Barbecued Beer Can Chicken

Remember my friend Pam?

The one whose son Brock made the cinnamon rolls?

Pam's been telling me about her Barbecued Beer Can Chicken.

Apparently, Brock's been having dinner parties and making his mom's beer can chicken with great success!

 

Pam said it was super-easy to make--simply sit a chicken on a beer can in a foil pan and roast it in the barbecue for one hour.

I tried it the other day, and she's right!

 

It's super-easy and the chicken comes out really moist.

 

I bought these two whole chickens from Costco--they were $10.55. 

Pam said she picked some herbs from her garden for this recipe. 

I had rosemary, thyme and oregano in mine, so I used those.

 

I bought the least costly beer I could find and put some herbs in the beer.

Push the herbs all the way into the can.

Best pour a little of the beer out first--luckily I had the beer sitting in the foil pan.

Just the other day Pam mentioned that using a British ale works best and has a nice flavor.

 

I chopped the rest of the herbs--adding some parsley--and a couple of cloves of garlic, 

 

To mix with some butter. 

 

I added a little salt and pepper to the butter mixture. 

 

Then put a little of the butter mixture under the skin of the chicken.

I didn't use a lot of the butter mixture so I wrapped it up and put it in the fridge to use on something another day.

 

Rub the skin of the chicken with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. 

 

Put some herbs into the cavity of the chicken and sit the chicken in the foil pan with the beer can in the cavity.

I've seen a lot of kitchen gadgets lately that are made to cook the chicken sitting up like this--the beer can method works really well and is certainly not as costly.

 

I should have used a larger foil pan.

This one worked fine, but instead of sitting the chicken breast to breast, next time I'll sit them back to back--you'll see why in a minute.

 

I lit two of the four burners of the barbecue and set the heat to medium, which gave me a temperature of about 350 degrees F.

I covered the barbecue and let the chicken roast for one hour.

 

I didn't baste them or anything, just let them cook in the barbecue.

I did go out and check the heat a couple of times to be sure it was at about 350.

 

The skin was nicely browned.

You can also make this in the oven.

 

But since the chickens sat breast to breast, the breast didn't brown, just the backs.

Not very pretty for a presentation--so when you make this, be sure to have a large foil pan, use two, or sit them back to back--then they'll be nicely browned.

I tried to turn them around about 3/4 of the way through the cooking, but it was too late to brown the skin on the breast.

The chicken was cooked, just not browned on the breast side.

 

The chicken was moist and flavorful.

If you slice it and serve it boneless, don't forget to save the bones for soup!

If you're wondering about those tiny tomatoes, they're growing out in my yard--they're volunteers and come back every year.

You don't get much of a biteful, but they're so cute!

Itadakimasu!

***

 

This is my friend Pam and her family.

If you've been following along, you may have met them before.

  

 I met them when we went to Yosemite when our kids were small.

That's Brock in the red jacket!

 

Pam and her husband Mark are a lot of fun.

 This photo was taken a few years ago at their Labor Day Beach Bash.

Here's Pam tending to her herb garden.

 

This might be my favorite photo of Pam, taken when her daughter graduated from college.

Pam can do it all.

Seriously, she can.

She cooks, bakes, decorates her home beautifully,  is smart, witty, nice, crafty, the perfect hostess, she's athletic, teaches high school English, gardens, plays the piano and sings.

She DOES do it all!

Oh!

I forgot one.

Pam is also a great friend.

Love you, Pam!

No printable recipe.