Quit making boring chicken! Grab a couple beers because we are going to season the hell out of some chickens and stick a beer in em for the ultimate juiciest smoked chicken youve ever had. Fire up those smoker, Lets roll some smoke!
Apply rub to chickens and mount them on the beer cans. Cook at 225-250°F for 2 hours, rotate 180°, and baste with apple juice. Cook for another 1-1/2 to 2 hours until 160-165°F in the breast, 170-175°F in the thigh. Carefully remove from the WSM and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Charcoal Grill / Gas Grill
Using a propane grill or charcoal grill is another great way to get that extra smoke/fire flavor on your chicken.
There is no need to cook at a low temperature with a grill. Simply cook hot and fast until the bird is finished. An inexpensive charcoal grill and one I love cooking with is the classic Weber Kettle Grill.
Any grill will work however, fire up the one you have and I guarantee your chicken will turn out better than an oven roasted chicken.
- Whole Chicken – Start with a 5-7lb whole chicken from your local grocery store. They are quite inexpensive and easy to find. Remember, might as well grab two chickens!
- Brine – Brining a chicken in fresh water, kosher salt, apple juice, & dark brown sugar helps keep the chicken moist during cooking and will churn out a nice tender bird.
- Seasoning – Were cooking two birds with two different flavors. One will have a little spice and the other is nice and succulent.
- Beer – Using a light lager or fruity type beer will give you the best results. The beer is used to add a little flavor, but also keep the meat nice and moist.
- Wood chips – Using fruit woods such as cherry wood or apple wood chips give this smoked beer can chicken a great flavor. They dont overpower the chicken flavor imparting a nice mild smoke on the bird.
- Beer can chicken stand – You can get away without using a beer can stand, but they sure are VERY nice to have to keep the chicken upright. They make cooking the chicken easier as well as not having to worry about the chicken falling over.
How to Smoke Beer Can Chicken
Lets get into the fun stuff and get started making this beer can chicken recipe. Here I will show you how to brine, season, the best beer to use, and smoking these delicious chickens.
Before we start seasoning, we need to either brine these bad boys or give them a nice rinse. Lets take a look at how to brine chicken.
Brining the chickens before seasoning and smoking is optional. This will help keep the chickens moist while cooking, but is not required. To brine the chicken, grab a bucket big enough to submerge the chicken(s) fully in water, such as a 5 gallon bucket commonly found at Lowes or Home Depot.
In a pot combine brine ingredients and heat to boiling.
- 3 gallons fresh water
- 3 cups kosher salt
- 4 cups apple juice
- 2 cups dark brown sugar
After bringing to a low boil, stir pot until all ingredients are dissolved into the water. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Ice cubes can be added to speed up the cooling process.
Add chicken(s) to the 5 gallon bucket and pour the cooled brine water over the chickens until they are fully submerged. Place bucket in your refrigerator and brine for at least 4 hours, if not overnight.
Remove the chicken from the brine and rinse with fresh cold water. Discard the brine, do NOT save to brine chickens in the future. Always use fresh brine when brining chickens or turkeys.
Pat the whole chickens dry with paper towels making sure to get around the legs and under any skin. Do not tie the legs together like you would when smoking a traditional whole chicken.
For this smoked beer can chicken recipe, rub chicken down with olive oil so the dry rub will stick to the bird better. Using your fingers, separate the skin from the breast meat and cover inside with olive oil. The oil will also help the skin become more crispy, so dont skip the oil!
Add all dry ingredients into a shaker or a bowl, mix them together well. Season the chicken all over, including under the skin to make sure that meat has some great tasting chicken seasoning.
Im making one chicken with habaneros, these were cut in half and then rubbed ALL over the bird before adding the oil. Then I seasoned with the spice rub. Watch my video attached to this article to see exactly how this was done.
Once the chicken is seasoned, open a 12-16oz CAN of light flavored lager or a fruity type beer. Get rid of half of the beer in the can (Drink half the beer!). Place the beer can in the designated spot on the Beer Can Chicken Stand.
One of my chickens appears it lost a knife fight. Probably its cause of death… Haha.
Grab one of your seasoned whole chickens and slide the chicken onto the open beer can. The can should be inside the cavity of the chicken so its sitting down with its body upright. Its ready, lets smoke it!
Now that we have the chicken brined, dried, seasoned, and have a beer stuck up its rear end; its time to fire up those smokers and get to the fun part!
Pre-heat your smoker to 225°F with a fruit wood such as cherry or apple or your other desired wood. Once the smoker temperature has leveled at 225° Fahrenheit, place the chicken atop the stand and beer directly onto the grill grates.
Close the grill lid and smoke at 225°F for 1 hour and 15 minutes. This should get your chickens internal temperature to about 110 – 120°F and give it that nice smoky flavor.
The ½ full beer inside the chickens cavity makes the chicken cook slower than if the can wasnt in there. This is because air cannot freely circulate inside the chicken cooking it from the inside as well as the outside.
The little over an hour cooking time at 225°F will give the chicken a fantastic smoke flavor. Time to finish these chickens off to a nice crispy skin.
So to get that crispy skin, after 75 minutes increase the temperature in the smoker up to 350°F. Dont bother removing the chicken while you increase the temperature, simply leave them in the smoker.
Continue cooking the chickens until they reach an internal temp of 165°F when checked with an instant read thermometer between the thigh and breast.
This will take about an hour after turning the grills temperature up to 350°F. Cooking time really depends on a lot of factors however, so its best to cook to temperature, NOT time.
The SECRET to Beer Can Chicken!
FAQ
Is it better to smoke a chicken at 225 or 250?
How long does it take to smoke chicken at 225 degrees?
How long does it take to smoke a spatchcock chicken at 225 degrees?