How To Use Coca-Cola For Beer Can Chicken On The Grill

Two of the great joys of cookouts are beer and tender, smoke-infused meats. That's why beer can chicken is, in many ways, the culmination of grilling season. But if you're out of beer, sober, or cooking for people who can't have beer, this is a pleasure that has been denied to you — until now. Matt Ensero, co-founder and brand president of Wing It On!, the three-time winner of the National Buffalo Wing Festival, spoke with Food Republic and gave us some tips on how to grill a booze-free version of beer can chicken using Coca-Cola instead of beer.

"The best way to use Coca-Cola for beer can chicken is to place it inside the chicken, mimicking the traditional beer can chicken technique," Ensero said. "This method leverages the soda's ability to steam and infuse the meat from the inside while the grill crisps the exterior." The technique is straightforward, but you should always begin by "pouring out (or drinking) about half of a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola to allow room for steaming," he advised. 

It's important to remember that while the Coke will add juiciness, you can't neglect the flavor of the outside of the bird. Using a dry brine of salt, pepper, thyme, and some kind of pepper such as paprika, cayenne, or berbere — a key component in many of Ethiopia's essential dishes — will create an impossibly tasty skin that can only be matched by its unbelievably juicy meat.

When it comes to the best technique for your no-beer, beer can chicken, Matt Ensero has some key tips. "Insert the can into the chicken's cavity, positioning the chicken upright on the grill over indirect heat (around 350 to 375 degrees Fahrenheit)," he said. You'll want to grill with the lid closed rather than open for between an hour to 90 minutes, "or until the internal temperature reaches 165 Fahrenheit in the thickest part of the thigh."

If you want to ensure your leaning tower of poultry doesn't tip over, ruining your hard work and possibly harming your grill, you may want to consider setting up your can-stuffed bird on a disposable foil cooking pan. While this might seem like it would impede the cooking process, beer can chicken is best when cooked over indirect heat, allowing the fats to render and proteins to break down without getting tough.

While this alcohol-free solution might sound like a surprising workaround, soda and chicken is actually a popular combination, especially in the world of barbecue. Coca-Cola can be used to make a delicious chicken brine, breaking down tissue to make the meat extra-tender while infusing it with bubbly sugar that caramelizes into incredible flavor when exposed to heat. Coca-Cola can be injected into the deep tissue of the bird to add moisture, or even used as a substitute for natural sugar when combined with soy sauce in Asian-style chicken marinades. You just have to monitor the flames and make sure the direct heat doesn't prove too intense, or else you risk the sugars turning on you, leaving a blackened, bitter bird.