Wheatland Cafe: Spatchcock Chicken with Maple-Whisky BBQ Sauce

It’s sounds exotic but spatchcocking is the removal of the entire backbone of a chicken and the breaking of the breast bone to allow the chicken to lay flat during cooking. All you need are some really good kitchen shears and you’ll be spatchcocking in minutes!

1 chicken

Kitchen shears

salt

Maple-Whisky BBQ Sauce

¼ cup honey-garlic BBQ sauce

¼ cup ketchup

¼ cup maple syrup

¼ cup whisky

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp cider vinegar

Lay the chicken on a board, breast side down. With the kitchen shears, starting at the tailbone end, cut along both sides of the back bone, removing it entirely from the bird. Discard or keep the make a stock or another use.

Turn the chicken over and using both hands, press firmly on the centre breast bone. You will hear a snap, which cracks the bone so the bird will now lay flat during cooking. Turn the chicken legs so the ‘knees’ are inward.

To BBQ, preheat the BBQ on high heat. Salt the bird liberally all over. Place the bird on the grill grates on INDIRECT heat. BBQ, turning frequently, for about 30 minutes, depending on the heat of your BBQ. The easiest way to turn the bird is to use oven mitts and grab hold the leg bones to flip the bird. During the last 15 minutes of cooking, brush the bird on both sides with the Maple-Whisky BBQ Sauce. When the bird has reached an internal temperature of 160°F and juices run clear, it is cooked through. Remove to a plate and let rest, loosely covered, for 10 minutes before cutting into pieces.