The grilling season is in full swing in many parts of the states and with the warm weather comes the possibility of trying new grilling techniques. We love grilling, of course and saving money at the same time so when we think about grilling chicken the most frugal way is to grill a whole chicken. We have done Beer Can Chicken and while this works and tastes great I have at times had difficulties with it while grilling. So when I saw how I could Butterfly a Chicken I thought I’d give it a try.
It turned out to be really easy to do, although Liz was a little queasy while taking pictures while I did the cutting.
Here are the steps…
Rinse the chicken in cold water and pat dry with paper towel and place on your cutiing board with the breast down. Start your first cut about 1/2 inch to the side of the backbone. Use a sharp knife that has a stiff blade.
Cut the full length of the backbone all the way through.
Repeat along the other side of the back bone and remove the entire backbone and discard. Now let me tell you that this is not as difficult as it sounds but you will need to use a little elbow grease to get through some of the bones.
Once you have removed the backbone simply grasp the chicken where you just cut it and give it a strong pull to open it up. That’s all it takes to butterfly a whole chicken.
Next go ahead and add your seasonings and any other herbs or marinades.
Wrap the chicken in plastic wrap and let it sit and get all those flavor together for an hour or two then place it skin side down on a hot grill and cook for 20 minutes then flip and cook for another 20 minutes or until the juices run clear.
Check out our Grilling Basics for more tips
Happy Grilling!
Linking to…Gooseberry Patch
2 Comments
I’ve never even though about butterflying a whole chicken, but now that you’ve shown me this, you can be sure that it’ll be happening at our house this summer!
We really like the chicken grilled this way. Enjoy, Angie!
~Liz