Grilled Beer Can Chicken

If you've never had beer can chicken I'm just going to say it right now. You. are. missing. out. Cooking the chicken whole allows all of the juices to stay in and keep the meat really tender. Adding the can of beer inside allows carbonation and steaming to hydrate the chicken from the inside out. You can season it and add other flavoring to the beer can to infuse the chicken and really make the flavoring your own. Point being this is really darn delicious ... and good news is it's easier than it looks to cook and I will walk you through it step by step! 

Prep: 10 minutes
Grill time: 50 minutes - 1 hour
Cooling time: 10-15 minutes

​Before you get started...

• make sure you have a grill with a lid tall enough to allow a chicken to stand up while cooking. If not you could try cooking open lid, but I wouldn't recommend it for best results. 
• make sure you have a beer can chicken stand. Some grills come with one, but not always. Go cheap here, you can get them for $5-10 at places like bed, bath, and beyond - this is not one of those things where the fancier versions make any difference. 
• make sure you have tin foil to place under chicken on the grill, without it any drippings from the chicken may get into the grill and cause little flames to come up that could char the chicken skin.
• make sure you have a working meat thermometer.  
• last but not least, you should preferable have a can opener you can use to take the top off the beer can. 

Alright, now that we know you've got the tools / grill to do this, let's get to it! 

Necessary Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken, a "small" / "young" chicken is fine. 
• 1 12 oz. can beer
• 1/4 of an onion, apple, or potato to plug up the top of the chicken - whatever you have is fine. 

Optional Ingredients, for flavor:

• A few slices of apple (to put in the beer can). 
• Liquid smoke (to put in the beer can)
• Seasoning or rub of choice. For the chicken pictured above, I used a cajun seasoning & a little salt & pepper! 

Directions:

1. ​Set grill to low / medium heat to start warming while you prep the chicken. 
2. Clean out the inside of the chicken, if it isn't already. Some come with giblets (the chicken organs) inside, some come cleaned out. We don't need any of that stuff.... just the chicken itself! 
3. Use a can opener to remove top of beer can and pour out half the beer. Or you could do what I did and call it an excuse to drink half a beer... 
4. If you are going to add any flavoring to the beer such as the apple slices or liquid smoke I recommended above, now is the time to do it. Place beer can into the stand. 
5. Fit chicken over the stand as shown in images. You may have to sort of force or stretch the chicken to sit evenly. 
6. Stick your "plug" into the top of the chicken so it is completely filling the opening, this allows the steam to stay inside while cooking. I used a 1/4 of a white onion. 
7. If you are going to season the chicken pour some seasoning into your hands and just pat onto the chicken until it is evenly coated and as seasoned as you'd like. 
8. Over a piece of tin foil, set the whole chicken on the grill. You want to place as centered as possible for even cooking. 
9. Grill about 50 minutes to an hour over low/medium heat for most tender results. Chicken should be at 170' in the thickest parts before removing from grill. You can rotate if you want, or feel your grills heat distribution is uneven, and just check on it every so often to make sure it looks like it is cooking and browning evenly around to help you determine whether you should rotate it or not. Ultimately as long as it is of temperature, you are okay! Stick the thermometer into the thickest portion of the breasts, and into the back thick area of the thighs to make sure it is of temperature all around. 
10. Using a large grill spatula or a plate, carefully remove chicken from the grill. 
11. Let cool 10-15 minutes to let the juices set and for chicken to be cool enough for you to carve. 

Carving Instructions:

1. Set the chicken on its stand over a large plate or cutting board. Get out a carving or large knife. 
2. Start with the wings, hold on to them and lift up so you break the "shoulder" joint and use your knife to remove them. 
3. Next we will do the thighs / bottom legs. Pull the leg joint out so you can see where to cut, and using your knife get as close to the body as possible and cut off. 
4. For the breast meat, start at the top front of the body and on each side cut in as close to the body as you can and slice meat right off. 
5. Now that we've gotten all the major sections of meat off you can carve any remaining cooked white meat off of the chicken at this time. 

Note: cooking a whole chicken like this it is difficult to always check every portion for correct temperature. Use your best judgment on if any pieces need further cooking before eating. Every now and then I'll notice a few cuts that are slightly pink for my comfort level and I'll toss them in the oven for a few minutes to be on the safe side, but as long as you checked with your thermometer well, everything should be fine! 
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​Enjoy!!!