# Question about smoking whole chicken on pit boss pellet smoker



## kebrown (May 31, 2019)

So I’m planning on smoking a couple of chickens this weekend. I’m going to wet brine and spatchcock the birds before throwing them on the smoker. I’ve only had this smoker for a short time and have only done ribs and wings so far. Is it okay to use the “smoke” setting for 30-40 minutes before bumping the heat up to 350 to finish the birds to an IT of 165? My wife and I both like a deep smoky flavor to our meats.


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## chilerelleno (May 31, 2019)

Sounds to me like you need to double up on your smoke.
Do an hour of smoke and then go hot.


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## kebrown (May 31, 2019)

Thanks. I’ll do that. How long should I estimate for total cook time? I know times vary, I’m just looking for a ballpark so I have an idea of when to throw one.


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## chef jimmyj (May 31, 2019)

I agree with my Spicy Friend! At 325 to 350°F... Total cook time, 1 hour smoke, 30 minutes in the heat, +/- 15 minutes. If your Smoke Temp is <180°, it will go a little long. If >180°F time will fly by. The weight of the birds can effect the time too...JJ


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## chilerelleno (May 31, 2019)

chef jimmyj said:


> I agree with my Spicy Friend! At 325 to 350°F... Total cook time, 1 hour smoke, 30 minutes in the heat, +/- 15 minutes. If your Smoke Temp is <180°, it will go a little long. If >180°F time will fly by. The weight of the birds can effect the time too...JJ




 kebrown

JJ's times sound good to me.
Of course I let the therm dictate to me.


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## tallbm (May 31, 2019)

kebrown said:


> So I’m planning on smoking a couple of chickens this weekend. I’m going to wet brine and spatchcock the birds before throwing them on the smoker. I’ve only had this smoker for a short time and have only done ribs and wings so far. Is it okay to use the “smoke” setting for 30-40 minutes before bumping the heat up to 350 to finish the birds to an IT of 165? My wife and I both like a deep smoky flavor to our meats.



Hi there and welcome!

The guys have you pretty well covered on this one.
Your approach is what I would suggest to someone asking how best to smoke a whole birds.
If anything you can likely stretch out the low heat/high smoke for 1.5 hours as long as you are getting good Thin Blue Smoke (TBS).
I run double smoke on my chickens using my A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (AMNPS) tray in my electric smoker.  Since I can generate smoke independent of heat I run my birds at 325F the whole time and would run them higher if my smoker allowed for it.

One final tip. put the skin towards the heat source and that should help whip the skin into better shape.
Let us know how it turns out! :)


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## kebrown (Jun 2, 2019)

So I brined the birds for 6 hours and then spatchcocked them. Seasoned with a lemon pepper garlic rub and Smoked at a low 200 for a little over an hour, then finished them off at 350 for another 30 minutes or so. They were very juicy with just right amount of smoke flavor.


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## SmokinVOLfan (Jun 3, 2019)

Those are some good looking yard birds! Exactly how I do mine except I roll straight 300 the whole cook. Next time throw some pats of butter and some seasoning under the skin on the breasts. Hard to beat


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## chilerelleno (Jun 3, 2019)

Looks really delicious, nice cook.
Turkeys are just as easy chickens when spatchcocked.
Try some Tony C's injectable marinade in your birds, Mmmmmm.


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## kebrown (Jun 3, 2019)

Thx. I’ll have to try those ideas out.


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## tallbm (Jun 4, 2019)

kebrown said:


> View attachment 397144
> View attachment 397145
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> 
> So I brined the birds for 6 hours and then spatchcocked them. Seasoned with a lemon pepper garlic rub and Smoked at a low 200 for a little over an hour, then finished them off at 350 for another 30 minutes or so. They were very juicy with just right amount of smoke flavor.



Great job!  If the skin is ever a little tuff just know that it behaves that way when it doesn't get a high enough heat for long enough.  
It's a trial and error thing until you figure out what works for your setup.

Keep up the good smokes! :)


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## trillo15 (Jun 9, 2019)

Looks delicious!  I just upgraded from a propane smoker to a PitBoss Maverick XL.  Doing whole chicken tonight.  Brined first with a lemon and cinnamon brine, then cooked at a high heat. waiting to see how it turns out!


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