How has everyone’s summer been going!? Ours has been pretty rockin’! We just went to Ribfest in Naperville, which I think you all know by now is my favorite day of the year (tied for Halloween, of course).
We had AMAZING ribs, sunshine, beer, music (KC and the Sunshine Band & FLO RIDA), funnel cakes, carnival games, something called the porkinator, and as is tradition – the end of the night shot of malort.
Just a freaking fab day. 354 days until the next one!
So, the day after ribfest, we thought “hey we haven’t eaten enough grilled and smoked things” – so we decided a grilled dinner al fresco was just the ticket.
Dave would eat a roast chicken four times a week if he could. I, on the other hand am kind of “eh” about chicken. I like it, it just rarely WOWS me. So I was pleasantly surprised when I tried this little ditty and was pretty impressed, especially given how simple the ingredients are. The combo of fresh herby garlic butter and grilling the chicken spatchcocked is what seems to make this recipe really shine. The chicken is super tender, and that “m” word we won’t use. 😀 It’s also full of bright summer flavor from all the fresh herbs.
We served this with grilled zucchini and fresh out of the oven french bread with rosemary infused olive oil for dipping. Aren’t we fancy? It was good y’all.
Hope you give this one a try this summer, I promise, it won’t disappoint!
What’s your favorite way to cook chicken? Let me know in the comments below – always looking for a new way to make Chicken WOW me. 😉
Ingredients
1 6 lb chicken
salt + pepper
4 tbs butter
3 cloves minced garlic
2 tbs of mixed herbs – I used equal parts tarragon, rosemary, oregano and thyme
First, you’ll want to prep the chicken. To spatchcock the chicken Dave suggests standing the chicken upright and cutting the backbone out by cutting down, though most videos, like this helpful one, show the chicken laying down, so either way! You can also use kitchen sheers. Once the backbone is out, lay the chicken out flat and salt and pepper each side well – about 1 tbs of salt and 1/2 tablespoon of pepper.
Then to make the garlic herb butter, simply melt the butter over low heat in a small saucepan. Add the garlic continue to cook over low heat for just a couple of minutes. Then toss in the fresh herbs right at the last moment, and then remove from the heat.
Take half of the herb butter and coat the top side (breast side up) with the herb butter, then get this chicken outside!
We cooked the chicken on our charcoal grill (as we do most things), so if using charcoal (highly recommend!) get your coals hot and ready, and create a two-zone fire. A two-zone fire is just where you put the coals to one side of the grill so you can cook either over direct heat or with indirect heat. For this recipe you’ll want to cook on the indirect side with the legs facing towards the heat side since dark meat takes longer to cook. If you’re using a gas grill, get it heated to 400 degrees.
Cook first with the breast side down that you’ve just coated in buttah. Once on the grill, add the remaining butter to the side facing up that hasn’t yet been coated. Cook this for about 30 minutes. Then flip the chicken and cook until the internal temperature is 165 degrees.
Remove the chicken from the grill and let sit for 10 minutes. Carve the chicken up as you like and eat up! Best eaten outside!
Cheers!