| Chicken on the Grill | William Morrow, 2004 | Serves 2 to 4
Crispy and brown, juicy and succulent, a grilled roasted chicken makes a magnificent centerpiece for a meal. A front-of-the-flame rotisserie does the job best, but you can rival that success with covered indirect cooking on a grill if you do it properly. Forget the generally recommended simplistic method of using a steady baking temperature, which produces, predictably, a half-baked result. Instead, start at relatively high heat, in a true roasting style, then rotate the chicken and finish the cooking at a lower temperature. Since we’re cooking covered here, the instructions give actual oven temperatures to guide the process rather than our usual hand-test pointer.—Cheryl and Bill Jamison
Active time: 10 minutes Total time: 2 hours 45 minutes
Grilled Roasted Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika, or regular paprika
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons coarse salt (kosher or sea salt)
- 2 teaspoons freshly milled pepper
- One 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 pounds plump chicken
Directions
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1. To make the grilled roasted chicken, combine the paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Rub the mixture inside and outside the chicken both over and under the skin, being careful not to tear the skin. Let the chicken sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
2. Prepare the grill for indirect cooking, making a hot fire in one half of the grill and leaving the other half unheated. Place an inexpensive portable oven thermometer (available at any kitchen supply store) on the cool half of the cooking grate; don’t rely on your grill’s built-in thermometer because you want to measure the temperature only on the unheated side. Close the grill, and bring the temperature to 400°F (200°C) on the unheated side.
3. Preferably wearing washable heatproof mitts, place the chicken breast side down on the unheated side of the cooking grate. (If you have a low-powered gas grill that won’t reach the ideal 400°F (200°C) roasting temperature, you can still grill-bake your chicken in standard oven fashion, increasing the cooking time.) Plan on a total cooking time of 65 to 85 minutes. After 35 minutes, turn the chicken breast side up, brush with butter for a glossier skin, and reduce the heat to 350°F (175°C). (On a gas grill, simply turn the heat down; on a charcoal grill, close the vents and spread out the charcoal as necessary.) Cook until the skin is crisp and well browned and an instant-read thermometer stuck in the thickest part of a thigh reads 170° to 175°F (76° to 79°C).
4. Let the chicken sit for 5 to 10 minutes on a cutting board, then carve and serve.
- Grilled Chicken Under a Brick from Pinch My Salt
- Oven Grilled Chicken Wings from Delicious Asian Food
- Grilled Five Spice Chicken from Leite’s Culinaria
- Grilled Coconut Wings from Leite’s Culinaria
Grilled roasted chicken recipe © 2004 Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison. Photo © 2004 Ellen Silverman.All rights reserved.
[Dan Kraan] Rubbing the spices under the skin in addition to putting them on and in the bird added an extra zip to the recipe. The bird cooked up juicy and flavourful with a very nice, crispy skin.
[Diane Schwartz] It was simple to prepare and everyone enjoyed it. I definitely will add it to my recipe file and make it again. It is a wonderful recipe for outdoor entertaining and also it is a good weekday meal as well and any leftovers are great for lunch the next day.
[Bonnie Depew] This was a quick, simple recipe to put together with tasty results. The ingredients for the rub are spice-rack staples, no need to rush out to the store for extra ingredients. The chili powder gave a little bit of bite that gives this recipe a different taste than most other grilled chicken recipes. The indirect grilling produced moist chicken with a crisp skin.