Have you ever made beer-can chicken? If you haven't, you're missing out on the juiciest grilled chicken you've ever tasted and on a few good laughs from looking at your bird perched atop a beer can on the grill. It's also incredibly easy to make, which makes it the perfect dish for this Labor Day weekend. That's if this rain doesn't keep up.
Elizabeth Karmel, a North Carolina native known as the Queen of the Grill, shared this recipe for the chicken using olive oil by Lucini Italia, a line of Italian food products headquartered in Miami. Take our word for it, it's good.
The Original Beer Can Chicken
Grilling method: indirect/medium heat
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 whole roasting chicken, 4 to 5 pounds, preferably amish or organic
- Lucini Premium Select Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 tablespoons favorite dry spice rub or kosher salt and pepper
- 1 12-ounce can domestic beer, such as budweiser or a vertical roaster
Remove the neck and giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out, if desired, and pat dry with a paper towel. Coat the chicken lightly with the olive oil and season with 2 tablespoons of the dry rub or salt and pepper. Set aside.
Build a charcoal fire or preheat a gas grill. Open the beer can, pour out about ¼ cup of the beer and make another hole in the top of the can with a church-key can opener. Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of the dry rub inside the beer can. Place the beer can in the center of the cooking grate over indirect medium heat and "sit "the chicken on the top of the beer can. The chicken will appear to be sitting on the grate.
Cover and cook the chicken for 1 to 1 ½ hours or until the internal temperature registers to 165F in the breast area and 180F in the thigh.
Remove it carefully to a platter, holding the can with tongs. Let it rest for 10 minutes before carving.
