Baked BBQ Chicken Drumsticks in the Oven
Easy, healthy recipe for baked BBQ chicken drumsticks with a tasty homemade sauce without sugar. Ideal as a weekday dinner on a budget, bake the chicken with the potatoes in a one sheet pan for the most tender, finger-licking treat.
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.
Notes
Serving suggestions: delicious served with sautéed green beans in garlic or glazed Vichy carrots.
Potatoes - use good all-rounders such as Mona Lisa, Orla, Marforla - or reds with lots of flavour e.g. Desiree or Roseval. For more, see the market guide to potatoes.
Garlic - please use fresh cloves of garlic as this has much better flavour than powder. Either grate the cloves (with inner vein removed) or simply roast them whole in the tray with the rest of the ingredients.
Aluminium Foil: There's no need to use any foil in this recipe. It's just as easy to clean the roasting dish by soaking in water first.
Nutritional Information per serving: 11% total fat, 24g protein, 36% dietary fibre, 20% carbohydrate, 25% potassium, 18% iron.