The key to a delicious whole chicken, either roasted, grilled, baked, or smoked, is to make sure the chicken is either brined or injected. You can get a nice chicken without the brine or injection sauce, but it certainly won’t be as tender, juicy or tasty. So, try out my Smoked Whole Chicken Recipe this labor day weekend and share it with friends.
Smoked Whole Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- Whole Chicken
- Injection sauce, buy or you can make your own using our Injection Sauce Recipe
- Viv’s Chicken Rub
- Marinade Injector syringe
- Smoker with temp of 250 degrees
Viv’s Chicken Rub:
Combine the following ingredients together, equal parts. I used 1/2 Tbl of each for the above recipe:
- Seasoned Salt
- Garlic Powder
- Italian Seasoning
- Pepper
Instructions:
Cooking Time: 2-2.5 hrs
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Preheat your smoker
It is important to get your smoker ready. The chicken only takes a few minutes to prepare, so startup your smoker. I used apple wood pellets, but cherry or any other fruit tree would work well.
Preparing the Chicken:
Pour injector sauce into cup for pulling into marinade injector. Double wash and rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels.
Separate the skin from the breast. Using the syringe filled with marinade injector, at an angle, inject ½ the syringe into one back of the breast and the remaining syringe into the front of the breast. Repeat on the opposite breast using 2 full syringes for the breast meat. Next, use one full syringe per thigh/leg, piercing between the thigh and leg rocking back and forth while injecting. Total syringes will be 4.
Sprinkle and Butt Rub onto entire chicken in and out.
Smoke it
Smoke the chicken for 2-2.5 hours or until temperature reads 165 degrees in the thigh and breast.
Serve it!
Let it rest for about 10 minutes before cutting. Serve with BBQ sauce if desired. Wrap whole chicken in tin foil if you aren’t ready to serve it.
Buy it!
Want to start smoking? I have a Traeger Texas Pellet Smoker and I used the Apple wood chips with the Cajun Injector.
Pictures:
