Soda Can Chicken with Ginger Ale & Sweet-Citrus Dry Rub

One of my favorite ways to cook a whole chicken is to coat the chicken with an aromatic dry spice rub and then balance it on an upright can of beer and roast in the oven. The chicken cooks happily on its own while I do other things in the kitchen such as put away the groceries. The roasted chicken makes a simple supper meal. Today, we purchased a whole chicken at the grocery store but forgot the beer. How did that happen? I was determined not to make another trip out just to purchase beer, so I took a chance and decided to substitute Canada Dry Ginger Ale for the beer. It sounds a bit unusual; but why not try? To balance the sweet ginger ale, I made a homemade spice rub using a simple Cajun blend adding brown sugar, dried orange peel and cracked black pepper. Surprise! My “recipe remake” was successful — it had lots of flavor and citrus zest. The chicken was moist and tender. I added potatoes and green beans to finish our supper meal. It is a winner.

Recipe Remake of ‘Beer Can Chicken” using Ginger Ale

We enjoy purchased rotisserie chicken from the market for supper. However, I also like to make my own homemade “rotisserie” chicken. For this recipe, I had to pivot and adapt. No beer, hence, no “Beer Can Chicken.” But, flexibility sometimes makes things better. I discovered that ginger ale works for roasting a chicken, too. The result was perhaps even a better than beer-can roasted chicken. Ginger ale is mostly neutral in flavor yet it provides a nice and sweet accent. The resulting chicken had a pleasant flavor.

Tender chicken. Ginger ale actually has several advantages for roasting a chicken. Ginger ale is a mildly acidity soda and acts as a tenderizer. The acidity helps break down dense chicken proteins and tenderizes the muscle fibers. The liquid content from the can of soda provides steam inside the chicken which locks in tenderness. The high sugar content of the ginger ale caramelizes and flavors the chicken (although it also made a sticky glaze in the bottom of the roasting pan). In summary ginger ale works for the “can-method” of roasting a chicken.

Recipe Ingredients

Here are the ingredients for my recipe. This chicken weighted 5 lb and was labeled a “young chicken.” It was the smallest one available on the grocery store shelves. Quite large for a “young chicken.” I would prefer a smaller chicken — a 3-lb fryer — as these smaller chickens are more tender. However, after visiting three major grocery store chains, smaller (3-lb fryers) were no longer available. Disappointing.

The other ingredients in by “soda-can” recipe are oil (for rubbing on the surface of the chicken), ginger ale and a sweet dry rub — either a homemade spice blend or a commercial blend such as the “Fin and Feather” spice rub shown here.

Sweet-Citrus Cajun-Style Dry Rub

The spice rub makes this roasted chicken “shine.” It is essential for adding flavor to the roasted chicken. Mix your own spice blend or use a commercial one — there are blends produced specifically for “beer can chicken.”

Here are the ingredients for my spice rub. I wanted a spice blend blend with a sweet “touch.” So, I adapted my usual ‘”Cajun-style” seasoning by adding brown sugar and orange peel. I omitted the cayenne pepper. If desired, a lemon-pepper blend can be substituted for orange peel and black pepper.

The ingredients are brown sugar, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, orange peel, course black pepper, ground oregano and ground thyme.

To make the dry rub, simply mix up all the ingredients together in a small bowl.

Making the Recipe

Making the recipe is easy. Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. Also, remove the giblets and liver (which come in the chicken package and are tucked in the cavity of the chicken). There was supposed to be a neck tucked in the cavity of the chicken — but it seemed to be attached to the chicken instead.

Don’t throw the liver and giblets away! They are very nutritious and high in iron, Vitamin A and D. Boil them in a small pot of water for about 30 minutes until cooked. Then chop up and use is other recipes — such as jambalaya or Cajun rice. Use the broth, too.

Next, rub oil all over the outside of chicken. Rub the spice blend all over both the outside and inside of the chicken.

Pour about 1/3 of the can of ginger ale in the bottom of a large roasting pan. Place the can (with remaining soda) upright in the center of the pan. For future recipes, I’ll line the roasting pan with aluminum foil. Ginger ale is sticky and it caramelized during roasting making a burnt coating which was difficult to remove.

Center and balance the chicken on the can in the roasting pan. Place the legs down and the wings and neck up. Pull the legs out. If you are careful, the chicken will balance upright.

Loosely cover the chicken with aluminum foil. With all the sugar in the dry rub, the chicken glaze will burn if not covered.

Remove all the racks from the oven except the lowest one. Carefully move the roasting pan with chicken onto the oven rack. Roast at 400 degrees for an hour.

After an hour, take off the aluminum foil. Roast for 30 additional minutes. The total roasting time for this bird was 1 hr and 30 minutes. A small chicken might have a shorter resting time of 1 hr and 15 minutes.

Carefully tip the chicken on its side. Use a tongs to reach inside and remove the ginger ale can, discarding the can and ginger ale. Then, move the chicken to a carving board.

Let the chicken rest on a carving board for 10 – 15 minutes.

Slice into pieces and serve. I added potatoes and green beans for dinner.

What is the verdict on soda can chicken with ginger ale? This recipe turned out delicious. I admit that I like it as well or perhaps even better than beer can chicken. Who could have guessed this outcome! I loved the sweet, citrus aromatic flavor of the chicken.

This is an easy way to roast a chicken and is a great reprieve from purchased rotisserie chickens. Plus, there are so many spice-combinations which can be rubbed on the chicken — it is a versatile recipe. It’s a winner!