Bring the barbecue into your kitchen with these baked BBQ chicken drumsticks in the oven. It's a perfect weekday meal, great on a budget and healthy, as made totally from scratch without the need for store-bought sauces.
What are Chicken Drumsticks?
In France, we're surrounded by ready-prepared whole roasted chickens. They're roasting outside on spits in front of most butcher's shops (boucheries) and poultry sellers (les volailliers) at the market. So that's why you won't find a recipe for one here. We buy them!
Although we're spoiled with crispy and tender roasted chicken, we often crave a similar quick family weekday meal. Enter chicken drumsticks.
Drumsticks are the 2nd part of the chicken's legs under the thighs, which have the most tender meat. In French, drumsticks are called 'les pilons', literally translated as pestle as it resembles its shape (I love how the French describe things, don't you?). The bonus? They're budget friendly.
Baked BBQ Chicken drumsticks - What You'll Need
You don't need much to prepare them. There may be a few more ingredients but we're making the easy BBQ sauce completely from scratch. All are easy-to-find:
- Chicken Drumsticks - pick large ones if you can with bones intact. I trim off some of the skin from the meaty part to cut the calories, but if you prefer with, leave on. I love 2 per person, so for 8 drumsticks, that's about 1 kg or 2 lbs.
- Potatoes - Adding the spuds just makes a more substantial meal in one pan. Pick good all-rounder potatoes with lots of flavour such as Mona Lisa, Orla, Triplo or red Desirée or Roseval. Keep their skins on for more flavour.
For more, see the Guide to Potatoes. - Garlic - please use garlic cloves, as the flavour is so much better than garlic powder. If you love roasted garlic, keep cloves whole and simply add to the tray.
- Sesame seeds - I love to add them as it's a delicious non-dairy way of adding calcium.
- Homemade BBQ sauce - making it from scratch is so easy and full of flavour, you'll not want to buy BBQ sauce again! Grab some olive oil, tomato purée, mustard, spices and seasoning plus cider vinegar (the best according to Alexandre Dumas is French Vinaigre d'Orléans; if you find it, enjoy!).
Should I use Aluminium Foil for Cooking BBQ Chicken Drumsticks?
These days with so much health speculation, we prefer not to use aluminium to prepare this dish. According to many sources including Healthline, "the amount of aluminium that passes into your food when cooking with aluminium foil is affected by a number of things: higher temperatures, acidic foods like tomatoes and salts and spices".
As this is the case for this baked BBQ chicken recipe, it's best without aluminium foil. The only reason to use foil is for ease of cleaning up afterwards but it's so easy to leave the roasting dish first to soak in water then clean.
How to Prepare Baked BBQ Chicken Drumsticks
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6. The drumsticks cook for about 45 minutes, depending on their size. The secret is to regularly turn them in the sauce.
Simply place the chicken drumsticks in a large, deep roasting tin with the sliced potatoes and prepare the homemade barbecue sauce.
BBQ sauce: place all ingredients in a bowl. Peel the garlic, remove the inner vein (it's easier to digest) and grate. Combine well and spoon over the chicken and potatoes as best you can. Cover it over the chicken and bake for 15 minutes.
After the first 15 minutes in the oven, the chicken is already starting to look tender. Simply turn everything over in the pan to ensure the sauce is coated all over. Return to the oven.
After another 15 minutes, turn again. To best coat it all, brush over the rest of the sauce from the bottom of the tray. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds and return to the oven for the last 15 minutes.
The result after 45 minutes? The chicken is crispy baked on the outside, perfectly juicy in the inside and popping with flavour - the potatoes too. It's so tender, the meat literally falls off the chicken.
How to Serve
These chicken drumsticks are delicious served with any of the following vegetable dishes.
- sautéed green beans with garlic - best during French bean season.
- oven-roasted asparagus - again, best during asparagus season. Just roast in the oven in the last 8-12 minutes, depending on their size.
- glazed French Vichy carrots - they also want to shine with the chicken!
- German red cabbage - they may be difficult to fit together in the oven. But as it freezes well, have some prepared in advance and defrost the day before.
- Stuffed mini pumpkins - great for the holidays, Autumn and Winter.
- Simple green salad - vary according to your favourites in the recipe.
Baked BBQ Chicken Drumsticks in the Oven
Equipment
- 1 large deep roasting tin (no need to line with aluminium)
Ingredients
- 1 kg (2 lbs) chicken drumsticks 8 large (2 per person)
- 8 medium red potatoes skins washed and sliced
- 1 sprig fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Healthy BBQ Sauce from Scratch
- 4 cloves garlic grated (please avoid garlic powder for the best flavour)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 tablespoon tomato purée
- 4 tablespoon cider vinegar good quality, French if possible
- 2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoon honey runny
- ½ teaspoon chili powder or more to your taste
- 2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ tsp (each) salt and pepper freshly ground
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6. Place the chicken drumsticks in a large, deep roasting tin with the sliced potatoes and prepare the homemade barbecue sauce.
- BBQ sauce: place all the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Peel the garlic, remove the inner vein (it's easier to digest) and grate it in. Combine well and spoon over the chicken and potatoes as best you can. Spoon it over the chicken and bake for 15 minutes.
- After the first 15 minutes, turn everything over in the pan to ensure the sauce is coated all over. Return to the oven.
- After another 15 minutes, turn again. To best coat it all, brush over the rest of the sauce from the bottom of the tray. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds and return to the oven for the last 15 minutes or until perfectly crispy on the outside and cooked perfectly tender inside.
