Ginger Beer Can Chicken
Beer can chicken is one of those culinary staples that most people who cook either have made or eventually will get around to making. Many recipes for beer can chicken are for the grille, some (including mine) are for the oven, but most are similar; there just aren’t that many different ways to put a beer can up the back end of a chicken. Still, wanting to do something different with this fun and interesting cooking method, I made “Ginger Beer Can Chicken.” It uses the classic beer can chicken approach of baking a chicken with spice rub on its outside and a beverage can in its body cavity to provide a moist, flavorful inside, but replaces the beer with ginger beer and uses a spice rub combination that’s compatible with that. (Ginger beer, for anyone not familiar with it, is a soft drink that’s something like ginger ale but with a much stronger bite and more complex taste and color.) I admit “ginger beer can chicken” is something of a misnomer, since ginger beer normally comes in a bottle. For this recipe, the ginger beer should be poured into an empty soda or beer can.
Total Steps
7
Ingredients
11
Tools Needed
13
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, about 4 pounds
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 8 ounces good quality ginger beer (Reed's or similar)
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon dried sage
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
Instructions
Step 1
<a href="/H3S4YV46">Preheat </a>the oven to 400 degrees. Be sure the oven rack is low enough to allow the chicken to stand on end while <a href="/RNT367Z2">baking.</a> While the oven is <a href="/H3S4YV46">preheating,</a> rinse the chicken, inside and out, with cold water, and <a href="/RF7SRX43">dry </a>using paper towels.
Step 2
<a href="/DYM522S6">Rub </a>half the spice <a href="/DYM522S6">rub </a>under the <a href="/8YHHJCST">skin </a>on the chicken breast meat. <a href="/DYM522S6">Rub </a>the other half inside the chicken’s body cavity. <a href="/6BTCX64M">Coat </a>the <a href="/8YHHJCST">skin </a>with olive oil.
Step 3
Cover the outside of the soda <a href="/TPWNYF5L">can </a>with foil and punch two or three extra holes in the <a href="/R34ZSY3M">top </a>using a <a href="/TPWNYF5L">can </a>opener.
Step 4
Insert the <a href="/TPWNYF5L">can </a>into the cavity and place the chicken, standing up, in a disposable aluminum pie pan (<a href="/Y6MVNCHX">serving </a>as a drip pan) on a <a href="/RNT367Z2">baking </a>sheet, using the drumsticks to balance the chicken.
Step 5
<a href="/RNT367Z2">Bake </a>for 30 minutes, then <a href="/H3TYV2MZ">reduce </a>temperature to 325 and <a href="/RNT367Z2">bake </a>until internal temperature in the thigh meat is at least 180 degrees (about 90 minutes), <a href="/8QSP656T">basting </a>every 20 minutes or so.
Step 6
Let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes, then carefully <a href="/QQBJYYGF">extract </a>and discard the soda <a href="/TPWNYF5L">can.</a>
Step 7
Use a gravy <a href="/WRFN6T6X">separator </a>to remove the fat from the pan drippings. <a href="/3JDX2Q84">Slice </a>the chicken and <a href="/Y6MVNCHX">serve </a>with the pan <a href="/QDWRNXYW">juices.</a>