Grilled BBQ Chicken will be your new best friend all summer long! It’s a whole chicken recipe that always yields the most tender, flavor-packed results. You’ll have this easy recipe mastered in no time, so go ahead and fire up the grill!
What’s in this Grilled BBQ Chicken Recipe
A whole chicken is made delicious with a bouquet of seasonings and plenty of BBQ sauce!
- Whole Chicken: I love making whole chicken recipes when I’m serving a bigger group of people because everyone can grab their favorite cut of meat. Bring on the backyard barbecues!
- Seasonings: Garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, black pepper, allspice and salt create the very best flavor here.
- Barbecue Sauce: Use your favorite store-bought bbq sauce for this recipe or try this homemade version.
PRO TIP: Check out THIS VIDEO to see how to cut up a whole chicken!
Is grilled BBQ chicken healthy?
Let’s take a look at the ingredients! Besides the star of the show (protein-packed chicken), you only need a handful of seasonings and some BBQ sauce. You can always omit the salt if you’re on a low-sodium diet and use a sugar-free BBQ sauce if needed!
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The beauty about this grilled BBQ chicken recipe is that it uses the whole chicken, so it’s sure to please even the pickiest of crowds – everyone will get their favorite piece! A 3-4 pound chicken will serve 8 people, so chose a bigger chicken if you have more guests.
As with all grilling, the grill should be preheated before you cook the chicken. Set the heat to medium, around 425-450ºf and cook the chicken for around 15 to 20 minutes until its internal temperature reads 165ºf.
Nope! In this easy recipe, I like to give the chicken a good dry rub of spices and let it grill for a few minutes before basting with BBQ sauce about halfway through cook time.
How to Store and Reheat
Once the BBQ chicken cools to room temperature, you can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3-4 days. I recommend reheating your leftovers in the air fryer or oven to maintain the original grilled consistency.
More Grilled Chicken Recipes We Love
- Grilled Chicken Sandwiches
- Beer Can Chicken
- Huli Huli Chicken
- Grilled Honey Lime Chicken
- Chicken Spiedini
- California Grilled Chicken
Grilled BBQ Chicken (Whole)
Ingredients
- 3-4 pounds whole chicken cut in pieces
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 3 teaspoons chili powder
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup barbecue sauce
Instructions
- Preheat grill over medium heat.
- In a small bowl, combine garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, pepper, allspice, and salt. Season all sides of the chicken pieces with the spice rub.3-4 pounds whole chicken, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon onion powder, 3 teaspoons chili powder, ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon ground allspice, 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Grill 8 minutes, flip, and cook 6-8 minutes more until lightly charred but not yet cooked through.
- Using a basting brush, coat each piece of chicken in barbecue sauce. Continue grilling, turning and basting with barbecue sauce often, until chicken is cooked through, about 10 more minutes.½ cup barbecue sauce
- When cooked through, the thickest part of the thigh will register 165°F.
This is everything a gourmet recipe should be, and then some! This looks amazing; can’t wait to give this a try!
Thanks Beth that is so sweet.
Best Chicken ever!
YAY!
Love, love, love this recipe! SO delicious!
I’m so glad! It’s a staple at our house.
I need to fire up the grill! This chicken looks so juicy!
It’s SO delish!
This chicken looks perfect! Thanks for sharing.
Hope you love it!
Love how tender and flavorful this is!
Me too!
Doesn’t Barbecue burn so how do you flip with sauce?
Delicious!!!
I’m SO happy to hear you loved it!
This looks fabulous and I will definitely be trying it out. However, your video showed the chicken being cooked on a stove-top grill/griddle. At what temperature did you set the burner(s)? Thank you.
Medium heat!
My husband is leary of any spicy food so when hesaw the rub go o n he insisted I leave one piece without. It was totally unnecessary because he LOVED it! So did I. Unlike other rubs, this one is not bitter. It has a little heat but it’s offset delightfully by the allspice. We will definitely do this again.
Thanks for sharing, Mary Kay!