Beer Can Chicken Recipe | Smoking Chicken With Beer (2024)

FAQs

What beer is best for beer can chicken? ›

The most popular choice is lager — something middle of the road, and not too hoppy or bitter. I have a deep abiding love affair with fruit-forward sours, so that's what I reach for when grilling beer can chicken, both because I like to drink it and because the acidity works well with the grilled chicken.

Enhancing Chicken with Beer

Water and fat don't mix, but alcohol and fat do. The alcohol is able to penetrate deep into the meat, carrying the flavors of the brine solution with it. Beer can also break down fat, something that water cannot. You can also baste the chicken with beer.

Also, beer isn't your only option! You can use your favorite soft drink, such as cola or root beer if you prefer. You can get even more creative with an empty, clean aluminum can. Fill it halfway with chicken stock, wine, or any mix of liquid and herbs and spices.

You can baste the chicken with beer as it's cooking. I suggest basting with beer during the first half of cooking, then switching to cooking spray at the end to get it extra crispy.

This time around I took a cue from Steven Raichlen and tried it out with cola, Dr Pepper (my favorite cola) to be exact, which resulted in a subtly sweet and spicy bird that easily held its own against those made with beer.

Here's how it works: You set a dry-rubbed raw chicken carcass on top of a half-full can of beer. (See the recipe at the bottom of this post.) Then you set it on a fired-up grill. The can acts as a stand, keeping the bird upright so it cooks evenly on a covered barbecue.

Set the can and chicken on one side of the grill.

Cover grill and allow to cook until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 on the thickest part of the breast, about 90 minutes. Allow chicken to rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Surprising but true: Cooking with beer can actually be a healthy way to flavor food—here's why. A 12-ounce bottle of regular beer has about 150 calories and is free of fat and cholesterol. It also has very little sodium-only 1% of the recommended daily allowance.

And unlike wine or liquor, you can substitute beer cup-for-cup for stock or water when you're braising or making soup. Yet like wine, beer is acidic, which comes in handy when you're baking quick bread, cake or fried foods, because you need a little acidity to activate baking soda.

What alcohol is best for cooking chicken? ›

Southern France is known for chicken cooked in red wine, but in northern France, chicken is often cooked in dark beer with onions to get a rich, caramelized flavor. Non-alcoholic version: Use a dark non-alcoholic beer or 1 cup of chicken broth in place of the dark beer.

In order to improve the taste of this canned protein, you need to add texture to it. For example, add cranberries and pecans to your next chicken salad for a textural boost. Toss your drained canned chicken in a bowl with mayonnaise, dried cranberries, pecans, and a scant amount of mayonnaise and Dijon mustard.

Every time I make it and post it on social media, my friend Jonathan Fox from Fox Bros Bar-B-Q in Georgia tells me to "save the beer and make it with a Dr. Pepper instead." He has always told me he loves the sweet and nutty flavor that it delivers plus you save the beer to drink! In this recipe we make Dr.

No. If you rinse chicken at all, it's to get rid of surface bacteria. The practice is disputed because rinsing tends to cause splattering which may spread bacteria all over your kitchen, and since you're cooking the chicken, the added value is minimal.

Most are fair game for beer batter (Pilsner Urquell, Stella Artois, Modelo, and Firestone Pivo Pils are particularly nice), with the exception of Bohemian pilsner, which comes with a heavy dose of spices that can change the overall flavor of your dish. In a beer batter, pilsner is one of the more low-key options.

Craft beer can chicken is one of the simplest recipes I know and it packs a lot of flavor, especially if you are using a floral IPA. This isn't your typical dry, bland chicken breast! The flavor of the beer enhances the spice rub, leaving you with a tender, moist bird with perfectly crisp skin.

Amber ale is a beer that people often use to cook with to flavor prime rib or short ribs. It's an excellent choice for marinades or homemade barbecue sauces because it's sweet and rich in flavor.

Red ales are heavy with a roasted aroma allowing them to enhance the taste of the grilled juicy meat. Porters are also a good pair with a steak, especially a porterhouse steak. The full flavour of a porter is able to compete with the rich meaty texture of a steak from rare to well done.