Beer Can Chicken Recipe

I've made this before and it's very good. I find that instead of sprinkling the 1 tsp of seasoning into the cavity, it's easier to put it inside the beer. Also I use an aluminum pie plate large enough to hold the beer can and chicken. This catches all the drippings and reduces flare-ups. I've also made this recipe using a spice called Montreal Chicken Seasoning.

I didn't give this the full five stars because I didn't use the seasonings listed above. BUT.....I wanted to post a suggestion here for those that may not always have ALL the seasonings on hand that it listed. We've been doing the "BEER-BUTT-BIRD" for years and it's one of our ABSOLUTE favorites for grilling every summer. We have a STAND that we got years ago when they first came out and I have to agree with the others about checking into one. A few years ago we started just using the CHICKEN SEASONING from SAV-A-LOT made by MARCUM. (the store brand name for all their spices) We've started using it on TONS of things. ANYWAY....sorry....not trying to "market" this seasoning. BUT......it's AMAZING on everything. It has sage in it and smells like THANKSGIVING just by opening the bottle. ABSOLUTELY LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the ideas I read from a few other posters here about only using a partial can (we always use a full can), AND about adding a little of the spice into the beer, as well as plugging the neck with a little potato or onion!!! AND.....loved the comment about doing this same thing with Cornish hens and using small tomato paste cans for the beer. THIS WILL BE FABULOUS FOR THE WINTER MONTHS WHEN GRILLING ISN'T AN OPTION!!!! Can't wait to try out these new ideas. Thanks y'all!!!!! OH....and for those that mentioned not being able to taste the beer flavor......actually, I think the beer, with the hops and barley and whey just mostly help to "steam" the moisture into the bird.

Even my husband said it’s a keeper.

I've made these for years. I use a full size Weber Charcoal Grill and bank my hot coals around the outside of the grill base and leave the center of the grill open without coals. Add a couple of lumps of hickory or apple wood against the hot coals. I find cooking two birds at a time and facing the breasts against one another gives greater stability of the chickens to remain upright without having to use any stands. Stands can make the chickens too tall to allow the lid to fully close. I also cut a lemon in half crosswise and place 1/2 of lemon on top of each beer can before inserting into the bird to seal the top of the bird from losing moisture through the neck opening. i start with one cold and one hot can of beer, open and drink the cold beer, retain empty can and pour half of the hot beer in the empty can. When you pull the hot can of beer from the cavity, a great deal of liquid will pour from the cavity because it has been forced into the meat by evaporation. I find using heavy rubber gloves the best way to extract the can of hot beer from the cavity when the birds are done without getting burned. Also handy to use the gloves while dismantling the chickens and carving the chicken breasts across the breasts to create neat chicken breast medallions. I also use heavy kitchen scissors to remove the back bone, separate the legs, thighs and wings from the cavity. Then use a boning knife to cut the breasts one at a time from the sternum and rib cage.

This was a great recipe and I'll definitely make it again. I made some changes I put McCormick chicken spice on it , some garlic, onion powder, McCormick chipotle spice, McCormick brown sugar spice, too. Along with the recipe directions. I also poured some beer in the bottom of the pan while that helped the pan from getting burnt so much and kept the chicken moist. I cooked mine at 450degrees for an hour and half. Thanks again for the most moist chicken ever!!!

I have made this chicken recipe for years. One key note is SAVE YOUR BEER AND DRINK IT! JUST PUT WATER IN THE CAN!!! Beer does not add any special flavor, just moisture. I have tried other liquids including jalapeno juice and it does not add any additional flavor.

I've made beer can chicken many times before trying different recipes and they've been good. But for some reason this was different in a good way. It was out standing. The only thing I added was I melted a half stick of butter and mixed it with the rub and rubbed it all over inside and out. Skin turned out nice and crisp.

I think this would be a 4.5 rating. A 5 rating is only for the absolutely amazing meals. Our family rating gave our whole meal a 9 rating. We made 2 chickens. One on the grill and one in the smoker. I doubled the ingredients and then added it to 2 sticks of melted butter. I added some cumin, garlic powder, onion powder and a combination of smoked paprika and regular paprika. It was hard to get off my fingers and on to the chicken the whole way. I tried to get it under the skin as much as I could too. I also added the seasoning butter mixture to the beer can. The smoked chicken was more moist and maybe took a tad longer. But all and all we all loved the flavor. Served it with Mexican corn on the cob and a green salad. Excellent Sunday night summer meal.

Never use a can of beer for beer can chicken. Always use a bottle instead. The aluminum in the can cooks into the chicken. Instead, take a bottle of beer and scrub the label off of it and use that instead. I always use a full bottle and not a half. Also, the cook time is off a little. Should be around 2 hours. I have done beer can chicken multiple times before and always use glass. Note: I have been cooking professionally for 17 years and have a culinary degree/ actual chef experience.

Wow... what a fantastic recipe!! So good and just absolutely melts in your mouth. I did alter the recipe just a touch and took some of the other reviews into consideration. I basted my chicken about every 15 minutes or so in some of the extra spice mixture mixed with a little butter and the other half of the beer. I also added some garlic to the spice rub and as one of the other reviews I closed the neck opening with an onion.This will definitely be one of my favorite grilling recipes this summer and probably all year long!

Loved this recipe. We had the beer can stand and decided to try it after having the stand sitting in the drawer for years. I didn't change much but added some garlic salt to the rub, made sure it was rubbed below and above the skin, and dumped the extra rub into the beer can. The skin was charred pretty bad, but the chicken fell off of the bones. On the package for the stand, it recommends setting it on a pie plate with 1/4" of water in it, so I did that. It was moist and tasty. We will definitely make it again since it was so easy to just let it sit on the grill without a lot of work after initial prep.

I haven't done this specific recipe but have done plenty just like it. It's sn excellent no fuss way to grill a delicious and juicy chicken.

This turned out great! Juicy and full of flavor. I'll be making this again for sure!

Love this recipe! Simple quick and delicious!

So juicy and incredibly easy to make.

I made beer can chicken per this recipe a few weeks ago and we liked it so much I’m doing it again right now! Delicious, flavorful, Juicy, and I just put my Bluetooth thermometer in it and wait till it reaches 165 🤩

Great flavor. Cooked it on my Kamado Joe. Turned out great. My Wife and I really enjoyed the flavor profile.

Sooooooooo good. I followed the recipe exactly except I set it in a small aluminum pan, poured the excess beer and added some water to the bottom of it and then added onion and habanero (as well as the drippings) and used that to baste every 30 minutes. It literally fell of the bone.

Not a fan of chili powder on it, left it out, added garlic salt in place of regular salt. Added a bit of onion powder too.

Amazing conbo of sweet and heat!