BBQ Chicken drumsticks

Sticky with a hint of sweetness on the outside, tender and luscious inside. These baked BBq drumsticks if full of bbq flavor right out of your oven.

A super easy bbq chicken recipe for your weeknight dinners. No grill is required, just season, bake and brush this is all you need to do. Let me show you how to make bbq chicken drumsticks with step by step guide and a video. You might wanna try this slow cooker BBQ chicken version so good if you do not want to turn on your oven. For another kid friendly chicken recipe, check out this easy oven baked chicken Cacciatore, a must try.

This recipe will give you a nicely glazed, sticky, and tender easy oven baked bbq chicken legs that is perfect for anytime of the year. Serve with couscous salad, chickpea salad or batata harra.

Ingredients:

To make oven bbq chicken drumsticks you will need a handful of simple ingredients that are probably there in your kitchen. I have chosen to only season my drumsticks with salt and pepper as I did not want any other flavor to overpower the sauce. But it is up to you, you can add paprika, cardamom, ginger, or any combination you like.

• Drumsticks, bone-in of course. You can also use bone in thighs.
• Olive oil.
• Garlic.
• Lime/lemon juice.
• Salt and pepper.
• Barbecue sauce.

How to make bbq drumsticks: a step by step guide

1. In a bowl, add the garlic, olive oil, lime juice, salt, and pepper then mix well to combine.
2. Clean chicken and pat them dry, cut a slit in each one, and place it in the bowl. Coat the chicken on all sides and marinate for 30 minutes or up to 3 days.
3. Arrange chicken on a prepared baking dish lined with well-oiled aluminum foil or parchment paper. Bake on 350F oven for an hour.
4. Remove chicken from oven and increase oven temperature to 425F. Brush the drumsticks with bbq sauce then flip and brush the other side as well. Bake for 7 minutes. Repeat brushing and baking for another 3 or 4 times or until chicken is crispy, the sauce is dark and thick and well layered on your chicken.

Tips:

• Make ahead tip: you can marinate the chicken up to three days in advance and keep in your fridge.
• Making a slit in the drumsticks helps the marinade seep into the chicken. If you are making this ahead and keeping it in the fridge you can skip this step.
• Oil the baking sheet well or better yet use parchment paper so your chicken won't stick.
• If you want, you can char the drumsticks more by broiling them for a couple of minutes each side as a finishing step.

Oven baked bbq chicken drumsticks

One of my friends has suggested that I try making bbq drumsticks for my kids as it worked perfectly for her family. It is so easy to make but I was skeptical as my kids did not like the bbq sauce back then that much, but she insisted. There were a couple of things I wanted to change about this recipe she suggested:

First: Chickens are not marinated 😱

This was a no no in my book at the time, I always feel the need to wash the chicken very carefully with kosher salt then flour and may be an optional step with vinegar, then marinate the chicken for some time. This is what my grandmothers and my mother did , so here we are following their steps.

Second : Peach preserve!!!

I certainly do not need the extra sugar 😊 😊, barbecue sauce have enough already, it might enhance the flavor but it was nothing that I cannot live without,  I've used the barbecue sauce as is, I did not add anything to it and I did not cook it to thicken on the stovetop like she did.

So I just came up with this super simple marinade of olive oil, garlic, lime juice, salt and pepper, easy right? the rest is even easier, which is just brushing the chicken with barbecue sauce.

I've made this recipe like a dozens of times already for my small family and in gatherings of more than 30 people and let me tell you that everyone loved it. Kids and adults, and it was the first to fly off the table.

If you like this recipe do not forget to give it a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ star rating and attach a photo of your finished dish. It is always a pleasure of mine to see your photos and check your own take of the recipe. Thank you.