Whole Smoked Chicken with a Smoked Chicken Brine
On February 14, 2020
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This Whole Smoked Chicken is juicy and full of flavor thanks to a zesty, homemade chicken brine spiked with Tabasco sauce. Make extra so you can enjoy smoky chicken in salads, soups, tacos, and more all week!
Whole Smoked Chicken with Homemade Brine
Smoking whole chickens is one of my favorite ways to prepare a family style meal. All the magic happens with just a little bit of patience and time. Smoked chickens come in several varieties, and I like to make them many different ways. Some are halved, some are spatchcocked, but the simplest way to smoke chickens is just to season them liberally and smoke low and slow.
Smoked chicken is a bit of an art form, and one common struggle when smoking is rubbery skin. This happens when the smoke starts to dry out the chicken skin without cooking at a high enough temperature to render the fat and make it crispy.
The smoked chicken brine in this recipe helps solve this issue by adding extra moisture into the skin. The added moisture keeps the skin from getting rubbery while cooking. Keep in mind, this process won’t result in crispy skin. Rather, it keeps it tender with a great texture. If you want crisp skin, you can broil the chicken for just a few minutes at the end of the cooking process.
Chicken Brine for Smoking
I love a good brined chicken. Brining actually creates a change on the cellular level of your chicken where the cells are infused with additional moisture.
Most brines are simply water, salt, and sugar (if desired). I took this brine a step further and added original Tabasco sauce to bring a little extra zip and pizzazz to the overall flavor of the chicken. The brine comes together in just a few minutes, but it really does the most amazing things to chicken by adding flavor, tenderness, and moisture. This will probably be the juiciest chicken you’ll ever eat.
Ingredients
This smoked chicken brine only requires 5 ingredients, and it’ll add moisture and amazing flavor to your whole chicken:
- 1 gallon water
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup Tabasco sauce
- ½ cup kosher salt
- 2 Tablespoons Hey Grill Hey Sweet Rub
That’s all folks! These 5 ingredients are all you need to assemble prior to preparing this chicken for the best brine and smoke of its life. Check out this post if you want to learn even more about it.
How Long to Brine a Whole Chicken
Once you have all your ingredients assembled for your smoked chicken brine, you’re ready to brine the chicken. Plan ahead, as this chicken will need to sit in the brine for a while.
Dissolve the brown sugar, Tabasco, salt, and BBQ rub in the water in a deep pot or gallon-size zip-top bag. Next, submerge the chicken fully in the brine, place it in the refrigerator, and allow the chicken to brine for at least 8-12 hours (a good time to brine is overnight). It might be necessary to place a plate or other heavy item on the chicken to keep it submerged in the brine.
Once you’re ready to cook the chicken, simply remove it from the brine, pat, dry, and you’re just one step away from the smoker!
How to Smoke Whole Chicken
After a slow bath in the homemade brine, your chicken is nearly smoker-ready. Follow these steps to get your bird ready, and take it all the way to smoky glory:
- Preheat the smoker. Set your smoker to 225 degrees F with a mild wood. I made this recipe on my Camp Chef Woodwind Pro, but it will work with any smoker, or on a baking sheet in your oven.
- Prepare the chicken. Remove the chicken from the brine and pat it dry with a paper towel. Rub your bird with Tabasco sauce, then season liberally with the BBQ Sweet Rub. Next, stuff the cavity of the chicken with those aromatics. Add the lemon, onion, and thyme, then tie the legs together to hold it all in.
- Smoke the chicken. Place the chicken directly on the grates of your smoker, close the lid, and let the smoke slowly soak its way deep into the chicken. Give it 2 ½ to 3 hours. You’re looking for a beautiful mahogany exterior, and for your chicken to reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F in the thickest part of the breast using a reliable instant-read meat thermometer.
- Rest, slice, serve, and enjoy. Remove your chicken to a large cutting board to rest for 10-15 minutes. This time allows all that juicy goodness to settle, so each bite is full of flavor. Once rested, use a sharp knife to slice your chicken. After that, enjoy right away, or save leftovers to use in your favorite recipes.
Ways to Use Leftover Smoked Chicken
Now that you know how to make whole smoked chicken, you can have leftovers on hand to use whenever you want. I’ve got more perfect recipes than you can shake a bottle of rub at in the Hey Grill Hey App. Here are some of my family’s favorite ways to enjoy leftover smoked chicken:
More Brined Recipes
Brining meat is a delicious way to prepare your food before it’s cooked on the grill or smoker. It’s also especially handy when smoking meat to keep the skin from becoming rubbery. Check out more amazing brine recipes from Hey Grill Hey below:
Whole Smoked Chicken with Brine Recipe
Follow the recipe below and let’s make something delicious! I’m all about helping you make better BBQ, feed the people you love, and become a BBQ hero. If you want to see more of my recipes, tips, and behind the scenes action, follow along on my social channels. You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube!
Whole Smoked Chicken with a Smoked Chicken Brine
Video
Ingredients
- 1 3-4 pound whole fryer chicken
- 2 tablespoons Hey Grill Hey Sweet Rub
- 1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
- 1 yellow onion quartered
- 1 lemon sliced
Smoked Chicken Brine
- 1 gallon water
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup Tabasco sauce
- ½ cup Kosher salt
- 2 Tablespoons Hey Grill Hey Sweet Rub
Instructions
- Brine the chicken. Make the chicken brine by dissolving the Tabasco sauce, Kosher salt, brown sugar, and BBQ rub in 1 gallon of water. Once dissolved, submerge the chicken in the brine and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, or overnight. Weigh down your chicken with a plate, if necessary, to keep the whole bird submerged.1 gallon water, 1 cup brown sugar, ½ cup Tabasco sauce, ½ cup Kosher salt, 2 Tablespoons Hey Grill Hey Sweet Rub
- Fire up the smoker. When you’re ready to cook, preheat your smoker according to manufacturer’s instructions to 225 degrees F. I recommend mild hardwoods like maple or pecan with this chicken.
- Prep the chicken. While the smoker is preheating, remove the chicken from the brine and pat dry. Rub with Tabasco sauce and season liberally with the BBQ seasoning. Stuff the cavity of the chicken with lemon, onion, and thyme. Tie the legs together.1 3-4 pound whole fryer chicken, 2 tablespoons Hey Grill Hey Sweet Rub, 1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce, 2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves, 1 yellow onion, 1 lemon
- Smoke the brined chicken. Place the brined and seasoned chicken in your smoker and smoke for 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until an instant read thermometer reads 160 degrees F when inserted into the thickest part of the breast.
- Rest, slice and serve. Remove the chicken to a cutting board and allow the chicken to rest for 10-15 minutes. During this time the internal temperature of the chicken will continue to rise to a final temperature of 165 degrees F. Once it's at this final temp, slice the chicken and serve.
Notes
- Purchase in the Hey Grill Hey Store here
- Make your own following the recipe here
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
**I originally published this post in October 2018, but have since updated it with new photos, more information, and helpful tips. However, the recipe remains the same.
I made the brine according to the recipe with the exception of subsituting Frank’s Red Hot Sauce for Tabasco. I made a lot of changes with the chicken prep ingredients based on what I had on hand and it was fantastic! But I rate this recipe 5 stars because the brine is so good that any variation you come up with for the prep ingredients are going to be just as good since this recipe leaves room for creativity.
This is the best chicken I’ve ever had.
I am new to smoking and this was my second time smoking whole chickens but the first time with this Hey Grill Hey recipe! I follow recipes to the letter. HANDS DOWN, this was the most moist, juicy, flavorful, delicious chicken I have ever eaten. I smoked a couple of chickens as we had friends over. They are still raving about how delicious our chicken was. It was even better the next day! The Tabasco flavor had settled into the chicken even more! Yummy! I am a believer! I can’t wait to make the next recipe!
Absolutely amazing!! I came here to see how to smoke a chicken and decided to use this recipe instead! Never brined a chicken before but it’s a deff must!! I’ve smoked a whole turkey with no brine and it wasn’t delicate and delicious like this chicken was! 10/10!
Excellent flavor and so easy to make!
I made this chicken last summer and everyone raved. Today my 19 yo grandson said it was the best chicken he has ever eaten. Guess I’ll be making it again very soon!
Never done a brine before this recipe and it is just delicious! My favorite way to smoke a whole chicken
I have to say, I was pretty skeptical of cooking chicken at 225 because so many other recipes tell you to cook it at 275-325 to get the skin “right”. But I followed this recipe pretty closely and it turned out really great! I did use Franks instead of Tabasco because I had it on hand. I also subbed some ACV for some of the hot sauce because some people I was cooking for don’t like a lot of spice (it turned out it was not spicy at all). The skin was actually better than skin cooked at 275-325! Not crispy, but bite through. The chicken meat was cooked through in both the breast and thigh and was tender and not dry at all. From now on I am either doing this method or going spatchcock and super hot. Thanks!
Amazing! I subbed Marie Sharp’s Hot Sauce (from Belize or Amazon). It isn’t vinegar based. The result was fantastic. All the flavor but surprisingly very little heat. So, so good!
My wife and I are big fans of your buttermilk brined rotisserie. Would you see any issue using the buttermilk brine and throwing it on the pellet grill low and slow instead of high heat on a spit?
That will work great!
Howdy…have not tried your recipe but will do so nxt weekend….been “Jonesing” for some smoked bbq chx for a while now. Quick question though…..Will using a flavored injection like Tony’s Chachere’s make the chx too salty because I’m using your recipe for the brine? Thxs much!!!!
Yeah be careful! That might over salt it.