It’s near the end of grilling season in Minnesota and since I’d never grilled a butterflied whole chicken, I decided to make one for dinner.
Armed with my newest cookbook, The Cook’s Illustrated Guide to Grilling and Barbecue, from the editors of Cook’s illustrated magazine, I began by butterflying a 3 1/2 –lb chicken. This is really easy to do with a kitchen shears—you just have to cut along both sides of backbone and remove it. Then turn the bird, breast-side-up and push down on it to flatten if for more even cooking. Their recipe instructs you make slits on either side of each breast and tuck the legs into the slits, which probably makes turning the chicken over a little easier. They also recommend pounding the chicken with a mallet to an even thickness. Rub the butterflied chicken all over with 1 tablespoon black pepper.
To keep the chicken moist during grilling, place it in a gallon-size zipper-lock plastic bag and pour a marinade (see recipe below photo) over it. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Chicken alla Diavola on a Gas Grill
½ cup fresh lemon juice (from 4 to 6 lemons)
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (I grated the peel from all 5 lemons)
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Place in refrigerator for up to 2 hours.
Turn a gas grill on the high setting and close the lid for about 15 minutes. Then use a grill brush to scrape the cooking grate; reduce heat to medium. I’d recommend oiling or spraying the grill with cooking spray before turning on the heat since our chicken stuck to the grate, causing the skin to tear. Jack cooked it for 15 minutes on each side. Then we transferred it to a jelly-roll pan and covered it with foil for 10 minutes while we ate our salads.
This is an easy and delicious way to make grilled chicken. It stayed really moist and was very easy to cup into serving pieces.
For the record, I simplified this recipe somewhat. The recipe tells you to weight down the chicken to promote fast, even cooking. I didn’t have the 2 bricks necessary to place on a jelly-roll pan on top of the chicken and I don’t think it mattered much that I didn’t do this.
PS. I went online to find the recipe for you but the one there is different than the one in the cookbook. The Gas-Grilled Chicken Diavola is actually brined (using 1/2 cup salt) rather than marinated. But, there are some great drawings for butterflying the chicken if you click on that link.