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. Honey adds that sticky addictiveness to the sauce like in our General Tso's Baked Chicken Wings.
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.
Karen says
When we lived in Santo Domingo we used to go to a restaurant that served Peking chicken. Yours looks a whole lot like it and I know it must be delicious.
Promenade Claire says
It sounds like you had a lot of fun here - using the "butt" liberably 🙂 Looking good, and just shows what you can do with limited space like your balcony !
Healthy World Cuisine says
I am glad I could bring a little fun to your day. Living in HK is all about small spaces and making the most of it.
petit4chocolatier says
Spectacular!!!!!! I can see this being a big hit. Your pictures popped into my mouth 🙂
I absolutely love all the ingredients. Looks absolutely delicious Bam!!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thank you very much. If the boys had left some, I would pass some over to you but they did not leave a scrap, not even a little chicken leg for a midnight snack. The weekend is supposed to be nice maybe I will through a couple of chickens on the BBQ.
petit4chocolatier says
Yummy!!!!
yummychunklet says
What a delicious looking glaze!
Healthy World Cuisine says
I bet this glaze would be good on many other things like turkey and pork as well.
Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake says
I know I sound childish but I find those photos of the chicken sitting up quite funny...and delicious too of course! Would dig in in an instant!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hello Jenny, I am so happy to hear I brought a little smile to your face and actually during my whole 2 hours of basting this bird it made me chuckle too. Happy cooking, BAM
Yi @ Yi Resevation says
For a while I was trying to figure out how you managed to grill a whole chicken in HK then you noticed it was done on a gas grill in balcony. Brilliant idea! I should probably consider that if I move into an apt with a balcony. Back to your chicken, your glaze is one of the most irresistible things I've seen in a while. The Peking chicken idea is absolutely fantastic. I actually have all the tools and ingredients (minus the Kingway beer part as it would be an expensive imported beer here in NYC) available so I can't wait until this weekend!! Thanks for sharing it.
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hello Yi,
Can you have a gas grill on a balcony in NYC? We cannot have a charcoal grill on the balcony in HK but can have a gas grill. This bird can also be cooked with the same method in the oven, if a grill is not available. Yi you really made me smile when you said that that Kingway special would be an expensive import. Another bit of humor for you went to a local restaurant in Foshan, China the other day. I ordered a bottle of beer and I asked what kind they said it was their local brand. Take a wild guess what fancy beer they brought to the table, "pabst blue ribbon" (PBR) I was kind of shocked they didn't even serve it in a paper bag. LOL.. Happy cooking to you, BAM
Kristi @ My San Francisco Kitchen says
Oh my goodness doesn't this chicken look incredibly tasty!!!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thanks Kristi, we are supposed to have some nice weather this weekend so thinking about making it again for my boys.
Nami | Just One Cookbook says
Bam, where was my invitation!!! WOW, seriously I want to eat this and all I will be thinking from now on is this delicious peking duck... Looks so good that it made me drool. I want to make this!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Arigato gozarimashita! Nami-san, The invite is always open. There is always room for more at Healthy World Cuisine table. I think your hubby might quite like this dish. Ja Mata, BAM
Georgina says
This looks absolutely incredible - totally appetizing!
Healthy World Cuisine says
I am glad you like it. It is so easy to make either on top of the grill or even in an oven. Take Care, BAM
saffronandhoney says
Wow! That glaze looks delicious - it makes me want to lick the chicken and then my fingers after eating the chicken (is that weird haha? I am really just thinking out loud 🙂 ).
Healthy World Cuisine says
I think it is quite alright, I have been known to want to lick the computer screen when you make some of your delicious recipes, but it does not quite taste the same. This dish really is finger licking good and you might might to serve with lots of extra napkins. Take care, BAM
Coffee and Crumpets says
I just love the colour on the chicken. Simply gorgeous and with all those exotic flavours I can imagine a very tasty bird. I love grilling too and great for socialising. I have made 7 Up chicken since we don't drink, but ginger ale idea is great. I am going to try this with ginger ale and glaze and all.
Nazneen
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hello Nazeen, I really do like the ginger-ale as it goes nicely with the Asian Spices. Thank you so much for your kind comment. Grilling out is really a fun social event and it also gets everyone a chance to be part of the action. Take Care, BAM
Liz says
Oh, my gosh, that basting glaze sounds terrific! I need to try this with my next beer can chicken (that is, when the snow disappears!!!).
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hello Liz, sending some warm breezes from Hong Kong your way. I am glad you liked the glaze, it really is finger looking good. Take Care, BAM
bitsandbreadcrumbs says
That is one very happy looking chicken, and why wouldn't it be with all that loving attention, some beer and Chinese Five Spice? This is one of those times I wish I had smell-o-vision on the blog...this chicken just has to be terrifically good. I love your new recipe feature on the site with the little added thumbtack and coffee stain, BAM. I'm not getting replies to comments unless I get everyone's reply now. Maybe that's just the way it is on the new format?
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hello Betsy, If you and I invented smell-o-vision, I am certain we could quit our day jobs and it would be a great widget app to add to our sites. Thank you so much four your kind comment and glad you are liking the new site format. It is a work in progress. I am so glad you brought the fact that you are not receiving my comments. There are many reasons why this can happen. When I moved to a self hosted site I am no longer linked to wordpress so you will not see my responses in the top right hand bubble on your screen. However, when you place a comment you can click the box that says inform me of follow up comments and then you will get this by e-mail. I read each and everyone of your messages and I am sorry you have not seen my responses, so I will try to followup by e-mail when I can. Take care, BAM
bitsandbreadcrumbs says
Hmmmm. I'll have to work on that smell-o-vision invention! I'm clicking the button from now on, thanks! I appreciate your willingness to follow up, but also appreciate the time that takes. Hopefully my clicking will be the fix. Happy Weekend!
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hello Betsy, I guess we better start working on our blueprints now. Thanks for helping me trouble shoot through this new self hosting process. Always learning something new. Happy weekend to you too. BAM
Purely.. Kay says
Just look at this chicken. I wish I could eat this right through the screen. I love this Bam
Healthy World Cuisine says
Thank you Kay... maybe you can join Betsy and I as we are going to try to create smell-o-vision and quite our day jobs. Talk about the coolest widget and phone app ever invented. LOL When the weather breaks I hope you will this a try. Take care, BAM
Carolyn Chan says
What an hilarious picture your chicken makes. Beer chicken is awesome and I loooove those spices !
Healthy World Cuisine says
Hello Carolyn, so glad I could make you laugh. He looks like a little solder standing at attention.