Spatchcocked Smoked Chimichurri Chicken
Flavors Used:
Another creative way to make a full chicken! This one uses a bright, tangy, and herb-packed chimichurri and features a wonderful, smoky flavor. This is a great way to use up some extra herbs in the garden or a unique way to make a smoked chicken. It’s super easy, too!
To spatchcock your chicken, you essentially cut out the backbone to lay it flat. This gives it more surface area and allows it to cook faster and more evenly. You can find a lot of videos on this in case you can’t figure it out! Once the backbone is out, I like to marinate my chicken in some of the chimichurri.
The chimichurri is a simple combination of parsley, cilantro, oil, vinegar, pepper, garlic, and seasonings. It’s a bright, colorful sauce that has a nice tang, spice, and herbaceous flavor. Once you add spicy Dan-O’s to it, it’s a game-changer! For your hot pepper, something red adds a nice color, but I used a hatch green chili this time because they are in season.
You can go low and slow on your Spatchcocked Smoked Chimichurri Chicken if you like a smokier chicken, but I am impatient and like to cook my birds at 275. You can also crank the heat up at the end to crisp up the skin, but I usually don’t when I cook this way because I don’t like the chimichurri to burn. And at 275, the skin is usually pretty good!
Serve Spatchcocked Smoked Chimichurri Chicken with your favorite southwest sides or shred and make tacos or quesadillas. Enjoy!
If you love this recipe, you are for sure going to love our famous chicken thighs recipe. Give it a try! Also, looking for other great smoker recipes? Try our smoked corned beef brisket recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 roaster chicken
- ¾ cup parsley
- ¾ cup cilantro
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- Juice of half a lime
- ½ cup olive oil
- 4 cloves of garlic
- Spicy Dan-O’s Seasoning
- 1 hot pepper
- Paprika
Preparation Instructions
- Lay out your chicken on a cutting board. Remove back bone with butcher shears or carefully cut out with a knife.
- On a different cutting board, lay out a large handful of parsley and a large handful of cilantro leaves. Finely mince/chop and add to a bowl. Add your hot pepper and garlic to a food processor, then add it in with the cilantro and parsley.
- In this bowl, mix in your red wine vinegar, olive oil, and lime juice. Add in paprika and spicy Dan-O’s to taste.
- Place your chicken in a bowl or large ziplock bag and pour over some of the chimichurri (save about half!) Allow to marinate for at least 2 hours.
- Fire up your smoker. Add marinated chicken to smoker breast-side up and sprinkle on some spicy Dan-O’s for extra flavor. Smoke at 275 degrees until min internal temperature of 165 degrees. Remove chicken and let rest for 20-30 minutes.
- Serve chicken with chimichurri drizzles over the slices or pieces. Enjoy!
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