Every time I bake chicken in a beer can, it comes out moist, tender, and flavorful. Are you sick of eating the same old, same old chicken? Test this out! It is really simple to make and prepare. Although there are numerous variations that can be cooked on the grill, we like to bake our beer can chicken. It’s a meal that the entire family enjoys.
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 40 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- ¼ cup garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons seasoned salt
- 2 tablespoons onion powder
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 (12 fluid ounce) can light-flavored beer (such as Bud Light®)
- 1 (3 pound) whole chicken
- 4 green onions, sliced
- 4 green onions, cut in half crosswise
- 1 (12 fluid ounce) can light-flavored beer (such as Bud Light®)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Mix garlic powder, seasoned salt, onion powder, dried oregano, salt, and pepper in a small bowl; set aside.
- Pour 1/3 of one can of beer into the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish. Place the open beer can in the center of the baking dish.
- Rinse chicken under cold running water. Discard giblets and neck from chicken; drain and pat dry. Fit whole chicken over the open beer can with the legs on the bottom. With the chicken breasts facing you, use a paring knife to cut a small slit on each side. Press the tip of each wing into the slit to encourage even cooking.
- Rub the reserved seasoning mixture to taste over entire chicken. Pat green onion slices evenly onto the chicken; it’s okay if some fall off. Press green onion halves into the top cavity of the chicken. Open the second beer can and pour 1/2 of it into the pan; set the remaining beer aside to use during baking.
- Bake chicken in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Pour the remaining beer into the pan under the chicken and continue baking until no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear, about 30 additional minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone should read 180 degrees F (82 degrees C).
- Remove from the oven and discard the beer can. Cover chicken with a doubled sheet of aluminum foil; let rest in a warm area for 10 minutes before slicing.
- You can add to the seasonings or change the amounts to your liking. Just make sure to cover the entire chicken. These are the seasonings my family likes best.
- The nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of the beer and spice rub ingredients. The actual amount of these ingredients consumed will vary.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 564 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 20 g |
| Cholesterol | 145 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 49 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 3277 mg |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 26 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Great recipe when the weather is bad for grilling. Seems like people complaining about it taking too long either had a bigger bird or didn’t follow the instructions or just suck at cooking and they probably didn’t pre heat the oven. Delicious recipe!
I liked it,
Chicken was flavorful, moist and easy to make. I will make this again.
I’m going to take the suggestion of the top reviewer who jacked up the temp to 400 degrees. I’m going to keep checking it with a meat thermometer until it reaches 180 degrees internally. I plan to cook some root vegetables around the side, so they might have to be removed before the chicken is done, but that’s fine. I have some lemon-pepper seasonings I intend to use, but I wanted to use the can method for even cooking and to prevent the bottom from being “soggy”. I have a very small hen that is only about 5 lbs., so people should realize the size of their hen makes a big difference. I only salt the surface of the bird. 1 tablespoon sounds like way too much.
Ehhh. I agree with several other members, I felt it wasn’t cooked completely, even after bumping the temperature up to 375. I even kept it in the oven for an additional 15 minutes. I felt the flavor just wasn’t there with this one.
if you have 4 hours to sit and wait for it to cook then it’s fine… Im very upset, I started dinner at 4pm, we didn’t eat until 830! I don’t mind long cooking times but after 3 hours, it was still bleeding and not cooked at all in the thickest parts! I had to bump the temp up to 400 in order to try to salvage it! This recipe was GARBAGE and def the last time I actually use this site.
Easy…. turned out great!
Turned out great! Didn’t make any changes
Great!! NO need to add anything!!
I have made this a few times now and loved it every time. Pluss it gives me a reason to buy good bear. So far my favorite one to use has been a Belgian white. It has a slight citrus flavor that works really well with the chicken.
I love this recipe, the only difference is I think 375 degrees is more accurate and then increasing to 400 after the 45 minutes
I loved it. Chicken was cooked perfectly. Skin super crispy, but really salty. Next time I’ll cut down on the salt.
The list of ingredients is confusing because it asks for 2 cans of beer but in two separate places. This does call for two cans of beer: the first can poor about 1/3 into the baking pan/dish then put the chicken over that can of beer (I have a holder). The 2nd can of beer is to poor into the pan while it’s baking. The aromas are amazing!
almost as good as on the Traeger! we used the convection roast function in oven and orange bud light. Came out wonderful.
excellent recipe! i added celery and onion around the base of the chicken, and poured 1/2 a bud light into the chicken mid-way through cooking. with a little bit of flour, a great gravy can be made with the juices!
TIP: I wanted my cake soaked with rum glaze. I first tried following the recipe but found that putting cake back into the Bundt pan was the best approach of pouring the glaze into the cake. The Bundt cooks in a way that it leaves a seam in the middle of the cake. That seam made it easy to separate and pour the glaze right in. You could see the cake soaking the glaze immediately. Save a bit of the glaze for the top of the cake though.
Turned out great.
Very good flavor. The amount of spice rub was more than enough, so be sure to have a way to store it. Will be adding this to the rotation.
Upped the temp to 375 and cooking time to 2 hr 10 min to cook two 5 lb chickens. Turned out absolutely delicious!
I had to cook mine an extra 20 minutes. Very moist and lots of beer flavor.
Loved it! Soooo moist and juicy!