Beer Can Chicken Recipe - Make your own Juicy Roasted Chicken on your Barbecue

How many times have you tried to cook chicken on your BBQ only to have it come out dry and tasteless?

All that is about to change with this simple recipe that will have your family and friends running over once they smell this cooking on your own barbecue.

This will take you only about 1 and a half hours to cook and if your using propane and are worried that you will use up a lot of gas from your tank fear not as this is cooked low & slow with only one burner.

Ingredients

• 2 Regular sized whole chickens
• 1 can of Beer (2 containers)
• 1 cup Italian Salad Dressing (or any oil based dressing is fine)
• Your favorite spices or a mix of Salt, Pepper & Garlic flakes
• 1 small Onion (cut in quarters)
• 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup Soy Sauce

Directions

Using 2 fresh Whole Chickens (or thawed if frozen) make sure the gizzards are removed and wash the birds with cold water inside and out, pat dry with paper towels.

Slip your fingers under the skin and pull it away from the meat everywhere that you can even the legs.

Spread the Italian Salad dressing both over and under the skin,

Again using your fingers coat the chickens with your spices under the skin and on the outside.

If you have the time you can slip the birds into a bowl or in a zip-lock bag and let marinate in the fridge for an hour or two.

The beer cans are used to hold the birds in an upright position, each bird needs 1/2 of a can of beer.

You can also use stands that are sold at some department stores that are stainless steel and either hold the can or have a tube like container that replaces the can. or you can just use a beer can by it self but they can be a bit tippy.

If using a beer can make sure to have extra holes in the top (or near the top on the sides) to let more steam escape during cooking, a BBQ fork or instant read thermometer works well for poking holes.

Add to the can some more of what ever spices you are using (may cause the beer to froth up but that is fine).

insert some chunks of onion in to the cavity of the chickens and slide it over your container or beer can.

Using the excess skin around the neck pull it over the top so that the top of the bird is covered, you do not need the steam escaping. or plug the while on top with a chunk of onion.

Set up your BBQ in this fashion, you will be using the burner (s) only on one side of the grill, on the other side place a foil pan with some water under the grate over the side that will not be turn on. This will help to keep things moist and catch any drippings while cooking.

Your wanting to get a temperature of between of 225-275 F in which to cook the birds in directly on your grill.

Place the birds standing on the side of the grill not lit , make note of the time and close the lid of the BBQ.

On your stove or side burner if you have one, put your stick of butter into a sauce pot and melt the butter, add to that the soy sauce, bring to a boil and then take away from heat, this will be your basting sauce for the chickens.

After the Chickens have been cooking for 30 minutes baste the entire bird with the butter/soy sauce mixture) this will help along with the salad dressing to give you a crisp skin.

Repeat the basting every 20 minutes until the chickens have an internal temperature of at least 165 F.

This should take approx 1.5 hours total cooking time.

When cooked, remove the bids from the cans or stands using paper towels or silicone oven mitts, be careful the cans will be very hot.

Let the chickens rest for at least 10 to 15 minutes before slicing, this will return the juices to the meat. another option is to wrap the chickens in foil for the standing time.

At this point you can either slice your chicken into quarters or halves and serve with skin attached or you can take off the skins and using your fingers pull the meat off the bones to make wonderful Pulled Chicken sandwiches, adding your favorite BBQ sauce.

This link will offer you some more detailed Beer Can Chicken information and more pictures as well.

Beer Butt Vs Spatchcock – Battle of the BBQ Chickens