Beer Butt Chicken Recipe

This is an easy and ridiculous-looking way to bake a moist, juicy chicken. Most people try this on the grill, which also works, but I usually bake in the oven for consistently great results. If you've never cooked a chicken this way before, you need to crack a cheap beer and get to work!

Ingredients

1 can of beer
A 3.5-pound chicken
6 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Paprika

Directions

1. The beer you use is important. Don't make the mistake I made once and use a hoppy, craft brew. The bitterness of the hops will transfer directly to the taste. Yuck. Use a simple beer -- a pilsner or light lager. And obviously, use beer in a can, not a bottle.

2. Identify the open end of the bird. Be sure to remove the bag of gizzards before sticking the can up in there!

3. Drink half of the beer, and insert 6 pressed or sliced cloves of garlic into the can.

4. Stand the bird up on can (see photo) using the bird's legs to stabilize. Make sure the can is firmly inserted into the chicken.

5. Rub down the bird with olive oil, and generously pat with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder and whatever else you'd normally use to season a chicken. Add more paprika. Paprika is your friend.

6. Bake for 1.5 hours at 375 degrees for a 3.5 pound chicken. Bake longer for a larger chicken.

7. At about 1 hour into cooking, pour a cup of chicken stock or water into the pan, wait 10 minutes and then remove from oven to baste chicken with pan juices. Repeat if desired.

8. Use pan juices to flavor sliced chicken when serving. BE CAREFUL when removing the can after cooking. It'll be super-hot!