Lemon & Herb Beer Can Chicken

One of my first recipes I ever cooked on a gas BBQ. This lemon herb seasoned beer can chicken is simple to cook and only takes around an hour.

This is a recipe for a BBQ chicken cooked using beer. The skin is seasoned in the Dust Bros BBQ Lemon Herbert rub.

This is a great way to introduce cooking a whole chicken on a BBQ. Before you start to look at rotisserie recipes, try a few beer can chicken cooks to get used to different heat cooking zones. More information about hot and cold zones on a BBQ can be found in my BBQ skills 101 post.

Ingredients for beer can chicken

This recipe covers the use of the Weber beer can chicken poultry roaster. You don't need to have this to make this recipe, a regular can of beer will work just as well.

• Chicken - I always opt for a free range when buying any form of poultry. I find the meat is generally better quality and also makes me feel a little better about myself by ensuring the chickens were able to roam about on the farms.
• Beer - Any lager or beer will work for this recipe. I opted for an Estrella as I had a few in the fridge. (I made some beer bread with another one). If you don't have the poultry roaster then you need to use a tin can of beer. You'll need half a can, so you have permission to drink the other half.
• Olive oil - Olive oil spray works well to get an even coating. Simply rubbing with butter all over the chicken will be perfectly fine too if you don't have olive oil.
• BBQ rub - I have used the Dust Bros Lemon Herbert recipe for this chicken. If you are not using a rub, then opt for a salt and pepper base coat of rub and then sprinkle some lemon juice or lemon zest over the top.

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions to make lemon herb chicken

1. Pour beer into the poultry roaster cup and fill it half way up.

2. Place the chicken on the poultry roaster backside end first. This might take a bit of effort to stretch it right over the 'beer can'.
   Spray the chicken with olive oil all over when in situ.

3. Rub the lemon herb seasoning BBQ rub all over the chicken. It should stick to the olive oil.

4. Prepare your BBQ for indirect cooking. Aim for a steady temperature of 180C to 200C. Place the chicken in the poultry roaster on the centre of the BBQ.

5. Cook until the thickest part of the chicken breast reaches a minimum of 75C. This will take around 80 minutes. Always cook to temperature and not time.

6. Leave the chicken to rest on a plate covered loosely in foil for around 15 to 30 minutes before carving.

Checking the temperature: when cooking any meats on the BBQ it is recommended to cook to temperature and not time. For poultry, cook until the thickest part of the chicken reaches at least 74C in a couple of places. Check the leg and also the breast. For easy temperature monitoring, consider a thermometer probe like this Inkbird one.

Substitutions for BBQ chicken

The main changes you can make with this dish are the BBQ rub flavours.

• Hot and Spicy - cover with paprika with salt and pepper. This will give a spicy kick to the rub.
• Garlic - keep the vampires away by mixing garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper for a garlic infused chicken flavour.
• Italian seasoning - for a taste of the Mediterranean, mix up some basil, oregano, thyme and rosemary with a little sea salt. You could even use some home grown herbs from your garden to cover the chicken in.
• Serve along side a garlic dip or even as a part of a salad.

The base chicken will remain the same but the flavouring of the rubs can make a huge difference to the outcome. These types of flavours work well on chicken kebabs too.

Equipment for BBQ poultry

The big piece of equipment in this recipe (aside from the BBQ) is the poultry roaster. In my photos I am using the Weber poultry roaster which forms a part of the Gourmet BBQ System found on the Weber Mastertouch range.

There are similar types of poultry roasters and stands available such as this deluxe one also from Weber. There are other versions of this type of kit from other manufacturers such as this Onlyfire version. (Onlyfire do the rotisserie kit I have and I cannot fault the quality).

Storing BBQ chicken

Chicken normally gets eaten the same day or the next day in our house. If you are needing to store it, keep it in the fridge but for no more than 2 days to be safe. Store on a plate covered in foil, or place in a food container.

If you need to reheat the chicken, make sure to fully reheat and serve piping hot.

You should never reheat something which has already been reheated once.

FAQs for beer can chicken

Related recipes for BBQ chicken

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these ones:

Serve this dish with...

These are my favourite dishes to serve alongside BBQ beer can chicken: