How to Make Rotisserie Chicken on the Grill

I am sure there are other ways to rotisserie a chicken but here is how I do it ~ very easy!

About 5 or 6 hours before starting the grill, I clean a 4 or 5 pound chicken. In my experience, a chicken bigger than that takes too long to cook. I’ve done two smaller chickens at the same time and that worked great, too. Game hens would also work well.

Back to the cleaned and dried chicken…at this point I either use a rub or a marinade. In the pictures, I used a rub ~ just one I picked up at the grocery store. It’s called rotisserie chicken oddly enough I rub it all over the chicken, put it on a small cookie sheet, cover with foil, put in the fridge and let it marinate for 5 or 6 hours.

I take the chicken out and set the whole tray on the cupboard for about 20 minutes just so that it’s not ice cold when it goes on the rotisserie. I sometimes stick some sprigs of herbs from my garden in the cavity along with a cut up lemon.

I tie up the legs and the wings with kitchen twine so they don’t get burned and don’t fling around when the rotisserie turns.

Now, my rotisserie turns over the fire. Some will turn in front of the fire. If yours turns in front of the fire, make sure you rub some butter or oil on the skin to help it crisp up.

So, my chicken is trussed up, the spit is stuck through the middle, I get the chicken centered, stick the prongs in and tighten them. We remove the grates from the grill, set the spit on the rotisserie and let it work it’s magic. I keep the temp of the grill to about 375º ~ we’ve found that works best for our grill and rotisserie.

Sometimes we’ve had to re-tighten the prongs while it’s over the fire ~ in fact, I think we had to do it on Saturday when we made the chicken in the pictures.

I like to let the chicken go for about 1 1/2 hours and sometimes it’s taken up to 2 hours. Just check with a meat thermometer to make sure it’s done so no pink remains.

Take the chicken off the rotisserie when it’s done, put it on a serving platter, cover and let it sit for about 15-20 minutes before carving.

And that’s the easy way to make rotisserie chicken.

Happy Cooking!

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