Beer Can Chicken



"Firmly lodging" the beer can in the chicken cavity.

Clearly, I love cooking- hence the cooking/recipe blog.  But do you ever find yourself in a cooking rut?  Mine goes about like this: pasta, potatoes, chicken. Lather, rinse, repeat.  These are, hands down, my three favorite foods.  So, in an effort to be adventurous, I downloaded the Cook This, Not That app for my iPhone.  No, it wasn't free- it was $7.99, but considering I saved a tree and it costs less than the book, I wasn't too concerned. 


Beer Can Chicken and Stuffed Jalapenos, comin atcha!

Here, I found a recipe for Beer Can Chicken.  It sounded fun and new, so my boyfriend and I decided to give it a go.  We went to our local Central Market and bought all of the ingredients needed... plus some.  Oh, and by the way, no wonder America has an obesity problem.  Why spend $50 on health food when you can spend $1 on a cheeseburger, right? Wrong. Make the investment- your 85 year old self will thank you some day.  Back to Central Market.  We went to the alcohol section to try to figure out what beer would be best in Beer Can Chicken.  I'd done some Googling and read that something with fruit infusion was best, so we decided to make our own six pack.  For the chicken, we picked a beer that boasted it contained raspberries in it.  Fruity enough for me.  They only had good beers in bottles, so we planned to empty a can and fill it with the bottled beer of our choice.  Then, in the spirit of the holidays, we chose an assortment of Christmas and winter ales and brews.  Annnd a bottle of wine, just in case.  We also got the things we needed to make stuffed jalapenos as a side.

We went back to my house to cook the chicken, and we got the jalapenos started first.  For his birthday, I gave Andy a jalapeno grill plate, and we wanted to try it out before my holiday party.  If you've ever tried to make stuffed jalapenos, you've probably run into the same problems that we have in the past: they fall over, they gush out, they stick to the grill, and they just don't come out lookin' purdy.  A jalapeno griller will be your new best friend: click here for their website or go by their booth at the Fort Worth Stockshow and Rodeo or next year's Christmas in Cowtown.  It makes grilling stuffed jalapenos a breeze!  Big problem though...  I'm pretty sure that we accidentally bought Ghost Jalapeno Peppers instead of regular ones because these puppies were in-sane.  We stuffed them with fat free cream cheese and cheddar jack, so they were semi-healthy and hella-hot.  Oh, and I also scratched my nose after eating one.  BAD. PLAN.  It stung so, stinkin, bad.  Ice didn't help.  Pop Ice up my nose didn't help.  So I soaked a paper towel in milk and shoved it in there.  Ahhh, slight comfort at last.

So on to the chicken.  Can I just say that this may have been the best time that I ever had cooking a chicken, ever?  Not only were the instructions hilarious, but it was definitely a fun team effort.  The result was a juicy, delicious chicken that was tender and super flavorful without any fattening sauce.  It takes some time to prep and cook, but if you are looking for a fun night in, I'd definitely suggest trying this one out.

Beer Can Chicken
All rights reserved to the Cook This, Not That iPhone app.
4 servings, 410 calories/serving, 11 g fat


Finished product!

• 1 can beer (fruit infused works best- if you can only find it in bottles, just pour out a can of beer or soda and replace half of it with the beer)
• Freshly cracked pepper
• 1 whole chicken
• 3/4 tsp salt (or add to taste)
• 24 oz Coca-Cola

1. 2 HOURS or the night BEFORE, combine the chicken and the coke and soak in the fridge (for a minimum of 2 hours, or overnight) *we used a whole liter of coke in order to cover the whole chicken
2. Heat grill.  If using charcoal, bank the hot coals to one side to create a cooler section for indirect cooking.  If using a gas grill, leave one section of burners off and the others set on medium.  
3. Remove chicken from the soda and dry all over. 
4. Rub with salt and pepper. 
5. Open up the beer can and drink half of it.  *Or pour half a bottle into an empty can.  Mount the chicken on top of the beer can, running the can through the chicken's cavity until it's firmly lodged and can stand up on its own. (Yes, feel free to laugh out loud at the insinuations here- we did!)
6. Place chicken standing up on the cooler side of the grill, cover, and cook until the thermometer inserted into the thigh reads 160 (about 1.5 hours).  *We didn't have a thermometer, so we just cut into it and kept putting it back on until it was done.
7. Remove the chicken and allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving.

Enjoy!