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Smoked Chicken with Dry Rub

Easy Smoked Chicken with Dry Rub – a goof-proof recipe for smoked chicken with the most amazing easy dry rub. 

Do you purposely avoid the whole-body chicken at the grocery store? If you are a bone-in, skin-on avoider, I shake your hand and tell you I used to be the same way.

The boneless, skinless chicken breast was my world up until very recently and while I still dabble in the boneless skinless from time to time, most of the chicken I consume is very chicken-y in form. 

To me, the flavor is exceptionally better, it’s less expensive to buy a whole chicken or the butchered bone-in pieces, and I like making broth out of the bones and remaining meat. A little {whole body} chicken goes a long ways!

Bare with me, I don’t mean to exclude those of you who do not own a smoker (we used my bf’s brother’s smoker for this chicken).

The up-side to this recipe is the dry rub can be put on any meat for any type of cooking preparation, whether it be a roast in the crock pot, seafood under the broiler, chicken baked in the oven, anything on the grill (because let’s face it: everything should be bbq-ed!), and the flavor comes out great!  I made a very similar rub for salmon this past weekend.

It’s been quite some time since I’ve posted an animal protein recipe. 

The volume of meat recipes I have been sharing is not indicative of the amount of meat we actually eat (which is just about every meal every day).

I’m pretty fond of our critter dishes, so I will likely be incorporating more animal recipes into my blog.  For those of you who are vegetarian, no sweat because we eat our weight in vegetables at my house too.

And since we’re on the subject of sharing, Feel free to let me know what type of recipes you relate to the most and/or would like to see more of – veggies? Meat? Fruity treats? Chocolate-y treats? I’d love to hear your tastes and thoughts!

Ingredients:

  • 3.5-pound whole body chicken
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper

How to Smoke Chicken:

In a small bowl, add all of the spices and mix to combine.  Sprinkle the dry rub evenly over the whole body chicken and use your hands to lightly press the spices into the chicken.

Note: If you have the time, you can refrigerate your rubbed chicken for up to 24 hours. Ours was chilling in the refrigerator for 2 hours before smoking.

When you’re ready to smoke the chicken, Preheat your smoker to 225 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place chicken on the smoker either breast-side down or breast-side up on the smoker. Close the lid and allow chicken to smoke for 3 to 4 hours, depending on the size of the chicken. Checking the temperature of the meat with a thermometer, the chicken should be about 165 degrees on the inside. If it needs more time after 3 hours, you can put your smoker on the high setting in order to finish cooking and give the skin a nice crisp, careful not to over-cook.

Tips for Smoking Whole Body Chicken:

If you enjoy drizzling oil over your meat before you add a dry rub, feel free. I only add oil when I think it is absolutely necessary and in most cases, I don’t think it’s necessary.

The key is to cook the meat to the proper temperature, which is around 165 degrees for poultry.

Don’t be afraid to flip the bird half-way or three-quarters of the way through to get some nice grill marks. Allow chicken to cool before serving it with your favorite side dishes.

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