Chipotle Beer Can Chicken

If you got people to impress, or you just fancy doing something a little different for a bbq, why not have a go at a chipotle beer can chicken.

You can cook the beer can chicken either in the oven or on the bbq. For the BBQ you’ll have to have a lid and you’ll also need a beer can holder and a thermometer.

Serve this chipotle beer can chicken with a side of chipotle slaw, homemade chips and some Mexican ratatouille.

If you like this recipe then you should also check out our Mexican Roast Chicken recipe as well.

Prep time

15 mins
Cook time

1 hr 25 mins
Total time

1 hr 45 mins
Ideal for

BBQ
Make it

Mexican
Serves

4-6

How to make it

The most important thing to check first is that your oven can take the chicken vertically. If not, you can use any outside BBQ oven such as a big green egg.
Next up take a big spoon full of Gran Luchito Chipotle Paste and using your hands rub it into the skin of the chicken. As the chicken is going to be sitting vertically all sides of the chicken are going to be exposed. Make sure you rub the bottom and in between the wings!
Next up open the can of cider and empty half of it out (preferably into a glass to drink). Now, playing around in the kitchen we came to the conclusion that it’s much easier to use a can holder. If you don’t the whole thing can come falling down making a mess. We used this holder which we found on amazon. Alternatively you could sit it on a brick, Withnail-style.
Next we took knobs of butter and put them under the skin at the top (neck) of the chicken. As the chicken cooks the butter will drip down and make the skin nice and crispy.
Place the chicken into an oven preheated to 180 c. Now as the chicken’s cavity is more exposed than the traditional roasting method it doesn’t take so long to cook. At 1.8 kg, ours took 85 minutes.
If you have an instant read thermometer dig it deep into the thigh and make sure the temp is over 76 c. You don’t want to go much over this as then the chicken will start to overcook.
Before carving up the chicken – wrap it in tin foil and leave it to rest for five mins