Drunken chicken, also known as beer-can chicken or even "beer butt" chicken, is a method of preparing a whole roast chicken by having the chicken standing up vertically, propped up on top of a beer can. This Cajun-seasoned drunken chicken recipe may either be prepared on a grill or roasted in an oven. Grilling and roasting are both dry-heat methods, so the nutritional content will not vary depending on which of these methods you choose.
Ingredients
The recipe on which this article is based calls for a 4-lb. fryer or broiler chicken, 6 oz. of beer, 4 tbsp. of Cajun seasoning, half a lemon, a whole head of garlic and half an onion. For the sake of calculating the nutritional content, though, only the chicken and 1 tbsp. of seasoning have been counted, as the beer, lemon, garlic, onion and 3 tbsp. of seasoning are not actually consumed. All nutritional information refers to a serving size of one-quarter of the chicken, both dark and light meat, including skin.
Preparation
Empty the beer can of half of the beer. Chop the lemon and the onion up into small pieces and separate the garlic cloves, keeping the skin on. Add 3 tbsp. of the Cajun seasoning to the beer left in the can, and stuff as much of the lemon, onion and garlic into the can as you can make fit. Insert the beer can, open end up, into the chicken's body cavity. At this point, if you are roasting the chicken you stand it in a roasting pan or Dutch oven and cook it at 375 degrees for about an hour and 20 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads 180 degrees. If you are grilling the chicken, cook it over medium heat for about an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half, or until a meat thermometer reads 180 degrees.
Basic Nutrition
One serving of this Drunken Cajun Chicken contains 428 calories, 218 of which come from fat, 207 from protein and 2.5 from carbohydrate. The protein in each serving comes to 49 g, which is 97 percent of the recommended Daily Value. It also has 24 g fat, or 37 percent of the Daily Value. Of these fat grams, 7 are saturated. This dish is very low in carbs, with only 1 g per serving. It is fairly high in cholesterol, however, with 157 mg, which is 52 percent of the Daily Value.
Vitamins
Drunken Cajun Chicken is a great source of niacin, supplying 76 percent of the recommended Daily Value of this nutrient. This dish also supplies 36 percent of the recommended amount of vitamin B-6, 18 percent of recommended riboflavin and pantothenic acid, 9 percent of recommended vitamin B-12, 8 percent of recommended vitamin A and 7 percent of thiamine.
Minerals
Each serving of Drunken Cajun Chicken supplies 61 percent of the recommended Daily Value of selenium, 32 percent of recommended phosphorus and 23 percent of recommended zinc. It also contains 13 percent of recommended iron, 11 percent of recommended potassium and 10 percent of the recommended amounts of both sodium and magnesium.
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