This chicken recipe is amazingly easy with only two ingredients and less than 10 minutes of preparation. Even more importantly, it is so moist and delicious, with an unbelievable aroma, moist and delicate texture, and how can you pass up a recipe that everyone loves, including the kids!
What I love about smoking foods it that it can be ridiculously simple, or very technical, depending on how you go about it. Using an electric smoker is a easy way to get started. It is relatively inexpensive, and practically as simple as plugging it in and pushing a button.
Smoking foods does take a while, so I tend to do it on the weekends and when I do, I prepare a large batch so we can have it for a few lunches and meals during the week.
I buy whole roasting chickens and either half them myself with poultry shears or ask my grocer to split them. Once home, I rinse the chicken halves with cold water and pat them dry. I then liberally coat the entire halves with El Mexican Adobo seasoning.
I then prepare my smoker by ensuring it is clean, putting water in the tray (the water evaporates, collects smoke particles and then condenses on the chicken, greatly enhancing the smoky aroma and flavor.
Now that brings us to your choice of wood. Fruit woods, such as apple, cherry and peach: Work well for chicken. Nut woods such as Almond and Pecan also work well as does Maple.
Smoking chicken halves at 225F typically takes about 5 hours, with little attention other than to add some wood chips a few times during that time. I use a temperature probe so I can monitor the chicken and pull it out at the perfect internal temperature of 165F.
As is generally a good rule in cooking meats, once the chicken is done, I let it rest for at least 10-15 minutes to let the juices redistribute before I do any cutting and serving.
- 1 whole roasting chicken
- 4 tablespoons El Mexicano Adobo seasoning
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Split the roasting chicken in half with poultry shears or have your grocer do this for you
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Rinse the chicken with cold water and pat dry with paper towels
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Liberally coat all sides of the chicken with the adobo seasoning
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Prepare you’re your smoker for smoking at 225F and select your smoking wood chips such as a fruit or nut wood.
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Place a temperature probe in one of the chicken halves.
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Smoke the chicken for about 5 hours, until you reach an internal temperature of 165F.
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Remove the chicken to a cutting board or tray and let rest for 10-15 minutes to let the juices redistribute.
Wine and Beer Pairing:
In general, chicken is often paired with a Chardonnay, Vin Gris, Riesling, Merlot, Gamay Beaujolais, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Noir, (Lighter) Cabernet Sauvignon. But smoked chicken is different. If the smoke flavor is not too dominant, a Pinot Noir, Rioja, or Chianti can be a great pleasure, with the wine's acidity serving as a refreshing counterpoint to the meat's texture. You might also like a Cotes du Rhone or a Malbec.
Beers that you might consider going from light to dark and more flavorful: Lagers, Pilsners, Blond Ales, Hefenweizens, and IPAs.
Cost:
This can be a very reasonable meal costing $1.00-$1.50 per plate plus your side dishes. Note that I think a typical 6 lb. bird is a little big to split into legs and breasts for 4 servings, so I more commonly put all the meat off the bone and cut into smaller bit sized pieces giving everyone some skin, white and dark meat in smaller portions that yield about 6 servings per bird.
Time and Effort:
This can be a very efficient meal as it takes very little effort and minimal clean-up although I have to admit I always find myself wanting to procrastinate on cleaning up the racks and water/drip tray in the smoker, but once I do it, I am glad I did it right away and it only take s 5 minutes or so. The key factor here is the time it takes to complete this meal being over 5 hours, so it really tends to be something done on your day off.
Alex Approved:
This is a dish Alex will gladly eat if put in front of him, but it is not quite such a favorite that he will go to the fridge and get leftovers himself. I think it is more the effort of getting the meat off the bone that is the issue.
Leftovers:
This is another dish I always make in quantity specifically for leftovers. I usually cook two whole birds, each split into halves for cooking. After cooking and cooling, I split some into quarters for a future meal and some I peel all the meat off the bones and chop it up for use in sandwiches, salads and burrito bowls and ad hoc dishes. I put all the leftovers in Gladware and store in the fridge for up to a week.
Health:
This is a pretty healthy meal, but skin-on bone-in chicken, which is super flavorful, is not as healthy and a boneless/skinless chicken breast. If you are maintaining a heart healthy diet then just be aware that this chicken has about half your heart healthy saturated fat daily allowance (14g) and nearly your full cholesterol allowance (200mg).