Beer-Brined Chicken

Submitted by diner524

"Flavorful, moist and delicious! Those are the results you'll get with brining—give it a try. I found this recipe at Betty Crocker site. You can cook this in the oven as the directions state or cook it on the grill. Could even cook it using the beer-can chicken method on the grill or the oven, for even moister chicken."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 45mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• Brine and Chicken

• 2 cups water
• 1⁄4 cup kosher salt (coarse)
• 1⁄4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 (12 ounce) cans beer, chilled (or nonalcoholic beer)
• 1 whole chicken (3 to 3 1/2 lb)

• Rub

• 3 teaspoons paprika
• 1⁄2 teaspoon seasoning salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1⁄4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper
• 1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or softened butter)

directions

1. Line 2-quart bowl or saucepan with 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag. Add water, kosher salt and brown sugar; stir until salt and sugar are dissolved. Stir in beer. Add chicken. Tightly seal bag; refrigerate at least 8 hours but no longer than 24 hours.
2. Line 13x9-inch pan with foil. Remove chicken from brine; rinse thoroughly under cool running water and pat dry with paper towels. Discard brine. Place chicken, breast side up, in pan. Refrigerate uncovered 1 hour to dry chicken skin. Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix all rub ingredients except oil; set aside.
3. Heat oven to 375°F Brush oil over chicken. Sprinkle with seasoning mixture; rub into chicken skin. Bake 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes or until juice of chicken is clear when thickest piece is cut to bone (170°F for breasts; 180°F for thighs and drumsticks). Let stand 15 minutes for easiest carving.

4. Time-Saver Tip:

5. You can skip the step of refrigerating the brined chicken 1 hour to dry the skin. This step results in a crispier skin, a technique used in Chinese cooking.

Reviews

[Outta Here]

I had never brined a bird before (always leery of the salt) but this one didn't seem like as much salt called for. The beer really added a lot of flavor to the chicken and the meat turned out so moist. I have never seen 2-gallon size zipper bags and my bird wouldn't fit in a 1-gallon bag, so I put the chicken in a large, deep bowl and pour the brine over it, and turned the chicken over a few times during the brining process. The rub is a nice added touch. Very good! Thanks for this keeper.

 

[lauralie41]

Wonderful chicken! I used 3 pounds of chicken breasts, Coors Light beer, vegetable oil and omitted the cayenne pepper. Marinated for 24 hours (overnight) including the time in the refrigerator to dry off for an hour. Chicken is not DH's favorite but he enjoyed this a lot. Could taste a bit of the beer and the seasonings I always have on hand. Want to try this on wings and drumsticks next. Thanks hon for sharing this great recipe. Made and reviewed for the Game Forum's - Please Review My Recipe Tag Game.

 

[Chef-Boy-I-Be Illin]

Excellent! I've wanted to try brining for a while now and then I see this recipe that uses beer and brown sugar and think now is the time to try it! I used skinless, boneless chicken breasts so only made 1/2 recipe of brine. Brined for 24 hours then 7 minutes on the George Foreman. Both my partner and I loved these. Thank you!

 

[Lavender Lynn]

We made this with chicken thighs for easier serving, flexibility to add cayenne only to one pan, and all dark meat. That reduced the cooking time by a third, but otherwise worked just fine. Since we brined it longer than we planned, we were worried about it being too salty, but it wasn't; the beer flavor was fairly noticeable, however. Moist, savory, and delicious, we all enjoyed it. Made for PRMR.

 

[jessi_mcg]

What a delicious treat we had for dinner tonight! I love the moisture/slight saltiness imparted by the brine, the subtle beer flavor in the meat, and the star turn for paprika in the rub. I can't bring myself to eat chicken skin (ick) so I massaged the rub between the skin and meat so I would still taste it after removing the skin. Good call on my part--the meat was flavored beautifully. The breast meat was quite tender and moist, despite the fact that my bird took 1 1/2 hours to cook through. Thanks, diner, for yet another dinner delight! Made for Best of 2010 tag.