Starting with the chicken, rip the guts/giblets out and spatchcock (butterfly) it. Trust me, do it. Meathead has an excellent, succinct page here on how to spatchcock a bird. The same applies to a chicken as a turkey, except a chicken will be a bit easier.
Here's mine just spatchcocked but not trimmed yet. Scrape all the loose gunk out of the inside of the cavity, sometimes it hides tucked up in near the spine you just removed.
Pat it dry thoroughly on both sides. Repeat.

Notice the blobs of excess skin & fat (red arrow & circle). I like to trim all that stuff off & make a nice neat bird while I have the chance.
Pat it dry again. Here's the inside of the cavity with a generous dose of rub. I like to use my Huskee's Rib Rub on chicken, it's my family's favorite chicken rub. I leave the salt in mine and use it as the dry brine. In this instance I dry brined (with full rub) for about 3.5hrs.
You don't HAVE to do this, most (including Meathead) prefer to dry brine chicken & turkey with salt only. This is the new norm. Just be sure to use a salt-free rub (and maybe a dash of finish salt on top). You really could use just about any pork or chicken rub. Memphis Dust would work well on chicken too.
It's a good idea to put a little rub up under the skin too, just to help add more flavor....especially if you or your guests will be pulling the skin off anyway.
Here I'm peeking up underneath to see the breasts. Insert whatever adult joke you'd like here.
I add some rub and push it up in with my gloved fingers as far as I can reach.
Repeat for other direction. Trim any of the thin membrane that attaches the skin to the meat. The skin will still lay on top just fine after doing this. I also did this with the thighs, but a pic isn't really necessary- you get the idea.
Here it sits in the fridge to dry brine, protected with paper towel barrier to avoid leaking chicken juice in my fridge.
Notice it's not covered- we want the skin to dry out as much as possible. Many folks go 24-48 hrs with the chicken dry brining in open air. Helps crisp the skin when cooking.
After heating the smoker up (I have a separate post on that since it was too much to combine into a single post) the chicken had dry brined for about 3.5hrs before going on the smoker when it hit ~325.
I like to place a temp probe in the center of the cooker so I knwo an average temp. It will be hotter nearest the firebox while it's heating up, but once it comes to temp and the chimney cap is opened fully, the chimney side will become hotter. Here's the probe placement.

The chicken gets placed on what will be the hotter side nearest the chimney.
After about 1.5 hrs, with an average temp of 375 (reaching 399 for about 15 min) the breast probe read 160. I pull it when the ThermoPop confirms 160-162 both sides.
Not the prettiest bird I've done, but it was surely the best one yet. Higher temps= quicker cook and juicier bird. Notice how with even a avg temp of 375 and a 15 min peak of 399 the skin isn't black, and this is with all logs.
A shot from deep into the breast, look at that juice!
Here's mine just spatchcocked but not trimmed yet. Scrape all the loose gunk out of the inside of the cavity, sometimes it hides tucked up in near the spine you just removed.
Pat it dry thoroughly on both sides. Repeat.
Notice the blobs of excess skin & fat (red arrow & circle). I like to trim all that stuff off & make a nice neat bird while I have the chance.
Pat it dry again. Here's the inside of the cavity with a generous dose of rub. I like to use my Huskee's Rib Rub on chicken, it's my family's favorite chicken rub. I leave the salt in mine and use it as the dry brine. In this instance I dry brined (with full rub) for about 3.5hrs.
You don't HAVE to do this, most (including Meathead) prefer to dry brine chicken & turkey with salt only. This is the new norm. Just be sure to use a salt-free rub (and maybe a dash of finish salt on top). You really could use just about any pork or chicken rub. Memphis Dust would work well on chicken too.
It's a good idea to put a little rub up under the skin too, just to help add more flavor....especially if you or your guests will be pulling the skin off anyway.
Here I'm peeking up underneath to see the breasts. Insert whatever adult joke you'd like here.

I add some rub and push it up in with my gloved fingers as far as I can reach.
Repeat for other direction. Trim any of the thin membrane that attaches the skin to the meat. The skin will still lay on top just fine after doing this. I also did this with the thighs, but a pic isn't really necessary- you get the idea.
Here it sits in the fridge to dry brine, protected with paper towel barrier to avoid leaking chicken juice in my fridge.
Notice it's not covered- we want the skin to dry out as much as possible. Many folks go 24-48 hrs with the chicken dry brining in open air. Helps crisp the skin when cooking.
After heating the smoker up (I have a separate post on that since it was too much to combine into a single post) the chicken had dry brined for about 3.5hrs before going on the smoker when it hit ~325.
I like to place a temp probe in the center of the cooker so I knwo an average temp. It will be hotter nearest the firebox while it's heating up, but once it comes to temp and the chimney cap is opened fully, the chimney side will become hotter. Here's the probe placement.
The chicken gets placed on what will be the hotter side nearest the chimney.
After about 1.5 hrs, with an average temp of 375 (reaching 399 for about 15 min) the breast probe read 160. I pull it when the ThermoPop confirms 160-162 both sides.
Not the prettiest bird I've done, but it was surely the best one yet. Higher temps= quicker cook and juicier bird. Notice how with even a avg temp of 375 and a 15 min peak of 399 the skin isn't black, and this is with all logs.
A shot from deep into the breast, look at that juice!
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