BBQ Chicken with Apricot Glaze

Ingredients

Chicken

*best to season the chicken a day ahead of time if possible*

• 1 whole chicken (roughly 3.5 lbs)

• 3-4 tbsp pepper (ideally whole peppercorns, but cracked pepper will also work)

• 4-5 tbsp salt

Apricot glaze

• 2 tbsp apricot jam

• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

  • Substitutes: white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar would also work

• 1/2 tbsp honey (optional)

• Splash of white wine

  • Note: probably not necessary if you are already using white wine or champagne vinegar, but a nice add if you are solely using ACV

Serves 3-4

Method

Chicken

• 8 hours-2 days ahead of time halve your chicken. I am not an expert on animal butchery, so I’ll direct you to this video, which I watched to halve mine

  • Tip: save the backbone of your chicken and any other scraps to make stock! There is so much flavor in these bones. If you don’t have time to make stock in the day or two following, put your bones in a ziplock bag and put them in the freezer. Once you eat your chicken, save those bones and add them to the lot.

• Pat the chickens dry thoroughly and then season generously with salt and pepper so that every nook and cranny of the chickens is seasoned. Again, you can do this up to 2 days ahead of time, just be sure to refrigerate them.

  • Note: if possible, I recommend using whole peppercorns, toasting them quickly on the stove top, and then grinding them in a mortar and pestle, spice mill, or coffee grinder. This intensifies the flavor of the pepper immensely.

• Before you are ready to start grilling, make your glaze—I have include instructions in a separate section below

• When you are ready to grill your chicken, take it out of the refrigerator to bring it to room temperature. Then light your grill and get it to a medium heat

• Put the chickens on the grill bone side down, skin side up and let them cook until they are ~95% ready

  • Note: your chicken will be done when the thickest part of the thigh is 175º and the breast is 155º. I would highly recommend investing in a meat thermometer (which you can get for less than $10), because the cook time will vary depending on the size of your bird, heat of your grill, etc.

• Once the chicken is mostly cooked, brush the glaze onto it

• When the chicken skin is fully glazed, flip it over on the grill to finish skin side down. The sugars in the glaze should caramelize quickly giving the skin some nice char

• After a couple of minutes, flip the chicken over and check the temperature again to ensure that it is ready

• Transfer chicken to a cutting board or plate, skin side up, and let it rest for ~15-20 minutes before carving

Apricot Glaze

• Add apricot jam, apple cider vinegar, and white wine to a pot on low-medium heat

• Stir and let it reduce for a couple of minutes until everything is well incorporated and the mixture has thickened slightly

• Then taste the mixture to see if it needs any additional sweetness to balance the acidity. Depending on the sugar content of your jam, you may not need anything else. If you do find it is too acidic, add 1/2 to 1 tbsp of honey. Alternatively, if the glaze is too sweet, add a touch of additional vinegar

• Add a tiny pinch of salt to the glaze

• Continue to reduce for about 10 minutes, until it will coat the back of a spoon if you stick it in. If it ever looks like the sugars are caramelizing too quickly and there is not enough liquid, add a little bit more wine or a tiny splash of water, then turn down your heat.

• Transfer to a bowl and get ready to brush it onto your chicken!