Cilantro Lime Beer Can Chicken

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This juicy cilantro lime beer can chicken taste even better than that store bought rotisserie chicken and only takes a little over an hour to cook.

What is Beer Can Chicken?

Beer can chicken is when a partially full beer is stuck up the cavity of a chicken to be cooked.

And what’s so great about that? The beer gives off a steam which circulates through the chicken adding moisture and flavor while cooking the chicken. Which mean juicy meat.

It also cooks the chicken in an upright position so all the skin is cooked evenly for a nice crispy texture. So what more could you ask for than a crispy, juicy chicken?

And what’s even better than beer can chicken is adding extra ingredients to make it cilantro lime beer can chicken. With the help of a lime flavored beer.

What can I use this Beer Can Chicken For?

• By Itself– this chicken is great to just serve as the main dish with your favorite side such as these Balsamic Green Beans with Almonds
• Soups– shred this chicken up and add it to your favorite soup. I love adding this to my Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup
• Salads– top your favorite salad with this chicken just like this Southwest Salad
• Tacos and Nachos– These go great in some tacos or sprinkled on top of some nachos like these Black Bean and Chicken Nachos
• Sandwiches– Since this makes quite a bit you can save some of the meat and make a sandwich for lunch the next day

Ingredients for Cilantro Lime Beer Can Chicken

• Whole Raw Chicken– I used a 5lb chicken for this recipe and the spices and cooking time are for that
• Lime Flavored Beer– there are so many brand of beers that have a lime flavor so pick your favorite. My personal favorite is Michelob Ultra Cactus Lime
• Limes– 3 whole limes cut in round slices. No concentrate lime juice will work for this recipe
• Fresh Cilantro– I give the leaves a little chop to bring out the flavor of the cilantro
• Butter– be sure to let it soften before needing it
• Olive Oil– Just a little to help crisp the skin
• Spices-salt, garlic powder, chili powder, paprika, pepper, cayenne pepper, cumin

Making the Seasoning

Start by moving the racks around in your oven to the lower level so that the chicken and pan can fit in the oven with the chicken sitting upright. Then preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Take a small bowl and add the garlic powder to it (Photo 1) Next add the salt (Photo 2), chili powder (Photo 3), cumin (Photo 4), cayenne pepper (Photo 5), pepper (Photo 6), paprika (Photo 7) and stir together really well (Photo 8) and set aside

Prepping the Chicken

Take a roasting/baking pan (Photo 9) and add the chicken to it. Reach inside the cavity of the chicken and pull out the giblets (Photo 10) Take some paper towels and pat down the whole chicken (Photo 11) on both sides and the inside

Take the seasoning you made earlier (Photo 12) and add a 1/4 of it to the softened butter (Photo 13) and mix together well (Photo 14) With your fingers take some of the butter and stuff it under the skin of the chicken (Photo 15) then flip the chicken over and repeat with the other side (Photo 16)

Take the chopped cilantro (Photo 17) and start stuffing it under the skin of the chicken (Photo 18) and flip the chicken over and do the same on the other side (Photo 19)

Take the sliced limes (Photo 20) and start stuffing them under the skin of the chicken (Photo 21) Flip the chicken over and repeat on the other side (Photo 22)

Pour half of the olive oil on one side of the chicken and rub it in (Photo 23) and then sprinkle and rub half the seasoning over the oil soaked chicken (Photo 24) Flip chicken over and pour the rest of the oil (Photo 25) and seasoning (Photo 26) and rub it all in (Photo 27)

Take your lime flavored beer (Photo 28) and pour out a little bit (Photo 29) or drink it and pick up the chicken and place the beer in the middle of the pan and carefully place the chicken on top of the beer (Photo 30) where the beer goes inside the cavity of the chicken.

Cooking the Chicken

Carefully pick up the pan of chicken and put it in the oven for an hour and 20 minutes or until the internal temp of the chicken is at 165 degrees.

If the chicken doesn’t pull off the can when done, turn the chicken on its side and pull out the can with some tongs. Let the chicken rest for 20 minutes before cutting into.

Tips for this Recipe

• If using a frozen chicken be sure it is defrosted before cooking. Sometimes the outside looks defrosted, but then the inside will be frozen.
• Do not skip patting dry the chicken before seasoning. You want the seasoning to stick and any extra fluid from the chicken will prevent this.
• Be careful when stuffing the limes and cilantro under the skin because you don’t want to rip the skin
• Don’t try and grab the can with your bare hands after it has been in the oven for over an hour. Either lift the chicken off the can or use tongs to remove the can
• Let the chicken rest for 20 minutes before slicing into it

Want More Chicken Recipes?

Chicken Parmesan
Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup
Chipotle Chicken Avocados
White Chicken Chili

Or check out all my Entree recipes to find your next meal!

Update Notes; This recipe was originally posted in February of 2017, but was republished with new photos, cooking tips, recipe tweeks, and step by step picture instructions in December 2019