American · Dinner

BBQ Half Chicken

Spice-rubbed half birds, tacky BBQ glaze and oven or grill.

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BBQ Half Chicken, plated, photographed from above.
Prep
15 min
Cook
50 min
Makes
4 servings
Skill
Comfortable
Heat
Mild, adjustable
Halal
Maui says

Glaze in the last 15 min, not from the start - BBQ sauce has sugar, sugar burns. Bare chicken first, glazed chicken second. You'll get tacky bark instead of black char.

Ingredients

Everything below makes 4 servings.

  • 4 lbwhole chicken (4 lb, split in half)halved through the breastbone, patted dry
  • 1 cupBBQ sauce
  • 1 tbspbrown sugar
  • 1 tbspsmoked paprika
  • 1 tspgarlic powder
  • 1 tsponion powder
  • 1 tspground cumin
  • ½ tspcayenne
  • 2 tbspolive oil
  • 1½ tspkosher salt
  • 1 tspblack pepper

In the app these rescale to however many people you're feeding.

Nutrition

Per serving, as written.

  • 1177calories
  • 86gprotein
  • 33gcarbs
  • 76gfat

Swaps move these numbers. A different protein or base changes them.

Instructions

Knife work first, then the stove. Nothing below asks you to chop while something burns.

Before you start
  1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Place a rack on the sheet pan.
  2. Halve the chicken if not pre-split (cut through breastbone and along backbone). Pat very dry.
  3. Mix smoked paprika, brown sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, cayenne, salt, pepper in a small bowl for the rub.
1

Rub

Drizzle chicken halves with olive oil. Sprinkle rub all over, into every crevice, including under the skin where you can. Don't be shy.

4 min · hands on
2

Roast

Place chicken halves skin-up on the rack. Roast at 425°F for 35 min without touching.

35 min · hands off
3

Glaze

Pull chicken from oven. Brush HALF the BBQ sauce over the skin generously. Return to oven, roast 10-15 min more until 175°F at the thigh and the glaze is tacky and bubbling.

15 min · hands off
4

Rest and serve

Rest 10 min. Serve with the remaining BBQ sauce for dipping.

10 min · hands off

Make it yours

Every swap here is one Maui already knows how to make, including what it does to the timing.

Instead of half chicken Bone-in chicken thighs and legs

Use 4 lb thighs and legs; cook 40 min instead of 50. Saves about 10 minutes.

Instead of served as the main With cornbread and coleslaw

Bake cornbread alongside; toss slaw while chicken rests. Adds about 30 minutes.

What keeps

Reheats well at 350°F for 12 min covered. Skin loses some crisp but the glaze stays sticky-good.

Save extra BBQ sauce on the side to brush before re-warming.

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