Grilled Chicken en le papier d'aluminium

Our Big Green Egg

To me this is a sign that the nice weather is finally here - chicken cooked on the grill (although we've been known to grill in cold weather too).  I've been making chicken this way for as long as I can remember. This recipe is pretty flexible with the seasoning - I've used fresh herbs, dried herbs, and many different combinations of herbs. But here is the basic recipe:

Grilled Chicken le papier d'aluminium (sounds much nicer than chicken in foil)

1 whole chicken (cut up into 2 breasts, 2 legs, 2 thighs, 2 wings with tips removed)
1 stick butter
2 t thyme
2-3 t smokey paprika
salt/pepper

Tear off 7 pieces of aluminum foil (no not 8 pieces because the wings are going to cook together).

Evenly distribute 1/2 of the butter across the aluminum foil. Distribute 1 t of thyme, 1 t of the smokey paprika, and salt & pepper to taste across the aluminum foil. You may want to be a little more generous with the seasonings and butter for the breasts.


Place 1 piece of chicken on each piece of foil (except for the wings put them together). 

Distribute the remainder of the butter and herbs onto the chicken.

Seal up the foil packets.

Place chicken on 350 grill for 30 minutes.  Turn chicken over and cook for approximately another 30 minutes or until done. The Sous Chef says that sometimes for the last few minutes he will put the packets directly over the flames to get a good char.

Open packets-a really messy business-it is often delegated to the Sous Chef ;-)

and serve.

In the past,  I've used fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, fresh oregano, and sage for this recipe. Herbes de Provence are also nice. I've changed it up a bit sometimes and used olive oil instead of butter. A hit of lemon is quite nice too.

Don't forget to save the back and wing tips for chicken stock! I have a large zipper bag in the freezer that I throw these parts in and save them up for stock.