Loafpan chicken is one of those barbecue oddities that delivers a uniquely flavored chicken dish. As the name implies a chicken is put into a standard loaf pan; it’s then covered in apple sauce and massaged with a spice rub. Use smoking woods like hickory and applewood as you cook it all low and slow. It emerges very juicy with a wonderful crisp, burnished skin.
Loafpan chicken
The recipe hails from the legendary pit master, Chris Lilly, whose restaurant Big Bob Gibson’s in Monroe, North Carolina, is a hallmark of BBQ goodness. I came across the recipe in Lilly’s book, “Big Bog Gibson’s BBQ Book.”’
Serve with local new potatoes, baby carrots and asparagus
New potatoes are just coming into the market and local asparagus is plentiful too and as you’ll see today at farmers markets, strawberries are here. Serve the chicken with simply prepared potatoes and grilled asparagus. Add strawberry shortcake for dessert and you have a great early summer meal.
Strawberry shortcake completes the meal
Ingredients
- 3/4 to 1 cup applesauce
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 whole chicken, 3 1/2 to 4 pounds
- Dry Rub
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw)
- 2 1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- Heaping 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin powder
- Heaping 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
Instructions
- Build a fire with a combination of charcoal briquettes, hardwood and smoking wood chunks; soak these (hickory, apple wood, oak, maple or a combination) for 30 minutes in warm water before using. Add to the coals once they have turned ash white and glowing. Keep the coals to one side of the grill because you will barbecue the chicken away from the coals (indirect heat).
- Meanwhile clean out the chicken, dry and put in the loaf pan. Mix together the applesauce (preferably local) and Worcestershire. Prepare the dry rub by mixing all the ingredients together.
- Holding the chicken over the loaf pan, cover it all over,including inside the cavity, with the applesauce mixture, rubbing it on the breast, legs, thighs and wings. Cover with dry rub with some inside the cavity and the rest rubbed all over the chicken. Set in the loaf pan and place on the grill. Cover the grill, leaving the top vents open. Barbecue for about 1 1/2 hours, turning the loaf pan occasionally. If the juices in the pan are not bubbling after about 1 hour put the pan directly over the coals for about 5 minutes. The temperature of the grill will start off at about 400 degrees but should settle down to 300 to 350 degrees for the duration of the cooking time. Chicken is done when breast meat registers 155- 160 degrees on an instant read thermometer.
- Let rest for 5 minutes then carve and spoon some of the pan juices over the chicken.
