BBQ Chicken with Whiskey Glaze

The traditional Christmas feast is all about glazed hams and fancy turkey dishes, neither of which are suitable failsafe. I wanted to try to create a beautifully glazed whole chicken dish that would look amazing in the middle of your Christmas dinner table and wow all your guests and they would be none the wiser that it was actually failsafe. The secret is in the glaze and constantly brushing it on during the cooking process. I had to enlist the help of my husband, Jimmy for this as he is the meat and BBQ master in our family.

This dish can be made any time of year, you don’t need the excuse of Christmas to make it, crank up your BBQ on the weekend and give it a go!

We cooked the chicken two ways, butterflied so it cooks quicker, therefore helping to reduce the amines; and the chook whole with a failsafe stuffing. The directions for both and different methods of cooking in the oven or BBQ are listed below in the notes.

We served the chicken with Hassleback potatoes, Brussels sprouts and sweet potato (moderate salicylates) all cooked on the BBQ with the chook.

Video on how to butterfly a chook.

BBQ Chicken with Whiskey Glaze

Butterflied chicken or whole roast with a gluten free and dairy free cashew stuffing.

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Course Entertaining, Main Course

Equipment

• Thermomix
• Oven / BBQ

Ingredients

  

Cashew Stuffing

• 100 g cashews
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley or 2 teaps dried * optional
• 1 tbsp fresh chives or 2 teasp dried
• 1 leek, chopped in 4cm lengths
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 stalks celery, chopped in 3 cm lengths
• 2 tbsp nuttelex
• 250 g cooked brown rice
• 30 g whiskey
• 1 teasp salt
• 1 teasp white sugar

Seasoning

• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 teasp dried parsley * optional
• 1 teasp dried chives

Whiskey Glaze

• 190 g brown sugar
• 80 g whiskey
• 2 teasp carob powder
• 100 g rice malt syrup
• 40 g pear syrup

Instructions

 

Cashew Stuffing

• Roughly chop cashews, parsley and chives for 5 seconds on speed 6. Set aside in a bowl.
• Chop leek, celery, garlic for 5 seconds on speed 5.
• Scrape down sides, add nuttelex and sauté for 3 minutes, 100 degrees, reverse speed 1.
• Add remaining ingredients, including the cashew mixture and combine for 30 seconds, reverse speed 2.5

Seasoning / Chicken prep

• Chicken skin contains amines. If you don’t have any problems or reactions to amines you can leave it on. Otherwise remove the skin completely or remove the skin at the end when serving. Jimmy likes to leave it on when cooking on the BBQ with charcoals.
• Clean the chicken and pat dry.
• If leaving skin on, use your fingers to separate the skin from the chicken breast.
• Refer to the video link above if you want to butterfly the chook.
• If keeping whole, place the stuffing into the cavity and pack in firmly.
• Rub chicken with rice bran oil, and if you have left the skin on, rub under the skin.
• Rub seasoning all over the chicken and again under skin if left on.
• We used a Meater to determine when the chook is cooked. If you have one, insert into the thickest part of the meat now.

Whiskey Glaze

• Add all ingredients into Thermomix bowl.
• Cook at 100° for 10 minutes speed 1 with the measuring cup off and basket on top.
• Cook again at 80° for 15 minutes speed 1 with the measuring cup off and basket on top.
• Transfer into Thermoserver or small bowl and set aside
• If cooking on the stove – bring to boil, simmer until reduced and thickened.

Cooking the chicken

• Cook in the oven or indirect heat on BBQ. (See notes below for hints on each).
• Glaze the chook every 20 minutes with the glaze using a pastry brush.
• Cook until chicken temp reaches 74-75° (1.5 – 2 hours) and chicken juice run clear.

Notes

Prepare the BBQ

Kettle / Charcoal.  Light the charcoal using a chimney and set up BBQ for indirect cooking. Place the charcoal on one side of the BBQ and a foil tray on the opposite side. Fill the tray half way with water. With the lid on, preheat the BBQ for at least 10 mins or until the BBQ temperature is around 170deg – 200deg. Ensure all the vents on the lid and on the bottom on the BBQ are open.

Gas BBQ

This works best using a BBQ with a hood. If you’re BBQ has 6 burners, burner  1,2,5,6 will be on low, and 3,4 will be off – and this is where the meat will be cooked. If you have 3 burners – 1,3 on low, 2 off – cook on 2 – getting the idea… If you don’t have a hood you can turn the burners on low.

Oven

Preheat to 165deg – 180deg. Cook until chicken temp reaches 74-75deg (1.5 – 2 hours) and chicken juice run clear. 

Hasselback Potatoes

Make thin, evenly spaced cuts (3/4 deep but not right through the potato) end to end of the potato. Coat the potatoes with 1 tablespoon oil and 1 teaspoon garlic powder. At the start of the cook, place the potatoes next to the chicken on BBQ rack to cook or on a tray in the oven. Potato is cooked when a knife inserted goes through easily and the potato feels soft. Once cooked, set aside in Thermoserver until serving to keep warm.

Brussel sprouts

Prepare by cutting in half, coat as per potatoes in oil and garlic powder.

Wrap the brussel sprouts in alfoil. Brush the brussel sprout with maple syrup 5 mins before removing from the BBQ.

Another option is to place the chicken and vegetables in BBQ foil trays to cook on the BBQ rather than directly on the BBQ rack.

* Parsley optional – parsley is listed as a sprinkle, pinch only for strict failsafe. Our family is ok with parsley.

Wondering what a Meater is? More info here.