grate – Place the spatchcock chicken in the center of the Weber Kettle grill grate and grill indirectly for two hours, or until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees inserted into the thickest part of the chicken breast. Add more charcoal to both piles of the coals as required.
- Remove the chicken from the Weber Kettle– Cover the spatchcock chicken with foil and let it rest for 15 minutes. Carve the leg and thigh from the chicken and carve the breast meat off the breast bone.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
