Grilled Spatchcocked Chicken with an Asian Glaze

Sure, I’ve been known to spatchcock my chicken from time to time. There’s nothing wrong with that. What I do in my own kitchen (and back deck) is my business. Don’t judge me because I like a little spatchcocking every now and again. Who doesn’t? It really helps speed up grilling a whole bird while keeping the skin intact so it is sure to stay juicy. And besides, spatchcock is just a fun word to say. So I say, spatchcock to your heart’s content, my friends. So one more time: Grilled Spatchcocked Chicken with an Asian Glaze!

Grilled Spatchcocked Chicken Ingredients:

• 2 whole chickens
• Coarse salt
• Fresh cracked black pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp of granulated garlic
• 4 oz hoisin
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp soy
• ½ tbsp Sriracha
• 1 tbsp teriyaki
• 1 tbsp mirin (substitute sake’)
• ½ tsp Chinese 5 spice
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• Juice of one orange
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• ¼ tsp ground mustard
• Blackened sesame seeds (for garnish)
• Regular sesame seeds (for garnish)
• 1 green onion, chopped (for garnish)

How to Spatchcock a Chicken

Start off by spatchcocking or butterflying both chickens.

To do that, you will need a good pair of kitchen sheers:

You can spatchcock with a knife too, but it’s much easier with a good pair of shears

Place the chicken breasts side down, grab it by the tail, and begin cutting up the side of the spine:

Then cut up the other side:

Discard the spine, flip the bird over and spread it out:

Some people put an open palm in what is essentially the shoulder at the top of the breast near the wing and then put all their weight on that palm and push down to break some bones that flatten the bird a little more. This is done at the top of both breasts. I don’t do this. I get the same results either way.

Now hit the spatchcocked chicken with a generous coating of coarse salt and fresh ground pepper:

Repeat on the other chicken and go prepare the grill.

How to Grill Spatchcock Chicken

Set up the grill for two zone or indirect grilling. That means charcoal on one side and nothing on the other.

Target temperature inside the grill is around 325F-350F.

Put smoke wood on the coals (I used Apricot) and the chicken on the side with no heat:

After about 30 minutes, brush with oil:

Repeat with the oil again at 60 minutes.

The oil will help to brown and firm the skin so it’s not rubbery.

Now head inside and combine the rest of the ingredients except the garnish for the Asian glaze.

At the 90 minute mark, the birds have browned up nicely:

Hit the grilled chicken with the glaze:

How does that look?

Brush on more Asian glaze every 20-30 minutes until the chickens are cooked through.

When the grilled chickens reach an internal temperature of 160-165 (about 3 hours depending on the heat of the grill and size of the chickens), remove them from the heat and let them rest for about 10 minutes.

Sprinkle with the black and white sesame seeds and chopped green onion for garnish:

Grilled Spatchcocked Chicken Run Down

I love this asian glaze. I’ve used it on Asian Glazed Ribs as well as Asian Glazed Pork Belly. It’s fantastic on just about anything. I bet it would be great on salmon too. Give it a go on the chicken. You won’t be disappointed.

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Recipe Card:

Print Recipe

4.50 from 2 votes

Grilled Spatchcocked Chicken with an Asian Glaze

Simple instructions on how to butterfly a chicken and then smoke it with an elegant and elaborate Asian glaze to make grilled spatchcocked chicken

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time3 hours hrs

Total Time3 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Course: Chicken, Entree, Main Course

Cuisine: American, American Fare, Asian, Barbecue, BBQ

Keyword: Asian Glazed, Barbecue, Barbecue Chicken, BBQ, BBQ Chicken, Butterflied, Butterflied Chicken, Spatchcock, Spatchcocked, Spatchcocked Chicken

Servings: 8 People

Ingredients

• 2 whole chicken
• coarse salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 4 oz hoisin
• 1 tbsp garlic minced
• 1 tbsp soy
• 1 tbsp teriyaki
• 1 tbsp mirin substitute sake
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• ¼-⅓ cup orange juice ( from 1 orange)
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• ½ tbsp Sriracha
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp Chinese five spice powder
• ¼ tsp ground mustard
• blackened sesame seeds for garnish
• regular sesame seeds for garnish
• 1 green onion chopped (for garnish)

Instructions

• Cut along the sides of the spine of the chicken and remove the backbone
• Lay the bird flat and season with salt and pepper (both sides)
• Prepare the grill for two zone grilling with charcoal on one side and nothing on the other
• Target temperature inside the grill is 325-350
• Place the spatchcocked chickens on the side with no heat, breasts away from the fire and throw on a chunk of fruit wood (in this case, apricot)
• After 30 minutes, brush with olive oil
• Brush with olive oil again at 60 minutes
• Combine the rest of the ingredients except for garnish in a bowl
• Brush the sauce on at the 90 minute mark
• Brush on more glaze every 30 minutes until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160-165
• Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes
• Garnish with the sesame seeds and green onion

Here’s a collage of the grilling process:

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

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BBQ Grilling

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This article was initially published on: June 5, 2015