Hickory Smoked Spatchcock Chickens

Since it takes the same amount of Pacific Pellet Gourmet Hickory BBQ wood pellets and time to smoke one Spatchcock Chicken on my MAK 2 Star wood pellet BBQ smoker-grill as it does to do two I decided to spatchcock two chicken but added a twist.  Since there's just the two of us and we're hard pressed to eat a whole half I chose to rub each chicken half with a different seasoning!  Variety is the spice of life and I used my FoodSaver vacuum sealer to freeze the other three for a quick and easy scrumptious meal down the road at home or in the RV.

Spatchcocking a Chicken is a lot easier than it sounds.  Remove the backbone using poultry shears and split the breastbone to allow the chicken to lay flat.

I chose to season each chicken half on and under the skin with a different rub/seasoning.  Carefully peeled back the skin, as seen above, and trimmed off any excess fat.  Rubbed Annie's Roasted Garlic Extra Virgin Olive Oil on/under the skin before applying a liberal amount of Montreal Chicken Seasoning, Lawry's Chicken & Poultry Rub, Tuscan Style Seasoning, or Jans Dry Rub.  Replaced skin, wrapped the seasoned chickens in plastic and refrigerated for 4 hours.

I find that chicken skin on a wood pellet BBQ smoker-grill will always turn out rubbery unless it's cooked at temperatures of 350ºF or above.  In order to get the best of both worlds, Hickory/Apple smoked and crispy skin, I recommend smoking your chicken Low-and-Slow for an hour at 180ºF - 200ºF before bumping your pit temperature to 375ºF until the Internal Temperature of the thickest part of the breast reaches 170ºF which normally insures that the chicken thighs/legs will be 180ºF or above.

The Money $Shot$ ... Hickory Smoked Spatchcock Chicken Breast using Pacific Pellet Gourmet Hickory wood smoked on a MAK 2 Star Wood Pellet BBQ Smoker-Grill served with mashed potatoes & Gravy and Green Beans ...

Vacuum sealed the other three Hickory Smoked Chicken halves for later consumption.  I have found that freezing vacuum sealed smoked meat and/or salmon tends to enhance the smoked flavors.  These will be scrumptious!!