Name: Beer Washed Chicken
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 75 min
Ingredients: 9 chicken thigh; your favorite rub; 12 oz beer; ½ cup olive oil; 3 tbsp turbinado sugar (or sugar in the raw); 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce; 3 tbsp rub

Beer and chicken always seem to go hand in hand. For instance, the recipe for beer-can-chicken is very popular to many backyard grillers and don’t sleep on beer can chicken stew. Marinades are the preferred method of injecting flavor into fowl. The obvious chicken marinade is the one when you take a drink of beer after you eat a chicken wing. However, have you ever washed your chicken in beer bath on the grill? This is an interesting take on yet another way of kicking up the taste buds for two complementary ingredients. I’ll hand it over to Arthur to show you how he made Beer Washed Chicken

Beer Washed Chicken — GrillinFools Images ©

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***Editor’s Note ~ Arthur has started his own blog and I’m more than happy to promote his on mine. His new site is called MajorLeagueGrilling.com***

Ingredients:

9 chicken thighs
Your favorite BBQ rub

Beer wash:

1 bottle of beer
½ cup olive oil
3 tbs turbinado sugar (sugar in the saw)
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
3 tbs rub

15 minute prep time
1 hour 10 minute cook time

Cooking Instructions:

1. Rinse chicken and pat dry:

2. Apply rub to the chicken, get underneath the skin too. I used Penzey’s Northwoods rub:

3. Set up grill for two zone cooking with coals on one side and nothing on the other. Shoot for 350 degrees inside the grill. Place chicken on the cool side of the grill, skin side up. I used a couple chunks of apple wood for smoke.

4. Mix all ingredients of the chicken wash in a sauce pan.

Boil all the ingredients together, this does two things. 1) Dissolves the brown sugar. 2) Cooks the alcohol out of the beer.

5. Pour the beer wash into a 9×13 glass baking dish or use a bowl.

Here is the chicken at 20 minutes:

Chicken at the 40 minute mark:

6. After the 40 minute mark, start the first wash. Place the chicken in beer wash and coat all sides. Let it soak for a few minutes:

7. Place the chicken back on the grill:

8. After another 10 minutes, apply the 2^nd wash, same deal as before.

9. Place the chicken back on the grill. They will either be done in another 15 minutes or until the interior temp reaches 165 degrees:

You might be saying, “Why not just marinate?” Well, this beer bath came in handy when I didn’t have time to marinate beforehand. Most of the time, I don’t think about what I’m having for dinner until I leave work. Hence, my motivation to share this quasi-marinade with those of us that don’t plan ahead. After all, improvising is a large part of BBQ.

The beer bath managed to keep the chicken moist during the one hour long cook time. Usually, chicken takes around 45 minutes on my cooker (depends on the grill), but since part of the process is to open and close the cook chamber a few times, the extra time is necessary due to loss of heat, particularly in the winter when it takes longer to build the heat back up inside the grill. Moreover, because of the oil in the bath, it gives the chicken a glossy appearance which looks appetizing to me. In addition, the flavor of the beer is evident but not overpowering. This leads me to think any liquid can be substituted here. For example, you can try apple cider vinegar, teriyaki, orange juice, whiskey, balsamic vinegar, tequila, etc or any combination of these. I look forward to doing this again.

Delisioso!

***Editor’s Note ~ Great job as usual, Arthur. Thanks for sharing with all the Grillin Fools***

If you have any questions about the beer washed chicken, feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email and I will forward it on to Arthur.

If you would like to see other poultry dishes, click here.

Print Recipe

Beer Washed Chicken

Chicken thighs, bathed in a beer wash while being grilled

Prep Time15

Cook Time1

Total Time1 15

Course: Entree

Cuisine: BBQ

Servings: -8

Ingredients

9 chicken thigh
your favorite rub

Chicken Wash

12 oz beer
½ cup olive oil
3 tbsp turbinado sugar or sugar in the raw
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp rub

Instructions

Rinse chicken and pat dry
Apply rub to the chicken, get underneath the skin too
Set up grill for two zone cooking with coals and smoke wood on one side and nothing on the other
Shoot for 350 degrees inside the grill
Place chicken on the cool side of the grill, skin side up
Combine beer, olive oil, turbinado sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and the rub
Boil all the ingredients together
Pour the beer wash into a 9×13 glass baking dish
After the 40 minute mark, start the first wash. Place the chicken in beer wash and coat all sides. Let it soak for a few minutes
Place the chicken back on the grill
After another 10 minutes, do a second wash in the pan
Place the chicken back on the grill
Remove from the heat when the chicken reaches and internal temperature of 160-165 degrees
Allow to rest for 2-4 minutes and serve

Arthur Aguirre

Major League Grilling’s founder, Arthur Aguirre, is a BBQ enthusiast with a passion to cook anything on the grill. Before reaching the level of pitmaster, Arthur spent years of hopelessly under cooking and overcooking various cuts of succulent meats. With the help of internet forums such as the BBQ Brethren, Char-Broil, and the experts from the Grillin' Fools, Arthur’s grilling exploits soon followed.

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This article was initially published on: December 20, 2010

one comment

I want to clear up a few things…First, I used turbinado sugar, but if you don’t have it, brown sugar is a great replacement. Second, the ground chipotle pepper in the pic above is what I used when I ran out of the Northwoods rub. Finally, for the first 40 minutes, I did not flip or rotate the chicken.

And in case you were wondering what is next to the chicken on the grill, it’s camote.