Unlike brisket and pulled pork, which take many hours to smoke, smoking a whole chicken requires less time. And with only three essential steps to follow, anyone (even beginner grillers) can get the hang of it. Not only is smoked chicken versatile, but it's also delicious to serve for a holiday dinner like Thanksgiving, in sandwiches, or atop a green salad.

Read on for the tools and guidelines that will help you learn how to smoke a whole chicken like a pro.

Smoking a whole chicken can take anywhere from one hour to 24 hours depending on how you prep it.

If you go the 24-hour route, we recommend brining the chicken to make it moist, tender, and full of flavor (you can brine it anywhere from 4-24 hours). You'll do this before removing the giblets, trimming, and cooking.

No matter whether you brine or give it a good rub down, make sure to tuck the wing tips under the bird to prevent them from burning. Then, truss the chicken by using butchers twine to tie the legs together and keep the bird compact for even cooking.

How to Brine a Whole Chicken

In order to ensure your meat is flavorful to the bone, try out a good brine.

Brining your bird is the best way to infuse flavor deep into the meat and keep it juicy. No matter how much salt you use, a dry rub will only penetrate so far into the meat, but submerging your bird in brine pulls salt and flavor into the muscles -- and keeps it there throughout the cooking process.

"I use a brine to impart moisture in my poultry," says Traeger Pro Matt Pittman. "I keep it simple with an old school salt brine. You can use 1/2 cup salt and sugar plus a tablespoon of your favorite BBQ sauce mixed in a gallon of water."

A basic brine is ½ cup of salt (or 1 cup of kosher salt) for every gallon of liquid. You’ll need enough liquid to fully submerge your chicken. Many people — like Matt — use sugar to balance the salty flavor, and this also helps caramelize the skin, giving it an appetizing brown color.

You don’t have to use only water for the liquid. It's a lot of fun to experiment with broths, juices, beers, and more to change up the flavor. Just be wary of salt and sugar content if you’re working with juices or cooking wines. You’ll want to adjust your dry ingredients accordingly.

You can also add all sorts of herbs, vegetables, and spices to your brine to infuse even more flavor into your meat. For a more flavorful brine, check out this recipe by Dennis the Prescott.

How Long Should I Brine Chicken?

Ideally, you’ll let your bird brine overnight in the fridge, but even letting it brine for an hour will make a noticeable difference in flavor. The longer it brines, the saltier it gets, which is why we don’t recommend brining for over 24 hours. Brining for too long results in oversalted meat.

Smoked Chicken Injection

You can also inject the brine into your chicken. "I used to be a chicken briner but now am an injector," says pitmaster and Traeger Ambassador Doug Scheding.

Injecting brine is "easier and (adds) much more flavor deeper into the meat," he says. Injection is a mixture of phosphates (salt on steroids) and flavor from dissolved seasonings. It adds about 10-17% moisture to chicken.

If you want to start out simple, Doug recommends chicken broth. If you're ready to go with a more advanced brine — like the one Scheiding used to win Grand Champion at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo — try this Traeger chicken injection recipe.

How to Dry Brine Chicken

Another technique recommended by Doug Scheiding is dry-brining. This involves salting the chicken, then letting it sit in the refrigerator while the salt is absorbed. "Basically the salt on the skin dissolves and moves into the skin," says Doug. "This helps give it more bite through or perhaps even crispiness depending on how it is cooked."

Doug describes this technique in his Traeger beef ribs recipe. The same steps will work well for chicken, too.

Spatchcocking a chicken is removing the backbone of the bird so that it can lay flat in a pan or grill. A spatchcocked chicken will usually cook more evenly, and in a shorter period of time. Our Traeger experts recommend spatchcocking as the best way to smoke a whole chicken.

This expert tutorial has all the information you need to spatchcock at home.

The basic process simply involves using a large knife to cut on either side of the backbone, through the ribs, then discarding it. Once the backbone is gone, you split the breastbone, allowing you to spread the bird flat. This recipe for Spatchcock Chile-Lime Chicken is an example of how spatchcocking can save you time — it cooks in just 40 minutes!

Smoking a whole chicken on a pellet grill is as easy as cooking in an oven (but much more flavorful!). In a pellet grill, which uses wood pellets as a source of fuel, your bird will be infused with delicious wood-fired flavor. Make sure to keep these steps in mind when smoking your bird:

When it comes to smoking a whole chicken, there are a few things to keep in mind. To get the best smoke flavor you'll want to set your grill between 180-225℉. For extra wood-fired flavor, turn use the Super Smoke setting on your grill. Just remember, as the temperature of the grill increases, you get less smoke.

Smoking a whole chicken can take between 3-4 hours, but it all depends on the temperature you choose, the size of the bird, and whether you spatchcock it or not. For best results, follow your recipe, but if you're feeling nervous, monitor the internal temperature with a MEATER 2 Plus wireless meat thermometer. Just make sure to stick it in the thickest part of the breast. The chicken is ready to take off the grill when the temperature reaches 165℉.

How Long To Smoke A Whole Chicken

The cooking time for a smoked whole chicken will depend on the size of your chicken, how you've prepared it, the temperature you've set, and the final product you're looking for. The important thing is to cook it until it's at a safe temperature for eating (165 degrees Fahrenheit); this can take between 3 and 4 hours if smoking low and slow.

The method above will give your bird a smoky flavor, but may not result in crispy skin. One way to get smoky flavor and crisp skin is to smoke the bird for about an hour and then crank up the heat and roast it until the skin is crisp and the chicken is cooked through. This also decreases the total cooking time.

Best Wood For Smoked Chicken

Best wood for smoked chicken? Most Traeger wood pellets pair well with poultry, so let your other flavors guide you. If you want additional sweetness, any fruit tree or mild pellet flavor will help. Our cherry and apple pellets will work great. If you want your bird to be bold, try hickory or mesquite, and of course, you can never go wrong with our Signature blend.

Whole smoked chicken has a delicious wood-fired flavor so choosing sides that complement it is a must. Consider serving some of the following:

• Loaded Baked Potato Salad
• Baked Macaroni Cheese
• Roasted Green Beans with Bacon
• Collared Greens