This spatchcocked chicken marinade is big on flavor and perfect for roasting or grilling. Using beer tenderizes the meat and adds rich, savory depth—easy, crowd-pleasing, and anything but boring.
I admit that I am not a beer drinker, nor a big wine drinker, but, I do love to cook with both. The alcohol is burned off in the cooking process and you are left with a dish that is very flavorful and safe for the kids to eat!
I make an excellent red wine sauce for steak that is freaking incredible. I have also used red wine to make my pulled pork ragu and my pomegranate and red wine poached pears.
You can also cook and bake with beer, too, like beer braised pork carnitas, homemade curly fries with beer cheese dip and chocolate guinness cake.
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Recipe highlights
- Economical: Buying a roast chicken at the grocery store is expensive, but you can easily make your own at home at a fraction of the cost, especially when you find whole chickens on salt.
- Simple: The marinade for this spatchcock chicken is super easy to pull together. And by butterflying the chicken, you cut the roasting time in half.
- Flavor: This marinade produces a super juicy chicken. There is no overt beer after taste, I would know as I can’t stand the taste of beer. The flavor was incredible and look at that gorgeous color! This recipe was a big hit with the family!
Ingredients you need
- Whole roasting chicken: This marinade works with any cuts of chicken, boneless or bone-in. The recipe below includes cooking instruction for a whole fryer chicken.
- Onion: I used a regular brown onion, but you can use any variety you have on hand.
- Garlic: Fresh garlic has the best flavor, but you can use garlic powder instead.
- Coarse ground mustard: You can also use dijon mustard.
- Extra virgin olive oil: Olive oil adds flavor and moisture to the marinade. Cutting it out to “save on calories” is not recommended. You are not consuming the marinade, so please don’t reduce or eliminate it.
- Beer: I used a New Belgium Brewing Company’s 1554 Black Ale, but you can use any variety of black beer or regular beer.
- Seasonings: Paprika, salt and black pepper.
Step-by-step directions
- Butterfly the chicken. Place the chicken, breast side down, on a cutting board. Using poultry shears or a large, sharp knife, cut along each side of the backbone. Pull the chicken open slightly to cut the backbone out completely. Reserve for stock or discard. Turn the chicken breast side up and open it as flat as possible. Press down firmly to break the breastbone and flatten the bird.
- Make marinade. In a large container that can hold the butterflied chicken whisk together onion, garlic cloves, mustard, olive oil, black ale, paprika, salt and pepper. Place butterflied chicken in to the marinade and coat both sides.
- Marinate chicken. Cover and refrigerate 5-6 hours, flipping chicken over to marinate evenly. Remove chicken from the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to roasting.
- Cook chicken. Roast at 425ºF for 45 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh away from the bone registers 170º-175ºF. If chicken starts to burn, loosely cover with a sheet of aluminum foil.
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Recipe tips and FAQs
You can either roast this butterflied chicken in the oven or grill it outdoors. Either way, this marinade is the BOMB and really delicious!
This chicken marinade is also great with other cuts of chicken, like legs, thighs and breasts. You can use boneless or bone-in cuts of chicken. Just realize that the cooking time will be less than what is written in the recipe below.
I love butterflying chickens and turkeys so that I can get dinner on the table quickly. If you’re a convert too, you should try these recipes:
- Orange and sage spatchcocked (butterflied) turkey
- Sheet pan spatchcocked chicken with potatoes and vegetables
- Spatchcocked chicken with mint and garlic
Storing/Freezing Instructions
TO STORE: Store any leftover chicken in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
TO FREEZE: You can also freeze leftovers. Transfer to a resealable bag or freezer safe container and freeze for up to 4 months.
To spatchcock a chicken means to cut the backbone out and then press the chicken flat, breaking the breastbone. It basically means to butterfly and whole chicken. This cuts the cooking time in half and gives you a lot of crispy skin, when roasted.
Not only does beer add flavor to the food you are marinating, but it also makes a great tenderizer. It contains enzymes that helps to break down the tough fibers leaving you a very moist and tender meal.
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The Best Spatchcocked Chicken Marinade
Ingredients
- 1 large whole roasting chicken approx. 5lbs
- 1 large onion diced
- 6 garlic cloves crushed
- ⅓ cup coarse ground mustard
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cup dark or black ale
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper ground
Instructions
- Remove giblet and neck from the chicken cavity, reserve for another use or discard.
- Place the chicken, breast side down, on a cutting board.
- Using poultry shears or a large, sharp knife, cut along each side of the backbone. Pull the chicken open slightly to cut the backbone out completely. Reserve for stock or discard.
- Turn the chicken breast side up and open it as flat as possible.
- Press down firmly to break the breastbone and flatten the bird.
- Rinse the chicken and pat it dry with paper towels.
- In a large container that can hold the butterflied chicken whisk together onion, garlic cloves, mustard, olive oil, black ale, paprika, salt and pepper.
- Place butterflied chicken in to the marinade and coat both sides.
- Cover and refrigerate 5-6 hours, flipping chicken over to marinate evenly.
Remove chicken from the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to roasting. - Preheat oven to 425ºF and place chicken in a large cast-iron skillet, breast side up.
- Roast chicken for 45 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh away from the bone registers 170º-175ºF.
If chicken starts to burn, loosely cover with a sheet of aluminum foil. - Remove from oven and let chicken sit for 5-7 minutes, then serve.
Notes
- Grill the chicken bone side down over medium-high direct heat in a covered grill for ten minutes.
- Flip the chicken over and grill the chicken over direct heat for an additional ten minutes, be careful so that it doesn’t burn.
- Reduce heat slightly, if necessary. With a meat thermometer, check the temperature of the breast. If it hasn’t reached 165ºF, move the chicken to grill over indirect heat, skin side up, until it’s done.
- Remove the chicken and let it rest, covered loosely with foil, for ten minutes prior to serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
PS If you try this recipe, why not leave a star rating in the recipe card right below and/or a review in the comment section further down the page? I always appreciate your feedback.
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Ok, I am totally missing the boat on the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program! Your spatchcocked chicken looks fabulous and because I love cooking with my cast iron skillet, so was immediately drawn to the photo 🙂
Thanks, everyone. I hope you give this recipe a try and let me know how it turns out!
I love cooking with beer and this recipe looks so good! Great photos. So glad to have found you through YBR.
Can I tell you how my mouth is watering when I look at your chicken? :)) Sooo good!
Hi Laura, I said it before and I'll say it again, that chicken looks scrumptious! Gorgeous shot too. Thanks for participating in this month’s YBR 🙂
How did I miss this post?! That chicken looks amazing!!! I cook with wine a lot, but never beer. My husband will be sooo happy about this recipe idea! He calls himself a "beer connoisseur" – he is actually the one who made me a snob about beers! Thank you, as ALWAYS, for such great inspiration, Laura. 🙂 I'll be making this on Saturday!
Beautiful. Everything goes good with beer. 😉
Yay for grilling season! I think all of the dishes look scrumptious, my mouth is watering in fact 🙂
That chicken looks magnificent! Fantastic colouring. I think it's good you let the hubby off for this one. Cooking a whole chicken on the BBQ can be quite time consuming if you are constantly having to check it. I'm always worried if the grill is hot enough and it's not as exact as an oven. At least with the oven, you can go and do something else for 45 minutes.
Good tip to grilling a whole chicken: Light one side of the grill, put the chicken on the other.
I have to admit that this has been the best looking roasted chicken I have ever made! Gotta love the cast iron skillet, too!
This sounds great- might be tempted to try with a cornish hen and do it in my panini maker!
Whoa. Look at that chicken!!! OK, I love Fat Tire. This is soooo beautiful. Printing!
Laura
May I just say,that I truly applaud your beer choice (Fat Tire). Love it!
And that chicken picture took my breath away. It looks so good. We would be grilling about now, but our propane tank is empty. I.e. we are being very, very lazy.