Chicken is what I grill the most all summer. It’s quick, it’s forgiving, and it’s the one meat I never have to think twice about.
It’s the same bird every week, and it never has to be the same meal. These are the Big Green Egg chicken ideas I keep coming back to, and they go from a lazy Tuesday to a full spread without much extra work.
Grilling chicken is also really hard to mess up, which is the real reason I reach for it. When there’s a lot going on, chicken doesn’t need me standing over it watching a number. It mostly takes care of itself.
So here’s the lineup, easy to adventurous.
Cook to temp, not the clock
I know I just said it’s hard to mess up chicken, but the one thing you really have to pay attention to is internal temperature. Too long and it’s dry. Too early and it’s raw. If you have watched any cooking competition show, you know the downfalls of raw chicken.
A clock won’t tell you which side you’re on. A probe will. Stick it in the thickest part, pull it when it hits the number, and you’re safe and juicy every time. Use a proper temp guide instead of guessing off the lid.
1. Thighs, The Weeknight Default
Thighs are the most forgiving piece of chicken there is. All that fat means they don’t dry out the way a breast does, so if you get distracted and leave them on a few minutes too long, they’re still fine. That’s exactly what you want on a weeknight when dinner is one of six things you’re doing at once.
Bone-in, skin-on, is the move. The skin crisps up over the fire, and the bone keeps the meat from cooking too fast. Season them simply, cook until the skin is dark and the meat pulls clean, and you’ve got dinner that took almost no thought.
If you want the full method, smoking chicken thighs walks through the temps and timing.
2. Wings, For When You’re Not Watching
Wings are the cook for when you’re only half paying attention. They don’t care if the temperature bounces around, so people coming and going and the lid going up and down doesn’t hurt them. You still get crispy skin and meat that holds up.
The one thing to get right is crisping the skin without burning the sauce. That usually means cooking them a bit indirectly first, then finishing hotter, or saucing right at the end. Dry rub or wet sauce, both work. Either way, they go fast, so make more than you think you need.
The full wings on the Egg recipe has the setup.
3. Beer Can Chicken, Looks Harder Than It Is
Beer can chicken looks like you pulled off something serious, and you really didn’t. You stand a whole bird upright over a can, the moisture keeps the inside from drying out while the outside crisps, and the heat gets all the way around it so it cooks evenly. That’s the whole trick.
It’s one of the most popular recipes on the blog, and every time, people assume it took real skill. It didn’t. It just looks the part sitting there on the grill.
Beer can chicken has the full walkthrough if you want to try it.
4. Jerk Chicken, Same Bird, Different Flavour World
Jerk is where the same bird becomes a completely different meal. It’s all in the marinade: scotch bonnet, allspice, thyme, a real hit of heat and spice that soaks in before it ever touches the grill. The Egg does the rest, because jerk and smoke belong together.
If your summer’s been salt and pepper and not much else, this is the reset. It’s loud, it’s hot, and it doesn’t taste like anything else you’ve made all season.
The full jerk chicken recipe has the marinade and the cook.
5. Chicken Shawarma, Now It’s A Spread
Shawarma is the showpiece of the bunch. This is the one you set aside an afternoon for, not a weeknight throw-on. You marinate a big stack of thighs overnight, load them onto a vertical skewer, and cook it indirect while the outside chars into crispy layers you shave off. It’s backyard shawarma, and it’s some of the best chicken I’ve made.
One warning: it takes longer than any recipe tells you. A full stack of thighs is a dense mass, and mine ran an hour and a half past when it was meant to be done. Budget the whole afternoon, probe it in a few spots, and don’t promise anyone dinner at 6:30.
My chicken shawarma post has the marinade and full cooking instructions.
6. Guyanese-style Chicken Chow Mein
Chow mein is the one nobody expects off the Egg, and it’s the best proof of the range. It’s a Guyanese recipe from Devan Rajkumar’s cookbook, and my twist was cooking the marinated thighs on the Egg first, for the char and smoke, before they go into the stir fry.
That smoky chicken through a wok of noodles and veg is something people can’t quite place. I made mine on a cold, rainy Toronto night, a little jealous of everyone who cooks this on a beach. It was a hit with the whole family, and our oldest even took the leftovers to school.
The full Guyanese-style chicken chow mein is a family recipe, and worth the read.
When You’re Ready, Spatchcock It
Once you’re comfortable with the recipes listed above, spatchcocking is the technique worth learning. You take the backbone out and flatten the whole bird, so it sits flat over the heat instead of in a lump. It cooks more evenly and a good bit faster.
It’s not a tonight thing. It’s a once-you’ve-got-the-basics thing. But when you’re ready, it changes how a whole chicken cooks.
Here’s how to spatchcock on the Egg when you want it.
One Skill, A Week Of Dinners
That’s the whole point. Learn to pull at temp, and one bird carries you through a week without repeating itself. Thighs on Tuesday, wings when people are over, shawarma when you want to show off, chow mein when you want to really please everyone.
Want more than just chicken? Head over to the full Big Green Egg guide if you want to see what else the Egg can do.
