In this recipe, we fire up the smoker with the brand new Meat Church Pecan & Cherry pellets for a smoke session that delivers sweet smoke flavor, rich color and unbelievable moisture. The chicken gets a full soak in Meat Church Bird Baptism Brine before being spatchcocked and seasoned heavily with Meat Church Texas Sugar.
The secret? Smoking the chicken in a pan with a full stick of butter while the smoke and rendered juices build the most outrageous flavor bath imaginable. Once the chicken is to temp, I shred the chicken, mixes in all that melted butter goodness, then tosses it in the brand new Meat Church Sizzlin' Salvation BBQ Sauce for a sticky, sweet heat finish that absolutely crushes on sliders. This is the juiciest chicken I have ever made!
Ingredients
- 1 Whole Chicken
- 1 stick high quality butter
- Meat Church Sizzlin' Salvation BBQ Sauce to taste
- Meat Church Texas Sugar to taste
- 1 C Meat Church Bird Baptism
- Water
- 6-8 C ice
- Slider buns
Brine
Thoroughly mix 1 cup of Meat Church Bird Baptism Brine with 4 cups of water in a medium stock pot. Bring nearly to a boil to dissolve the salt & sugar.
Remove from the heat and add 6-8 cups of ice to completely cool the liquid.
Place the chicken in a food safe container. Fill the container with the brine mixture making sure to completely submerge the chicken. Add more water to cover the chicken if necessary.
Refrigerate and brine overnight.
Remove the bird from brine, rinse thoroughly and pat dry.
Prepare your smoker
Prepare your smoker at a temperature of 275°. In this video we used a Traeger Woodridge with Meat Church Pellets (Cherry and Pecan).
Preparing the chicken
Using poultry shears or a sharp knife, cut alongside the backbone on both sides to remove it. Press down on the bird to flatten it and remove the keel bone. At this point you can cut down the center line of the chicken to split it in half.
You can see a great example of this process in this video.
Season the chicken on all sides with our Texas Sugar rub. Using your hands, carefully separate the skin from the breast meat and lightly season the meat underneath the skin. Pin the skin back into place with toothpicks.
Allow the seasoning to adhere for at least 15 minutes. Place the chicken halves into a half foil pan and add your stick of butter cut into pats.
Smoke the chicken
Place the pan of chicken on the center rack of the Traeger. Cook the chicken until it hits 155° in the breast using an instant read thermometer.
Pulling the Chicken
At this point you can remove your chicken from the cooker. Using an insulated glove and a nitrite glove, remove the chicken from the bone and pull into pieces as you would for a pork butt.
Add some Texas Sugar to taste as well as some Sizzlin' Salvation bbq sauce. Mix in enough to where the chicken is fully coated but not swimming in the sauce.
Pile some pulled chicken onto a toasted slider bun.
Serve and enjoy!
