How to Cook a Roast Chicken On a Charcoal Weber Grill

Do you want to know how to cook a roast chicken on a Charcoal Weber grill, complete with home-made seasoning? Then read on for what to do.

Light the Charcoal or Heat Beads

First up you need to get the charcoal or heat beads, whatever is your preferred fuel type, lit so that it is ready for roasting your chicken.

I like to use Heat Beads for a few reasons including they can be put out and re-lit, heat lasts longer and the fat doesn’t flare up as much as with charcoal.

To light the heat beads, I place 3 – 4 firelighters on the bottom rack in the kettle, light them up and move the baskets over the flame.

If using the charcoal chimney to light them it really is a similar process of placing some firelighters on the grate them positioning the chimney over the naked flame.

Leave for over 30 minutes until the white ash has formed on the beads then we can start cooking.

It takes anywhere from 30 – 45 minutes to get the heat beads optimum for cooking, this is why I like to get them cranked up first.

You will know when they are ready to cook on as they turn almost an orange / white color, just make sure most of the beads are that color and not black.

Prepare the Seasoning

I love home made seasoning (or stuffing as Mum use to call it and we still do) and it is so easy to knock up.

The Ingredients

1 or 2 rashes of bacon (or ham if no bacon).
Half to 1 red onion (or any color onion you have).
Around 4 slices of slightly stale bread.
Fresh herbs (woody herbs are ideal like Thyme, Rosemary, Oregano or whatever you have).
Some chives or shallots.
1 egg
Milk and or water – around 1/3 cup, give or take a bit.
Pinch of salt and pepper to taste.

Method

Cut up the bacon and onion finely and cook in a pan for around 5 minutes (soft onions and bacon just starting to go brown). Then remove from heat to cool slightly.

While that is cooking, blend up the slices of bread finely, along with the herbs and place in a bowl.

Add the cooked bacon and onions to the breadcrumbs and give it a quick stir.

Now add the egg and milk and stir through with a spoon until well mixed. The mixture should be quite moist but not wet.

Stuffing the Chicken

Ok this is why mum called it stuffing I guess. Using your hands, grab a small handful of the seasoning and push it into the cavity of the chicken, repeat this step until the bird is “stuffed”.

At this point I grab a metal skewer and sew the cavity back up to stop the stuffing coming out during roasting. Place the carcass in your foil tray, like these ones, or straight on the grill rack.

Now we are nearly ready to cook the roast chicken on the Weber Kettle grill.

Preparing the Kettle for Roasting

Now I need to re-arrange the baskets to either side of the Weber Kettle to allow for indirect cooking.

In between the baskets I place a tray and fill it with water (this keeps
the meat juicy and tender as well as catch any juices) and put the roasting rack in position.

The chicken gets placed on the middle of the rack over the tray underneath. You can use an additional tray for the chicken or place it directly on the rack, try with both to get your preferred method.

Cooking Chicken in a Weber Charcoal BBQ Grill

I like to place miy chicken in another disposable foil tray as the meat tends to retain a lot more of the delicious juices and yeah I know, I won’t get the smoky char happening on the skin but it isn’t far off it.

Once the chicken is on the rack, place the lid on the Weber Charcoal Kettle BBQ grill to keep the heat in.

The roast chicken will take around 1hr 15mins – 1hr 30mins depending on the size of your bird. A good rule of thumb is to allow around ½ an hour per pound.

If you have a meat thermometer, chicken is done cooking when its internal temperature reaches 165ºF (75ºC). This is a safe way to measure regarding any cut of chicken, whole, breast, thigh or whatever.

Once internal temp has been reached remove the chicken from the BBQ and let it rest for around 5 – 10 minutes, this allows the juices to suck right back into the bird, yummo.

For some of my favourite BBQ Grilling Accessories, check these out.