Smoked Chicken on the Pellet Grill

Oh my goodness! If you like my oven roasted crispy chicken, you are going to LOVE this smoked chicken on the pellet grill.

We splurged on a Grilla Grill pellet grill last summer during all the covid crazienss. We figured, it we were going to be stuck at home, we might as well smoke up some amazing meat. We have been experimenting with all different cuts of meat. And while smoked brisket has to be my all time favorite so far, this crispy smoked whole chicken is a close second and only takes a fraction of the time and energy to cook.

I know people like to get all fancy with different spices, store bought rubs, and homemade concoctions to put all over the smoked meat. But I honestly love the taste of this chicken with just Redmonds Real Sea Salt. I make brisket the same way. I think the pellets give the meat enough flavor, so I never feel the need to add anything else. Of course you could add some garlic, pepper, paprika, or whatever other seasoning you like, but for this recipe I used sea salt alone and it was amazing!

I often cook up 2 birds because 1. My kids are now a teen and tween and eat like full grown adults. 2. I love having leftovers. I save the white meat for future recipes like Chicken and Broccoli, Curry Chicken, or just topping on salads when I don’t feel like cooking in the summer heat. We typically eat up all the crispy skin and dark meat first and have the white meat soaked in juices leftover for future meals.

Here is how we make our smoked whole chicken on the pellet grill.

Ingredients:

-1 or 2 whole chickens (preferably organic and pasture raised. Costco sells organic chicken in 2 packs for a really great price. Otherwise, you can search out your local farmer for pasture raised chickens.

–Redmonds Real Sea Salt (I don’t measure this out, I just sprinkle it all over the chicken). We buy our Redmonds Real Seal Salt from Thrive Market.

-Any other seasoning you may like (As I said before, we just stick with Sea Salt)

-Optional: Any kind of healthy oil. I typically don’t add oil but you can add coconut oil or avocado oil if you want to.

Directions:

1. Preheat your pellet grill to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare your chicken while the grill is preheating. I place my chickens on a roasting pan. This helps keep the grill from getting full of greese and it keeps all the juices in once place for later. It also makes transfering the chicken easier.
3. Pat the chicken(s) dry with a paper towel.
4. Add oil if using and rub it all over the chicken(s).
5. Sprinkle on Redmonds Sea Salt and any other seasonings if using.
6. Once your pellet grill has heated to 350 degrees, place the chicken(s) with the roasting pans onto the grill.
7. Let the chickens cook until the middle of the breast meat reaches a temperature of 165 degrees. This typically takes about 2 hours for 5 lb chickens but you will want to check the temperature of the chickens after an hour to get an idea of how long to cook them for. Then keep checking every 15 min or so. It helps if you have a temperature probe that you can keep in the chicken. We bought one with our Grilla Grill that connects via Wi Fi to an app that lets us know the temperature of the meat while it cooks. This is a SUPER helpful feature.
8. Once it has reached 165 degrees, use oven gloves to remove the chicken(s) from the grill.
9. Allow the chicken(s) to rest for 10 minutes before slicing up to eat.

We love eating out chicken with oven roasted veggies, potatoes, butternut squash, or mashed potatoes. On days I don’t want to heat up the house I make a huge salad.

I hope you enjoy this dinner recipe as much as we do. Enjoy your grilling season!

And if you don’t have a pellet grill you can try this roasted crispy chicken recipe in the oven. It’s super tastey as well!

Other recipes you may enjoy:

Chicken and broccoli:

Curry Chicken:

*Some of the above links are affiliate links.  Click here to learn more about affiliate links.