Grill Roasted Whole Chicken
This is absolutely the best “roasted” chicken. The idea is that you salt the chicken liberally and let it air dry in the refrigerator for 6 to 10 hours. This dries the skin on the chicken as well as ensuring that the chicken is incredibly juicy. You then “roast” the chicken. I like roasting the chicken on our gas grill for a couple of silly reasons, one of which is that it keeps the house from smelling like chicken for days. You can roast the chicken equally as well in the oven, but this recipe is tried and true for the gas grill.
The additional yummy part of this recipe is to put some sliced russet potatoes on the bottom of the pan to cook with the juices of the chicken. These potatoes turn out “just the best!”. Crispy and delicious!
Grilled Roasted Chicken
Equipment
- Outdoor grill
- Meat thermometer
- Roasting pan
- Small roasting rack
Ingredients
- 5 pound whole chicken
- 2 large russet potatoes
- 1 tbsp olive oil This is approximate.
- 3 sprigs rosemary
- 3 tbsp Kosher salt This too is approximate.
Instructions
Dry Brine
- Use a 9×13 or similar glass dish for brining the chicken. Line the dish with paper towels and set a rack on top of the paper towels. Place some kosher salt in a small dish. This will be used to dry brine the chicken.
- Wash the whole chicken, removing any packages inside the chicken. Shake out any excess water. Holding the chicken on one hand, liberally salt the chicken. Salt all over the outside and inside the cavity. It's best to hold the chicken over the sink as you do this.
- Place the chicken on the rack. Place the dish with the chicken in the refrigerator (uncovered) for a minimum of 6 hours and a maximum of 10 hours.
Grill roast the chicken
- About 20 minutes before you're ready to cook the chicken, preheat the outdoor gas grill 425 degrees. If you're cooking this in your oven, preheat the oven to 425 degrees with the rack on the lower part of the oven.
- Use a roasting pan that will fit the rack and the chicken. Line the bottom of the pan with foil to keep the grill from messing up your pan.
- Liberally spread about 1 tablespoon of olive oil on the bottom of the roasting pan. Slice and quarter the potatoes, placing the potatoes on top of the olive oil. The olive oil will keep the potatoes from sticking.
- Remove the chicken from the refrigerator. Lightly brush off any excess salt with a paper towel. Temporarily place the chicken with the rack in the prepared pan. Stuff the cavity with a few springs of rosemary. Turn the chicken over, breast side down.
- Place the foil line pan with the potatoes and chicken on the grill. Cover and cook for about 30-35 minutes until the bottom of the chicken (which is currently the top) is a nice golden color.
- Turn the chicken over. If you have a smart thermometer, such as Yummly Smart Thermometer, insert it into the chicken now. You want to cook the chicken until it reaches 175 degrees for the breast meat or 185 degrees for the thigh meat.
- When the chicken is cooked, remove the chicken and the rack from the pan so that you can remove the potatoes. This also gives the chicken some time to rest. Then carve and enjoy the chicken with the potatoes.
