Roasted Chicken

One of the easy meals I make is a roasted chicken. It takes minutes to prep and can feed a happy crowd. I am a huge fan of Beer Can Chicken. The most memorable beer can chicken I had at a friends house outside Atlanta at Lake Lanier. My buddy calls it "Beer Butt Chicken", and he is a master at making it.

I don't always have the patience to grill so I wanted to figure out a way to make it in the oven. It's simple. Prep it the same way and roast it until it's done. The beer and spices in the can make for a steam bath of moisture to flavor the chicken.

I have another friend who brews craft beer, and for a long time we made it every Sunday using different dry rubs and beer combinations. Recently I got lazy and over the idea of the can and decided to just pour the beer inside the chicken and roast it. It's genius since I don't generally drink beer from a can and got sick of emptying out something from my cupboard to make it. You can use any beer you like. The stronger the flavor the better the chicken. If you don't drink beer, you can also use stock but I recommend the beer or a nice white wine.

Roasted Chicken

1 whole chicken (4-6 lbs)
Dry Rub
Beer

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Clean and rinse the chicken with cold water. Remove any unnecessary parts. Make a dry rub using your favorite herbs and spices. I use a cocoa cayenne blend that I make myself. It differs based on what is in my kitchen at the time but usually involves 3T cocoa, 1T kosher salt, 1T brown sugar, 1tsp cayenne, 1tsp ground black pepper, dashes of each, garlic powder, onion powder, chili flakes, paprika, oregano etc. Whatever I can find will end up in it. Place the chicken into your baking dish and cover it the dry rub. I also use some extra salt in the cavity. Pour a beer inside the cavity of the chicken. Roast in the oven for an hour to hour and a half. Cook it until it's done. Use a thermometer to check it so you don't kill your dinner guests. Let stand for 10-15 minutes after you take it out of the oven, then carve it.

Today I served mine with some black eyed peas. It was amazing and I was only in the kitchen for a few minutes.