Beer Can Chicken

Hello all! My sincerest apologies for the blogging break during the past few weeks. I recently just wrote my board exams and the few weeks leading up to the exam marathon were not too fun, to say the least. Though they’re all over now, it hasn’t completely sunk in yet because the results won’t be available for another six weeks or so. Oh well, celebrate in between I guess! Before the study break, C and I tried a recipe for roasted beer can chicken – we wanted a change from our usual roasted chicken with stuffing.

It was the strangest concept – who would have thought to put a half-full beer can into a whole chicken and bake it? I’ve seen this done before on barbeques, but I just never thought of trying it in the oven. That’s where Google came in – apparently Guy Fieri had this all figured out years ago! Check his recipe out here.

Initially, our beer-stuffed chicken looked like it was going to tip over – it was slouching forward and wouldn’t sit up straight. In attempts to make our chicken sit up straighter, we tied the arms and legs together hoping that it might help, but it honestly didn’t make much of a difference.

• 1 (2 to 3-pound) whole chicken
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
•   3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 (12-ounce) can beer

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Wash chicken with cold water and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Mix all dry ingredients in a small bowl. Rub half of the dry rub inside the chicken and the rest over the outside of the chicken (you’re supposed to actually remove the skin and rub it underneath the skin, but we were too lazy to do that)
3. Open the beer can and pour out (or drink) about 1/2 cup. Cut the garlic cloves in half and drop into the beer can.
4. Place the beer can into a large baking pan then carefully place the chicken, open end down, over the can. (You could try tying the arms/ legs together if it’s slouching too much)
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 mins to brown the skin, then lower the temperature to 325 degrees F and cook for another 1 to 1-1/2 hours, or until the internal temperature in the thickest part of the thigh reaches 165 degrees F.

Wasn’t too sure how it was going to turn out but the meat was surprisingly still so moist and it even produced it’s own gravy! Think it might have been the beer – my guess was that having a liquid within the cavity probably helped steam the inside, thereby keeping the meat moist. As for the gravy, the initial alcohol evaporated and through mixture with chicken juices, produced a tasty ‘beer gravy/ sauce’. So neat!