Grilled Whole Chicken Without Spatchcocking (butterflied or flattened) is juicy and tender with great grilled flavor. This recipe starts with an easy prep, and then you cook the intact, full chicken with indirect heat on your backyard grill.
🐓Ingredients
Whole chicken—4-6 pound range
Butter
Seasoning—coarse salt and pepper
Options—other herb and spices or BBQ dry rub.
Jump To (scroll for more)
- 🐓Ingredients
- 👨🍳How to Grill a Whole Chicken Without Spatchcocking—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
- How long to grill a whole chicken
- Seasoning Options
- Related Recipes
- Grill setup for indirect cooking
- 🌡️Recommend Thermometers
- 🍴How to serve grilled whole chicken.
- ❄️How to store leftovers
- ❓FAQs
- Food Safety
- 📖 Recipe
Featured Comment by Janice :
"Best. Ever. Why would you ever BBQ a whole chicken any other way? No changes to the recipe. Perfect the way it is. Thanks!!"
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The easiest way to cook a whole chicken on your BBQ grill is to toss it on—there is no need to cut out the backbone or flatten it. This moist grilled whole chicken has great crispy, smoky skin and takes minimal work.
It's adaptable to most gas or charcoal grills that are big enough for indirect grilling. It keeps the chicken intact and provides excellent grilling flavor.
Once you have the basic technique, add other flavors with different spice mixes or a BBQ dry rub. You can even smoke the chicken with wood chips.
👨🍳How to Grill a Whole Chicken Without Spatchcocking—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
1. Set up your grill for indirect cooking at 400° in the indirect area.
2. Clean, trim and pat dry the chicken—do not rinse. Be sure to remove any giblets.
3. Brush with melted butter and season to taste with kosher salt and pepper. We also add garlic powder.
4. Grill with indirect heat, angling one thigh and the leg to the direct heat side. Close the lid, and don't touch it for 40 minutes.
5. Rotate the bird at 40 minutes, angling the other thigh towards the heat. Brush with butter again, close the lid, and continue grilling until the internal temperature of the breast is 165°.
6. Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
How long to grill a whole chicken
A 5-pound whole chicken will take about 80 minutes to grill at 400°F indirect heat on a gas grill, although a pellet or charcoal grill may be used if you can control the heat. The variables are the exact grill setup and chicken size. A butterfly chicken will take about half that time due to the flattening.
The chicken is done when it is at least 165°F in all areas for safety. At that time, the thighs should be in the 185°F range for tenderness.
Seasoning Options
While I recommend classic butter, garlic, and salt, you can use any seasoning you like with chicken. Rosemary and thyme are typical, as are some other combinations like lemon-butter seasoning and my All-Purpose Seasoning Salt.
♨️Barbecues Whole Chicken
Make BBQ Whole Chicken using BBQ dry rub, Memphis Dry Rub, or Chipotle Dry Rub. Serve with Memphis BBQ sauce or your favorite BBQ sauce.
🔥Spicy Seasoned Whole Chicken
Try this "spicy rotisserie chicken" spice option, which is packed with spicy flavor. Apply this spice mix after brushing the chicken with butter.
Mix 4 teaspoons of kosher salt, 1 teaspoon each of pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, 2 teaspoons of paprika, and sugar. Optional ¼ to ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Related Recipes
If you are interested in the Spatchcock technique of flattening and cooking a whole chicken, check out my easy recipe. This will also work well if you want to grill half a chicken.
Check out some bone-in chicken recipes for the gas grill, like Grilled Chicken Legs, Grilled Bone-in Chicken Thighs, and Grilled Split Chicken Breasts. Or try this easy oven-baked whole chicken recipe.
Grill setup for indirect cooking
With indirect grilling, only part of the grill surface is over an active burner (direct side), and the other part (the indirect side) has the burners turned off. This is how we grill things like pork butt or beef brisket—also used in this whole chicken recipe.
Grills will vary how you do indirect cooking. Please see A Beginners Guide to Grill Temperature on a Gas Grill for a more detailed discussion of grill temperature. And How To Set Up Your Gas Grill for Smoking and Low and Slow Cooking, where indirect grill setup is discussed in more detail.
🌡️Recommend Thermometers
While you can do this with a grill surface thermometer and an instant-read thermometer, a remote two-probe thermometer will help you maintain the grill temperature.
Note: All links below are affiliate links, meaning I make a small profit from your purchases. This commission does not affect your price. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Smoke™ by Thermoworks™
Thermapen™ One from Thermoworks™
ThermoPro TP19 Instant Read Thermometer
CDN Grill Surface Thermometer
These are examples of what I use, but many other great options are available at Amazon or your local big box store.
🍴How to serve grilled whole chicken.
Be sure to let the bird rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting to allow the moisture to reabsorb into the meat cells.
Serve with Stovetop French Fries, Grilled Baby Potatoes, a side salad, or Grilled Pineapple Slices.
❄️How to store leftovers
Store leftovers in an airtight container. Refrigerated for 4 days or frozen for 3 months.
Cold leftovers are great on a salad or make chicken salad or Waldorf Chicken Salad.
❓FAQs
The legs are tied (trussed) to bring them towards the bird's center, leading to more even cooking. Use kitchen twine, which is made for cooking.
During meat cooking, fluid is forced out to the meat cells. It stays between the cells while heat is applied. After being removed from the heat, the fluid migrates back into the cells, producing a juicy and tender result.
Food Safety
We do not rinse raw poultry, like chicken, due to problems with contamination of the surrounding area for splatter. See, Why not to rinse raw chicken? for details.
According to the USDA, the minimum safe internal temperature for chicken is 165°. Aim for that in the middle of the thickest parts of the chicken. For tenderness, you will want the thighs or legs in the 185° range.
Do not stuff the chicken with anything that will be eaten. Anything in the cavity must reach 165° to be safely consumed, which will require the chicken to be overcooked and dry.
Wash your hands well before and after handling raw chicken—store raw chicken under 40°F and away from other foods.
📖 Recipe
Grilled Whole Chicken Without Spatchcocking
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Ingredients
- 4 pound whole chicken - 4-6 pound range. Bigger will take longer.
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Kosher salt and pepper to taste - Or seasoning of your choice.
Instructions
- Start with setting up your grill for indirect cooking. Clean and oil the grates. Turn the burners that will be on to full heat and watch the grill's surface temperature. Aim for 350° to 400° in the indirect area—adjust the burners as needed.
- Clean, trim, and pat dry the chicken—do not rinse. Be sure to remove any giblets.
- Melt 2 tablespoons butter in the microwave and brush all sides of the bird. Save the remainder for brushing the bird during the rotation on the grill. Season to taste with kosher salt and pepper. We use my All-Purpose Seasoning Mix, which has salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Place on the grill with indirect heat, angling one thigh and the leg to the direct heat side. Close the lid, and don't touch it for 40 minutes.
- Rotate the bird at 40 minutes angling the other thigh towards the heat. Give it a brush of butter and continue grilling until the internal temperature of the breast is 165°.
- Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- A good estimate of cooking time is 15-20 minutes per pound. But there is also variability due to the difference between grills.
- I suggest a 4-6 pound chicken. You can try bigger, but the skin may get overdone.
- Getting the grill set up correctly is the key to doing this right the first and every time.
- The grill surface temperature and the internal temperature of the chicken must be monitored. Remote monitoring is suggested but not required.
- Never trust a grill hood thermometer, and never cook by time alone.
- If you want BBQ whole chicken, use a dry rub to season.
- The minimum safe internal temperature for chicken is 165°. Aim for that in the middle of the breast. You will want to have the thighs or legs in the 185° range if you can.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Originally Published June 11, 2017. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
John Kennedy says
Breast up or down?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi John,
Welcome to the blog.
Breast up positioned with one leg and thigh towards the heat, then halfway though cooking, rotate to the other thigh/leg pointing to the heat still with the breast up.
Dan
Dale says
Glad I found this recipe. My wife usually cooks whole chicken in her Japanese steam oven. I wanted to grill today so I loosely followed instructions and it came out perfect.
Janice says
Best. Ever.
Why would you ever bbq a whole chicken any other way. No changes to the recipe. Perfect the way it is.
Thanks!!
Arletha Collins says
I like whole chickens and I like to Barbecue I don’t fry good chicken so grilling is best for me,Thanks.
mark jaffe says
I tried this one but the bottom/thighs did not cook. The legs and breast were done and the thighs almost raw. Any ideas about why?
Thank
MJ
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Mark,
Welcome to the blog.
This would be a temperature issue. Be sure you are measuring the grill surface temperature in that area and not someplace else. I have had a few grill surface thermometers that were just wrong. So a new surface thermometer may be needed.
Also, be sure you have the thigh angled to the hot side. You may need to angle it more that way.
Dan
Robert says
Thank you so much for this...I had a whole chicken to cook and really didn't want to heat up my kitchen on a 94 degree day. This was perfect and easily within my skill set.
I used my 3-burner Ducane propane grill and it worked out so well. I heated the grill on all 3 burners, then turned off the center one and dropped the chicken on the grill over that area. I turned the other 2 burners to a more moderate setting and spread out the wings and legs away from the chicken body.
Came back in 40 minutes (as instructed), brushed on the rest of the melted butter and let it go another 10 minutes. Checked the temperature and it was perfect. Pulled it off the grill, let it rest a bit, and voila! a perfect bird.
Again, can't thank you enough!