Whole Smoked Chicken

A whole chicken is brined with aromatic herbs, lemon, garlic, and spices for a day, then smoked until juicy and golden. The result is tender, flavorful poultry with crisp skin and deep smoky notes—perfect for carving and sharing.

Total time: 26 h 30 min • Active: 2 h 15 min • Inactive: 24 h 15 min

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Ingredients

1 ea lemon
5 ea garlic
1.968 l water
2.5 oz kosher salt
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
4 lbs chicken
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp dried italian herbs seasoning

Timeline

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Whole Smoked Chicken

T-26:30:00

T-26:25:00

T-26:17:00

T-25:52:00

T-02:00:00

T-01:52:00

T-01:49:00

T-01:45:00

T-15:00

T-00:00

Prepare the flavoring ingredients: Quarter the lemon and smash the garlic cloves.

Dissolve salt and extract flavors for the brine: Bring 1 quart of the water, kosher salt, dried thyme, dried rosemary, quartered lemon, whole black peppercorns, and smashed garlic to a boil. Stir until salt dissolves and flavors infuse.

Add the remaining water to the boiled brine and cool to room temperature.

Fully submerge the chicken, breast side down, in the cooled brine and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Preheat pellet grill to 325°F (163°C).

Remove the chicken from the brine and pat dry with paper towels.

Rub chicken all over with olive oil and coat with dried Italian herbs seasoning.

Smoke/grill the seasoned chicken in the preheated pellet grill until it reaches 165°F (74°C) internal temperature, about 90 minutes.

Rest the smoked chicken under foil for 15 minutes before carving and serving.

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