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Grilled Chicken Under a Brick

Julie Grice
Flattening a whole chicken and weighing it down with bricks on the grill makes the chicken cook more quickly and evenly. The end result is a grilled chicken with more crispy skin and a nice tender interior. Serve with grilled vegetables, like the grilled corn with cilantro-lime butter.
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Course Dinner, Main Course
Servings 4 servings

Equipment

  • 2 bricks, wrapped individually in aluminum foil

Ingredients
  

  • 2 teaspoons brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3-4 pound whole chicken
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil plus more for brushing

Instructions
 

  • Whisk the brown sugar, smoked paprika, garlic powder, cumin and salt together.
  • Cut the backbone out of the chicken using poultry shears. Flip the chicken so that the breast side is up, and press down on the breastbone to flatten the chicken.
  • Brush both sides of the chicken with oil. Rub the chicken with the spice blend, using about 2⁄3 of the spices on the breast side and the remaining 1⁄3 on the inside of the chicken.
  • Allow the chicken to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour.
  • Lay a piece of aluminum foil over the grates of a grill. Brush the foil with oil, and then preheat the grill to medium.
  • Put the chicken, breast-side down, on the hot foil. Place the foil-wrapped bricks over the chicken so that it is largely flattened. Close the lid on the grill and cook for 15 minutes.
  • Carefully remove the brick. Using a spatula in one hand and a pair of tongs in the other, flip the chicken over. Close the lid and grill for another 15 minutes.
  • Flip the chicken over. Continue cooking, flipping the chicken every 10 minutes and closing the lid each time, until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of one of the chicken’s thighs reads 165°F. The total cooking time should be 45-60 minutes.
  • Allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes before carving and serving.

Notes

Recipe by Julie Grice, SavvyEat.com.
See more from the Summer 2014 issue, including some Rieslings to try with your grilled chicken.
Keyword Brick, chicken, grilled