• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
DadCooksDinner
  • Home
  • Rotisserie
  • Recipes
  • Tools
  • Books
  • Merch
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipes
  • Books
  • Tools
  • Merch
  • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Recipes
    • Books
    • Tools
    • Merch
    • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
  • ×

    Home » Recipes » Grilling

    Grilled Butterflied Chicken with Dry Brine

    Published: Sep 15, 2011 · Modified: Dec 25, 2021 by Mike Vrobel · This post may contain affiliate links · 14 Comments

    Jump to Recipe
    Grilled Butterflied Chicken with Dry Brine
    Grilled Butterflied Chicken with Dry Brine

    Why butterfly? Two reasons.

    First, a butterflied chicken is a quick(er) chicken. A four pound chicken grills in about 45 minutes; left whole, they take an hour or longer.

    Second, a butterflied chicken is simple to carve. Seven slices and you're ready for the dinner table.
    Nine if you cut the breast pieces in half like I do.

    This is my favorite seasoning for chicken - an overnight dry brine with salt and pepper, then some smoking wood in the grill. Simple and delicious. Good chicken will shine with this recipe; cheap chicken will be bland. In other words, don't use the $0.69/lb store chicken with this recipe. Make the effort to get a good bird, and you will be rewarded.
    If you have a good local chicken store, like my local Brunty Farms or Difeo's Poultry, great! If not, check the grocery store for a Bell and Evans bird. Or, get a Kosher bird, and skip the dry brine; kosher birds are pre-brined.

    Recipe: Grilled Butterflied Chicken with Dry Brine

    Equipment:

    • Grill (I use a Weber kettle, like this one.)
    • Kitchen shears (optional, but recommended)
    • Aluminum foil drip pan (9"x12", or whatever fits your grill)
    Print
    clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon

    Grilled Butterflied Chicken with Dry Brine


    ★★★★★

    5 from 2 reviews

    • Author: Mike Vrobel
    • Total Time: 8 hours 45 minutes
    • Yield: 4-6 1x
    Print Recipe
    Pin Recipe

    Description

    Grilled Butterflied Chicken with Dry Brine recipe - butterfly the chicken to speed up cooking, dry brine it to season it all the way through.


    Ingredients

    Scale
    • 2 (4-pound) chickens
    • 2 tablespoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt (1 tablespoon per bird)
    • 2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper (1 teaspoon per bird)
    • 1 fist sized chunk smoking wood (I used an oak wine barrel stave, but hickory, cherry, and apple are good alternatives)

    Instructions

    1. Butterfly and Dry brine the chickens: Butterfly the chickens: cut out the backbone, then flatten the breastbone by pressing down hard with the back of your hand. Fold the wing tips back under the wing. Sprinkle each chicken evenly with 1 tablespoon kosher salt and 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper, concentrating a little extra on the breasts and thighs. Refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours.
    2. Prepare the grill: Prepare your grill for cooking on indirect high heat, and add the wood chunk to the coals. For my Weber kettle, I light a chimney starter full of charcoal, wait for it to be covered with ash, then pour it in two equal piles on the sides of the grill, and put the drip pan in the middle, between the piles. Finally, I put the wood chunk on one of the piles.
    3. Grill the chicken: Put the chicken on the grill over the drip pan, skin side down. Cook, covered, for 30 minutes. Flip the chicken skin side up and cook, covered, until the chicken is done, about another 15 minutes. The chicken should be 160°F in the thickest part of the breast and 170°F or more in the deepest part of the thigh.
    4. Crisp up the chicken (optional): At this point, you should have nice, crispy skin. If you don't, put the chicken skin side down over the coals and sear until the skin is crisped up, about 3 minutes. Watch out - dripping chicken fat causes flare-ups. You don't want to burn the chicken at the last minute.
    5. Serve: Let the chicken rest for 15 minutes, then carve into serving pieces. Cut the legs from the body, then cut the drumsticks from the thighs. Cut the wings from the breasts, then split the breast right down the middle.

    Notes

    For more butterflying details, see my How to Butterfly A Chicken Video

    I recommend the Weber Chimney Starter, because it holds 5 quarts of charcoal, exactly the right amount for this recipe.

    • Prep Time: 8 hours
    • Cook Time: 45 minutes
    • Category: Grilling
    • Cuisine: American

    Did you make this recipe?

    Tag @DadCooksDinner on Instagram and hashtag it #DadCooksDinner

    Dry brining the chickens
    Dry brining the chickens
    Start the chicken skin side down
    Start the chicken skin side down
    Finish skin side up
    Finish skin side up
    Ready, set...
    Ready, set...
    ...carve!
    ...carve!

    Notes

    • My kids demolished this chicken. It's amazing what a little wood smoke does for flavor. "Dad! This smells like bacon!" No picky eating this time - everyone came back for seconds and thirds.

    What do you think? Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

    Related Posts:
    Grilled Butterflied Chicken with Thai Brinerade

    Enjoyed this post? Want to help out DadCooksDinner? Subscribe using your RSS reader or by Email, recommend DadCooksDinner to your friends, or buy something from Amazon.com through the links on this site. Thank you!

    More Grilling

    • Grilled Frozen Ribeyes | DadCooksDinner.com
      Grilled Frozen Ribeye Steak
    • Beef short ribs on the grill, with some flareups in the background
      Grilled Short Ribs with Smoked Spanish Paprika Rub
    • La Caja China Pig Roast | DadCooksDinner.com
      Matt’s La Caja China Pig Roast
    • Grilled Beef Sirloin Kabobs | DadCooksDinner.com
      Grilled Beef Sirloin Kabobs

    Sharing is caring!

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Vinyljunkee says

      December 21, 2021 at 10:00 am

      Delicious chicken preparation and I love the butterflied preparation. Curious about the amount of salt for the brine. Can you validate that you actually use 4 tsp per chicken? The ingredients indicate 1 Tbsp of kosher salt per chicken. I have generally used a rule of thumb, 3/4 tsp per lb (per the Zuni Cafe method by Judy Rodgers). Also, I followed your process on the Big Green Egg, indirect and fairly high heat (450 F) and it turned out great.

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Mike Vrobel says

        December 21, 2021 at 4:59 pm

        Thanks! 1 Tablespoon is 3 teaspoons, not 4, so I’m using the same amount Judy used - 3 teaspoons on a 4 pound chicken.

        Reply
        • Vinyljunkee says

          December 24, 2021 at 8:46 pm

          Thank you Mike! There is a comment in the directions indicating 4 tsp per chicken, which raised my question. Regardless, I think I am splitting hairs here. It’s a great process.

          ★★★★★

          Reply
          • Mike Vrobel says

            December 25, 2021 at 10:27 am

            Aha! I missed it there - thank you for the heads up.

            Reply
    2. Soltan m. says

      October 15, 2019 at 6:12 pm

      Great recipe and great tips ,thank you so much Mike.

      Reply
    3. MikeV @ DadCooksDinner says

      September 25, 2011 at 5:29 pm

      @Roy G:

      Thank you for following up. Yes, you did everything the same way I would have. I'm guessing 375*F is not hot enough. If you try the recipe again, add in an extra burner or two set to high (instead of low) to see if that helps.

      I'm going to try this again myself, to see how it turns out, but I haven't had a chance to do it yet. Thanks again for letting me know what you were seeing!

      Reply
    4. Roy G says

      September 22, 2011 at 5:14 pm

      @ MikeV:

      I would have thought two on high would have been fine as well -- That is generally how I do the rotisserie and it keeps good and hot. Answers:

      1) About 4 lbs. Not huge. I just made one.
      2) It was dark 🙂 but in the 375 range I think.
      3) Preheated with all burners for about 15 mins. The chicken was out of the refrigerator for about the same amount of time before I plopped it on.

      Reply
    5. MikeV @ DadCooksDinner says

      September 20, 2011 at 12:19 am

      @Roy G:

      Wow - four burners on high seems like a lot of firepower. I would have guessed two on high would be enough to duplicate my charcoal grill results, and that two on high plus two on low would have been plenty.

      My charcoal grill starts at about 500*F on high, and cools down from there. I am pretty sure that two burners on high keep my gas grill at 450*F to 500*F.

      I'll try this myself on my 6 burner Weber, but out of curiosity:
      1. How big were the chickens?
      2. What temp was your lid thermometer reporting?
      3. Did you pre-heat the grill before adding the chicken?

      Thanks!

      Reply
    6. Roy G says

      September 19, 2011 at 3:24 am

      I cooked this tonight on my Webber 6-burner grill. With the 2 outside burners to high, and 2 more on low, this took almost an hour and a half to cook to 160. Maybe for gas grills it needs to be 4 burners to high to get this right?

      Otherwise -- tastes fantastic. My wife is extremely surprised to find that I can butterfly a chicken!

      Reply
    7. MikeV @ DadCooksDinner says

      September 19, 2011 at 12:18 am

      @Dave_in_TN:

      You're welcome. Glad you liked it!

      Reply
    8. Dave_in_TN says

      September 18, 2011 at 11:59 pm

      I made this today (used cherry wood), pretty quick for a delicious bird! Thanks D-C-D.

      Reply
    9. MikeV @ DadCooksDinner says

      September 15, 2011 at 11:42 pm

      @jt:
      Thanks! I know that I can always use another link to grilled chicken

      @YL:
      Thank you!

      I don't bother taking out the breast bone. I have a harder time getting it out than I do carving the chicken with the the bone in.

      If it works for you, though, keep right on doing it - that's one of those personal preference kind of things that make the world go 'round.

      Reply
    10. YL says

      September 15, 2011 at 9:00 pm

      the only thing i can add is that i recommend to take out the breast bone. Once the chicken is spread open you can literally take is out with your fingers and it makes carving and eating much easier later on.
      Great post as always.

      Reply
    11. jt says

      September 15, 2011 at 2:22 pm

      An excellent post on butterflying and carving chicken. Hard to imagine that I need *another* link to grilled chicken, but you managed to do it. Thanks for the great, short and instructive post.

      Reply

    Questions? Made the Recipe? Leave a Comment Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Welcome to Dad Cooks Dinner! I'm Mike Vrobel, a dad who cooks dinner every night. I'm an enthusiastic home cook, and I write about pressure cooking, rotisserie grilling, and other food topics that grab my attention.

    More about me →

    Popular

    • Three bowls of cooked Pinto Beans on a wood table
      Instant Pot Pinto Beans (No Soaking)
    • Pressure Cooker Beef Shank (Osso Bucco)
    • Pressure Cooker 7 Hour Leg of Lamb (in 90 minutes)
      Pressure Cooker 7 Hour Leg of Lamb (in 90 minutes)
    • Pressure Cooker Brown Jasmine Rice

    Recent

    • A plate of brisket slices with a pickle, onion, and bbq sauce
      Instant Pot Beef Brisket
    • Two jars of chicken broth on a wood table in front of an Instant Pot
      Instant Pot Chicken Broth
    • A bowl of Instant Pot Pastalaya with hot sauces and spices
      Instant Pot Pastalaya (One-Pot Cajun Pasta Jambalaya)
    • A bowl of beef and barley soup
      Instant Pot Beef and Barley Soup (Pressure Cooker)

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • Privacy Policy

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Contact

    • Contact

    Copyright © 2022 Dad Cooks Dinner

    277 shares
    • 16