Beer Can Chicken Recipe

Beer Can Chicken with Bud

Beer Can Chicken with Bud

Now for the famous Beer Can Chicken on the Grill recipe!  And what could be easier, but I have a few secret hints for everyone.  And maybe because I like beer I think my Beer Can Chicken recipe is the best!.  Okay, beer can chicken is nothing more than opening a can of beer and putting it into the chicken so when the beer boils as it cooks it infuses into the chicken.  Uhm Uhm good!  And what do you do with the other 5 beers in your six pack?  You drink them while you grill, of course!

 

Yep, that simple!  But, oh no, we beer can chicken grilling aficionados have to tinker with it to make it even better!  So here’s my personal hints for the best possible beer can chicken on the grill:

 

Hint #1: Like Julia Child would say about wine when you cook with it, make sure you like drinking it by itself before you use it while cooking.  Nothing against Bud or Bud Light, but flavor for cooking it does NOT have.  Personally, my favorite beer to use is a hefeweizen beer like a blue moon or Pyramid Hefeweizen.  So, I open my can of bud, drink it, then pour from the glass bottle (hard to find a Hefeweizen in a can) into the can and then use it.

 

RULE #1  always use good beer!

 

Pyramid Beer

Pyramid Beer

 

Hint #2: Soak the chicken in your favorite beer for 15-30 minutes before you put it on the grill.  Yes, I know, it’s cutting into your beer stash to soak your bird in yet another can or bottle of beer.  But it’s well worth it.  I use a large gallon ziplock back and only have to use one bottle of beer.  Just get all the air out of the ziplock bag after you put the bird and beer in and you get maximum soaking with minimum beer wastage!

 

Hint #3:  Soak the wood chips in beer instead of water.  Yes, more beer!  Now, I have to admit I don’t think this really does anything extra for flavor as I’ve done it with or without the beer soaked chips.  But since this is BEER can chicken, I guess the idea is use beer anywhere possible on this bird!

 

Beer Can Chicken with Aluminum Foil

Beer Can Chicken with Aluminum Foil

 

Hint #4: Use aluminum foil to catch the drippings and protect the chicken from too much direct heat.  This works great if you need to actually do your beer can chicken in the oven if the weather is just too bad to break out the grill.

 

You can also setup your grill with indirect heat like the picture below.  Simply put the chicken over the pan on the right so the chicken is protected from too much flame.

Grill Setup for BBQ

Grill Setup for BBQ

 

Cooking Time & Temperature: We will be cooking HOT, about 375°F to 400°F. (sometimes my grill gets hotter than that but I end up settling down around the 375 mark.

 

What about a good beer can stand?  Well, the popularity of beer can chicken on the grill or cooked in the oven has spawned dozens if not hundreds of simple to complex and elegant beer can cooking stands.  From your simple wire frame stand to elaborate non-stick surface and double chicken stands, you can find a fantastic selection to meet your needs.

 

Beer can Stand 1Beer can stand 2Beer can stand 3Beer can stand 4

 

Prep the Chicken for Grilling:

1.) Rinse the chicken and remove giblets etc.  Rinse inside and out.  I like my chicken really clean before I grill it.

2.) Bag the chicken in a ziplock bag and marinate the chicken in one bottle of good beer.

3.) Be sure it’s fully thawed.  In a rush I’ve quick thawed a chicken before and put it on the grill to find out later that the outside is over done but the very center is still cold and blood red.  Not good!

Kirkland BBQ Seasoning

Kirkland BBQ Seasoning

4) Coat the meat with your favorite BBQ spice rub.  Inside and out!  With a whole chicken, I make sure and coat the outside well AND coat the inside so you get as much flavor of the spice into the meat as possible.  My personal favorite happens to be a Sweet Mesquite Seasoning that I buy at the local Costco store which I’ve not duplicated with a recipe of my own yet.  It has what I’d call a sweet southwest flavor.  Here are a few spice rub recipes you can try or take a look at our wide selection of BBQ dry rub recipes.

 

Basic Dry Rub for BBQ Chicken on the grill:

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon ground white pepper
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 2 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground oregano
  • 4 tablespoon paprika (the sweet kind — not the hot kind)
  • 1 teaspoon dry mustard
  • 1 tablespoon celery salt
  • 1 tablespoon salt

 

Here’s a more common Chicken spice rub.  Has what I’d call a more Thanksgiving flavor because of the sage and thyme in the spice mix.

 

Basic Chicken Dry Rub Recipe:

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons whole mustard seeds
  • 1 teaspoon sage
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
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