A few years ago, I bought Derek a really cool attachment for his Weber grill – a rotisserie attachment (#EarnsCommission). It turns the Weber into a charcoal rotisserie and makes some of the best chicken I’ve ever had. This attachment has even made it to North Dakota with us a few times. We’ve used it to roast chicken during early goose season when I don’t want to turn the oven on because it’s too darn hot out. And we’ve even used it to roast a goose – probably one of my favorite ways we’ve tried to date.
But by far my favorite thing, we’ve made on this is Lemon Pepper Rotisserie Chicken.
This puts grocery store rotisserie chickens to shame. Yeah, it’s not as convenient as picking up a premade, hot chicken on your way home – and will never replace that – but this produce a tender, moist chicken, with a crisp skin (if you like to eat skin) that has a subtle lemon flavor. I stuff the chicken with lemon so as it cooks, the lemons release their juice and baste the chicken from the inside.
This is a great excuse to hand out in the yard on a beautiful spring day. And if you have guests over is really a show stopper how impressive it will look cooking.
One day, I’ll try a beef roast on this rotisserie and I’m sure it will be great, but chicken comes out so good I haven’t really felt the need to stray.
Here’s what you need:
Note: I realized after I took this picture that I had fresh thyme in the fridge, so I ended up using that. Either will work.
Start by cutting the lemons in half and then the halves into quarters. Smash a few cloves of garlic, and grab a bunch of fresh time. We’re going to stuff this into the chicken cavity.
Don’t mind the zested lemon, I was using zest for something else this particular day.
Add a bunch of thyme to the cavity and then stuff by alternating lemon and garlic.
Now it’s time to season the chicken. Since I’m not a huge fan of eating the skin, I like to season under the skin so I can enjoy some of that great flavor. Don’t worry – we’ll season the skin too in case we’re eating with someone who wants to enjoy the yummy crispy skin you get from this method of cooking.
Gently work your fingers under the skin of the breast to loosen the skin.
Now this next part works best if you have someone else to give you a third hand – otherwise put the seasoning in a bowl so you can use your fingertips and not contaminate the jar. Gently hold the skin away from the chicken and sprinkle in some lemon pepper seasoning mix. I really like Weber’s Zesty Lemon (#EarnsCommission). You can use your finger to gently rub it in and evenly around.
Next truss the chicken. I’m not an expert in how to do this so my suggestion is get yourself some kitchen twine and watch a youtube video such as this one. I have to watch every time. Apparently you need to repeat this a lot more frequently and with less time in between in order to remember.
Skewer the chicken in the middle of the spit for the rotisserie. The weber rotisserie has these fork like things that you spear the chicken with and then tighten down with thumb screws to keep it in the middle of the skewer.
Season the outside of the chicken with some of the lemon pepper seasoning too.
It’s very important to set your grill up for indirect cooking. That way the skin can slowly render and become nice and crisp and the chicken will cook gently. I bought my husband these cool briquette holders (#EarnsCommission) that keep the charcoal stacked nicely to the side.
Start the coals like you normally would using a chimney starter (#EarnsCommission) and then when the coals are ready divide evenly among the briquette holders. We wanted to smoke a little too so we added some wood chips to a smoke box and set on top of one of the holders.
You’re going to slide the skewer of the rotisserie into the motor. When you turn it on it will start turning. There is a weight that attaches to the end of the handle, you’ll want to adjust this so that as the rotisserie turns a full rotation you can’t hear the motor straining. If you listen you’ll be able to tell if it needs this or not.
Put the cover on and cook the chicken for 12-20 minutes a pound until an instant read thermometer in the breast registers 165 degrees. A typical chicken is about 3-4 pounds so for a 3 pound bird this can take anywhere from 36 minutes to an hour. At the four pound range you’re looking 48 minutes to an hour and 20 min.
You can see it doesn’t take long for the skin to start to develop a golden color.
Look at that beauty! This is what it looks like when it’s done. Crisp, golden and delicious.
Remove the chicken from the rotisserie skewer and let rest for 15 minutes before slicing.
The skin of the breast got so crisp on me it split during the last 5 minutes of cooking. I’ve only ever had this happen at the very end so the breast meat never has a chance to dry out.
Now it’s time to carve the chicken up and enjoy.
My favorite part is picking at the chicken pieces as my husband or one of the other men in my life are carving. I mean after doing all the hard work, you have to be the first to taste this right?
We’ve also cooked chicken using this method and used a variety of barbecue rubs and stuffed the chicken with other things like apples and onions. The sky’s really the limit here on what you can do. Feel free to experiment – everything we’ve done has tasted great.
- Whole chicken, 3-4 pounds
- 3 small lemons, quartered or cut into 8ths
- 4-5 cloves garlic, smashed
- Bundle fresh thyme
- 2 T Weber zesty lemon seasoning
- Set the Weber rotisserie attachment on top of the kettle. Prep your charcoal grill for indirect cooking and once hot, set the coals in briquette holders off to the sides. While the coals are heating prepare the chicken.
- Stuff the cavity with lemon, thyme and garlic.
- Gently loosen the skin around the breast of the chicken and season under the skin with about half of the zesty lemon seasoning.
- Truss the chicken using cooking twine.
- Gently push onto the rotisserie skewer and secure in the middle.
- Season the outside of the chicken with remaining zesty lemon seasoning.
- Set the skewer on the grill and connect to the motor. Turn on and adjust the weight on the handle end until the motor runs evenly as it turns.
- Cook, covered for 12-20 minutes per pound, checking with an instant read thermometer. Once chicken reaches 165 degrees in the breast, remove chicken from rotisserie and allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving.
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