Help with chicken in pellet grill

[BBQPhil]

Smoked a small chicken in a Yoder 480 at 225F. Took 5 hours to reach 160F. Chicken meat was excellent but the skin was tough. Used a dry rub and salt, nothing else. Any advice or suggestions?

[Jerod Broussard]

Get HOTTER. Like nothing below 325. I plan to run 350, but skin really needs heat.

Or, reverse sear to crisp the skin.

Temp of 225 is way too low with no reverse sear to get ideal skin.

[MBMorgan]

Jerod Broussard What he said. Shoot for 350 or higher.

[DWCowles]

Hot, Hot, Hot! Chicken loves heat

[Donw]

You might want to consider removing the diffuser plate when cooking chicken.

[smokenoob]

My few attempts on chicken (at 225 deg) in the pellet grill came out not so good. I went back to the weber for chicken.

[Troutman]

TURN UP THE HEAT !!!! A sample for my pellet grill, cooked at about 350* .....

[jlazar]

Dry the skin of the chicken with a paper towel and put in the refrigerator uncovered for 24 hours before cooking. Dry skin again before applying rub.

On the Yoder 640, I would smoke the chicken at 325. I would rotate it so that the skin of all pieces spent time on the bottom shelf all the way to the left. That was the hottest area in the 640. If the 640 was reading 325, you were 350-375 in that area. Top right by the chimney was the 2nd hottest.

Chicken turned out great, just required a little tending moving around. Cook time was between 2-3 hours. Yoder rocks!

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[jlazar]

BBQPhil Forgot to mention. When rotating chicken to the left over the firepot, place the chicken skin side down.

[Spinaker]

Here is what Meathead has to say on the subject, both for grilling and smoking chicken. Check it out!

Crispy Grilled Buffalo Wings

"The problem is getting the skin crispy. So I tried everything. I painted them with oil. I took a tip from Chinese restaurants and the way they make Peking Duck and dunked them in boiling water for a bit, and then let them dry in the fridge. I dunked them in salted boiling water. I steamed them. I sprinkled them with baking powder. I poked holes in the skin so they would drain better. The most promising technique was to lightly dust them with baking powder and let them rest in the fridge for at least an hour, a method pioneered by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt of Serious Eats when he worked at Cooks Illustrated. I even combined techniques. The improvement was barely noticeable over just simply grilling them, and hardly worthwhile, especially when you consider they will be coated with sauce and dipped into another sauce. So I've chosen the simplest path: 2-zone cooking and reverse sear. I start the wings on the indirect side to cook the meat, add smoke, and finish on the hot side to crisp the skin. If you have a smoker, start them on the smoker, then finish on a hot grill over direct heat to crisp."

Sweet Georgia's Brown Smoked Yard Bird, Parts Or Pulled

"Crisp the skin. When you're done smoking, but the meat is slightly undercooked, say 150°F, move it to the direct heat side of a hot grill, skin side down. Or put it under your kitchen broiler skin side up. That should do it. Take it up to 160°F."

[Troutman]

That’s all good advice for a kettle or conventional cooking not a pellet pooper. A pellet cooker has cooler and hotter zones like most cookers but it’s not so dramatic as to be called two zone cooking. Dry skin and heat make chicken crisp in a pellet.

[Spinaker]

As it does with any grill or smoker. That is not exclusive to pellet grills.When ever I cook chicken, I do it hot, no matter what cooker I am using. Many pellet grills do allow you to sear over direct heat, once the initial part of the cook is finished. YS480 being one of them. Troutman

[Troutman]

My P&S Pellet has the exact same setup as the Yoder, you open a small door in the grease pan that allows direct access to the fire pot below. Trust me good on steaks but don’t want to do chicken that way. I think we all agree though, just up the heat in general.

[T-bone]

Agree with the other about a higher heat. I typically go about 325 on my Traeger. Also, recommend spatchcocking if you're cooking a whole chicken. They cook quicker, more evenly and it's easier to crisp up the skin on the grill when spatchcocked.