How to BBQ a Whole Chicken Without Burning It

Rotisserie chickens on the grill are wonderful, but if you don't have a rotisserie how do you BBQ a whole chicken without burning it and get it to cook evenly? The secret is in the sauce. To be precise, the secret is in not trying to cook the chicken with BBQ sauce but to add the sauce at the end for a finishing touch. The other tips are slow heat and marinade. Hungry yet? Let's take a look at how to BBQ a whole chicken with full flavor, moist meat and tasty sauce.

The Good and the Bad

I've had really good barbeque'd chicken and really bad barbeque'd chicken, more bad than good in my experience. Chicken cooked on the grill gets the majority of it's flavor from the spice rub, not the sauce. The mistake I see made most often is the cook coating the chicken with sauce at the start of cooking. The sauce has sugar in it, sugar burns at a low heat, it flares up, it chars the chicken. You end up with undercooked inside and charred outside and no real flavor. It doesn't have to be that way. With some patience and planning you can BBQ a whole chicken without burning it or needing a rotisserie.

Add Your own Flavor

Chicken with the bone in adds it's own distinct flavor. You can add to this flavor with a spice rub or your own or one that you bought or a marinade or a brine. This is where the cook gets to shine and add their own touch. Do you want spicy, garlicky, sweet, herb? The chicken needs to be prepared with it's rub, brine or marinade a few hours ahead of time to give the flavors a chance to develop and permeate the chicken.

Set and Forget

The best way to BBQ a whole chicken is slowly. Set your grill at a low heat, 200 to 250. You can use a smoker or a grill, each will give the chicken it's own unique flavor and you can add wood chips for even more choices in flavor. Set the whole chicken on the grill. You can cook by indirect heat by placing the chicken on the side of the grill that has no heat and making a foil vent. Plan on 3 to 4 hours of cooking time depending on the weight of the chicken. You will need to check the coals every hour or so and that's a good opportunity to baste with some apple juice, but mostly leave it alone to cook. In the last 1/2 hour or so of cooking is when you start to add your BBQ sauce. Leaving it to the end and using such a low heat is how to BBQ a whole chicken without burning the sauce and keeping the meat sweet and tender.