Big Green Egg - whole chicken

Santa (Bob & Ruth) brought us a medium BGE this Christmas. I have always heard good things about this ceramic cooker, and have been curious if the stories were just folks worshiping their device because of its "different" style and high-ish pricetag. Well, after cooking two dishes on the egg, Im a true believer. This thing is as stable as an oven. Its job is to cook with an even temperature without burning, and it does its job precisely as advertised. Wonderful when things do that.

Tonight, I washed and patted dry two whole frying chickens. Then brushed them with ollive oil nd rubbed on Mrs Dash spice mix. (no time for a fancy rub, maybe next time.)The egg was set up for direct cooking with the porcelain covered grate, allowed to come up to 500 degrees F, then the chickens went on (front to front) on full containers of beer. One is a "sittin chicken" I picked up at the BGE store, and the other is simply on an open can of Coors Light.
Per Karl's suggestion, I set the top daisy wheel so that the small openings were 100% open, and set the lower damper to halfway open. I added several small chips of dry hickory to the fire, then shut the lid. I did not peek for a full hour. At one hour, I poked in a quick-read thermo, yielding an internal meat temp of 160. I shut the lid again for another 30 mins and reached the final temp of 170 degrees F. Note, the BGE never varied below 275 or above 300 degrees F. Beautifully stable. I can never get this kind of consistency with my brinkman charcoal smoker.

Then we too the chickens off and rested them for 15 mins before pulling them.


I was pleasantly surprised that even the white meat fell right off the bone and the end result was a moist, succulent chicken with a crispy smoky skin.

People who may be considering the Big Green Egg, do it. You will not be disappointed with your purchase. This thing is super stable and the flavor coupled with the moisture retention is fantastic.

Happy grilling!

Travis