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Oven Baked BBQ Chicken Drumsticks

Oven Baked BBQ Chicken Drumsticks: Flavorful, affordable, and… well, what more could you ask for, really?

What’s up in your July 2, 2017 edition of Sunday Scratchups? Well, drumsticks have been on sale all around town this week — so in this weekly recipe from scratch around ingredients that are either on sale or generally affordable, we’re making up a big batch of Oven Baked BBQ Chicken Drumsticks today.

For these juicy BBQ chicken drumsticks, I modified this older dry rub chicken drumsticks recipe by upping the spices a little, then adding several layers of BBQ sauce that slowly caramelize in the oven in order to infuse the drumsticks with flavor all the way through.

plate of BBQ chicken drumsticks

Seasoning and baking the drumsticks halfway before brushing on the BBQ sauce gives time for the flavor to permeate and the skin to start to brown, then adding the BBQ sauce in increments gives each layer time to bake in. You’ll end up with a plate of yummy BBQ goodness — and, if you have leftovers, just shred for use in another recipe. This BBQ chicken naan pizza comes to mind, for instance!

Oven Baked BBQ Chicken Drumsticks

Ingredients

4.5-5 lbs chicken drumsticks
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
2 Tbsp smoked paprika
1 Tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp Kosher salt
Black pepper, to taste
1 cup BBQ sauce

Directions

Set a baking rack on top of a foil-lined baking sheet and spray it with cooking spray. Cut excess skin off the drumsticks, if desired. Mix spices and olive oil in a small bowl, then place drumsticks in a large bowl and toss them with the olive oil & spices to coat. (Use your hands here to ensure that each piece of chicken is coated evenly.)

baking chicken drumsticks

Arrange the seasoned drumsticks in a single layer on the baking rack, then bake them at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Use a silicone brush to baste each with BBQ sauce, use tongs to flip, and brush sauce on the other side.

baste drumsticks with BBQ sauce

Continue cooking for another 30-45 minutes*, flipping drumsticks and basting on both sides with another coat of BBQ sauce every 10 minutes for the first 30 of those. Serve immediately.

* Note — some of my drumsticks here were extremely large, so they took the whole 75 minutes to cook through. If you have smaller drumsticks you might just need the hour of cooking time; check for doneness with a meat thermometer.

BBQ chicken that’s infused with flavor through-and-through…

oven baked bbq chicken drumsticks

Oven Baked BBQ Chicken Drumsticks stay juicy and flavorful with their multiple layers of seasoning, and are naturally dairy free and gluten free (as long as your BBQ sauce is). I like to use a lower-sugar sauce such as Stubb’s Original when making BBQ chicken, but if you like a sweeter flavor go with Sweet Baby Ray’s or a similar sauce.

These easy barbecue chicken drumsticks were a hit with all the boys here — and I didn’t even hear: Chicken, again?! out of anyone. 😉

Oven Baked BBQ Chicken Drumsticks, printable recipe

Oven Baked BBQ Chicken Drumsticks

Seasoning and baking the drumsticks halfway before brushing on the BBQ sauce gives time for the flavor to permeate and the skin to start to brown, then adding the BBQ sauce in increments gives each layer time to bake in.
Course dinner
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings 8

Ingredients

  • 4.5-5 lbs chicken drumsticks
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne
  • 2 Tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1 Tbsp garlic powder
  • 2 tsp Kosher salt
  • Black pepper, to taste
  • 1 cup BBQ sauce

Instructions

  • Set a baking rack on top of a foil-lined baking sheet and spray it with cooking spray. Cut excess skin off the drumsticks, if desired. Mix spices and olive oil in a small bowl, then place drumsticks in a large bowl and toss them with the olive oil & spices to coat. (Use your hands here to ensure that each piece of chicken is coated evenly.)
  • Arrange the seasoned drumsticks in a single layer on the baking rack, then bake them at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Use a silicone brush to baste each with BBQ sauce, use tongs to flip, and brush sauce on the other side.
  • Continue cooking for another 30-45 minutes*, flipping drumsticks and basting on both sides with another coat of BBQ sauce every 10 minutes for the first 30 of those. Serve immediately.

Notes

Some of my drumsticks here were extremely large, so they took the whole 75 minutes to cook through. If you have smaller drumsticks you might just need the hour of cooking time; check for doneness with a meat thermometer.

Recipes in the real world

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Recipe Rating




Lori

Tuesday 15th of January 2019

How do you make this low carb if the BBQ sauce has so many carbs?

rachel

Tuesday 15th of January 2019

It's lower in carbs if you use a lower sugar BBQ sauce like Stubb's original, but they're not going to be low carb per se. Sometimes people make their own low carb BBQ sauce if they are on a strict low carb diet, but I have not tried that personally.

Luis C Laureano

Monday 14th of January 2019

The chicken came out great

Lori Bauer

Sunday 2nd of July 2017

does it matter if you use regular paprika and not smoked?

rachel

Sunday 2nd of July 2017

You could use regular paprika if you like -- I just like using smoked in things like BBQ recipes for the extra punch of smokey flavor. :)