#58: Grilled Half Chicken with Chili Basil Vinaigrette
🔥 Easy Summer grilling pt. 5 🔥
I love a half chicken. Only have two people for dinner? Half chicken. Grilling a whole chicken but you find it hard to handle over a hot grill? Half chicken. Like light meat and dark meat? Half chicken. I could go on but to prove to you how much I love a half chicken, below are a few photos I found in my phone from the last few months…Half chickens all day baby!
The first step to today’s recipe is procuring a half chicken. This can be done in two ways. The easy option is to go to your butcher and ask them for a half chicken. They will sell you one, just ask. The second option is to cut a whole chicken in half at home.
Last Friday I sent out a video demonstrating how to do this in a new series I am calling Techniques To Know. If you missed this video you can go back and watch it, here.
To sum it up in a few sentences, you remove the backbone with kitchen shears. Then cut through the breast cartilage with a strong knife leaving you with two halves of a whole chicken. Really, go watch the video.
Of course, if you cut a whole chicken in half you will be left with two half chickens. After you grill one half with today's recipe you then might say, what do I do with the second half? What I do when I cut a whole chicken in half is cook it one way the first day and a different way the next. Any recipe that calls for a whole chicken you can substitute a half chicken. Another great solution is to cook both halves at once. You can always freeze the second half for another day but if your chicken came frozen, refreezing it isn’t ideal.
I am always telling you about salting meat in advance (dry brine). With chickens, a few hours is good, 24 hours is better, and 2 days is best. I usually end up doing 24 hours but when I only cook one half, the second half gets the full 2 days to dry brine. The salt flavors the meat and dries out the skin for extra crispy skin.
Above I have two photos I want to talk about. The one on the left is one half of a chicken that I salted a few hours before snapping the photo. The chicken looks normal, moist, plump, and is a light ivory color with some pink. The second photo is the other half after two full days in the fridge with salt all over it. The skin looks dry and leathery, and the color has deepened.
What happens when chicken skin comes in contact with heat is the fat and moisture draw out, the skin tightens and eventually becomes crips. We always want crispy skin, always! So when we salt chicken in advance we are removing some moisture from the skin in advance. Dry brined chicken skin gets extra crispy when cooked and below is a photo of the chicken on the right after I grilled it. You can see the blisters of crisp skin all over.
If you can plan in advance, salt your half chicken all over and let it sit in the fridge uncovered for up to two days. I wouldn’t keep encouraging you to try it if I didn’t think it was worth it. Okay, let’s get grilling…
This week’s recipe is a little different. We have done a lot of high heat quick grilling over the last four weeks. Today we are going to use our grill like an oven with moderate heat. To start I light my grill like normal. After my fire starter burns out, I distribute the hot coals with my poker and close the lid to let it come up to temperature. Using my vents (one at the top and one at the bottom) I can control the heat and let my grill come up to 350º. Instead of a flame at the bottom, I just have hot coals and with the lid closed my grill basically becomes an oven.
While my grill is coming up to 350º, my half chicken is out of the fridge and on the counter coming up to room temperature. Then when my grill is ready, I lightly oil the skin of the chicken and place it skin-side down on my grill. Close the lid and let it cook for 20 minutes.
If you are a little nervous the first time you try this you can open the lid and peek at it to make sure your coals are not too hot and the skin isn’t cooking too fast. Just like an oven, every time we open the lid we release the heat and the temperature drops. Avoid opening it multiple times.
After 20 minutes, it is time to flip. The awesome thing about a half chicken is you can easily just flip, or even roll, it over.
Your chicken won’t look perfectly golden and crispy yet. That's okay because it isn’t done cooking! It should have picked up some color. You might see grill lines but maybe not. If you had a particularly hot coal under part of it you could even have a deep dark charred spot. The bottom line is we still have some time to go and it will continue to pick up color and crisp up as it cooks skin side up.
Close the lid again and let your beautiful chicken cook for after 30-40 minutes.
I have been getting HUGE 6-7 pound chickens recently from the farm I order from. They have been taking about 60 minutes total to grill at 350º. If you have a significantly smaller chicken, let’s say 4 pounds, it won’t take as long to cook. Start checking the temperature after 20-30 minutes on the second side. 165º is when it is done. I take mine closer to 170º-175º because I like the texture when it is cooked in that range and it is still totally juicy.
Once your chicken comes up to temperature, it is done and you can pull it off. Now, if you take a look at your skin and want it a little darker, maybe even slightly charred, I have a simple solution for you. Flip the bird back over skin side down and let it cook uncovered for a few minutes. With the lid open and the increase of oxygen, your coals will get hotter fast. That in combination with the skin which is dried out already means only a few extra minutes will do the trick.
This guy below got a few extra minutes skin side down and he looks absolutely perfect 🤤.
As usual, let your chicken rest! and then you can separate the leg from the breast by simply cutting the skin. The leg should pull right off. Cut the breast meat away from the bone and slice it up.
Before we wrap up today’s newsletter we have to make our Chili Basil Vinaigrette. You may have noticed the only thing we put on our chicken is salt. Post cooking feel free to cover the chicken in a generous amount of black pepper and then serve it up with our Chili Basil Vinaigrette.
While the chicken is on the grill, mix together chopped basil (a lot), sliced garlic, minced Fresno chili, dijon mustard, chopped capers, lemon zest and juice, seasoned rice vinegar, and olive oil. As these ingredients sit the flavors mingle together and the end result is a very bright summery sauce. Spoon it over or serve it alongside the grilled chicken. Enjoy!
A note for gas grillers: Turn half your burners on medium heat on one side of your grill. Grill the chicken skin side down over the flame until golden. Flip the chicken skin side up and move it to the side with the burners off for indirect cooking. Adjust your burners that are on the keep the grill at 350º with the lid closed.
Grilled Half Chicken with Chili Basil Vinaigrette
1-2 half chickens
Chili Basil VinaigretteÂ
1 cup chopped fresh basil leavesÂ
1-2 garlic cloves, slicedÂ
2 teaspoons of capers, choppedÂ
½ Fresno chili, mincedÂ
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1 lemon, zested and juicedÂ
2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegarÂ
4 tablespoons olive oil
If you have the time, season your half chicken generously with kosher salt. Place it on a tray and refrigerate it uncovered for 24-48 hours. This dry brining will help with super crispy skin and flavorful meat.Â
1. Light your charcoal grill and distribute the hot coals evenly. Close the lid and use your vents to control the temperature. Let the temperature come up to 350º. We are looking for medium-hot coals.Â
2. While your grill is coming to temperature, remove the half chicken from the fridge and let it come up to room temperature on the kitchen counter. Pat the skin side lightly with vegetable oil and you are ready to grill.Â
3. Place the half chicken skin side down and close the lid. Cook the half chicken for 20 minutes with the lid closed. After 20 minutes, flip the chicken skin side up and continue to cook the chicken with the lid closed for an additional 30-40 minutes. The total cook time will vary depending on the size of your chicken. Start checking the temperature after 20-30 minutes on the second side. 165º is when it is done. Remember every time you open that lid the heat escapes. Avoid opening it too often.Â
4. When your chicken is done, if you would like a little more crispiness or char on the skin, flip the chicken back over skin side down and grill it uncovered for a few minutes until it is precisely how you like it.Â
5. While the chicken is grilling, make the chili basil vinaigrette. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir them together. Season with a pinch of salt. Give the vinaigrette 20-30 minutes to sit and let the flavors mingle together.Â
6. Season the chicken with lots of black pepper and serve the chicken with the chili basil vinaigrette drizzled over.
This is the end of Easy Summer Grilling. I love grilling and I hope you enjoyed reading about grilling and maybe learned something new!
Talk to you next week, Xx M
Made this for dinner tonight and loved it! The vinaigrette is SO good!