Peking Style Beer Butt Chicken is a juicy succulent grilled whole chicken cooked over an herb-infused beer can and glazed in a sweet and savory Peking sauce. This chicken takes inspiration from crispy Peking duck without going through all the fuss or traveling to the forbidden city.
Are you ready for the Summer Grilling and Chilling Recipe season? We love chicken, and, as a matter of fact, we have over 45 Chicken and Poultry recipes on Healthy World Cuisine. So why not one more?
Table of Contents
- Peking Style Beer Butt Chicken
- Why Chicken instead of Duck?
- Fun to Know
- How to Serve Peking Style Chicken?
- Ingredients for Asian Style Beer Butt Chicken
- What is Peking Sauce?
- How to Season Beer for Beer Can Chicken?
- Cleaning a Whole Chicken
- How Do You Put Herb Butter Under Chicken Skin?
- Frequent Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
- Delicious Barbeque Side Dishes
- Desserts
Peking Style Beer Butt Chicken
Let us fire up the grill and make beer butt chicken (AKA beer can chicken). However, this is not your run-of-the-mill American style beer can chicken.
Our kicked up Asian Fusion Whole chicken with Peking glaze has crispy skin, tender chicken meat, and a killer Peking sauce that makes it A-Okay to lick your fingers. No more boring run of the mill grilled chicken. Peking style chicken is way better than Chinese takeout and so much easier than making a whole Peking duck. This is one fun and delicious recipe that the whole family will enjoy.
If you have a large group, you might consider doing 2 or more chickens on the grill as this recipe is a huge crowd pleaser.
Why Chicken instead of Duck?
Peking “Duck” is a specialty dish from Beijing. This special recipe has been prepared since the Imperial dynasty. The ducks used to prepare Peking duck are full range ducks for the first 45 days of life. Then, they are force fed many times a day to fatten them up. The cooking preparation to make a proper Peking duck is very laborious and time intensive. That is exactly why we created our fun easy Peking Style Beer Butt Chicken instead.
Fun to Know
Did you know that Beijing used to be called Peking? After 1949, the Chinese government adopted the pinyin transliteration method and used it to write proper names using the Latin alphabet. Peking then became Beijing to the Western World. That is why this dish is referred to as Peking Duck or sometimes Beijing duck.
How to Serve Peking Style Chicken?
If you visit Beijing, try to get a table at the famous duck restaurant called Beijing Da Dong? Traditional Peking duck is a usually served family style with the crispy duck the center of the show with little pancakes and toppings on the side.
A fun way to serve your Peking chicken is to serve it just like Peking duck. The feast begins with slices of your Peking style Beer Butt Chicken served along with Mandarin pancakes, green onions, cucumbers and a little extra of our hoisin Peking sauce on the side. First you take a little pancake, then top with a little of the sliced Peking chicken and top with a few slices of green onions, cucumber, and a dollop of Peking sauce. Roll it up and eat it this super delicious Chinese treat!
Alternatively, this grilled Asian chicken recipe can be served whole and carved at the table. Suggested side dishes include our Hong Kong Fried Rice, 5 Minute Stir Fried Garlic Pea Shoots, and our Spicy Garlic Cucumber Refrigerator Pickles.
Ingredients for Asian Style Beer Butt Chicken
Main Ingredients
Whole Roasting Chicken – organic, free roaming chickens are the best. Try to find one around 4-5 pounds to be able to feed 4 people well with a little left over.
Beer or a dry ginger ale – We usually use a beer we happen to be drinking. Today, it happened to be a medium-bodied American lager. We would steer away from stout beers as that would be too strong of a flavor to match with this Asian style beer can chicken.
There is nothing like a cold brew on a hot sunny day whilst grilling on the barbeque (BBQ). It is not imperative that you use beer, especially if you need to keep things gluten free. A good dry ginger ale is also delicious in this Peking style chicken.
Spices and Aromatics
Butter – good old fashion grass fed butter is best. If you need to keep things dairy free, opt for a vegan style butter alternative.
Aromatics like garlic and ginger make this recipe extra delicious. Fresh is always best. However, you can exchange ¼ teaspoon of ground dried ginger for ever tablespoon of fresh ginger in this recipe. In addition, ⅛th a teaspoon of dried garlic powder for every clove of garlic. Aromatics make Chinese recipes, like our Ginger Chili Fish Stir Fry and Tea Smoked Chicken Legs, savory and delicious without adding a lot of extra salt (sodium).
Sichuan (Szechuan) whole peppercorns add that familiar mouth numbing spice. If you find Sichuan peppercorns online or at an Asian grocery store, be sure to try our Homemade Sichuan Garlic Chili Oil.
Chinese Five Spice Powder is made with cinnamon, fennel seeds, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns and cloves. This spice also give a great depth of flavor to our Chinese Beef Noodle Soup Recipe, Tofu Veggie Pancakes and our Hong Zao Bread.
Sauces
Hoisin Sauce – is a bold, sweet, and savory Chinese barbeque sauce. This is a must have ingredient for our Peking Style Beer Butt Chicken. If gluten is an issue, Kikkoman has a gluten free hoisin sauce. The base of hoisin sauce is fermented soybean paste that gives food that funky addictive flavor. Funky is good! If you need to keep this lower carb or diabetic friendly, substitute with a sugar free plum jam for the hoisin sauce and skip the honey.
Soy sauce – we love dark soy sauce to give the chicken a deep red glaze. We know that dark soy sauce can be difficult to find if not living near an Asian food market. You can easily substitute regular soy sauce for dark soy (or soya) sauce or tamari to make this recipe for Peking chicken gluten free.
Oyster sauce is made with (you guessed it) dried oysters and soy sauce. It’s thickened with cornstarch. If you have a gluten sensitivity, Kikkoman has a gluten free vegan option that is quite delicious. Three more delicious ideas using oyster sauce is our Easy pork Shiitake Mushroom Stir Fry, Asian Eggplant in Garlic Sauce and our Pepper Lunch Steak and Rice Sizzle.
Honey – a little sweet added to the savory is delicious. You can substitute a sugar alternative of choice.
What is Peking Sauce?
Traditional Peking sauce is a sweet, savory, and spicy sauce from China that is used for dipping or as a stir fry sauce. Chinese chefs use this sauce in grilled and barbeque recipes. Our modified Peking sauce is made with easy to find items you can find in the Asian food section of a regular grocery store.
- Oil
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Hoisin sauce
- Soy sauce or tamari
- Oyster sauce
- Honey
- Chinese five spice powder
How to Season Beer for Beer Can Chicken?
Are you ready for a cold one? Great news! You get to drink about 2 ounces of beer straight off the bat as you need to make room for the aromatics in the beer can. If you fail to do that, when you add the aromatics, it will bubble and fizz over.
Our favorite aromatics and spices to season beer for beer butt chicken are…
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Black peppercorn
- Sichuan peppercorns
Cleaning a Whole Chicken
Are you ready? Prepping a whole chicken is not for the squeamish. However, I promise the more often you do it, the better you will get at it.
- First things first! If handling raw chicken grosses you out, wear disposable gloves.
- Make sure that the area you are pepping the whole chicken is free from any dishes and that your counters have nothing on them. The goal is to avoid cross contamination from inadvertently splashing raw chicken juice on other food, dishes, or utensils. As you already know, chicken in the US may have Campylobacter, salmonella, or Clostridium perfringens bacteria. Everything the chicken touches or may have touched will need to be bleached down or washed with hot soapy water after use. Ok, the nurse is going to go ahead and step down off her soap box.
- Open the chicken cavity and remove the giblets. Remove the butt fat! Yep, we went ahead and said it. You know, cut that little flap off. If the butcher left on some of the neck bone, cut that off as well.
- The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that you never wash chicken due to cross contamination. But it is the CDC, so they might contradict themselves later. Nonetheless, be careful and remove everything from your work area and clean everything down well, it is what you need to do to get rid of the weird things inside (like kidneys, blood vessels and such) that the butcher left behind inside a whole chicken. It is your job to clean it up.
- Now comes the fun part. Put a little salt in your hand. This works like an abrasive and rub it all over inside and outside the bird. Then, rinse and dry the whole chicken with paper towels. Drying is super important. It ensures that you will get a crispy skinned chicken.
- The nurse is back! Be sure to wash everything down completely and wash your hands. Do not use a kitchen sponge to clean unless you are going to discard the sponge after you are done.
How Do You Put Herb Butter Under Chicken Skin?
Place the chicken breast side up. Next, pick up the chicken fat over the chicken breast and gently run your fingers between the fat and fascia of the chicken to make a pocket. Check out our video below for a demonstration of the process. The herb butter infuses the breast meat with delicious herbs, spices, and fat to keep it moist and loads of extra flavor. For this simple Asian herb butter, we mixed butter, salt, pepper, garlic, ginger, and a dash of paprika. Our Savory Herb Roasted Whole Chicken uses a delicious herb butter mixture to keep this bird moist and tender.
Frequent Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
To make a tender juicy whole beer can chicken, set the grill at 250º degrees F or 121º degrees C. We placed our Peking Style Beer Butt Chicken in a disposable aluminum tray directly on the grill for easy cleanup. If you want to cook your chicken at a higher temperature, make sure that your chicken is not set on direct heat and flames of the barbeque grill.
For each pound of chicken, it takes about 20 minutes under a covered grill. For example, a 5-pound whole chicken will take approximately 2 hours of cook time to have a fall off the bone tender chicken. However, the only true indicator that the chicken is fully cooked is when the internal thigh temperature of the chicken reaches 165º degrees F (or 73º degrees C). The juice of the chicken should run clear, and the chicken skin should be a beautiful bronze color.
When the internal temperature of the chicken is about 150º to 155º degrees F or 65º to 68º degrees C, we slather the delicious Chinese Peking sauce all over the beer can chicken. At this point, the beer butt chicken is about ½ hour away from being fully cooked. We usually brush on the Peking sauce twice before taking off the grill.
We had loads of fun creating this delicious dinner idea. Next time, we might even try making a beer can duck (if space allows). What do you think about a Korean beer can chicken? How about a beer can duck in the oven? The ideas are endless.
Delicious Barbeque Side Dishes
Super Easy Grilled Asian Eggplant
Spicy Garlic Cucumber Refrigerator Pickles
Kicked up Potato Salad
Desserts
Grilled Nectarines with Coconut Cream
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Peking Style Beer Butt Chicken
Equipment
- grill
- disposable aluminum pan
Ingredients
- 5 pounds whole roasting chicken
- 12 ounces beer in a can can of your favorite beer (whatever you like to drink when you are out grilling) If you are gluten intolerant substitute with a dry ginger-ale.
- 2 tablespoon butter
or dairy free margarine in needed - salt and black pepper
to taste - 1 teaspoon paprika
- 8 cloves garlic
minced ( 2 cloves to rub the outside of chicken, 2 clove in the herb butter and 2 clove to put in the beer can, 2 clove for the Peking glaze) - 2 tablespoon ginger
freshly grated ( 2 teaspoon to rub the outside of the chicken, 2 teaspoon to go inside the beer can and 2 teaspoon for the Peking sauce). - 2 tablespoon olive oil
(1 tablespoon to rub the outside of the chicken and 1 tablespoon for the Peking glaze) - ½ teaspoon black peppercorns whole
- ½ teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
whole (Szechuan_ - ½ cup hoisin dipping sauce (if diabetic or gluten intolerant can substitute with sugar free plum jam)
- ¼ cup tamari (soy) sauce (dark soy sauce is preferable in this dish to give that dark beautiful color to the glaze)
- ¼ cup oyster sauce
(if you are gluten intolerant, omit and increase amount of tamari sauce) - 1.5 teaspoons Chinese five spice powder
- 2 tablespoon honey (can substitute sugar alternative)
Instructions
- First things first! If handling raw chicken bothers you, wear disposable gloves.
- Make sure that the area you are pepping the whole chicken is free from any dishes and that your counters have nothing on them. The goal is to avoid cross contamination from inadvertently splashing raw chicken juice on other food, dishes, or utensils. Everything the chicken touches or may have touched will need to be bleached down or washed with hot soapy water after use.
- Open the chicken cavity and remove the giblets. Remove the butt fat! Yep, we went ahead and said it. You know, cut that little flap off. If the butcher left on some of the neck bone, cut that off as well.
- Carefully remove the weird things inside (like kidneys, blood vessels and such) that the butcher left behind inside a whole chicken. It is your job to clean it up.We will leave this up to you but we like wash our whole chicken inside and out with a little abrasive salt and water. You just cannot get it properly cleaned unless you do. Put a little salt in your hand. This works like an abrasive and rub it all over inside and outside the bird. Then, rinse and dry the whole chicken with paper towels. Drying is super important. It ensures that you will get a crispy skinned chicken. REMEMBER: Wash everything that your chicken may have touched and your hands well!
- Preheat your gas or charcoal grill to a very low setting about 250 degrees F (121 degrees Celsius). If you do not have a grill then you can make Peking Beer Butt in the oven preheat your oven to about 350 degrees F (176 degrees Celsius).
- Make the herbed butter mixture. In a small bowl place butter, salt and pepper, 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 teaspoon fresh ginger and 1 teaspoon of paprika. Mix to combine and set aside. Set aside in a clean bowl the remaining chopped garlic and ginger and spices for later use.
- Rub your fingers on the inside of the chicken between the breast meat and the skin to make a pocket to place the butter herbed mixture. Stuff the butter herbed mixture with your fingers into each side of the breast and flatten and smooth with your fingers.
- Season the chicken well inside of bird with salt and pepper. Take a little olive oil, 2 cloves minced garlic and 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger on your hands and massage your chicken well all over. Season the outside of the chicken with salt and pepper. (Remember to reserve garlic and freshly grated ginger for the beer and Peking Sauce)
- Open the can of beer (or dry ginger ale), either drink 2 ounces or pour out 2 ounces. Add 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger, black peppercorns and Sichuan peppercorns. The beer will fizz and bubble. Push the opened end of the beer can first into the bottom of the chicken (chicken's butt) and set the chicken into a aluminum disposable baking tray. Make sure that the beer can is deep into the cavity of chicken so that it sets stable and upright on the aluminum pan. Wash you hands and everything that came in contact with the chicken very well.
- Make your Peking glaze: In a small frying pan, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 2 cloves minced fresh garlic and 2 teaspoons of fresh ginger and fry until it becomes aromatic. Add hoisin sauce, soya sauce, oyster sauce, honey and Chinese five spice. If gluten intolerant or diabetic please read our substitution suggestion in the notes below. Cook over low heat for about 5-10 minutes until thick and caramelized. Set aside.
- Place the chicken on the grill and carefully cover the lid of the grill. Cook the chicken low and slow. Enjoy a beer or a ginger-ale. About ¾ of the time in your cooking process or when the internal meat thermometer reads about 150-155 degrees F (65 to 68 degrees C) in the thigh of the chicken, start brushing your chicken all over with your thick and delicious Peking sauce. We brushed the chicken twice all over before taking the chicken off the BBQ grill. (Please remember to use indirect heat on the grill. do not place the chicken directly over the flames) However, because the temperature is very low and it is cooking in a aluminum pan it will still be okay. Our grill is quite small so we had to place the chicken in the center for it to fit.
- How to know when your chicken is ready to eat? Your goal is to have the internal temperature with your meat thermometer read at least 165 degrees F (73 degrees C) in the meaty park of the thigh. The juices should run clear and the chicken should be a beautiful dark red bronze color . Depending on the size of your chicken (about 5 pounds) took about 2 hours on the grill. It takes roughly about 20 minutes per pound. Do not trust time, trust your meat thermometer as this is the only true way to know that your chicken is cooked perfectly.
- Let your chicken rest for about 10 minutes. Lay your chicken on its side and carefully remove the beer can from the bottom of chicken. A pair of tongs, a fork and a second pair of hands is helpful. Wear kitchen gloves and be careful as the chicken and the beer can are very hot!
- Place your Peking style beer butt chicken on a carving board and cut into servings and enjoy this delightful fall of the bone tender meal. If you happen to have thin Mandarin pancakes, sliced spring onions, cucumbers and hoisin sauce this would be fantastic to serve up just like Peking duck. Otherwise just delicious as it is with a side a Hong Kong fried rice and Chinese veggies like baby bok choy or snow peas.
Lynn Fenby says
This is the best Peking duck recipe that you will ever find. It is so deliciou,s and the presentation is very, very impressive. Also, don't be afraid of all the ingredients...I hesitated about making this at first because it looked like so many ingredients.....this goes together very quickly and it is definitely worth the time.
HWC Magazine says
Thanks so much Lynn, glad you enjoyed our grilled Peking chicken. Asian recipes always have a long list of ingredients but once you have them there are so many recipes you are going to want to make. Take Care
Jake says
I think with some pancakes and sliced scallion I could trick myself to think this is Beijing Duck :-).
HWC Magazine says
Thank you Jake. That is exactly what we think too. Tastes just like Beijing duck without all the fuss.
Aubry says
This is so funny. My husband used to make something like this but he never had the nice glaze. I might try a variation on this in my inside oven. I think the glaze makes it special.
HWC Magazine says
Hi Aubry, Beer butt chicken is pretty popular. You can make this Peking chicken in your oven too. The glaze is what really makes it so slather it on. Take Care
mjskitchen says
OMG! My mouth is watering right not. My husband has always wanted to do this, so I'm going to tape a copy of this to his grill. Subtle enough?
HWC Magazine says
Thank you MJ. That is exactly the effect we were going for. (smiling) This Peking chicken is a huge hit every time we make it. Post It notes are a great idea. Also put one at the sink that says clean up after your self too. LOL
Karen (Back Road Journal) says
I can imagine how good your chicken tastes. We lived in Santo Domingo for a year and there was a wonderful restaurant that used to serve Peking chicken only on Sunday evenings and it was delicious.
HWC Magazine says
Thank you Karen. Traditional Peking duck or chicken takes a long time to prepare. That is why generally you have to pre-order it at a restaurant or they only offer it on certain days. Our version is so much easier. Hope you give it a try soon. Stay well and take care
Heidi | The Frugal Girls says
Fire up the grill! That is one amazing sauce and one gorgeous chicken... I can almost taste it just looking at your photos.
HWC Magazine says
Thanks so much Heidi. This is one time when it is A- okay to lick your fingers when eating grilled chicken. Stay well and take care
Michelle says
What a creative fusion recipe you've got here! Love it! And the name too!! 😀 The glaze looks so incredible!
HWC Magazine says
Hi there Michelle. thanks so much. Hope our Peking Style chicken on the grill gave you a good giggle too. Take Care
Hannah says
Though the "butts" in vegan cooking are few and far between, I'm determined to find a way to make this recipe work for me! Those flavors sound incredible.
HWC Magazine says
OMG, we are laughing so hard! Hannah, thanks for the fun humor. Vegan version: Think portabella mushrooms glazed in Peking sauce, then sliced thin, with a side of Mandarin pancakes, spring onions, cucumber slices and a little more of the Peking sauce.