Justin's baked beer can chicken

We usually do our smoked chicken the exact same way each time....but Justin couldn't seem to find the recipe when he was injecting, rubbing, and preparing our last bird for the smoker.  So he went a little off on his own tangent...and it turned out fabulous!

1 whole chicken

1 beer

Tony C's creole seasoning

1 cup butter

1 T lemon juice

2 cloves fresh garlic

1 T garlic powder

salt

pepper

1/2 onion, chopped

Rub the chicken with olive oil and then a liberal amount of Tony C's creole seasoning. Dump 1/4 of the beer into a bowl and put a half an onion and 2 cloves of fresh garlic in it before propping your chicken up on the beer can (this is way easier with the beer can chicken apparatus we have on hand for our smoking adventures).  You can find one of these HERE!

Mix the rest of the ingredients, no amounts listed of course, and use a meat injector to send the liquid into the chicken...filling it as full as the bird will hold. One cup of butter is usually the base and then we use the lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste, and I hear now we use the 1/4 of the beer we're not using inside the chicken as well.  So the chicken was, in fact, injected with beer as well...which scared me.

Weird, but it came out delicious! There really is no right or wrong way to do these chickens so using your imagination is totally welcome. The main ingredient I would say is the Tony C's for the rub...that stuff is a Godsend, let me tell you! Thanks to my NOLA friend, Amanda for introducing me to it :)

When your chicken has an internal temperature of 165 degrees, you can mow down on it. Sometimes we finish the chickens in the oven and roast them, so the smoker doesn't dry them out too bad. Usually that isn't an issue with the beer can of liquid and the injections for it to soak in during cooking.

Do you have any interesting ways you prepare chicken on a smoker? This is one of our favorite easy meals...it's totally hands off once you get the chicken prepared to cook...and it always turns out better than those store bought rotisserie birds...and for a fraction of the cost. Since when does life ever work out like that??

These roasted brussel sprouts are one of our favorite side dishes now....I'm so glad we both bit the bullet and gave a new veggie a try because these are a staple in our house now! I realize they sound scary, but give this recipe a try and I will be very suprised if you don't end up having a craving for these afterwards...