Easy and delicious Smoked Spanish Chicken Halves starts with a delicious dry rub made of simple but tasty seasonings. Once the chicken is seasoned it is placed on a wire rack on top of a dish filled with potatoes, carrots, zucchini and squash. While the chicken smokes, the drippings caught by this pan of veggies add flavor to every bite.

One key technique to this cook is making the raw Spanish paste that is pasted onto the chicken when it reaches 145 degrees internally. It leaves a crust on the chicken with layers of flavors. If you haven’t figured it out yet, this cook is all about layers of flavors for the perfect recipe.

For this cook, I will be using hickory wood chunks. I love the level of flavor from the smoke, but the key is not to use too much smoke, chicken can absorb flavors very easily.

Let’s get into the recipe!

Smoked Spanish Chicken Halves

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 2 30

Total Time 2 50

Course Main Course

Cuisine Spanish

Servings 6

Ingredients

1 4-5 Whole Chicken
1 Pack Mini petite potatoes diced
1 Whole Carrot diced
1 Whole Zucchini diced
1 Whole Squash diced
3 Tbsp Beef tallow
2 Tbsp Garlic salt for the veggies

Chicken Dry Rub

1 Tbsp Kosher salt
1 Tbsp Black pepper
2 Tsp Garlic powder
2 Tsp Smoked paprika
1 Tsp Onion powder
1 Tsp Oregano
1 Tsp Chili powder
1 Tsp Dry mustard powder

Veggie Paste

1 Whole Onion quartered
1 Whole Tomato quartered
1 Whole Green bell pepper quartered, without seeds
½ Red bell pepper quartered, without seeds
½ Jalapeño seeded
6 Cloves Garlic
1 Lemon juiced
3 Tbsp Olive oil
½ Cup Parsley
Salt to taste

Video

Keyword chicken, easy smoked chicken, smoked chicken, spanish smoked chicken halves

Instructions:

Start off by prepping the chicken, spatchcock the chicken by removing its backbone and then split it in half to create your chicken halves, do this by cutting down the middle of the chicken breast.
Have your seasonings ready in a seasoning bowl and season the bottom half (underneath) the chicken generously and then flip the chicken and season the top of the bird generously. Place to the side.
In a roasting pan (2” depth pan) add the diced potatoes, carrots, zucchini and squash. Add the beef tallow and season with garlic salt, hand mix.
Have the smoker fired up at 275 degrees F. Add the roasting pan full of veggies and place the chicken halves on top (you leave the chicken halves on the wire grate).
When the chicken is reading an internal temp of 135 degrees, make the veggie paste. In a food processor add the onion, tomato, bell peppers (green and red), garlic, parsley, lemon juice, jalapeño and salt. Run the food processor until it becomes a constant paste.
Open the smoker and apply the paste to the top of the bird (I use a big spoon for this). Be sure to cover it pretty well.
Let the chicken finish cooking, it will be 165 degree F. Inside the breast of the chicken.
Remove and serve with friends and family!