I thought for my first post I would share a great recipe for baked ‘BBQ’ chicken. I personally don’t like grilling; it’s too much like baby sitting and I already have a toddler to baby sit every day. I need my cooking to happen without my undivided attention. I found this simple approach to getting the sticky, gooey mess I love about BBQ food without the fuss. I hope you enjoy it!

Baked BBQ Chicken Drumsticks

Ingredients

• Chicken Legs or thighs (the bone-in, dark meat is jucier than boneless chicken breast.)
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper
• Sweet Heat BBQ sauce 

Prep

• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
• Brush meat with olive oil all over. (If you don’t like skin or are trying to cut calories and fat, take the skin off first.)
• Lay out ckicken on a rimmed baking sheet
• Sprinkle salt and pepper all over
• Set timer and bake for 20 minutes
• Brush chicken all over with BBQ sauce and bake for 7 minutes.
• Repeat this cycle 2 more times

Chef’s Note: For the last round of baking, check the temp to make sure the chicken hasn’t already passed 160 degrees. If you have a tendency to end up with dry or chewy chicken, you are over cooking it. Meat continues cooking after it is removed from the oven, thus when a recipe calls to let the meat ‘rest’ that means let the meat finish cooking from it’s internal heat. In this world of paranoia over bacteria and food poisoning, it’s easy to cook the crap out of our food. I have lived through some gnarly boughts of food poisoning and people have lost their children to it, so I do not mean to imply it’s not a legit concern. I also aknowledge that our food system is completely toxic, but the truth is, meat tastes like shit when it’s over cooked and 165 degrees will do ya. Respect the internal temp, let the meat rest. 

Serve with fresh baguette or sour potato salad or whatever sounds rad and don’t forget to make loud, slurpy noises as you lick the sticky sauce off your fingers. This is an ancient Chinese secret for improving the flavor.

~Nom on