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    🏠Home » Recipes » 101's Best Recipes

    Grilled Whole Chicken without Spatchcocking

    Jan 26, 2023 by Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan · 39 Comments

    Recipe Table of Contents    
    4.62 from 107 votes

    The easiest way to grill a whole chicken is just tossed on the grill. A little butter and some seasoning, and you're ready to cook—no need to cut the backbone out and break bones. There is no real secret. As Thoreau said, "simplify, simplify."

    Grilled whole chicken on a gray plate
    Jump To:
    • 😊Why you should make this recipe
    • 🐓Ingredients
    • 👨‍🍳How to Grill a Whole Chicken Without Spatchcocking
    • ✔️Tips
    • ♨️Grill setup
    • 🔥Spicy Seasoning option
    • ❓FAQs
    • 📖Whole Chicken Recipes
    • 🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
    • 📝Recipe
    Blue ribbon divider used for visual effect

    😊Why you should make this recipe

    • This a very dependable recipe you can do over and over once you learn your grill.
    • Leaves the chicken intact without cutting up or spatchcocking (butterflying) the chicken.
    • Season to your taste, but great with butter, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
    • It is a basic recipe that can be seasoned to your taste.
    • Adaptable to most grills that are big enough for indirect grilling.
    • A delicious chicken with great skin, very moist, and almost no work.

    🐓Ingredients

    • Whole chicken 4-6 pound range
    • Butter
    • Seasoning coarse salt and pepper or seasoning of your choice.

    👨‍🍳How to Grill a Whole Chicken Without Spatchcocking

    1. Set up the grill for indirect cooking with a grill surface temperature of 350° to 400° in the indirect zone.
    2. Clean, trim, and pat dry. Tie the legs together with kitchen twine.
    3. Brush with butter and sprinkle on seasoning
    4. Place on the grill with indirect heat, angling one thigh and leg to the direct heat side.
    5. Close the lid, and don't touch it for 40 minutes.
    6. Rotate the bird at 40 minutes angling the other thigh towards the heat.
    7. Give it a brush of butter and continue grilling until the internal temperature of the breast is 165°—a total cooking time of about 80 minutes.
    8. Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

    ✔️Tips

    • Use a chicken in the 4-6 pound range. Do not do this with a very large chicken or small turkey. Bigger will need to cook longer to finish the meat and may overcook the skin. You can try, but be sure the final internal temperatures are correct.
    • It is a great basic recipe that is ultra simple. There is no fancy this or that: no brine, stuffing things under the skin or inside, and no smoking. You can do those things if you want.
    • If you want a BBQ whole chicken, give it a light brushing of your favorite barbecue sauce about 5 minutes before the finish. And a nice BBQ rub will be a good addition.
    • My recommendation for seasoning is a nice brushing of melted butter along with salt and pepper to taste. In my house, garlic is also required, so I went with my 7:2:2 seasoning. You can modify the seasoning to your taste.

    ♨️Grill setup

    This recipe depends on indirect cooking, which sets up two zones of heat on the grill, one with direct heat and one with no heat under it. The chicken is cooked in an area of the grill with no heat while the other burners are turned on. Grills will vary how you do indirect cooking.

    On the grill surface, you need the indirect zone in the 350° to 400° range. Never depend on a thermometer in a grill hood; you need a grill surface thermometer of some type.

    Please see A Beginners Guide to Grill Temperature on a Gas Grill for a more detailed discussion of grill temperature. And How To Set Up Your Gas Grill for Smoking and Low and Slow Cooking where indirect grill setup is discussed in more detail.

    Temperature monitoring

    While you can do this with just a grill surface thermometer and an instant-read thermometer, some remote thermometers will help you maintain the grill temperature.

    I used the Thermoworks Therma Q Blue (This is an affiliate link, meaning I make a small amount from your purchases. Your price is not affected by this commission.)

    ThermaQ Blue Kit
    ThermaQ Blue Kit

    🔥Spicy Seasoning option

    This is what I call a "spicy rotisserie chicken" spice option. This spice rub is packed with flavor.

    Mix 4 teaspoons of kosher salt, 1 teaspoon each of pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, 2 teaspoons of paprika, and sugar. Optional ¼ to ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

    Apply after brushing the chicken with butter.

    ❓FAQs

    What is indirect grilling?

    With indirect grilling, only part of the grill surface is over an active burner (direct side), and the other part (the indirect side) has the burners turned off. This is how we grill things like pork butt or beef brisket—also used in this whole chicken recipe.

    Why tie the chicken legs with twine?

    The legs are tied (trussed) to bring them towards the center of the bird, leading to more even cooking.

    What is the final safe internal temperature for chicken?

    The minimum safe internal temperature for chicken is 165°, according to the USDA. Aim for that in the middle of the breast. You will want to have the thighs or legs in the 180° range if you can.

    📖Whole Chicken Recipes

    Grilled Butterflied Chicken AKA Spatchcocked

    Simple Everyday Roast Chicken with Gravy

    Alabama BBQ Chicken with White BBQ Sauce

    This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.

    101's Best Recipes, Chicken Recipes, Grill Recipes
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    🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions

    clean and oil grill crates

    Start with setting up your grill for indirect cooking. Clean and oil the grates. Turn the burners that will be on to full heat and watch the grill's surface temperature. Aim for 350° to 400°. Adjust the burners as needed.

    a whole chicken with butter and seasonings

    Clean, trim, and pat dry the chicken. See my discussion on Chicken… To Rinse or Not To Rinse? Be sure to remove any giblets.

    shaking seasoning on the chicken

    Melt 2 tablespoons butter in the microwave and brush all sides of the bird. Save the remainder for brushing the bird during the rotation on the grill. Season to taste with kosher salt and pepper. We use 7:2:2 seasoning, which has salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

    chicken on the grill with thermometers

    Place on the grill with indirect heat, angling one thigh and the leg to the direct heat side. Close the lid, and don't touch it for 40 minutes.

    brushing the chicken on the grill after rotation

    Rotate the bird at 40 minutes angling the other thigh towards the heat. Give it a brush of butter and continue grilling until the internal temperature of the breast is 165°.

    cooked whole chicken sliced on plate-3

    Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

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    📝Recipe

    Grilled whole chicken on a gray plate

    Grilled Whole Chicken without Spatchcocking

    From Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
    The easiest way to grill a whole chicken is just tossed on the grill. A little butter and some seasoning, and you're ready to cook—no need to cut the backbone out and break bones. There is no real secret. As Thoreau said, "simplify, simplify."
    Tap to leave a Rating
    4.62 from 107 votes
    Print Email CollectionCollected
    Prep Time: 10 minutes
    Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
    Servings #/Adjust if desired 6 servings

    Ingredients

    US Customary - Convert to Metric
    • 4 pound whole chicken - 4-6 pound range. Bigger will take longer.
    • 2 tablespoons butter
    • 7:2:2 seasoning or just coarse salt and pepper - Or seasoning of your choice.
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions

    • Start with setting up your grill for indirect cooking. Clean and oil the grates. Turn the burners that will be on to full heat and watch the grill's surface temperature. Aim for 350° to 400°. Adjust the burners as needed.
      clean and oil grill crates
    • Clean, trim, and pat dry the chicken. See my discussion on Chicken… To Rinse or Not To Rinse? Be sure to remove any giblets.
      a whole chicken with butter and seasonings
    • Melt 2 tablespoons butter in the microwave and brush all sides of the bird. Save the remainder for brushing the bird during the rotation on the grill. Season to taste with kosher salt and pepper. We use 7:2:2 seasoning, which has salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
      shaking seasoning on the chicken
    • Place on the grill with indirect heat, angling one thigh and the leg to the direct heat side. Close the lid, and don't touch it for 40 minutes.
      chicken on the grill with thermometers
    • Rotate the bird at 40 minutes angling the other thigh towards the heat. Give it a brush of butter and continue grilling until the internal temperature of the breast is 165°.
      brushing the chicken on the grill after rotation
    • Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
      cooked whole chicken sliced on plate-3
    See the step-by-step photos in the post. Some recipes have an option to display the photos here with a switch above these instructions but the photos DO NOT print.

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    Recipe Notes

    Pro Tips

    1. A good estimate of cooking time is 15-20 minutes per pound. But there is also variability due to the difference between grills.
    2. I suggest a 4-6 pound chicken. You can try bigger, but the skin may get overdone.
    3. Getting the grill set up correctly is the key to doing this right the first and every time.
    4. The grill surface temperature and the internal temperature of the chicken must be monitored.
    5. Never trust a grill hood thermometer, and never cook by time alone.
    6. This works better if you have a method of monitoring the chicken and grill surface temperature without opening the lid repeatedly.
    7. If you want BBQ, brush on some sauce about 5 minutes before the bird is done.
    8. The minimum safe internal temperature for chicken is 165°. Aim for that in the middle of the breast. You will want to have the thighs or legs in the 180° range if you can.

    To adjust the recipe size:

    You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.

    Nutrition Estimate

    Nutrition Facts
    Grilled Whole Chicken without Spatchcocking
    Amount Per Serving
    Calories 346 Calories from Fat 234
    % Daily Value*
    Fat 26g40%
    Saturated Fat 9g45%
    Cholesterol 119mg40%
    Sodium 523mg22%
    Potassium 274mg8%
    Carbohydrates 1g0%
    Sugar 1g1%
    Protein 27g54%
    Vitamin A 320IU6%
    Vitamin C 2mg2%
    Calcium 16mg2%
    Iron 1mg6%
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
    Serving size is my estimate of a normal size unless stated otherwise. The number of servings per recipe is stated above. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.
    Course : Main Course
    Cuisine : American

    © 101 Cooking for Two, LLC. All content and photographs are copyright protected by us or our vendors. While we appreciate your sharing our recipes, please realize copying, pasting, or duplicating full recipes to any social media, website, or electronic/printed media is strictly prohibited and a violation of our copyrights.

    Originally Published June 11, 2017. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.

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    1. Dale

      June 18, 2021 at 11:49 pm

      5 stars
      Glad I found this recipe. My wife usually cooks whole chicken in her Japanese steam oven. I wanted to grill today so I loosely followed instructions and it came out perfect.

      Reply
    2. Janice

      March 24, 2021 at 2:04 pm

      5 stars
      Best. Ever.
      Why would you ever bbq a whole chicken any other way. No changes to the recipe. Perfect the way it is.
      Thanks!!

      Reply
      • Arletha Collins

        August 15, 2021 at 8:24 am

        5 stars
        I like whole chickens and I like to Barbecue I don’t fry good chicken so grilling is best for me,Thanks.

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