What is up y’all?? IT IS TIME!!!! I have spent a long time now grilling and smoking meat. Now I want to share it with the world. Today I’ll share one of my favorite recipes for the Best Beer Can Smoked Chicken and man it is delicious. All you need for this is a whole chicken, your smoker, a great rub recipe (provided below), your beer of choice and passion for smoking. The best part of smoking or grilling meat is the satisfaction you get from the smiles on the faces of the folks you’re feeding. This smoked chicken seems to get devoured within minutes…so be sure to smoke a few chickens at a time so you can feed your crowd. Let’s get started….

Easy Beer Can Chicken Rub

For this recipe, we start with a whole chicken, a blend of spices to create the perfect smoked chicken rub. If you want, you can even consider a smoked chicken brine the night before to add extra flavor to the chicken, but this does require extra planning in advance of smoking. For this post we just stuck with the traditional smoked chicken rub and olive oil.

After seasoning the chicken, you can start to prepare your smoker. I used the Minion Method for smoking since it’s cold here in Ohio!!

How to Make Beer Can Chicken

Once your smoker is ready to go, simply place your beer can in the center of the smoker and then lower your chicken on top of it so that it’s standing upright. The chicken will smoke like this for4+ hours or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees (in the thickest part of the bird).

Keep your smoking temperature around 225 degrees for the duration of the smoking period. Check your chicken around the 2 1/2 hour mark to see how it’s doing.

Once your bird is cooked (haha), pull it off the smoker and let rest for about 10 minutes. Then slice it up and enjoy!! Hopefully we’ve shown you the easy way on how to make a smoked chicken and you fall in love with our favorite smoked chicken rub using brown sugar. This is an easy first recipe for those new to smoking! We highly recommend slicing up your smoked chicken and storing the extras in the freezer for other dinner recipe ideas. More to come soon!

What’s a good beer can chicken liquid substitute?

If you’re not a beer fan or you’re wary of serving your kids a chicken smoked on a beer can (seems a little hillbilly at first doesn’t it), have no fear. You can try smoking it on a Coke can, a Rootbeer can, or a Dr. Pepper can even. Dark sodas make for great beer can substitutes and each give the chicken it’s own unique flavor. Also know though that the liquid just helps keep the chicken moist, your chicken will NOT taste like beer (or Coke or Dr. Pepper) if you use them. It’ll just pick up some of the flavors, but overall keep the chicken moist and tender.

Here’s a post on How to Make Dr. Pepper Smoked Chicken

Smoked Beer Can Chicken vs. Smoked Chicken: what’s the difference?

Beer can chicken and smoked chicken aren’t much different to be honest, they are just two different ways to smoke your chicken on a smoker. Beer can chicken helps prop the bird up on the can which gets the smoke both inside and outside of the chicken and the can being up the inside of the chicken really lets the inside of the chicken be steamed with all those juices from the can. We feel like smoking with a beer can inside makes the bird more tender when it comes off the smoker, but it’s all personal preference.

Can you smoke a whole chicken on a charcoal grill?

YES! It takes a little more work and effort, but you can absolutely smoke on a charcoal grill. Look up the “snake method” of smoking on a charcoal grill and it should give you some good options for smoking meat if you don’t truly have a smoker.