Recipe: Pulled BBQ Chicken with Lemon Sunshine Sauce (Guest Post from Fearless Grill)

Recipe Source: Original

My wife was planning to make a dish with a whole chicken the other night, but we decided to go out to eat instead, leaving us with the carcass of a bird mocking us from the refrigerator. I decided to teach it a lesson, and cook it in my Big Green Egg smoker.

I had gotten some new spice rubs from Dizzy Pig for Christmas, and I decided to try the lemon-pepper based 'Shaking the Tree' on my chicken. I've made a number of different variations of whole chicken recipes, so I decided to do something a bit different and pull the meat for sandwiches. I made up a batch of sandwich rolls using a recipe from Peter Reinhart's book The Bread Baker's Apprentice, and started a search for an appropriate sauce. I wanted to do a lemony sauce to serve over the meat, much like you would use a vinegar-based sauce for pulled pork, to match the lemon-pepper rub. However, none of my BBQ cookbooks had what I was looking for, and a web search also didn't come up with much. I decided to make my own. I started adding ingredients to some fresh lemon juice until I got the taste I was looking for. When I added the cayenne pepper, I was disappointed at first, because the nice yellow color changed to orange, but then I decided it looked like the sun setting over the lake in our backyard, and came up with the name 'Sunshine Sauce'.

I hadn't pulled chicken before, so I wasn't quite sure how it would turn out, but my normal cooking technique on the Egg tends to produce 'fall-off-the-bone' chicken. Sure enough, the meat came right apart, though I had to fight off the dog and one of the cats while doing it. I liked rub a lot, and thought it added a nice lemony flavor to the meat. I thought the sauce turned out great, and really matched the chicken well. Overall, I was really happy with this dish, and certainly will be trying it again. The only changes I would make would be to use a little more of the Shaking the Tree rub, which I went easy on since I hadn't used it before, and to add another clove of garlic to the sauce, since everything needs more garlic. I'd make up a bigger batch of sauce next time – my proportions this time were based on the number of lemons I found living in our vegetable drawer – and I wanted some more at the end. Also, I might possibly use some crappy store-bought hamburger buns rather than the tasty homemade ones, as I found that the taste of the homemade buns distracted a bit from the flavor of the meat and sauce.

Pulled BBQ Chicken with Lemon Sunshine Sauce (Serves 4-6. Approx. Cost Per Serving Not Available)

Equipment Required

• Big Green Egg or other smoker
• Apple or other fruit wood for smoking

1 whole chicken

Lemon-Pepper or Lemon-Pepper based rub (I used Dizzy Pig's 'Shaking the Tree')

8-12 hamburger buns

Lemon Sunshine Sauce

Juice of 3 whole lemons (about 1/2 cup)

Zest of one lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon amber honey (regular would work, but wouldn't have as strong a flavor)

2 teaspoons onion powder

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. At least 2 hours before you plan to eat, prepare your chicken. Begin by spatchcocking it (removing the backbone), which allows it to sit flat on the grate of the smoker and cook faster. Lift the skin and work the rub under the skin so its flavor can penetrate the meat. If desired, spread some additional rub onto the skin.
2. Prepare your smoker for cooking at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In my large Big Green Egg, I set up for indirect cooking, using my plate setter legs up with a drip pan in it. I put a small amount of water in the pan to prevent the drippings from burning and giving off an unpleasant smoke. I used several apple wood chunks for smoke.
3. Once your fire is stable, and the smoke has cleared, put the chicken in the smoker, and cook until the internal temperature hits about 165 degrees. This took a little over 90 minutes for my bird.
4. While the chicken is cooking, prepare the sauce by mixing the ingredients together in a bowl, and mixing thoroughly with a whisk.
5. When the chicken is done, remove from the smoker, and allow to rest under foil for about 10 minutes. Using a couple of forks (or your fingers), pull the meat off the bones, and shred into small pieces. Cut up the skin into small chunks and mix in with the meat for additional flavor.
6. Serve on hamburger buns with a spoonful or two of sauce over the meat.

 

Comments

[Chris]

Nailed it!

I think I might have to try this sunshine sauce myself. As I read it, it reminded me of a Bahamian cookbook I have. This sauce is very "islandy" in both it's content and name.

I might add just a hint of cumin to it, hopefully that won't muddle the color too much.

Great job.

[BestBarbecueWood.Com]

Wow, I cannot wait to try that! If you need any fruit wood, try www.bestbarbecuewood.com for reasonably priced apple and cherry wood chunks.

[Juliana]

Oh! This look so yummie with the lemon sunshine sauce :-)

[bradley digital smoker]

A great idea leading to a great recipe. I will definitely try this out on some chicken and use it as a glaze on some grilled grouper too.

[Fearless Kitchen]

Bradley - The grouper is a great idea.

Juliana - Thanks!

Best - Thank you!

Chris - (I told him to add cumin :)) Thank you!

[Chicken with Lemon]

Lovely recipe. Thanks for the idea..
https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&send_id=817789614&email=7cff47bb7cdcb76fbfa15e66c81a1961

[Ajf 6]

I like your blog, because we have similar outlook and outlook on life!

[Jordan Flipsyde]

Your blog has an I liked the faith! You defend your interests, I get my light, nothing more.

[Laundry Bags]

This looks so great. Cool recipe and cool pictures.