Is it worth it to cook a chicken?

[JPSBBQ]

I cooked 3 whole chickens and a boatload of chicken wings on Monday and all of the skin was crispy. I'm not going for smoke flavor, so I cook it at 350F until IT hits 150F and then blast it for 10 minutes or so at 450F. Super juicy meat and crispy skin.

You can easily take wings to 180+ even though they are “white“ meat they have sooo much connective tissue they really benefit from a higher finish IT.

 

[imjustabill1970]

Brand new to Traeger, and I was thinking of doing a whole chicken--mainly because I already have one from a local farm in my freezer that I'd been meaning to use.

I've come to like doing whole chickens in my Instant Vortex Plus Air Fryer Oven (from the Instant Pot company)--they call it an air fryer but it looks like a cube-shaped toaster oven. For whole chickens and the like it has a rotisserie attachment, and it does a great job of roasting an up to almost 4-pound whole chicken in about an hour, moist inside, crispy skin.

From what I've been reading here, it's not so easy to do a whole chicken on a Traeger (I have a Pro 575). You need to spatchcock it, and people still report getting rubbery skin. Some advice has been to skip the smoking step and do it all at about 350 to ensure a crisp skin.

Presumably, one benefit to doing a chicken in a pellet grill is some smokiness. I suppose the question isn't can I do a whole chicken in the Traeger, but should I?

Glad you re-worded your question, I was about to answer the subject question by saying that you should always cook chicken.

 

[Big Man Dan]

I just smoked a chicken over the holiday weekend and it was amazing! I brushed it with melted butter and covered that with Yardbirds seasoning. Smoke at 255 (with Super Smoke if you have it) to the right internal temperature (165F I think for chicken) which took about 90 minutes if remember right but the size of the bird will effect actual time. Take it off the smoker and let it rest for at least 5 minutes. Slice and eat. OMG!! and Super-easy.

I have also spatchcocked my smoked chicken in the past with equally awesome results but it's a bit more work. I think it pays off though in that the bird will cook more evenly. If you decided to spatchcock the chicken, make sure you have a decent kitchen shears. A dull shears takes a LOT of hand strength.