Apple Butter Grilled Chicken

After our recent blog post of What a Crock Apple Butter we did a web search of what other things you can do with Apple Butter besides just putting it on toast. The Arkansas test kitchen came across this great recipe from Taste of Home, so we tested it out. What better way to combine Apple Butter than with one of Cool Dads favorite ways to cook: on the grill!

Apple Butter BBQ Chicken

2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 roasting chicken (6 to 7 pounds)
12 oz. unsweetened apple juice, divided
1/2 cup apple butter (want to make your own? read our What a Crock Apple Butter blog)
1/4 cup barbecue sauce (we used Redneck Lipstick)

1. Clean the inner cavity of the chicken, removing any additional parts that might be inside.
2. Rinse chicken thoroughly, and pat dry with paper towel
3. Combine salt, garlic powder, black pepper and cayenne pepper in a shaker and sprinkle liberally over chicken
4. Prepare grill for indirect grilling using a grill pan
5. Pour 6 oz of apple juice into drip pan
6. Pour remaining 6 oz of apple juice into empty and cleaned soda can
7. Place chicken and soda can onto beer can chicken holder
8. Place chicken on grill over drip pan
9. Cover and grill on indirect heat for 1 1/2 - 2 hours or until instant read meat thermometer reads 180 degrees.
10. While the chicken is on the grill, mix together the apple butter and barbecue sauce
11. During the last 15 to 30 minutes, baste the chicken with the Apple Butter mixture every 5 to 10 minutes (remember that the sugar in the barbecue sauce and apple butter with caramelize on the chicken).
12 Remove chicken from the grill and allow to rest 10 minutes covered with aluminum foil before carving

We'd love to hear from our readers- any interesting ideas to utilize apple butter? We'd love to hear from you!

Stay Cool,
The Cool Dads Crew