Spatchcock Chicken On the Grill

This was my first time making a Spatchcock Chicken and as it turns out it is fairly easy to do.

So, first off what is this odd word Spatchcock?

spatch·cock| ˈspaCHˌkäk | noun a chicken or game bird split open and grilled. verb [with object] split open (a poultry or game bird) to prepare it for grilling: these small spring chickens can be bought already spatchcocked.     Late 18th century (originally an Irish usage): perhaps related to the noun dispatch + cock

    Now that that is out of the way, let's get to it!

    First, clean your bird and remove the giblets. Then cut out the back. Just use kitchen shears and go up each side of the backbone to remove. Then make a small cut on the breastbone at the neck end. 

    Once this is done lay the bird breast up and press down to completely flatten it out.

    Once you have that completed, it is time to season your bird. You can do this with whatever you like. I rubbed mine with olive oil and then put liberal amounts of Webers Beer Can Chicken Seasoning on it. Be sure and do both sides of the chicken.

    At this point, you should be ready to grill. Some people like to foil the wing and leg tips, I chose not to.

    Now, some things may be different for you. Grills all seem to have a unique personality as well as various sizes and temperature ranges. With this in mind, adjust the cooking to how your grill behaves.

    I used my trusty Weber 3 burner preheated to 450 degrees. You want to grill the chicken with indirect heat if you can. If using a charcoal grill keep the coals on one side and grill on the opposite side. For my grill, I turned off the back burner and just used the middle and front. First, I tested the temperature with just the front burner and the grill did not want to get up to 450. So I turned on the middle burner and slowly turned the knob until it settled on 450. That ended up being a medium-low setting on my Weber. 

    Once heated to 450, place the chicken breast side up on the indirect heat side of your grill and bring it up to about 140 degrees. For me, this was about 30-35 minutes.  Since my bird sat pretty close to the flame of the middle burner, I turned the bird once to put the side further away to the hotter side after about 15 minutes so it would cook more evenly.

Once you reach 140 degrees you should be able to flip the bird breast side down on the direct heat side of your grill to crisp up the skin and finish cooking it. 165 Degrees measured at the thickest part of the thigh.

The perfect internal temperature is 165 degrees for dark meat, 160 degrees for white. If you don't have an instant-read thermometer, you can always do a little cut into the middle to check that it's just about opaque in the center.

Once done, remove and let it rest for 5-10 minutes and serve.

We had ours with red potatoes, carrots, onions, and mushrooms roasted in the oven with olive oil and a garlic herb seasoning.