“A halved chicken is really easy to handle on the grill,” says Brad Leone. “Since it���s on the bone, it comes out super flavorful. There are nutrients and flavors in the bones.” It’s crucial to dry-brine the chicken for at least eight hours, which seasons the meat and gives it time to absorb the floral kick of the mixed peppercorns. A fermented garlic-honey and vinegar glaze helps to mellow out the bite. We used this recipe, but you can also use regular honey or maple syrup instead.
Recipe information
Yield
4 servings
Ingredients
2
4
6
1
1
2
½
3
Special Equipment
Preparation
Step 1
Finely grind black peppercorns and 2 Tbsp. pink peppercorns in a spice mill or mortar and pestle. Transfer to a small bowl and mix in 5 tsp. Diamond Crystal or 2¾ tsp. Morton kosher salt; set seasoning aside.
Step 2
Place chicken, breast side down, on a cutting board and use kitchen shears to cut along both sides of the backbone to remove (freeze and save it for stock!). Open chicken and turn skin side up. Press down on center of breast to flatten chicken—you should hear the breastbone crack. Using a chef’s knife or cleaver, split chicken in half through breastbone. Pat dry; rub all over with 1 Tbsp. oil. Sprinkle reserved seasoning all over, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies. Place on a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet. Chill, uncovered, at least 8 hours and up to 2 days.
Step 3
Coarsely grind remaining 2 Tbsp. pink peppercorns in spice mill or mortar and pestle. Cook chiles, honey, vinegar, and remaining 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture just turns amber in color and is reduced by about half (it should coat a spoon), 10–12 minutes. Stir in pink pepper and set aside.
Step 4
Prepare a grill for medium heat. Lightly oil grate. Set chicken on grate, cover, positioning vent over chicken if your grill has one, and grill, turning every 5 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of thighs registers 120°–130°, 15–20 minutes. Uncover and continue to grill, basting with honey mixture and turning chicken every 2–3 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of thighs registers 175° and 155° in the thickest part of breast, 10–15 minutes longer. Transfer to a cutting board and place skin side up. Let rest 30 minutes before carving.
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Reviews (9)
Back to TopHoly $hit! So good. After watching “It’s Alive!” with Brad I’ve been making fermented garlic honey. The pink peppercorn has that floral note and the black peppercorn gives you that punchy flavour that balances out the honey so well. Self admittedly I’m a baby with spice so I used poblanos and they worked great! I did a whole chicken but you could use this recipe and sub wings or thighs for a cookout/BBQ, even a Super Bowl party and they’d be a huge hit. It’s so simple you could even batch cook for meal prep and use on salads, protein bowls, or by itself. 10/10 Brad, nice!
Clay
Chicago, IL
12/18/2023
For "Anonymous" in Chicago, I think rotate/turn would mean flip the chicken upside down each time. Since you are grilling you have to worry more about where the heat is coming from versus an oven with all around heating. So flip the chicken to make sure the chicken is evenly heated.
Anonymous
USA
9/7/2022
This is a very good chicken recipe that everybody enjoyed. It looked so good that a vegetarian at the meeting was tempted to try it!
Anonymous
Ithaca, New York
8/21/2020
This looks beautiful and sounds like it would be amazing but finding these exact ingredients proved to be difficult if not impossible. Fresno peppers aren’t available til late summer or early fall. Pink peppercorns are also hard to come by but I was able to find them. The other reviewers also made substitutions. To make this exact recipe seems unattainable for most. Didn’t actually get to make it the first time, maybe when Fresno peppers are available here I will try again.
Sophia901
Memphis TN
7/2/2020
This was SO good! I didn’t have pink peppercorn so used a Szechuan blend and probably about 2 times the amount required (measured ground, not whole, whatever!) also used orange blossom vinegar and added garlic to the glaze because I love garlic. This was delish. Make more glaze that it calls for, you’ll want to drizzle it on afterwards.
Anonymous
Minneapolis
7/1/2020
Sorry, dumb question: does turn mean rotate or flip? If rotate, which side do you put the chicken down: skin side or nonskin side?
gpierce112
Chicago
6/20/2020
First things first, this chicken came out great! This recipe was really easy to follow and will definitely make this again. I used maple syrup and white wine vinegar. I was able to find most of the ingredients at my local Target. I did use Olive Oil instead of Vegetable Oil. I had a hard time trying to find pink peppercorn and Fresno chili's. If you're like me and can't find these, DO NOT substitute the lack of pink peppercorn with more black peppercorn and DO NOT substitute Fresno chili's with Chile Serranos.
Anonymous
Los Angeles
6/15/2020