From Fire-to-Plate, I’ll show you how to create this recipe using either Chicken Breast, Bone-in / Skin-on Chicken Thighs, or Skinless / Boneless Chicken Thighs…in a Camp Cast Iron Dutch Oven!
Pillows of the Camp Cast Iron Dutch Oven. An easy recipe for having homemade biscuits in camp. We’ll use Half & Half in our example. This recipe will work with Buttermilk, Kefir, Old Milk, and even Beer and Milk.
I love this recipe. It’s easy to prepare at home and have many of the ingredients ready for cooking in camp. This recipe has three parts: 1) Preparing and cooking the chicken, 2), cooking the pot pie mixture with all the veggies and potatoes, and 3) the biscuit part that goes on top.
And, we are going to use HOMEMADE BISCUITS. You can use canned biscuits and that’s A-OK. But, this recipe goes from great to awesome with those biscuits on top. Not to mention that the left overs (if there are any) will be great for breakfast in the morning.
Three parts!? Yeah! I know. Right? No worries. It ain’t near the work you think it’s going to be. It’s a super easy recipe that can be created in camp.
History tells us that the pot pie was prepared with the crust under the “stuff” and not on top like I show in the video. A pot pie dish was originally a way to take a bunch of leftovers and turn them into a brand new meal. But, before the pot pie became popular in England in the 1500’s and later in America in the 1700’s, the Romans may have made the pot pie with living birds as a gag to play on dinner guest.
A 12-inch deep cast iron camp Dutch oven should do the trick. We’ll be baking this recipe in the camp cast iron Dutch oven and need some depth for the biscuits we’re going to use on the top (affiliate)
Note on Salt: I brine my chicken meat before I cook this recipe. Brined chicken has salt already. Worcestershire sauce has salt and so does the Cream of Chicken Soup. Just sayin’
Note: You could use a full cup of buttermilk. But, you may need a bit more buttermilk to get the right consistency. Or, if you only have milk, just use a cup of milk. It’s all good!
There are a couple of ways to do this. You can pre-prepare your ingredients at home or prepare the whole meal in camp. It’s totally up to you. If you are pre-preparing at home, don’t cut your potatoes until you get to camp.
You could set your charcoal briquettes or wood to fire and get your coals ready for the Dutch oven. Or, you could get everything chopped up and ready before setting the fire. It’s up to you.
We’ll be frying our bacon and sautéing our chicken, onions, and garlic first. Set your Dutch oven up for frying. For our 12-inch Dutch oven, we’ll need 24 briquettes or the equivalent in wood embers.
Later, we’ll be baking the dish. Considering the 12-inch Dutch oven and the baking method, when the time comes, we’ll place 16 briquettes on the top and 8 briquettes on the bottom.
Learn how to heat a camp cast iron Dutch oven here: https://beerandiron.com/how-to-heat-camp-cast-iron-dutch-oven/
This recipe will cook in two parts. You will need a second batch of briquettes when it comes time to cook the top biscuits.
Step 1: Tenderize 3-4 Large Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts. Brine them in a beer/salt brine for about 1 hour then pat dry. You could pre-prepare the chicken at home and carry it to camp in a doubled zipper bag or other container.
Here’s the link on how to make a beer brine: https://beerandiron.com/2023/02/simple-roasted-chicken (This recipe shows how to brine a whole chicken but the brine recipe is the very same).
Step 2: Pull out the frozen veggies and let them start warming up to “room” temperature. Or, rather, “the great outdoor’s” temperature.
Step 3: Cut the chicken breast meat into larger bite-sized pieces. Pat dry the chicken breast meat. Place the cut, pat-dried chicken meat into the 1/2 cup of flour and coat the pieces. They will eventually stick together and the flour will be a bit sticky; that’s A-OK. Set the floured chicken aside.
Step 3: Cut up the onion and the garlic. Set aside.
Step 4: With the cast iron camp Dutch oven over 30-briquettes (or more), render the fat from some of the fatty bacon (cut or not cut).
Step 5: While the bacon fat is rendering, wash and cut the potatoes into bite-sized chunks. Skin on or skin off; it’s up to you. I just leave it on. You could place the cut potatoes in a bowl of water (optional).
Step 6: Brown the chicken pieces up until they are no longer pink…and just before they are safe to eat. Chicken is considered “done” at 165°F / 74°C. I will cook a bit more when we put this all together. NOTE: Don’t overwhelm your pot with the chicken. Sear/brown in batches. Add more bacon if you need more fat.
Step 7: Once the chicken is browned remove the chicken from the pot and then sauté the onions and garlic until the onions are clear…not so clear as to be able to read newsprint through them, but you get the point. NOTE: If you need more cooking fat, you can add more bacon before adding the onions and garlic.
Step 8: Here’s the easy step: After you’ve sautéed the onions and garlic, return the chicken to the pot. Then, mix in the veggies, evaporated milk, cans of soup, potatoes, poultry seasoning, and Worcestershire Sauce. Salt and Pepper to taste.
Step 9: Mix all the ingredients in the pot all about and smooth out the top. The mixture should not be too runny nor should it “set” like pudding either. If the mixture is too thick (more than likely), add some of the reserved beer.
NOTE: We’re not creating soup. And, the ingredients in the pot all have moisture to some degree. We want it thick but not too thick.
Step 10: Bring the mixture to a bubbling boil. Don’t let it stick to the bottom. If it’s sticking, add some beer to thin it out. Once the mixture is bubbling, set the camp Dutch oven to bake.
If your briquettes have burned down too much, you will need to use a fresh batch.
Place 16 briquettes on the top of the oven and 8 under the oven and let the mixture cook until the potatoes are soft and taste done (careful on sampling those potatoes…they are HOT!).
Step 11: While the mixture is heating up to a “bubble,” prepare the dry ingredients for the biscuits. Mix together in a bowl:
Blend all these ingredients together. Then, cut in the butter with the pastry cutter. You want a cornmeal consistency.
Don’t add the buttermilk (or other liquids) yet. Store the dry biscuit ingredients in a cold place (like the ice chest) for now.
Step 12: Once the potatoes are cooked (and the chicken is at least 165°F / 74°C), prepare the biscuits.
Note: How do your briquettes look? Do you need to start another set?
A word on the biscuits. Homemade biscuits are my preference. However, a can of biscuits will work perfectly in this recipe. It’s up to you.
Biscuit Step 1: Add the buttermilk (or other liquid) to the dry biscuit ingredients.
Biscuit Step 2: Using the rubber / silicone spatula, mix the biscuit ingredients until you have a sticky dough mixture.
Biscuit Step 3: Remove the dough and set on a floured surface. Don’t knead the dough. Just flatten the dough and then fold over a few times. Dust with flour if it’s too sticky. Coat with a bit of flour so the dough does not stick to the surface nor your hands.
You’ll want to flatten the dough a bit thinner than you would if you were making morning biscuits. We want these biscuits to be a bit thinner than normal.
Biscuit Step 4: Cut the biscuits with a biscuit cutter. You could form them with your hands or cut them with a knife. No worries. Cutting with a biscuit cutter gives the best results. And, they all don’t have to be round either. Cut them “any which way but loose.” They may have half-moon shapes and that’s okay. We’ll piece these together in a bit.
Biscuit Step 5: Place the cut biscuits on the top of the cooked pot pie mixture. Just puzzle them in. If you run out of room, just shove the last one or two in sideways.
Biscuit Step 6: Scramble the raw egg. Using the basting brush, “paint” the top of the biscuits with the raw egg.
Return the lid to the pot.
Step 13: The hot pot pie mixture is our biscuit’s “bottom heat.” We need to heat the top of the Dutch oven. Place any of the remaining briquettes from the bottom of the Dutch oven to the top of the Dutch oven. Add the equivalent of about 20 briquettes to the top and let the biscuits bake.
Step 14: After about 10 minutes, check on the biscuits. How do they look? Turn the lid 1/3rd turn. Let the biscuits cook until they are nice and golden brown.
NOTE: If they look like they are done but are not browning up, add more briquettes to the top of the oven.
Once the biscuits have brown up nicely, your meal is ready to eat!!
And that’s it y’all. This is one of my all time favorite camp cast iron Dutch oven recipes. And, as easy as it is cooking this in camp, it’s easier to cook in the home stove. Use your 7 quart cast iron Dutch oven (or half the recipe for the 5 quart) and enjoy. NOTE: if you cook this inside, cook on the stove top until the potatoes are done (Step 12), then prep the biscuits and then bake at 400°F / 205°C until the biscuits are golden brown.
My name is Sulae and I love to share the magic that comes from my black pots and pans. You all be sure to sign up for the news letter and I’ll keep my messages short-and-sweet as well as few and far between. You keep on cooking in those cast iron beauties and enjoying those frosted glasses of that fermented barley pop.
We’ll see you next time on beerandiron.com.
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Chicken Breast, Lemon, Beer, Capers, and Butter. This is a super-easy recipe for most any night of the week. Easy at home and easy in camp.
Pork, rosemary, potatoes, bell pepper, and thickened with seasoned bread crumbs. An easy Cast Iron Camp Dutch Oven Recipe with few ingredients. Easy. Delicious.
Some of you may ask that question about some of your cast iron cookware. But, I am guessing that all of you have a piece that is worth more to you than what you’d find that same piece selling for at a garage sale, eBay, or even in a flea market. Some of our cast iron cookware tell us a story each and every time we cook with it.
My son just turned 16-years-old. He’s rocking the 10th grade and is excited about his future. Rolling back in time to his 4th grade year, his elementary school sponsored an old west learning day with an outfit called Wagons Ho! I was his school’s school nurse and tagged along on his field trip “just to make sure no one got hurt.” Hey! It’s a legit reason.
I also brought my camera; the principle asked me to take photographs of the Wagons Ho! field day. I do some stock photography as well. And, though I would not be able to sell the images of the children, there would be plenty to photograph that would work for stock.
Along with all the cool activities they had for the kids to participate in, they were cooking a tri-tip pot pie beef stew in a 16-inch cast iron camp Dutch oven that would feed all the teachers and also the children.
The cowboy fella placed that gigantic pot right into that fire. Being a cast iron junkie, the image of that pot sitting in the flames was beautiful. I took that photo of that pot in that fire and continued on with my day as daddy, school nurse, and event photographer. I was a man with many jobs and enjoyed every minute of it.
When I got home, my focus was to post-process the images of the children for the school’s presentation and to let the parents get a copy of their child’s photograph that the school gave each one. The images that I had taken for stock sat on my hard drive for sometime after that. How long? I can’t remember. It’s something I usually neglect.
Taking the photographs is fun; processing the photographs is work.
Anyway, after seeing that big pot, I decided I’d be on the lookout for one to purchase from someone. Sure! I found a few. They were big, black, and beautiful. And the prices ranged from $450-$600 US. Truth be known, my 14” often sat in the carry bag unused for months at a time. I didn’t need a 16” camp cast iron Dutch oven; I wanted one.
Lo and behold a Facebook market listing for a Lodge 16-inch camp cast iron Dutch oven came about. They were asking $100. Lickety-split and boogity boogity, I was over there faster than a knife fight in a phone booth! I’d been looking all over hell’s half acre for one of these and I was bound and determined to get this one.
As you mighta guessed it, it wasn’t perfect. There was a chipped off piece from the rim of the lid for that pot. The lid was intact and the pot was perfect. The chipped off piece would not affect the pot’s cooking none.
“How about $80?”
The lady took my eighty dollars and waved me bye.
I ordered a bag for it, packed it away and clicked “done” on that bit of a to-do.
That Wagons Ho! field day was in the spring of 2017. The summer was full of cooking, adventuring, and photographing (we school nurses enjoy them summers…yes we do [for me that’s a “did enjoy”]). Then, come along the fall, start of school, and eventually the winter.
I find that I do a lot of post processing on my photographs in the winter. The folder with those Wagons Ho! images came up and there was that image of that gigantic cast iron camp Dutch oven sitting in that fire…with a chipped off piece from the rim of the lid.
Now, you go figure that one out. I’ve had that pot since 2017 and it’s one of my favorite pieces of cookware…because it now has a great story. It’s an impressive beast of a Dutch oven and can feed an army…we know that well, it fed two hungry 4th grade classes and all the teachers including yours truly. I am always tickled when I take it out and cook with it; memories of that day…what a good day it was.
It’s also a treat when I see the notification that I have sold an image from one of my stock companies. Every once in a while, that image will pop up as having sold. That chip is such a tell-tale that I am glad it’s there.
I understand that Lodge put the hiatus on those 16-inchers in 2000 and then fired them back up in 2003 for another 10 years before calling it done. I’ve had this one going on 6 years as of 2023 and one day my boy will have it and remember that day with his old daddy there at his school on his field day.
Hey. Thank y’all for being here and letting me share this story. My name is Sulae and I love to share the magic that comes out of my black pots and pans. You all keep on cooking in those black beauties and enjoying those frosted glasses of that fermented barley pop. We’ll see you next time on Beer and Iron.
We’re going to make chicken and sausage gumbo also known as Gumbo Ya-Ya and we’re going to make it with BEER! Welcome to Gumbo Ya-Ya à la Bière.
Does making your own broth take time? Sure, it does! So does eating a meal. But, I can “Guar-Ron-Tee” dat eating a bad meal takes longer than eating a good meal. Do you want them plates and bowls to end up at the sink with…
Easy. Simple. Delicious!
The scene is suspenseful; dark and gloomy. The climb down is hard and treacherous. Out of his pocket falls a small box. He reaches out in desperation but to no avail. He calls out to his single companion struggling below to hold on to the rope. They are dangerously exposed on the cliff face. His companion reaches for the small, falling box and loses his grip on the rope. He yells out as he falls back and into the mist below. Luckily, the fall was only a few feet. The companion gathers the box from the ground and examines it. “What’s this?” he asks.
Sam answers Froto: “Nothing. Just a bit of seasonin’. I thought maybe if we was having a roast chicken one night or somethin’.”
Clip from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Plan a bit ahead with this recipe. As always, we brine our chicken before roasting. There’s an article on Beer and Iron as well as a video that shows you how to brine a whole chicken: WATCH IT HERE
The next time you go grocery shopping or make an online grocery order, pick up a whole chicken. Most grocery store chickens are about 3-4 pounds (1.5 kilograms). As soon as you get home and settled, set that whole chicken to brine. Yes, that same evening.
Here are two links WITH VIDEOS on brining meats (chickens are in the examples given). Trust me when I say: brine the chicken. It will not disappoint.
The Hot Method: https://beerandiron.com/basic-beer-brine-template-recipe/
The Cold Method: https://beerandiron.com/how-to-beer-brine-whole-chicken/
Here’s another way to Roast Chicken: https://beerandiron.com/roasted-beer-brined-chicken-cast-iron-dutch-oven-on-grass-straw-hay/
And a roasted chicken sure does sound good for tonight. Roasted chicken seems to be a simple thing; yes, it does. Put the chicken in the oven at 350°F / 177°C and cook it for 20 minutes per pound and until the juices run clear. You and I both know it’s not that easy. Naw, it ain’t that easy; and that’s why Costco sells 100 million rotisserie chickens every year out of over 625 million sold each year in the USA. That’s like 2 grocery store-cooked chickens for every person in the USA each year.
Someone ate my two chickens!
I am going to share with you how I create the perfect roasted chicken each and every time. It’s going to be crispy, it’s going to be juicy, and it’s going to be evenly roasted. And best of all, it’s going to be easy. But it’s going to take a bit of planning (there’s always a “but”). But, don’t let that bit of planning sway you back to Costco for that plastic-packaged over-cooked rotisserie chicken, this ain’t near the work or planning you think it is.
The secret to the perfect roasted chicken is this: preparation and a bit of planning. Just telling y’all how it is. It’s really not that much preparation. I am just like you: BUSY! BUSY! BUSY! There are times when I don’t have a clue what’s for dinner; and then comes the “where do y’all want to go eat at?” question.
Meal planning seems to be a hassle. And it is. But mealtime experiences are usually the pinnacle of our evenings and time together as a family. I find myself planning out a day or three down the calendar to make sure I’ve got some ideas. And, if you follow this recipe and plan, you’ll have a perfectly roasted chicken and be ready for dinner by the time everyone is ready for their after-work and after-school meal.
Step 1: Brine the Chicken.
2-5 days before you plan to roast your chicken, set the whole chicken in the brine (follow the links for either the cold brine method or the hot brine method). Place that brining chicken in the refrigerator and let it rest there. Move it about each day or so to make sure the salt stays stirred up and the chicken evenly brines.
Start with the cold method of brining. You’ll have that chicken out of the grocery store bag and packing and in the brine in less than 10 minutes. IT’S EASY!
Start your brining journey with a 2-day brine. I can’t “taste” what salty taste like to you. So, start with 2 days and if the chicken tasted perfectly salted and juicy then you have your brine time that works for you. If it was lacking a bit of saltiness and flavor, next time add a day to the brine time and see how things go. Read more about saltiness here: https://beerandiron.com/salt-to-taste/
Step 2: Remove the Chicken from the Brine.
When you are ready to cook your chicken. Pull it down and leave it in the brine about an hour or two before you start your chicken to roasting. When you are about 10 or 15 minutes from ready to put the chicken in the oven, start the following steps.
Chef Tip: I will usually call my wife to pull the chicken down even before I get home from work. Or, I will pull it down as soon as I get home and let it “warm up” as I change and “get the day off of me.”
Step 3: Set your oven to preheat to 350°F / 177°C
When you are ready to get busy and cook this chicken and while your oven is preheating, gather your 5-quart cast iron Dutch oven or skillet. Get your trivets ready.
We are going to cook this without a lid on the Dutch oven.
Step 4: Remove the chicken from the brine and pat dry the chicken with paper towels.
Set the dripping chicken on a tray with paper towels underneath the chicken while you pat dry the chicken. Watch the fluid “hiding” in the cavity; it’ll spill out everywhere.
It does not have to be bone dry. All you need is to dry the brine from the chicken and before you apply the oil to the chicken skin.
Step 5: Truss the chicken.
Chicken has so many different “thicknesses.” And, by the time the depths of the breast or the thigh joint has reached doneness, the leg and wing have long since been cooked and has likely reached an over-cooked state. Trussing the chicken draws everything in and keeps the parts-and-pieces dress-right-dress. Trussing promotes an evenly cooked chicken.
How do you truss a chicken you ask? There’s a video of this whole process above; if you still have problems trussing the chicken, let me know. It’s not hard…once you’ve done it a few times…but…it’s hard the first time!
Trussing is optional. Your chicken will roast just fine if you do not. It’ll be less than perfect but it will be AMAZING nonetheless.
Step 6: Oil the outside of the chicken.
You will not need much oil at all. Oiling the chicken skin will help that skin to crisp up and work like a “sack.” That “sack” will hold that moisture better. You will even see that sack-like nature when you pull the roasted chicken from the oven and see the skin “deflate” as the air temperature changes from the oven to the air of your kitchen.
Step 7: Using your 5-quart cast iron Dutch oven, set a trivet in the bottom.
Most all chickens from the grocery store will fit nice and neat in a 5-quart cast iron Dutch oven. You need some air space all around the chicken while it’s in the Dutch oven.
For you fine folks that grow your own chicken, you may need to consider a 7-quart or a 9-quart Dutch oven. The size of the chicken will determine the size of the Dutch oven you will need.
I use a trivet for this recipe. Not too many folks have a good trivet. If you don’t have one, then get one here:
I have two of these and use them all the time. They also work GREAT as bacon presses and don’t let moisture build up under them like most presses causing all that popping and grease stinging.
A trivet is optional. I want the chicken not to be in direct contact with the heat and cook evenly. I usually use TWO trivets like in the video.
Step 8: Set the whole, trussed, oiled chicken on that trivet inside the cast iron Dutch oven.
I don’t use a lid for this recipe. I leave it open to air at the same 350°F / 177°C the whole time. Some will suggest heating up the oven to a very high temperature and letting it “seal” or “sear” in the moisture. But, we do just fine at one constant temperature.
This is where you are free to add anything else to the pot along with that chicken. Sometimes we’ll put spriggles of thyme, rosemary, or whole cloves of garlic. These additional will add to the flavor of the chicken.
If you do add something to the pot with the chicken, make sure it will both tolerate the longer cook time and finish cooking at the same time your chicken is done. If not, add it later in the cook. Most of the time, when we add something to the pot with the chicken, we add those ingredients as flavor ingredients.
Step 9: Set the chicken in the oven without a lid.
Just pick a middle shelf in your oven and set it in there but close enough to the door to reach it with our temperature probe.
Step 10: Insert a meat thermometer temperature probe to the thickest part of the breast.
We set the thermometer probe into the thickest part of the breast, but we don’t go all the way down to the bone. We stick the temperature probe about 2/3rds the thickness of the chicken breast. If you hit the bone, just pull back a bit and you’re A-OK.
The wired thermometer keeps life easy! Trust me on this one. We use this Wireless Meat Thermometer to keep from guessing when the chicken is done. I don’t have to open the oven door but once and that’s to use my other meat thermometer to do a double check.
I am writing this article as my chicken cooks now. I don’t have to do anything while the chicken cooks but wait on that “beeping” from my device.
I also use this with my Camp Chef camp cast iron Dutch ovens when cooking outdoors. It’s something I suggest.
All of my links are affiliate links and I appreciate you all if you chose to click and purchase from these links. Disclaimer: I use each and every item I link you to. And, I try not to fluff up the links. I want this website to be about the food and not a bunch of pop up ads and videos.
Step 11: Roast until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F / 74°C
This is a tricky step. If you have ever cooked a whole, roasted chicken and find that there is still some “pink” in the center, you know the struggle is real. The breast reads “165” and the thigh joint reads “148.” Dang it!!
We are assured the chicken is completely done by the initial breast meat temperature reaching 165°F / 74°C. Then, we pull it from the oven and double check with our other meat thermometer.
Step 12: Remove the chicken from the oven and check the temperature at the inner thigh to make sure the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
You can check with the same temperature probe you cooked with. It’s a little sluggish on quick reads. We have this 2nd meat thermometer to make sure.
If the breast meat and the inner thigh joint are at 165°F / 74°C, we are sure the chicken is completely cooked and ready to eat.
And that’s all there is to it. Now you have a perfectly roasted chicken.
Roasted Chicken is a light-colored meat. So, stick with a light-colored beer. Hey, I ain’t making that up. Try it. But, take some more advice: Stick with a nice Pale Lager, Helles Bock, and Helles Lager; these are excellent choices.
And though a bit darker in color but excellent with roasted chicken: Amber Lager, Vienna Lager, and Märzen are good choices as well. Many ales go well with roasted chicken like the blonde ale, wheat ale, and Kölsch.
Golden Lagers (bottom fermented at cooler temperatures) and Golden Ales have similar characteristics (with lagers always being clear). Golden Ales will be a bit bitter but not too much. Golden Lagers have a tad bit of sweetness that definitely will not overwhelm, nor will it linger.
And if a not-too-bitter golden ale “calls” you from your beer fridge, then a golden ale will not disappoint with this meal. If a Pilsner is all you have, it will not disappoint either.
A bit of trivia: Where did lagers get their name? Going back to the 1600’s, lagers were brewed during the colder months and lagered for the summer months. Lager beers were lagered…meaning stored.
This recipe will produce a nice, juicy, roasted chicken that can either be served whole or can be deboned and used in different recipes. It will add so much to any chicken-as-an-ingredient recipe.
There’s not much that will not go well with whole, roasted chicken.
Roasted Carrots
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Roasted or Mashed Cauliflower
Asparagus
Potatoes au Gratin
Fettuccine Alfredo
Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Garlic Baby Potatoes.
Garden Salad
Mac and Cheese
Sweet Potatoes
Corn on the Cob
BREAD!
Scalloped Potatoes
Can you think of anything that does not work as a side with roasted chicken?
Consider getting creative with these sides. Cauliflower, yeah! But what about Roasted Herb & Lemon Cauliflower or Garlic and Rosemary Brussels Sprouts?
Hands down, my favorite herb to use with chicken is sage. I love, love, love the flavor of sage and chicken. Thyme is my next go-to with rosemary being an equal love of mine.
Other herbs and vegetables go well with chicken such as cilantro, oregano, marjoram, tarragon, garlic, and lemon (though lemon is really a fruit).
Marjoram and Tarragon are not my go-to herbs but some recipes call for these two herbs and if I am preparing the whole chicken as an ingredient for other recipes, I will use one or both with my chicken.
The beer ingredient in this recipe is added during the brine. Most any light-colored, easy-on-the-bitterness beer will work. When you start out brining for this recipe, or any chicken that you plan to brine, use a lighter-colored, easy-to-drink beer and then experiment from there.
I often use a nice citrusy beer with this recipe.
I love craft beer and appreciate the craft beer’s value. They are more expensive than big-brewery beers. And, truth be known, many of them big-brewery beers ain’t too bad to drink. If that’s all I have or have been offered, I’ll enjoy that big-brewery beer and the friends I am enjoying it with.
Less expensive, easy-to-drink beer works very, very well for brining chicken. Consider Corona, Modelo, or even a DosXX. You will not be disappointed in how this chicken will turn out. Not to mention, that brine will not deplete your craft beer stock nor break the bank.
24 12-ounce Coronas at my local market right now costs about $26.88. I venture to say that 24 12-ounce craft beers would be 3 times that much.
Lastly, don’t think that using a beer that you consider inferior as a drinking beer will be a bad brining beer. Not in the least. They actually make for BETTER brining beers. Craft beer takes brewing to new flavor heights and we love craft beer and the brewers who toil over perfection.
However, these delicious flavor notes may cause the chicken to taste a bit off. Stick with a plain-Jane brew (sorry you Janes…I ain’t talking about you but other Janes).
Avoid dark beers, sweet beers, and beers with a high IBU. The IBU is the International Bitters Unit which is a measurement of how bitter or hoppy the beer will taste.
5 or 7-Quart Cast Iron Dutch Oven (a 5-quart will work for most every chicken you pick up from the market).
The size of the Dutch oven depends on the size of your chicken. I have a Vintage Cast Iron 10-quart Sportsman Fish Fryer with the Griddle cast iron lid that I use when I want to roast two chickens at the same time. After all, the energy and time it takes to cook one chicken in the oven is the same if you put two in the oven.
Most ovens will accommodate two 5-quart cast iron Dutch ovens and even a 5-quart and a 7-quart at the same time.
I have included some affiliate links:
Larger Zipper Storage Bag: https://amzn.to/3wCz6Ek
Bowl to hold the brining chicken while it’s in the refrigerator.
Meat Thermometer (Optional): https://amzn.to/3wCnS2o
Butcher’s Twine (Optional if you plan to truss): https://amzn.to/3HDjJBw
36 Ounces of Beer (for the brine)
3 Tablespoons of Salt (for the brine)
NOTE: This is the basic brine. You can create a brine either using the cold method or the hot method. Yes! I do have a how-to article and video for both!
4 Pound Whole Chicken give or take a few ounces (or even a pound).
2-3 Tablespoons of Oil to Coat the Chicken Before Roasting
Chef Tip 1: Chicken is considered “done” at 165°F / 74°C. Because chicken has different parts with varying thickness, be sure to check the chicken at a few other spots to make sure it’s done.
Chef Tip 2: The truth be known: it takes the same energy to cook one chicken as it does to cook two. We will cook a chicken in two 5-quart Dutch ovens at the same time. I have a large Fish Fryer Pot that I set the two trivets and chickens in; one on one side and one on the other. They fit perfectly. I found my used, so keep your eye out for one:
Chef Tip 3: Don’t toss the bones, innards, or skin…MAKE A BROTH (How to Coming Soon).
There you go! Now, what do you think? It’s really as easy as brine, roast, and enjoy (with a few days in between).
Yes, there is very little difference between this recipe and our Chicken On Grass Recipe.
We roast chicken all the time mainly for the chicken to be used in an ingredient in Gumbo, Chicken Stew, Chicken Enchiladas, and so much more.
Let me know what you think and how your roasted chicken turned out.
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