Beer Brined Smoked Cornish Hens
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These smoked cornish hens are fun-sized at about a pound each and are a great choice for dinner guests or even a family dinner since everyone gets their own little personal chicken.
I started thinking about brining these in beer after considering them as a small version of the beer can chicken. The problem with setting them on a can of beer is that, while it helps them stand upright, it does not effectively add any beer flavor to the meat.
By brining them in beer, you are not only adding flavor directly into the meat, you are going to end up with a much more juicy chicken than you would otherwise.
As if that wasn't good enough, I mixed my barbecue sauce with equal parts of beer to continue the theme throughout and it was delicious!
Note: If you don't want to use beer, you can use root beer or Dr Pepper and it will also taste great and end up extremely delicious.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Brine time: 4 hours
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Smoker Temp: 250°F (121°C)
- Meat Finish Temp: 165°F (74°C)
- Recommended Wood: Apple
- 4 cornish hens (or one per person)*
- Beer**
- Beer brine (recipe below)
- Spicy brown mustard
- Jeff's original rub
- Jeff's barbecue sauce
- Beer barbecue sauce (recipe below)
*The cornish hens I usually find locally are sold frozen and weigh in at about a pound or a little more each. Bigger birds are fine but it will naturally increase the cooking time.
**I used a Bock style beer for it's flavor but anything you have on hand will work as long as you like it. You will taste it in the meat.
These birds will thaw in about a day in the fridge but if you need them in a hurry, just put them down in cold water for 2-3 hours, changing the water every 30 minutes.
While the birds are thawing is a great time to make the beer brine:
Beer Brine (½ gallon)
- 36 oz of beer – (12 oz bottles x3 or equivalent)
- ½ cup kosher salt
- 1.5 quarts (or 6 cups) of ice cubes
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, whole
- ¼ cup of Jeff's original rub
Add everything except the ice to a large pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat stirring occasionally. Once it just starts to boil, remove from heat and cover for about 10 minutes.
Add about 1.5 quarts of ice to hot brine and stir to cool it down. Place brine in fridge or freezer to cool it down to 40°F (4°C) or less before using it.
After adding the ice, you can also use more ice in a zip top bag to cool it down further. When the ice in the bag is melted, pour out the water and replace with more ice. Repeat a few times until brine is cold enough. This is to cool it down without diluting the brine any further.
Once the brine is ready and the birds are thawed, place the hens in a large zip top bag or another brining container. Anything plastic, glass or stainless steel with a lid will work.
I used a separate plastic container but I could have also just dropped the birds down in the brine since my pot was stainless steel.
Pour the cold brine over the chickens until they are submerged then put them in the fridge to keep them cold while they brine.
You will notice that I always place the bag down in a larger bowl in case of accidental leakage.
About 4 hours is plenty of brine time and I do not recommend brining them longer than this. If you need to brine them ahead of time, do it for the recommended amount of time then rinse them off well and hold them in the fridge until you are ready to continue with the process.
Once the hens are finished brining, rinse them well under cold water. They are now ready for seasoning.
Note: I like to tie up the legs with cooking twine for a better presentation. This can be done before, after or at any time during the seasoning process.
Cornish hens that have been brined do not require a high salt seasoning. This is why my original rub works so well.
Apply a layer of spicy brown mustard to the outside of the chickens to create a sticky surface which the rub will adhere to and not fall off.
Next, apply a generous coat of Jeff's original rub to all parts of the chicken.
Place the cornish hens on a Bradley rack or a cookie sheet to make it easy to carry them out to the smoker. They are now ready for smoking.
I like to cook chicken low and slow to give it more time with the smoke but bumping up the temperature a little will help to get a better bite-thru on the skin. Somewhere around 250°F (121°C) works for me but chicken can handle much higher temperatures if you want to bump it up even higher.
Setup the smoker of your choice to cook at around 250°F (121°C) if possible and make sure you have enough smoking wood to last about 2 hours.
Once the temperature is holding steady, you are ready to start cooking.
Place the cornish hens directly on the smoker grate breast side up.
Let them smoke for about 2 hours or until they reach 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part of the thigh or breast.
About 30 minutes before the chicken is done cooking, apply some beer barbecue sauce (recipe below) using a basting brush or mop.
Beer Barbecue Sauce
- ½ cup Jeff's original sauce
- ½ cup of the same beer you used in the brine
Add the ingredients to a small saucepan.
Stir to combine well and simmer over very low heat until ready to use.
Note: Be sure to use an instant read Thermapen (reads in 2-3 seconds) or a digital probe meat thermometer such as the Smoke to ensure that you cook the chickens perfectly and that they are safely done.
Use the water pan if your smoker has one and keep the lid closed as much as possible to maintain good and consistent heat.
If you are using an electric, charcoal or gas smoker, I recommend keeping the smoke going for the entire time.
When the meat reaches 165°F (74°C), remove them from the smoker right away and serve right away.
I served these with bacon wrapped corn on the cob and some of the warm beer barbecue sauce on the side.
Beer Brined Smoked Cornish Hens
Ingredients
- 4 cornish hens (or one per person)
- Spicy brown mustard
- Jeff's original rub
- Jeff's barbecue sauce
Beer Brine
- 1 Onion (yellow, chopped)
- 6 cloves Garlic
- 36 ounces Beer (3 (12 ounce) bottles)
- ½ cup Coarse kosher salt
- 6 cups Ice cubes (1.5 quarts)
Beer Barbecue Sauce
- ½ cup Jeff's barbecue sauce
- ½ cup Beer
Instructions
Make the Beer Brine
- Put all ingredients except ice in a large pot and bring to a boil stirring occasionally.
- Cover and let sit for about 10 minutes
- Add ice cubes and stir to cool down. Finish cooling in fridge if necessary.
Brining the Cornish Hens
- Place the chickens in a zip top bag or other brining container
- Pour cold brine over birds to cover.
- Place brining container/bag in the fridge for 4 hours
- After 4 hours, rinse cornish hens under cold water
Seasoning the Outside
- Apply some spicy brown mustard to the outside of the hens
- Sprinkle Jeff's original rub generously onto hens
Smoking the Birds
- Place meat breast side up directly on smoker grate
- Smoke cook at 250°F for about 2 hrs or until they reach 165°F in the thickest part of the breast or thigh
- Brush on beer barbecue sauce (recipe below) about 30 minutes before chickens are done cooking. (reserve some for dipping later)
Finishing Up
- Serve immediately giving each person their own cornish hen.
Beer Barbecue Sauce Instructions
- Add all of the beer barbecue sauce ingredients into a small saucepan.
- Stir to combine and simmer over very low heat until ready to use.
why wouldn’t one start these babies breast side down? too little fat?
A tomato paste can is just the right size if you want to cook these “beer can style.”
Ay Jeff this dish do be slapping! fired it up a Traeger and we smoking!!!!!!
What wood flavor did you use?
I have a pit boss 3 stand smoker are the cooking times and temps different
Currently have the hens in the brine, and just finished up a batch of the bbq sauce. I’ve made these several times and they always turn out great!
Made these this past weekend. They are awesome!
This recipe also works with chicken halves!
Dave, Your posts are always amazing with great instructions, pictures.
These were amazing. The golden skin and the BBQ beer flavor were great. My only criticism is that in my smoker at 250 they took half the time stated.
Jeff,
These cornish hens turned out GREAT and by fare are the best I have eaten!!! Thanks for all the great recipes and look forward to next weekend to try another.
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