Great taste and crispy skin in a classic grilled butterflied chicken. You too can grill a whole chicken and get it done just right.
There are a lot of articles about grilling a butterflied chicken, but most grill amateurs won’t try it. I’m here to tell you it is easy, and it works.
Start with a medium size whole chicken 4-5 pounds. Cut out the backbone with kitchen scissors. Split the breastbone a little so it will lay flat. A little salt and pepper. Grill skin side down over medium heat until browned. Flip once and finish grilling to the correct temp. I brushed with some BBQ sauce just before reaching the final temp
Rating
A nice solid 4.
Notes: I had a wife longing for BBQ so hence the sauce but this can be seasoned any way you want. I will usually do my 7:2:2 seasoning.
Other Whole Chicken Options
Grilled Whole Chicken on a Gas Grill
Crispy Spiced Up Oven Roasted Chicken
Simple Everyday Roast Chicken with Gravy
Alabama BBQ Chicken with White BBQ Sauce
Preheat grill to medium. Get surface temperature to about 400 degrees. Clean and oil well. Clean the chicken if you desire and pat dry. (See https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/chicken-rinse-not-rinse/). Cut the backbone out of the chicken with sharp kitchen scissors. You could use a knife, but the scissors are much safer and work great.
With a large knife, give the breastbone a large nick in the front of the chicken to help the bird lay flat.
Rinse the inside of the bird out, trim any loose fat and extra skin. Pat dry again. Give the bird a good sprinkle of coarse salt and pepper. You could use any seasoning you want here. Also, you could brine.
Place skin down on the grill.
Flip after you get a nice browning on the skin. 12-15 minutes. Your grill temp is probably different than mine so go for color.
Continue to grill until the temperature of the breast in the thickest part is 160. Give the chicken a good brushing of BBQ sauce of your choice (obviously, skip if not doing BBQ). Grill, another 3-4 minutes until the sauce, is browning well, and the temperature is 165. The thigh temp was 185 at this point.
Let set for 5 minutes then cut and serve.
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BBQ Grilled Butterflied Whole Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken - 4-5 pounds
- salt and pepper to taste
- BBQ sauce
Instructions
- Preheat grill to medium. Get surface temperature to about 400 degrees. Clean and oil well. Clean the chicken if you desire and pat dry. (See https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/chicken-rinse-not-rinse/)
- Cut the backbone out of the chicken with sharp kitchen scissors. You could use a knife, but the scissors are much safer and work great.
- With a large knife, give the breastbone a large nick in the front of the chicken to help the bird lay flat.
- Rinse the inside of the bird out, trim any loose fat and extra skin. Pat dry again. Give the bird a good sprinkle of coarse salt and pepper. You could use any seasoning you want here. Also, you could brine.4) Place skin down on the grill. Flip after you get a nice browning on the skin. 12-15 minutes. Your grill temp is probably different than mine so go for the color.
- Continue to grill until the temperature of the breast in the thickest part is 160. Give the chicken a good brushing of BBQ sauce of your choice (obviously, skip if not doing BBQ).
- Grill another 3-4 minutes until the sauce is browning well and the temperature is 165. The thigh temp was 185 at this point. Total grilling on the second side 20-25 minutes.
- Let set for 5 minutes then cut and serve.
Have a question or something not clear? Ask in the comments.
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Nutrition is for one serving. Number of servings is stated above and is my estimate of normal serving size for this recipe.
All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.
If you like this recipe or find it useful, the pleasure of a nice 4 or 5 rating would be greatly appreciated.
Mike Y.
This is my third time using your recipe and my wife and I love it. Thanks!
Chris
That is one nice looking bird you’ve cooked there! Great color.
Dan Mikesell
It tasted great but the pictures had issues. My DSLR was in for repair and I only had a compact so only a few “OK” photos.