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As I continue to find things that inspire me to cook this year, a recipe came to me from a good friend of mine (and fellow foodie) Toan Thai. He sent me an email last week with a link to a recipe video for the Standard Grill’s Million Dollar Chicken suggesting I make this for the Blog. I got half way through the video and knew this was the next thing I wanted to cook on the Big Green Egg! The glaze on this chicken recipe is simple yet so full of flavor. You will never roast a whole chicken any other way after trying this recipe. Now sit back, grab a cold glass of Pinot Gris, and enjoy this recipe for Big Green Egg Million Dollar Chicken .
Big Green Egg Million Dollar Chicken
The ingredients for this recipe are simple: A whole chicken, crème fraîche, shallot, garlic, lemon, thyme, sourdough bread, Harissa, salt, and pepper.
Prepping the glaze is easy. Start by micro grating the shallots and lemon zest.
To make the glaze, mix the crème fraîche with lemon juice, lemon zest, shallot, and Harissa. Put back in the refrigerator until needed later.
When you are ready to cook the chicken get 3 thick slices of the sourdough and drizzle each side with olive oil. Place in the bottom of your roasting pan.
Season the chicken inside and out with salt & pepper. Then stuff the bird with the thyme, the juice of one lemon, bay leaf, and the lemon halves used for the juice. Tie the chicken legs together with twine and place on top of the bread in the roasting pan.
Preheat the Big Green Egg to 450° measured at the dome. Using a Conveggerator for indirect heat place the roasting pan on the grate and let the chicken roast for an hour.
At the hour mark the chicken looks beautiful and measured 155° using a Thermapen. Now the fun begins!
Remove the roasting pan from your BGE and take the chicken out of the pan and rest on cookie sheet while you turn the bread in the pan.
Once you have flipped the bread in the pan you put the chicken back in the pan on top of the bread. Now using the glaze you made earlier with the crème fraîche baste the chicken generously. You will see the glaze turn to liquid and drip down the sides of the chicken and on to the bread. That is what you want. Place the chicken back in the BGE for 10 minutes. Repeat the glazing process onr more time and put the chicken back in for a final 10 minutes or until it measures 165° with a Thermapen.
Pull the chicken out of the pan and let rest on a rack for 10 minutes. You can see the bread below is charred and soaked with the glaze and juices from the chicken.
Slice and serve the chicken on top of the bread. You can use the remaining glaze as a sauce by reducing it over low heat on the stove top before serving. This dish was fantastic!
Big Green Egg Million Dollar Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 4.5 pound whole chicken
- salt and black pepper
- 1 lemon, halved
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 bunch fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 thick slices day-old sourdough
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup creme fraiche
- 1 tablespoon peeled and grated shallot
- 1 teaspoon Harissa
- lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Instructions
- Mix crème fraiche, grated shallot, and Harissa together in a small bowl. Stir 2 tablespoons lemon juice and lemon zest into sauce. Refrigerate until needed.Preheat Big Green Egg to 450°
- Season inside of the chicken with salt and black pepper. Squeeze lemon halves into the chicken cavity and drop squeezed peels inside. Stuff cavity with garlic cloves and fresh thyme; add a bay leaf to cavity.
- Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil into a heavy roasting pan. Place sourdough slices into pan and press slices lightly into olive oil to help coat bottom of bread. Drizzle 1 more tablespoon olive oil on top of bread slices. Place chicken on top of bread slices and tie legs together with kitchen twine. Brush outside of chicken with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season entire outside with salt.
- Bake chicken in the Big Green Egg for 1 hour.
- Lift chicken off bread slices and flip the bread slices over (they will be very brown). Place chicken back onto the bread slices. Generously brush the outside of the chicken with creme fraiche sauce, putting enough on to drip down onto bread slices.
- Return chicken to the Big Green Egg and cook for 10 more minutes to brown the glaze. Repeat, brushing more creme fraiche sauce generously onto the chicken. Cook 10 more minutes. Remove chicken from the Big Green Egg and let stand for 10 minutes. An instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a thigh, not touching bone, should read 165°
- Pour remaining creme fraiche glaze into a small skillet, place over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Stir constantly, cooking until the shallot is cooked and sauce reduces slightly, 1 or 2 minutes. Turn off heat.
- Transfer chicken to a cutting board and cut bread pieces in half crosswise. Cut chicken up into 8 serving pieces (drumsticks, thighs, wings, and breasts) and serve with pieces of drippings-soaked toasted bread. Drizzle thickened creme fraiche sauce over chicken.
- Serve with Arugula Salad.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Best roast chicken we’ve ever had!
The Big Green Egg makes it possible to cook like no other grill or smoker.
Thank you!
Christ, can’t wait to make this for the holidays! Did you go straight charcoal on this? If I were to add wood chunks, any suggestions? Thank you!
I used lump charcoal for this. Pecan wood would be a great choice for the smoke flavor!