This home-style smoked whole chicken is flavorful, juicy, tender, and better than any rotisserie chicken that you can buy! It’s smoked slowly till perfection, infused with the best smoking flavor for a great-tasting and economical family meal.
Good news for BBQ lovers who are in a rush and can’t wait for 8, 10, or 14 hours to make a BBQ! Throwing a chicken on a smoker is so easy and it’s done quicker than smoking a brisket or a chuck roast!
If you follow my ‘low and slow’ smoking method and read throughout my tips, you will get an incredibly moist and flavorful chicken that is never dry or tough, with gorgeous crispy skin! So let’s get started!
Great recipe! Super easy to make! Chicken was super flavourful and falling of the bone!!!
Miguel
Check out my other smoker recipes! Recently I’ve made smoked bologna and smoked chicken wings too!
If you’d rather bake or grill your whole chicken, check out my recipe for making Chicken Under a Brick.
My method for smoking a whole chicken is so simple, we’re not gonna inject it or do anything special. We’re just gonna take the chicken out of the package, season it, and throw it on the smoker!
Did you know that you can smoke chicken wings too? They are totally delicious and fast!
How to Prep a Whole Chicken
Prepping a whole chicken is easy, here’s what you need to do:
- IF you have time, it’s always recommended that you brine the chicken in a salt and water solution for up to 24 hours. Brining isn’t a must, but it ensures that your chicken is juicy, moist, tender, and seasoned really well. So every time I have smoked chicken or roast chicken planned in advance, I brine my chicken (try my easy chicken brine recipe). If there’s no time, I just skip this step.
- Check if your chicken comes with giblets, remove the giblets and discard them. Then get your chicken to room temperature, I just let mine chill out on the counter for 20-30 minutes.
- Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, and spray or drizzle some olive or cooking oil (this will give it a bit of flavor and help the seasonings stick to the chicken).
- Season the chicken well. I like to keep it simple and just season with SPG (salt, pepper, and garlic powder), or what is often called stone house seasoning. If you happen to have a shaker, use it! With a dusting technique from a good height, season the bird from all sides, and don’t forget to season underneath the wings and the cavity with a good coating.
- Optional: You can season the chicken with a second layer of seasoning for extra flavor. Use a BBQ rub or any other spice rub that you like.
- Truss or tie the legs with butcher twine, this will ensure that everything cooks evenly and that the legs don’t burn. It also makes a better presentation.
- Tuck the wings’ tips underneath/behind the back of the bird so that they don’t burn (we don’t always do this, but try to remember to do it!).
How to Smoke a Whole Chicken
After you have seasoned the chicken, it’s time to cook it on a preheated smoker!
- Place the chicken on your smoker breast side up (I don’t like using a pan as it blocks the smoke from penetrating the chicken and accumulates juices that cause a lot of steam), and cook at 275°F for about 2-3 hours (the exact time depends on the size of your chicken). The chicken will be cooked slowly, render down the fat and make the meat juicy, and give it an incredible smoking flavor!
- The chicken is ready when it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F. I recommend using an electric probe thermometer that you can insert in the chicken to be able to read the temperature as it’s in the smoker.
- After the first 45 minutes, check on the chicken, and give it a spray of cooking oil or butter to help the skin crisp up and turn into a beautiful bronze/mahogany color.
- After 1.5 hours, rotate the chicken so that it cooks evenly and give it another spray or coating or cooking oil or butter. Check the temperature at this stage, it should read around 140°F for the breast, and around 150°F at the thigh.
- After about 2 hours, it should read 165°F at the thickest part of the breast, and 175°F at the thickest part of the thigh (make sure that the thermometer is not hitting a bone to get a correct reading). That’s when the chicken is ready!
- Remove the chicken from the smoker and let it rest for 15-20 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute before carving and serving. To learn how to carve a chicken, I have a full tutorial that you need to check out!
How Long to Smoke a Whole Chicken
It depends on the size of your chicken. A 4-pound chicken usually takes around 2-3 hours, but you have to keep checking the internal temperature of the chicken to make sure that it reaches 165°F.
At 275°F, it takes about 30 minutes for every 1 pound of chicken, so do your math here and keep checking on the chicken! If it browns too quickly, and the internal temperature of the meat is still low, you can always shield it with a piece of foil.
If you have one of these fancy electric meat stainless steel probes that come with a wire, they work much better as you won’t have to keep opening the smoker to check the temperature and you can always monitor the temperature.
Best Wood for Smoking Chicken
Always smoke with hardwood and never with softwood, the difference is that softwood comes from evergreen trees while hardwood comes from trees that lose their leaves in the autumn. Softwood burns faster and contains more moisture, and that produces black smoke. Use hardwood for clean smoke that tastes amazing!
For smoked chicken, I usually go for cherry or apple wood as they have a mild sweet smoking flavor that complements the chicken. Maple, peach, hickory, and mesquite are also perfect for smoking chicken.
What to Serve with Smoked Chicken
Serve smoked chicken with mac and cheese, coleslaw, and a drizzle of Alabama white sauce because it’s simply amazing and it comes from Texas! Or with BBQ sauce.
You can also serve it with just smothered potatoes and a side salad, or if you’re grilling, then make these baked potatoes on the grill. They’re SO good!
If you have leftovers, this chicken is perfect for chicken salads, pasta bakes, pies, or to make sandwiches.
Other Smoked Recipes to Try
If you loved this smoked chicken recipe as much as I do, check out some of my other favorite smoked recipes, below:
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Smoked Whole Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 4-5 lb whole chicken
- 2 teaspoons cooking oil
- 3 tablespoons stone house seasoning salt, pepper, garlic (click for recipe)
- ¼ cup BBQ rub optional
Instructions
Prep the Chicken:
- Remove the giblets, bring the chicken to room temperature and pat dry with paper towels.
- Spray or drizzle the chicken with oil, then season the chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic powder from all sides including the cavity. If using a BBQ rub, apply an even coating of the rub.
- Truss the legs with kitchen twine and tuck the wings’ tips underneath/behind the back of the bird.
Smoke the Chicken:
- Preheat the smoker to 275°F.
- Place the chicken on your smoker breast side up, and cook for about 2 hours.
- After the first 45 minutes, check on the chicken, and give it a spray of cooking oil or butter to help the skin crisp up.
- After 1.5 hours, rotate the chicken so that it cooks evenly and give it another spray or coating or cooking oil or butter. Check the temperature at this stage, it should read around 140°F for the breast, and around 150°F at the thigh.
- After about 2 hours, it should read 165°F at the thickest part of the breast, and 175°F at the thickest part of the thigh (make sure that the thermometer is not hitting a bone to get a correct reading). That's when the chicken is ready to come off.
- Remove the chicken from the grill and let it rest for 20 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute before carving and serving.
Notes:
- I usually go for cherry or apple wood as they have a mild sweet smoking flavor that complements the chicken. Maple, peach, hickory, and mesquite are also perfect for smoking chicken.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Allyson Zea says
This smoked chicken was so flavorful and easy to make! Thank you for the recipe!
Little Sunny Kitchen says
You’re welcome, Allyson! Glad to hear it went well for you!
John wright says
Excellent I’m doing it tomorrow in the smoker with stuffing
Daniel Andrew Holland says
Good skin, well cooked but you don’t have to hit a 165* marker for the chicken.
(Old wives-tale) that can dry out the meat
Read: blog.thermoworks.com (Chicken internal temps” everything u need to know article.
(He’s a phd/cooking kinda guy)
He breaks down times meat has to be held at temps to kill all bacteria. (Verified by science).
Some of the temps and times are TOO low and not good for me (some of it leaves meat like YUCK to me…). But none the less it does kill the “germs”
Your chicken is very good though and my pellet smoker will tackle the same again tomorrow. But I’ll not quite hit the 165and higher temps…. We like are birds a bit more Juicy… but germ free none the less!
Love the article and the recommendations! It’s always nice to see how others do it on the grills they have
William Russell says
Haven’t tried yet, but looks good 👍
Eric Smith says
Your recipes are awesome, I’ve been smoking and bbq’ing for a few years now and everything is always great when I’m done. Thank you