Smoked Half Chicken | How to Smoke Chicken | Gateway Drum Smokers

For this recipe we are making Smoked Chicken Halves. For these chicken halves we are using our Gateway Drum Smoker. You can’t beat chicken cooked on a drum.
We started with a whole 5.5-pound chicken. Get it out of the back and dry it off. To cut it in half, cut on each side of the backbone. Then take a kitchen knife and cut right through the breast bone.
Next, we made up a creole butter injection. It was chicken broth, hot sauce, butter and Killer Hogs King Craw Seasoning. Inject all over the bird. Chicken can be bland so we want lots of flavor here.
Now it’s time for seasoning. We used our Salt, Pepper, Garlic Rub as a base layer and followed it up with Killer Hogs The BBQ Rub. Start with the back side. When you flip to the front, make sure the skin is as dry as you can get it. Spray it with cooking spray and season with the same rubs as the back. Let it hang out while you fire up the pit.
We used our drum for this cook. We started with a basket full of charcoal and used a couple of fire starters to get it going. Let it hang out with the lid off for about 10 min. After ten min put the lid on and dial in the temp to 300*.
Once stabilized, put the chicken on skin side up. Let it smoke with cherry wood for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, spray with cooking spray and put probe in. Set your alarm for 155*. Once it hits 155* glaze the chicken. We used The BBQ Sauce for this. After glazing set the probe alarm for 162*. This will let it carry over to 165* during the rest.
Once at 162* internal, remove the chicken and let rest for 10 minutes.
Now all that’s left is to eat!

Ingredients
1. 5-6 pound chicken
2. Salt, Pepper, Garlic Rub (or your favorite All Purpose Rub)
3. Killer Hogs The BBQ Rub (or your favorite BBQ Rub)
4. Cooking spray
5. 2 cups chicken stock
6. 2 tablespoons hot sauce
7. 1 tablespoon of Killer Hogs King Craw (or any Cajun rub)
8. Killer Hogs The BBQ Sauce (or your favorite sauce for chicken)
Directions
1. Mix chicken broth, butter, hot sauce, and King Craw. Heat to disolve solids and melt butter
2. Cut chicken in half
3. Inject all parts of the chicken
4. Season back of chicken with Salt, Pepper, Garlic Rub and The BBQ Rub
5. Flip chicken, dry skin, spray with cooking spray and season with the same rubs
6. Set grill up for indirect cooking at 300*
7. Place chicken skin side up on grill with cherry smoke. Cook 1 hr
8. After 1 hr, spray with cooking spray and place probe in breast. Set for 155*
9. At 155* glaze with The BBQ Sauce and set probe for 162*
10. At 162*, remove, rest for 10 min, then enjoy!