Beer Baked Chicken ~ Tried n' True Recipes Blog

Beer Baked Chicken ~ Tried n' True Recipes

I decided to thaw some chicken leg quarters and find a recipe that was easy to put together and might use some of the beer my daughter had left over from last weekend. I found this recipe on the Tried n' True Recipes blog (which wasn't easy with so many Beer Can and Beer Butt chicken recipes out there). There were beer-braised chicken recipes galore, but there were none whose images drew me in. Most looked more like stew and I didn't want something on top of the stove in this heat and humidity.

I actually found this one by looking on Google images. The picture looked great, so I went to the recipe to check it out. I had all the ingredients except the rosemary, but it allows for that. That sealed the deal. Easy to throw together and in the oven, not on top of the stove. Perfect!

The only "problem" I had was that I was using two chicken leg quarters and not 18 legs, so I cut back on the ingredients quite a bit. I also took the skin off, so to compensate, I dried the chicken and smeared sour cream over the meat and then added the same seasoning to the sour cream that was blended with the beer. I used slightly less than a half can of beer, but if you're hesitant about using beer, I would try either chicken or vegetable broth. The taste will be different, but not bad.

The recipe calls for baking for 2 hours, but I baked for an hour with foil over the chicken and 30 minutes with the foil removed. The meat was fall off the bone tender and moist. I was pleased with how it turned out and wouldn't be afraid to do it again, other than I'll cut back just a little on the mustard. It added a pungency that we would rather not have. But, that doesn't make the recipe bad. It would be good without it, too. I served this with "baked" potatoes (aka microwaved) and am very happy with it.

I'll admit I enjoyed the mac n cheese recipe more, but that's a personal preference issue. I like BOTH recipes because they are throw together easy and get popped into the oven with little mess and no steam adding heat to the kitchen. I would recommend either one for ease of preparation and because they're worth making even in summer.