This smoked chicken recipe is a whole chicken coated in homemade spice rub, then slow smoked to tender, juicy perfection. This is some of the best chicken I’ve ever eaten, it’s full of flavor and couldn’t be any easier to make.
Smoked whole chicken is the latest in my smoking recipe series. I’ve brought you some of the basics like smoked chicken thighs and smoked chicken wings, now it’s time to try our hand with a whole bird!
I’m back with yet another smoker recipe and this smoked chicken might be my favorite so far! The chicken is incredibly moist and packed with that delicious smoky flavor. No dry, tough chicken around here!
This smoked chicken is one of my favorite dinner recipes. You can enjoy this chicken with my favorite side dishes like oven baked potatoes, grilled brussels sprouts and three bean salad.
Table of Contents
Smoked Chicken Ingredients
To make this smoked chicken recipe you will need chicken brine, a whole chicken, BBQ spice rub and parsley to garnish your dish.
How Do You Prepare A Whole Chicken?
To get a chicken ready to go into the smoker, you’ll need to do a few things. I recommend that you brine your chicken to season it and lock in moisture for the smoking process. The next step once you remove the chicken from the brine and pat it dry is to tuck the wings underneath the front of the chicken. This will ensure that the wing tips don’t burn. The second step is to tie up the legs with a piece of kitchen twine. The legs will be less likely to burn if they’re close to the chicken, plus it makes for a neater presentation. If your chicken comes with giblets, be sure to remove and discard those too.
How Do You Smoke A Whole Chicken?
When you make this smoked chicken recipe heat your smoker and load it with wood chips. Next prepare your chicken for cooking and place it in a foil pan. Then coat your chicken in BBQ spice rub and place it in your heated smoker. When the thickest part of the chicken reaches 165 degrees F, remove the chicken from the heat. Let it rest for a few minutes, carve it and enjoy!
Tips For The Perfect Smoked Chicken
- I like to use disposable aluminum pans to reduce the mess. You can find these pans in your local grocery store. They look like stiff aluminum foil. However, if you want to smoke your chicken directly on a rack or grill in your smoker, that’s fine too.
- Coat your entire chicken in the BBQ rub. You want every part of your chicken to have that good flavor. I like to loosen the skin of the chicken and rub some of the seasonings between the skin and the meat, as well as all over the outside of the chicken.
- You can make your own homemade BBQ rub or use your favorite store bought rub.
- I recommend brining your bird using my chicken brine recipe which makes for delicious and juicy meat.
- If you don’t brine your chicken, consider basting the chicken with a little chicken broth every hour or so.
- You can add seasoning to the meat after the smoking process by brushing on a sauce such as my homemade BBQ sauce.
Quick Tip
Spray your pan with a little cooking spray to keep the chicken from sticking to the pan.
Recipe FAQs
I like to use apple wood chips to smoke my chicken because they impart a mild, sweet tasting smoke that complements the chicken perfectly. Other great options include cherry, pecan, mesquite, hickory or maple woods.
Smoked chicken is ready to eat when a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees F. I recommend using an electric probe thermometer that can be left in the chicken as it cooks so that you can continuously monitor the temperature.
The size of your chicken will dictate how long your chicken takes to cook. Roughly speaking, it takes about 3-5 hours to smoke a whole bird, or approximately 45 minutes per pound at 250 degrees F.
You do not necessarily need to brine your chicken, but a brine is the best way to ensure that your meat is seasoned all the way through. If you just put a spice rub on the skin of your chicken, your meat will not be seasoned underneath. A soak in salt water, herbs and spices infuses all that great flavor into every bit of the chicken.
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Smoked Chicken Variations
While this chicken is delicious as-is, you can modify the recipe to suit your own taste.
- Seasonings: You can add to your BBQ rub some seasonings to change the flavor like my Cajun seasoning, creole seasoning, fajita seasoning or Jamaican jerk seasoning.
- Spicy: Add chili powder to your rub for a spicier chicken.
- Butter: You can mix your rub with melted butter and coat your chicken. You could also brush a little olive oil over your chicken before adding your spice rub.
This smoked chicken is everything you’d ever want in a chicken, it makes other whole chicken recipes seem dry and tasteless in comparison. The key is to be generous with the seasoning, then patient while the smoker does its work!
What To Serve With Chicken
Grilled Asparagus in Foil
20 mins
Corn Casserole Recipe
55 mins
Homemade Rice-A-Roni
25 mins
Glazed Carrots
20 mins
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Smoked Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 recipe chicken brine optional but recommended
- 4-5 lb whole chicken
- 1/4 cup BBQ Spice Rub
- parsley for garnish optional
Instructions
- Prepare the chicken brine as directed in the brine recipe (link is in the ingredients list). Brine the chicken for 24 hours.
- If you’re short on time, you can skip brining the chicken and still have a good result.
- Preheat the smoker to 250 degrees F. Load the smoker with apple wood chips or wood chips of your choice.
- Remove the chicken from the brine and pat dry. Tuck the wings underneath the chicken and tie up the legs with kitchen twine.
- Place the chicken in a disposable aluminum pan and coat the chicken with the spice rub. Be sure to loosen the skin and rub some of the seasoning directly onto the meat underneath the skin.
- Place the chicken in the smoker. Smoke for 3.5-4.5 hours or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 165 degrees F. You will need to replenish wood chips during the cook time, so keep an eye on your smoker.
- Remove the chicken from the smoker and let it rest for 10 minutes.
- Place the chicken on a platter. Garnish with parsley if desired. Carve the chicken, then serve.
Notes
- Spray your pan with a little cooking spray to keep the chicken from sticking to the pan.
- I like to use disposable aluminum pans to reduce the mess.
- Coat your entire chicken in the BBQ rub. Loosen the skin of the chicken and rub some of the seasonings between the skin and the meat, as well as all over the outside of the chicken.
Fantastic 👏 Very moist chicken and the whole family loved it. Thank you for the recipe.
Excellent!!
Perfect Recipe !!
Everyone enjoyed this!! Took slightly longer than expected!!
Perfect Results!!
Thank you so much for the brine, seasoning and cooling recipe
All Great!!!!!
This recipe is exceptional!!
I have a PIT BOSS grill/smoker, and followed all recommendations for the brine, rub and cooking.
The results were so good that I conclude that this is the very best Chicken we have had at our house for this summers Barbecue season !!
This was easily the best Chicken recipe I have ever tested !
I always judge by the crowd comments…SO….This is a crowd pleaser!
Thank you so much for publishing this wonderful recipe for the public
Excellent! Tried with brining and without and both turned out beautifully. My husband said it’s the best smoked chicken he’s ever had, and I agree!
This came out with a really great smokey taste!
Best chicken we have ever eaten! Even rather picky 15 year old loved it! Smoked bacon wrapped potatoes and corn in the husks with this. Wonderful meal! Don’t skip the brine step, worth every minute!
Easy and delicious! This is a keeper!
Did it in bradley smoker. Meat was best I’ve ever had but the skin was chewy… what can I do to make it crispy? Or I’ve just messed up since put bbq sauce on it at 150F….
The skin doesn’t crisp up in the smoker because of the low heat, you’d need to crank up the heat or stick it under the oven broiler for crispy skin!
You could rub the chicken down with oil before the rub. Help crisp up the skin.
Followed the recipe 100%, so flipping good. Definitely making this again. Turned out perfect, so tender, so moist.
The chicken came out flavorful and still juicy! Easy yummy recipe!
I love cooking a whole chicken to have on hand for the week of recipes. The flavor on this smoked chicken was absolutely delicious!!!
Love cooking a whole chicken. We love the smoky flavor this smoked chicken has. So so good.
Love the smokey flavor! Totally adds to the chicken.
Thank you for also including how to prep the chicken and how to know when it’s done! All these extra info are very useful so that the recipe turns out perfect!
This looks so perfect for meal prepping! Saving for later!
Make sure you keep an eye on temperature as poster suggests. My 6 lb chicken reached 165 in only 3 hours at 250. Glad I kept an eye on it. It came juicy and perfect!
I love this recipe! I do a lot of beer can chickens with a smokebox, but never a low long smoke. I bet it’s perfection, have to do this too!
This looks totally awesome! YUM!!! I love this delicious version!!!
I’ve never attempted cooking a whole chicken before. This makes it sound super easy, and not to mention, delicious!
I love how easy this looks and with minimal ingredients! Looks perfectly juicy and full of flavor!
I was going to make soup with the whole chicken in my freezer, but now I want your smoked chicken! Wow, does this look amazing!!!
All I can say is, WOW! I love the flavor of smoked chicken and can’t wait to try this!
This chicken looks so incredibly tasty! I just have to try this