Guess What? Chicken Butt!

Last night we had Beer Butt Chicken for dinner - also known as Drunken Chicken.  It was delicious and easy!  You can either venture outside and cook it on the Grille - or stay in your slippers and roast using your kitchen oven.


The process is super easy - I looked up several recipes (here, here and here) and took parts of each to come up with the following....


Ingredients:
- One 4-5 Lb Chicken
- Olive Oil
- 12 oz can of beer
- Garlic Salt (about 2 Tablespoons)
- Paprika (about 2 Tablespoons)


Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  

Simply remove giblets from chicken and discard. Rinse chicken inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels. Rub chicken lightly with oil then rub inside and out with the Paprika/Garlic Salt mix. Set aside. 


Now the fun part - take a big swig of your beer (we used a Trader Joe's Pilsner - but any beer will work) and cut the top off of the can.  Sprinkle some of your Paprika/Garlic Salt mixture into the beer and then sit your Chicken on top of the can so that it is upright (forms a tripod with the legs and the beer can- see below) on a sturdy baking dish - we used our Le Creuset lasagna pan...and into the oven....

Many of the recipes that I've read varied on cooking temperatures and/or times.  All of them agreed that you want to have your internal temperature read 180 degrees to verify the chicken is fully cooked.  


We cooked the chicken at 400 degrees for 30 minutes and then cut the heat back to 350 for another 30 minutes.  We anticipated that the cooking time would be an hour and half - but much to my hungry man's delight - our bird was done in an hour!  Let it rest for 10-15 minutes and then remove the beer can with tongs.  Enjoy!