chicken braised in beer

October 9, 2010

Wow! I can’t believe it’s been three weeks since I’ve cooked. But it’s true. I’ve been going out or eating things from Trader Joe’s, falling back into old habits.

Tonight I decided to try a variation of Beer-can (beer-butt) chicken. I can’t make the regular recipe because my Weber grill isn’t deep enough.

This is a traditional braising technique for chicken. Usually, I use traditional herbs (rosemary, sage, thyme), onions, garlic and white wine. I thought I’d see how this technique works with the ingredients for beer-can chicken.

The spice blend is Emeril’s Essence (or Bayou Blast):

This makes 2/3 cup of spice. Store it in an air tight container.

2 ½ T paprika
2 T sea salt
2 T garlic powder
1 T freshly ground black pepper
1 T onion powder
1 T cayenne powder
1 T dried oregano
1 T dried thyme

Use hot paprika and Mexican oregano if possible.


For the chicken:

1 whole chicken
1 onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can of beer
1 T oil
2-3 T spice mix
1-2T brown sugar

Heat the oven to 275°.

In a small bowl, mix the spice mix and brown sugar together. Set aside.

Remove giblet bag if present. Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Loosen the skin on the chicken, spread the spice mix and brown sugar under the skin and on the outside of the chicken. Salt and pepper the cavity of the chicken.

In a large braise pan or dutch oven, heat the oil until hot. Brown the chicken on both sides. Remove and set aside. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and sauté until golden, about three minutes.

Add the chicken back to the pan, add the beer. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and the lid.

Bake for approximately 1 ½ to 2 hours, or until done.

Remove the chicken, drain the liquid into a separator, pour off the fat. Discard the onions and garlic. Add the liquid back to the pan and reduce by half.


While the liquid is reducing, raise the heat in the oven to 400°. Cut some small potatoes (red or white) into bite size pieces or use fingerling or other small potatoes. Coat lightly with olive oil, season with sea salt and fresh rosemary. Place in one layer on a baking sheet and roast until done.

How it worked out:

The chicken was drier than usual for this braising technique. The spices didn’t infuse into the chicken like they do when you BBQ the chicken. The reduced liquid wasn’t savory and didn’t have a pleasing flavor. All in all, not that good. This isn’t going onto the “favorite” list.

Use the technique for making regular chicken and keep the beer-can chicken on the grill.