And the story behind the Pollo Plug
Hi there,
Summer is the best time of year to get out of the kitchen and cook with a little smoke, so this past weekend I put our hilariously named Pollo Plug Chicken Roaster to work on my Traeger for the first time. I've roasted plenty of birds with it in the oven, but I'd never run it low and slow on a smoker.
A quick note on the name. For those wondering why it's called the Pollo Plug, it wasn't always. It launched internally as the plain old Stainless Steel Chicken Roaster, until our photographer, Matt, took one look at the vertical spike during a photoshoot and gave it the nickname. We decided to lean into the joke rather than fight it. It's become one of our most beloved and most ridiculously named items, and a bit of a cult favorite.
And now the cook:
I seasoned the whole bird with Traeger's Bird Rub and stood it up on the roaster, which I set inside one of our new 10 inch Cast Iron pans to catch every bit of the drippings. I started the Traeger low, at 225°, and let the chicken ride until it hit about 130° internal. That slow smoke phase is where all the flavor gets in.
Then I cranked the heat to 400° to crisp the skin, basting with Bachan's Japanese barbecue sauce (delicious) as it came up. For the last 45 minutes, I dropped a handful of potatoes right into the cast iron, so they cooked in the rendered chicken fat and drippings. I pulled the bird at 160° and let it rest for 15 minutes, where it climbed the rest of the way to temperature.
The result was exactly what you want from both worlds: a deep, smoky flavor from the low and slow start, and crackling, crisp skin from the 400° finish. The potatoes may have been the best part.
Why you should retire the beer can.
Plenty of people stand a chicken up on a half-full beer can. Please stop. A beer can was never designed to be a cooking vessel. The ink and coatings on the outside, and the aluminum itself, are not meant to sit at roasting temperatures with food, and there's a real reason to be cautious about what leaches out at that heat. Our Chicken Roaster does the same job the right way. It's made from heavy-duty, premium 304 stainless steel, the same food-safe grade we use across our cookware, and it's built to move from the smoker to the grill to the oven without a second thought.
That last part matters, because this is not just a summer tool. Come the holidays, it earns its place right back in the oven for the big roast. Buy it for the smoker now, keep it for Thanksgiving.
Shop the Chicken Roaster Now →
Chip, CEO and Co-Founder
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