Traeger Smoked Whole Chicken
Smoking a chicken on a Traeger keeps it incredibly moist and juicy while infusing it with smoky flavor. This Smoked Whole Chicken is perfect for bbqs and pool days, but it’s equally great for meal prep!
★★★★★
Jen says –
“I don’t even know how many times I’ve made this smoked chicken since I first found the recipe a couple years ago. It has become my go to for holidays, bbqs, or in my case today, a Thursday. It is so good and always a huge hit!”
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Why You’ll Love this Recipe
✔ Insanely Moist and Juicy: The chicken is brined for a minimum of 2 hours and then smoked low and slow for around 3 hours. This creates fall-apart tender chicken every time!
✔ Easiest Brine EVER: All you need is cold water and kosher salt, and the chicken can be brined for 2 to 8 hours depending on the amount of time you have.
✔ Perfect for Meal Prep: You can serve the chicken for dinner tonight, then repurpose any leftovers by making Greek yogurt chicken salad, chicken orzo soup, you name it!
About This Easy Recipe
This super simple bbq smoked chicken is a budget-friendly meal I love to make for my family throughout the week.
You can usually get a whole chicken pretty cheap, and it’s a nice “fix and forget” kind of thing to have for dinner.
I actually find smoking a whole chicken to be easier than roasting a chicken. It’s less difficult to overcook the meat, for one thing, and there’s no basting required.
The combination of the salt brine and the bbq seasoning makes for the most flavorful smoked whole chicken. Enjoy the chicken tonight, then use the leftovers to make soups, salads, wraps, and more tomorrow!
What You’ll Need for the Brine and Seasonings
You need just 4 basic ingredients to smoke a chicken on a Traeger (amazing, I know!). To ensure the whole chicken stays juicy, moist, and flavorful, gather the following:
- Cold Water: Straight from the tap is fine, just make sure it’s COLD water.
- Kosher Salt: Different brands of kosher salts have different densities, so be careful how much you add. I used Morton’s Kosher Salt, but I’ve also provided the brine ratios for Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt in the recipe card below.
- BBQ Chicken Seasoning: Use your favorite store-bought bbq seasoning or click that link to make my go-to blend.
Our Favorite Wood Pellets for Smoking a Chicken
You can use any wood pellets you like to smoke a chicken on the Traeger, but we generally tend to use one of the following for poultry:
- Apple: mild and sweet flavor
- Pecan: rich, nutty, and sweet flavor
- Oak: not too overpowering
- Hickory: lightly smoky, versatile flavor
Overview of Brining and Smoking a Whole Chicken
- Brine for at least 2 hours: For smoked chicken success, I suggest brining it for a couple hours before preheating your Traeger or smoker. The brine penetrates the meat, both tenderizing and flavoring it. (Always brine raw meat in the fridge, never on the counter!)
- Rinse and pat dry. Use clean paper towels for this.
- Season with your favorite rub. We love making smoked bbq chicken, but use any seasoning blend you like.
- Smoke low and slow, then rest before carving. Let the chicken rest for 20 minutes on your counter before slicing and serving. This gives the juices time to distribute throughout the meat.
The above is simply a quick summary of this recipe. Check out the full recipe in the free printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for all the detailed instructions.
What Temperature and How Long to Smoke a Chicken?
A 6-pound whole chicken will need to smoke for 3 hours at 160ºF. Once you turn the heat up to 225ºF, there’s no set amount of time your chicken will need to smoke before it reaches an internal temperature of 165ºF.
If you’re smoking a larger chicken, it’ll need to cook for longer at 225ºF. And a smaller chicken will require less time. There’s no exact science here, so monitor the chicken’s internal temperature and take it out once it reaches 165ºF.
Can This Recipe Be Made Without a Traeger Pellet Grill?
Don’t worry, if you don’t have a Traeger Pellet Grill, you can still follow the general instructions of the recipe using whatever smoker you might have.
You may even try experimenting with one of those smoker boxes for a traditional grill if you’re able to keep the temperature down low enough.
What to Serve with a Smoked Chicken
- Traeger side dishes: Traeger Roast Potatoes and Traeger Asparagus
- Traditional sides: Spicy Jalapeño Coleslaw, Instant Pot Turmeric Rice, No-Mustard Potato Salad, or Cilantro Lime Broccoli Slaw
- Salads: Tomato Panzanella, Street Corn Pasta Salad, or Cucumber Tomato Onion Salad
More Traeger Dishes to Make!
There are so many great Traeger recipes you can make all summer long. A few of our favorites are:
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Traeger Smoked Chicken Recipe
Easy Smoked Chicken is a great summer meal. The chicken turns out incredibly flavorful, tender and juicy. Perfect for BBQs or any time you want to cook a whole chicken but want to do something a little different than traditional roasting.
Ingredients
For the Brine:
- 2 quarts (8 cups) Cold Water, divided
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Morton Kosher Salt
For the Chicken:
- 1 whole Chicken, approximately 6 pounds
- 2/3 cup Homemade BBQ Chicken Rub
Instructions
To Brine the Chicken
- Bring 1 cup cold water to boil. I usually do this in a 2 quart glass measuring cup in the microwave, however you can do this stovetop in a saucepan if you prefer.
- Add the 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of Morton Kosher Salt (not table salt!) to the boiling water and stir until dissolved. Stir in the remaining 7 cups of cold water so that you have 8 cups of water total.
- Place the whole chicken, giblets removed and discarded, in a gallon sized freezer zip top bag.
- Place the bag inside a large bowl.
- Transfer the salt water to the bag containing the chicken. Zip the bag to seal.
- Place the bowl with the chicken and brine filled bag in the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours, or up to 8 hours.
To Smoke the Chicken
- Remove the chicken from the brine.
- Discard the salt water. Rinse the chicken inside and out.
- Place the chicken on a large baking sheet and pat dry.
- Rub the chicken inside and out with the Homemade BBQ Chicken Rub. I like to carefully separate the skin over the breasts from the meat so that I can put some of the rub under the skin.
- Let the chicken sit while you prepare the smoker.
- Prepare your smoker to a low heat setting.
- On our Traeger, we use the "smoke" setting (around 150-160 degrees F) and we either use Oak Pellets or the Gourmet Blend Pellets for our wood. Hickory or pecan would also work well for chicken.
- Transfer the chicken from the baking sheet and place it on the smoker, insert the probe of a digital meat thermometer that is safe for BBQing into the thickest part of the breast, and smoke on 150-160 degrees F according to manufacturer instructions at 160 for about 3 hours.
- Increase the temperature to 225 degrees F and continue to cook until the the meat thermometer registered 165 degrees F.
- Remove the chicken from the smoker and let rest, loosely tented with foil, on a baking sheet for 20 minutes before slicing.
Notes
Depending on the brand of kosher salt you use, you'll need different amounts of salt because the different brands available on the market have different densities. I use Morton's kosher salt in this recipe, however here are the conversions:
Diamond Crystal: 1/2 cup salt per 2 quarts of liquid.
Morton's Kosher: 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons salt per 2 quarts of liquid.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 211Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 76mgCarbohydrates: 2gFiber: 0gSugar: 2gProtein: 24g
GoodLifeEats.com offers recipe nutritional information as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although GoodLifeEats.com makes every effort to provide accurate information, these figures are only estimates.
Steven says
Great looking recipe! I followed everything so far except that I spatchcock the birds. How long would you say I should smoke them at 160 before increasing the temperature to 225?
Katie says
I like to do anywhere from 1-4 hours depending on my timeline for cooking.
Jen says
I don’t even know how many times I’ve made this smoked chicken since I first found the recipe a couple years ago. It has become my go to for holidays, bbqs, or in my case today, a Thursday. It is so good and always a huge hit!
Katie says
I’m so glad you love it as much as we do! Thanks for stopping by to let me know. 🙂
Drake says
What is the total cooking time usually?
Bishal Gupta says
I am so addicted now that I am into my 3rd round of smoking following this recipe.
Chicken never tasted so good.
Thanks you for the awesome recipe.
Bishal
Katie says
I’m so glad you like it and thanks for taking the time to come and let me know! 🙂
Ken says
Making this tonight – The recipe looks great, and can’t wait to try it.
Not sure that I followed the directions completely – It looks like you are recommending to set the grill at 150-160 and smoke for about 3 hours.
I followed this, and the meat temp only reached about 106 degrees.
I wonder if I was supposed to start at 225 for the 3 hour cook time?
Katie says
Hi, please reference the instructions below for best results (copied and pasted from original recipe). Please note the bolded portions:
On our Traeger, we use the “smoke” setting (around 150-160 degrees F) and we either use Oak Pellets or the Gourmet Blend Pellets for our wood. Hickory or pecan would also work well for chicken.
Transfer the chicken from the baking sheet and place it on the smoker, insert the probe of a digital meat thermometer that is safe for BBQing into the thickest part of the breast, and smoke on 150-160 degrees F according to manufacturer instructions at 160 for about 3 hours.
Increase the temperature to 225 degrees F and continue to cook until the the meat thermometer registered 165 degrees F.
Lisa says
This chicken looks great. We got a 8 pound chicken. Does anything need to be adjusted? Thank you so much for great recipe.
Katie says
just make sure you cook until the internal temp of the breast reads 165 degrees F. The time may be slightly longer.
Nutritionist Mira says
Wow amazing smoking recipe with full of nutrients. As a Nutritionist I appreciate this recipe with all healthy ingredients. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, I will must try to home.
Mackenzie says
This makes my stomach growl! Looks delicious! I can’t wait to try it on my pellet grill! Great article!
MTDreams says
Dear Katie,
I just bought our first pellet smoker two weeks ago. There are a billion recipes online but I cook enough to know which will work, so I chose yours. I followed your recipe and used your rub. This is by far the BEST CHICKEN that I have ever had in my life. Thank you so much for posting!
Katie says
I’m so glad that you liked it! We love our pellet grill so much!
Petra Martinez says
Your recipe sound yummy.
I’m trying my smoker for the first time today.
However I cannot have a lot of salt so if I do not soak it in the brine will it still come out okay?
Katie says
Yes, it will still taste good. We have smoked a chicken without brining before when we haven’t had as much time. Good luck!