My friend, Adele, is the queen of Beer Can Chicken. She even tried to teach me how to do it, but I failed miserably. Mine just didn’t have the flavor that hers had. Knowing I was beat, I decided that Adele would reign as Beer Can Chicken Queen forever. And ever.

But the flavor of her chicken kept nagging at me, and for two years I let it bother me . . .

Then, the theme of my Cookbook Club in August was Grilling, with the ability to use any BBQ/Grill cookbook by Steven Raichlen. I already had a few of his books—BBQ Bible, How to Grill, and Sauces, Rubs and Marinades—so I thought I was all set.

Wouldn’t you know that I would casually wander past the cookbook section in the bookstore anyway?  Just to look, of course. What should I see there but another cookbook by Steven Raichlen! The title of this book? Beer Can Chicken! I couldn’t not get it—I mean, it was only $12.95 with a 40% off coupon! 

It was a sign—it was time for me to attempt to make Beer Can Chicken again.

Now, I am not quite up to Queen Adele’s level, but I am loving this method of cooking a chicken! For Cookbook Club I made Thai Coconut Chicken and Peach Nectar Chicken—pictured above being cooked together on the same grill. The darker color of one of the chickens is a result of a darker rub. Both went over well, but I thought the sauce for the Thai Coconut Chicken was too thick and had too much peanut butter in it. I’ll have to make a few changes before I can endorse that specific recipe—I think I’d decrease the peanut butter from ¾ cup to ¼ cup, and increase the liquid a bit. But, I really like fruity BBQ’d stuff, so the Peach Nectar Chicken was a big hit with me. Both of these recipes were cooked on the grill.

Yesterday, when my 19-year-old son was home, he said he wanted to learn to cook something! I couldn’t believe my ears, but jumped right on it! One of the things we made was Raichlen’s Basic Beer Can chicken in the oven, and I’m coverted! He is, too 🙂 This is one GREAT way to cook a chicken! Once the nasty prep work was done—rinsing the chicken and removing the innards—it was a super easy dish to make that needed no babysitting once it was in the oven. I told my son he could eat a week off of one roasted chicken—especially if he boiled the bones up for chicken stock, and used it for a pasta-veggie soup towards the end of the week. I’m not sure he’s gotten to the point of chicken stock making for soup, but I have hope for the boy. If he can master Beer Can Chicken at 19, he’s off to a good start!

Now, I’m pretty sure that you are wondering why you should roast a chicken when you can buy good ones at the supermarket or Costco . . .  The taste my friends, the taste! Beer Can Chicken chicken is so moist and flavorful that if you gave a supermarket chicken a 4 or 5, on a scale of 1 to 10, you’d give this chicken a 10—and wishing for an 11 on the scale!

Recipes below can be cooked in the oven at 350-400° for 1 hour and 15 minutes (check after 1 hour), or on either a gas grill or charcoal BBQ for the same length of time. If you are unsure of how to cook indirectly on the grill or BBQ, please consult one of Steven Raichlen’s books, or view an online video. The first recipe is a basic roast chicken recipe, which we roasted in the oven and served without any sauce. The second recipe is the one for the Peach Nectar Chicken, which I cooked on a gas grill and served with a sauce.

Once you make one of these, you’ll be whipping up your own variations in no time!

Basic Beer Can Chicken

INGREDIENTS

• 1 12oz. can beer OR Coca-Cola
• 3½-4 lb whole chicken
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil

For the rub:

• 1 Tablespoon chili powder
• 1 Tablespoon Kosher salt OR 2 teaspoons table salt
• 2 teaspoons light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper—more if you like a bit of kick

DIRECTIONS

1. Position oven rack low enough to accommodate an upright chicken sitting on a can, and preheat oven to 350°.
2. Combine all ingredients for the rub into a small bowl, mix well, and set aside.
3. Pour out or drink ¾ cup of the beer or Coke, and with a church key/can opener make 2 additional holes in the top of the now half full can—this is so more liquid can steam out into the chicken.  Spray the outside of the can heavily with Pam, then set can aside.
4. Rinse the chicken and remove the packet of innards, then pat dry—this is the nasty part.
5. Place 1 teaspoon of rub inside the body of the chicken. 
6. Place ½ teaspoon rub in the neck cavity of the chicken.
7. Drizzle 2 teaspoons vegetable oil over the outside of the chicken and rub or brush it into the skin.
8. Rub the oil covered chicken with 1 tablespoon of the rub. I also put a bit of rub in between the skin of the breast and the meat of the breast—just pull up the skin, sprinkle in the spice mix, then rub it a round a bit. Pour remaining rub into the can of peach nectar.
9. Put the chicken on the can, then put the can with the chicken on it into a roasting pan, pulling the legs forward. The legs are two of a tripod, the can is the third.
10. Tuck the wings behind the chicken’s back—chicken should look comfortable and be well balanced 🙂
11. Place chicken in oven, and bake for approximately 1¼ hours.
12. CAREFULLY remove the chicken from the oven, then be even more careful removing the chicken from the can—don’t let any hot liquid spill on you! Removing the can from the chicken is really a two person job—I had my son hold the chicken with foil covered oven mitts over the sink, while I pulled the can out of the chicken cavity with tongs. If you sprayed the can with Pam, this should be relatively easy to do, just a bit awkward—if you forgot to Pam the can, may God be with you.
13. Let chicken sit for 15 minutes, lightly tented with foil, before carving.

Peach Nectar Chicken

INGREDIENTS

• 1 12oz. can peach nectar
• 1 3″ cinnamon stick
• 3½-4 lb. whole chicken
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 2 cups wood chips—peach or apple—soaked for one hour in water/beer then drained. These are not needed if cooking in oven.

For the Rub

• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon cardamon

For the Peach BBQ Sauce

• ¾ cup peach nectar
• ½ cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons peach or apricot preserves
• 1 tablespoon honey, more to taste if desired
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark rum (or peach schnapps)
• ½ teaspoon soy sauce
• ¼ teaspoon liquid smoke
• ¼ cup water
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine all ingredients for the rub into a small bowl, mix well and set aside.
2. Pour ¾ cup of the peach nectar into a measuring cup and set aside for the BBQ sauce. With a church key make 2 additional holes in the top of the peach nectar can, then add the cinnamon stick to the can. Spray the outside of the can heavily with Pam, and set can aside.
3. Rinse the chicken, and remove the packet of innards. Pat dry.
4. Place 1 teaspoon of rub inside the body of the chicken, then place ½ teaspoon rub in the neck cavity. Drizzle 2 teaspoons vegetable oil over the outside of the chicken and rub or brush it into the skin. Rub the oil covered chicken with 1 tablespoon of the rub. I also put a bit of rub in between the skin of the breast and the meat of the breast—just pull up the skin, sprinkle in the spice mix, then rub it a round a bit. Pour remaining rub into the can of peach nectar.
5. Put the chicken on the can, pulling the legs forward.  The legs are two of a tripod, the can is the third. Tuck the wings behind the chicken’s back.  Chicken should look comfortable and be well balanced.
6. Set up grill for indirect grilling. 
7. Place drained wood chips in smoker box, and preheat grill to high or until there is smoke, and then reduce to medium.
8. Set chicken-on-can on unheated portion of grill, then cover grill. 
9. Rotate chicken ¼ turn every 15 minutes. 
10. Cook until chicken temp is 180° in thickest part of thigh, about 1¼-1½ hours.
11. While chicken is cooking, combine all ingredients for BBQ sauce in heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. 
12. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often, then add additional salt, pepper, and honey to taste—serve sauce warm or at room temperature with cooked chicken. Any leftover sauce will keep for a week, covered, in the refrigerator.
13. CAREFULLY remove bird from grill! Let chicken rest for 5 minutes then wrestle the bird off the can.  Be very attentive and DO NOT SPILL THE HOT LIQUID!
14. Halve, quarter, or carve the chicken and serve with Peach BBQ sauce.

Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today!  Come back again soon!