Grilled Spatchcock Chicken

This butterflied chicken recipe is the best way to cook chicken quickly and evenly on the grill without compromising on taste. Prepared with a simple brine and seasoned with a beautiful BBQ rub, there’s flavor loaded into every bite of this BBQ meat.

Using the spatchcock method is the best way to prepare your grilled chicken. It’s a basic skill that every BBQ fan should get to know, and is the way to ensure your grilled chicken comes out moist and tender, and with a deliciously crisp skin.

By removing the backbone and flattening the bird, we increase the surface area of exposed meat and significantly bring down the cook time. This means we can slow cook it indirectly without the chicken turning dry or burning, and helps the chicken’s dark and white meat cook evenly. That means the thicker chicken breast and the thinner wings will all be done at the same time.

This recipe helps us season the bird evenly, while we lock in extra moisture with an easy brine, and the surface develops a beautiful brown color. Here, the chicken is cooked over indirect heat and brushed with butter so the skin becomes beautifully caramelized while the meat stays juicy.

What is Spatchcock Chicken?

Spatchcock chicken is prepared by removing the backbone and flattening the bird out before cooking. This creates a larger surface area so that the bird cooks quicker (in just one hour) than if you were to do it whole, and it cooks more evenly, thanks to the thighs and breasts being exposed to the same amount of heat.

If you’re a fan of skin (and who isn’t?), this is the method for you. The outside of the bird has more contact points with the grill, so it becomes golden and crisp all over. Opening the chicken up also means you can season it fully, giving you more opportunities to add more flavor along the way.

How to Spatchcock a Chicken

Although you can buy pre-spatchcocked chickens, going DIY is much easier than it seems. Just follow these simple steps to spatchcock a chicken at home:

1. On a clean and spacious chopping board, place the chicken breast-side down with the legs facing toward you
2. Use a pair of kitchen shears to carefully cut along each side of the backbone, from the tail end to the neck. Snip through the ribs as you go.
3. Once you’ve cut along both sides of the backbone, use your hands to open up the chicken and remove the entire spine (you can keep it to make your own homemade chicken stock)
4. Flip the chicken over so it’s breast-side up, and press down firmly on the breastbone with the palms of your hands to flatten the chicken as much as possible. You should hear a slight cracking sound as the breastbone breaks. 
5. Fold the wing tips back behind the chicken’s shoulders to prevent them from burning during cooking

How to Grill Spatchcocked Chicken

Follow this simple guide, and you can have a perfectly spatchcocked chicken on the table in no time:

1. Boil

Bring a large pot of water to the boil, before reducing to a simmer. Add kosher salt (if you only have table salt then simply halve the quantity), lemons, fresh rosemary and thyme, whole black peppercorns, garlic, honey, and a couple of bay leaves. Stir over a simmer until the salt has dissolved, then remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.

2. Spatchcock

Now onto prepping the chicken. If you’ve never spatchcocked a bird before, see the steps outlined in the section above. The good news is that it’s easy to do and essentially just involves using kitchen shears to cut out the backbone (which you can keep to make a homemade chicken stock) before then opening the bird out and pushing down to make as flat as possible. This shape will help the chicken faster and more evenly than if it were left whole. 

3. Brine

Place the prepared chicken in a large resealable bag or pot, pour the cooled brine over to cover, seal, and put in the refrigerator overnight (or for at least 12 hours). Once ready, remove the chicken from the brine. Pat the bird dry with paper kitchen towels to remove excess moisture and brine.

4. Season

Combine all the dry rub ingredients in a bowl and combine well. I use a fork to this because it makes it easier to crush any clumps that sometimes form in dry ingredients.

Apply a thin layer of olive oil to the skin of the chicken to act as an adhesive for the rub. Then, liberally apply the dry rub to the chicken, covering it all over. 

5. Fire Up

Fire up your grill to a medium-high temperature, and set up for 2-zone cooking, with the coals arranged to one side in order to create two distinct cooking zones: One direct and one indirect. 

6. Grill

Set the spatchcocked chicken skin side down over direct heat and cook for just a few minutes, until a nicely crisp char has developed on the surface. Then, move the chicken to the indirect heat side and rotate it so that it’s skin-side up. Cook until the meat’s internal temperature hits 165°F (74°C), about 35-45 minutes (although this might take longer). The best place way to measure temperature is by using an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast meat.

While the chicken cooks, regularly brush the skin with melted butter. This will give it a beautiful browned color, and give it a bit more added flavor and moisture.

7. Serve

Once the chicken hits target temperature, pull it from your grill and cover loosely in aluminumj foil. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes before carving to help the meat firm up and keep the meat moist and delicious.

Grilled Spatchcock Chicken

This butterflied chicken recipe is the best way to cook chicken quickly and evenly on the grill without compromising on taste. Prepared with a simple brine and seasoned with a beautiful BBQ rub, there’s flavor loaded into every bite of this BBQ meat.

Print Pin

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 9 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

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• 3-3.5 lbs whole chicken
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• ½ cup melted butter

Dry Rub

• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp kosher salt

Brine

• 8 cups water
• ½ cup kosher salt or ¼ cup table salt
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 lemons sliced
• 6 garlic cloves smashed
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 tbsp black peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves

Instructions

 

• In a large pot, add the water, salt, rosemary, thyme, lemon slices, garlic cloves, honey, black peppercorns, and bay leaves. Bring the water to a boil over high heat and cook for 1-2 minutes until the salt has dissolved. Take off the heat and set aside to cool completely.
• While the brine mixture cools, prepare the chicken. Use a sharp knife or kitchen shears to remove the chicken’s backbone and flatten the bird out to spatchcock
• Place the chicken inside a large resealable bag or pot and cover with the cooled brine. Seal or cover tightly and place in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours.
• Remove the chicken from the brine. Use paper kitchen towels to thoroughly pat dry the chicken’s skin. Allow the chicken to sit at room temperature for 1 hour before cooking.
• In a small bowl, combine the dry rub ingredients. Rub the chicken all over with olive oil and season well with the dry rub.
• Fire up your grill to medium-high heat, about 375 to 450°F (190-230°C). Once it’s reached temperature, split it into two zones by moving your charcoal across to one side and creating a zone for indirect heat.
• Place the spatchcocked chicken skin-side down over direct heat and cook for 5-7 minutes
• Flip the chicken skin-side up and place over the indirect heat. Cook for 35-45 minutes, basting regularly with melted butter. The chicken will be cooked when the internal temperature reaches 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part of the breast meat.
• Remove the chicken from the grill and rest for 10-15 minutes before carving to serve

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