Juicy Beer Can Chicken Beer Butt Chicken

Published 5/9/2022 This beer can chicken recipe calls for a whole chicken, a simple chicken dry rub, and a can of light beer.

The Most Flavorful Beer Can Chicken

Beer can chicken is seriously one of our favorite things to make. We love it on the grill and in the oven. Since you cook a whole chicken on top of a can of beer, the end result is both white and dark meat that is so juicy and tender.

What You Need

Whole Chicken: first things first, get yourself a whole chicken that is around 3-4 lbs. Make sure to leave the skin on, but to remove any innards.Dry Rub: a delicious dry rub is used to flavor this chicken. It’s a sweet and smokey dry rub and so delicious. If you have either our chicken dry rub or chicken seasoning on hand, you can use that instead! Butter: butter is used in between the meat and the skin so that the skin comes out nice and flavorful and crispy. It’s serioulsy a dream.Olive Oil: olive oil is used on the outside of the bird to help the spices stick and to help further crisp up that skin.Light Beer: and last but not least, the star of the show – light beer! Any kind of light beer should work well for this recipe. We’ve used Michlob ULTRA, Spotted Cow, Coors Light, you name it. Just make sure to pour a little bit out before you stick the chicken o top.

Top Tips for Perfect Beer Can Chicken

Beer Can Chicken Rub – Be Generous: you’ll notice that this beer can chicken recipe calls for a decent amount of dry rub. That’s because we not only want the chicken to end up super flavorful, but it will help create a delicious crispy skin. Try our chicken seasoning or chicken dry rub instead.

N/A BeerGinger BeerCoke/Pepsi

Get Under the Skin: whatever you do, don’t skip rubbing butter and dry rub between the meat and skin. It adds so much flavor! Higher Heat: lots of beer can chicken recipes on the internet cook their beer can chickens at a lower heat. However, we love how ours turned out at 425ºF. Keep Chicken Upright: you can either try and balance your chicken on its own legs or you can use a handy dandy beer can chicken holder. Either work. Cook Until 165ºF: in order for chicken to be safely consumed, one must cook it until the internal temperature reaches 165ºF. We use a digital meat thermometer and highly recommend one!

Beer Chicken — Oven vs. Grill

Good news for you! Cooking chicken on a can of beer works in both the oven and the grill! Here are a few tips for both methods. Thermoworks Thermapen

How to Grill Your Favorite Meat

Grilled Chicken Breast Grilled Salmon Grilled Pork Chops Grilled Chicken Thighs Grilled Flank Steak Grilled Whole Chicken Grilled Pork Tenderloin Grilled Chicken Legs Grilled Shrimp Grilled Scallops Grilled Ribs

Oven

Roasting your beer can chicken in oven is simple because you can do it year-round. Here are a few pointers: Don’t Forget a Baking Sheet/Roasting Pan: whatever you do, don’t forget to put your chicken on top of something so that it can catch the juices and fat! The last thing you want is a mess on the bottom of your oven.

Grill

Beer can chicken on the grill is also easy to make and comes out nice and juicy on the inside. Indirect Heat: we recommend grilling your bird over indirect heat. That simply means heating one side of your grill so that you can place the chicken on top of indirect heat (so the flames don’t actually touch the bird). It will make sure there are no grease fires and cook the chicken more evenly. Charcoal or Gas? You can use either a charcoal grill or a gas grill. We have a gas grill and find that it’s much easier to control the temperature.

Got Leftovers?

Shred for later: remove as much chicken as possible from the bone and then shred it for later. Use it on BBQ chicken pizza, inside of chicken burritos, or in buffalo chicken salad.Make chicken salad: our Greek yogurt chicken salad is a fan favorite! Shred up the leftovers and make this.Freeze it: shred the leftover chicken, let it cool completely, and then freeze it for later.