Ridiculously Easy, Fool-Proof Roast Chicken on The BBQ

2 whole chickens, approx. 5 lbs. each*
kosher salt (optional)
6-8 whole lemons
non-stick cooking spray
olive oil (optional)

*I buy my chickens at Costco -- they are MUCH cheaper per-pound than the grocery store (unless there's a crazy sale going on!) and they come packaged two in a bag, so you just grab them and go -- what could be easier?!

The Short Version:
1. Heat the BBQ to 400 degrees.
2. Juice four lemons, and slice two more in half (you can play this by ear as to how many/few to actually juice. Basically, you want to have two-three unjuiced halves to stuff into the chickens, then you can juice the rest, and fill in any blank space inside the chickens with juiced halves.)
3. Take two chickens, pour the lemon juice over both of them, and stuff them with lemon halves.
4. Put both chickens on the BBQ, breast-side up -- cook for 20 minutes.
5. Flip, and cook for 40 minutes.
Done!

The "Longer" Version:
You can do this one of two ways: you can brine (soak) the chickens in a kosher salt bath overnight, or you can take them out of the bag, rinse them off, and throw them on the BBQ. The choice is entirely up to you and how much time you have.

If you are brining the chickens
Get two LARGE pots, and pour about a 1/2 c. of kosher salt in the bottom of each pot. Fill with about two inches of warm water, and stir until the salt dissolves. Place a chicken in each pot (after rinsing the chicken well with hot water and removing the innards), and then fill with more hot water until the chicken is covered. You can sprinkle in a little more salt if you like, if you feel like the added water may have diluted it a lot. If you want to make A-Little-More-Effort Fool-Proof Roast Chicken on The BBQ, you can even get crazy and add hot sauce, black pepper, Wild Turkey, vermouth -- whatever! -- to the brining liquid.

But, if you want to keep it easy (and I don't blame you -- I know I do!), just pop the lids onto the pots, and put them in the fridge. Or just skip the brining altogether! We are lucky and have an extra fridge in our garage, so it doesn't require a huge reorganization effort on my part to store the two large pots overnight. If you don't have the extra space, forget the brining! Let them sit for 12-24 hours, then pull the pots out and rinse the chickens again.

Once the chickens are brined, OR if you are just going straight to the BBQ:
1. Heat the BBQ to 400 degrees -- for our BBQ, this is just a touch about the Medium setting.

2. Now for the lemons. If they're at room temperature, great. If not, you can pop them (all together) into the microwave for a minute (or massage them in your hands -- this takes longer but then your hands smell deliciously lemony!!) -- they'll give you more juice this way!

Slice all the lemons in half, and juice the 6-8 of the halves. You want to have enough juice to pour over the chickens inside and out, with some"non-juiced" halves to stuff inside the chickens.

3. You can either transport the chickens one by one in their respective pots out to the BBQ, or you can do what I did (until the dogs broke my 9x13 Pyrex dish, that is...!) and put them in my 9x13 Pyrex dish. Holding them upright in whatever container you're going to carry them to the BBQ, pour the lemon juice over the front and back outside, and inside. Stuff two of the un-juiced halves, cut-side out, into the chicken cavity (AFTER removing the innards), and fill in any remaining space inside the chicken with the juiced lemon halves. There will be juice in the bottom of the pan/pot.

4. Take the chickens to the BBQ and double-check that it's heated to 400 degrees. Spray the spots on the grill where you are going to place the chickens with non-stick cooking spray, and quickly place the chickens onto the grill, breast-side up. Pour any extra juice left in the pan/pot over them and into the cavity. (You can rub the front and back of the chickens with a little olive oil if you want, to make sure they don't stick to the grill, but this adds fat, too, so it can definitely be skipped!)

*The chickens will spend the majority of the cooking time breast-side down so that the juices run into the breasts and keep them moist. Start out cooking them breast-side up, so that the meat on the back gets some of the juices as well. The breast side is fleshier than the back, and if you poke both sides with your finger, you will feel hard bones on the back -- this side goes down first. (The back is also much flatter than the breast side.)

5. Let them cook for 20 minutes breast-side up, then flip them. I've found the easiest way to do this is with two pairs of tongs -- using one set of tongs (if one set is longer, use the shorter set for the part of the chicken closest to the front of the grill -- the juices will drip down into the grill and flames will shoot up, so the farther your hands can be from the grill the better), grab the front of the chicken by sticking the tongs inside the cavity and grabbing the top. Do the same with the other set of tongs on the back part of the chicken, and flip it so it is breast-side down on the grill. Do the same for the other chicken. The goal is to get the chicken turned without breaking the skin or disturbing the meat. (I have tried to do this by hand with gloves -- they are really hot. Also, I have tried to flip them by grabbing the legs and wings, which pull off -- the tong method is the best way I've found.)

6. Let them cook this way for 40 minutes -- NO peeking! Go catch up on your DVR'd shows, paint your nails, walk the dogs, wash your hair, wash your car...whatever! Once the time is up, test for done-ness by piercing the meat and making sure the juices run clear. If so, pull the chickens off the grill -- you're done! If the juices are pink, continue cooking, checking every 2-3 minutes, until done.

That's it!

No really. That's all.

So if you don't brine, it's rinse, juice, BBQ, flip, BBQ, done -- easy-peezy!

I have made these many, many times, and they always come out delicious! Last time I made them, Husband "taste-tested" them and ended up eating a huge chunk of each -- they're just so moist and flavorful, it's hard to resist!

You can cut the breasts off and use them whole and then shred the rest of the meat, or just shred all of the meat. I have used the chicken for Chicken Noodle Soup, Chicken-Tomatillo Enchiladas, Chicken Quesadillas, Blackened Chicken with Avocado Salsa (a stupidly-easy, delicious dinner recipe I will post SOON!), Chicken, Curry, & Rice Casserole -- you name it, anything you need chicken for, these are perfect!

Note: I just made some more over the weekend, and I did one lemon and one lime, just to see how it turned out. I plan to use the lemon for Chicken Noodle Soup, and the lime for Avocado Chicken and Pioneer Woman's White Chicken Enchiladas! The difference was very subtle, and both were delicious - so feel free to vary the citrus depending on what you plan to do with them!

Enjoy!

*Please consider voting for one of my three entries into the Cooking with PAMA Contest -- I could win a trip to the Aspen Food & Wine Festival (and I really, really, reeeeally want to go!) You can vote once a day, and I'd really appreciate your support! Thank you!!!! Here are the entries: PAMA Pumpkin Soup, PAMA Cupcake Sundaes/PAMA Cupcakes, and PAMA Carnitas with Pineapple-Pomegranate Salsa!