For these Grilled BBQ Chicken Drumsticks 🍗🎉 there’s a dry rub to marinate and season the chicken. And while grilling, barbecue sauce seals in moisture and gives a final tangy, sweet, savory, and smoky touch! The chicken skin is caramelized and crispy while the interior of the chicken legs are juicy and tender. Great for summer holidays and events, casual backyard entertaining, or tailgating!
Easy Grilled BBQ Chicken Drumsticks Recipe
- Something about grilled barbecue chicken drumsticks just feels so quintessential American 🇺🇸 summer. Fire up that grill and let’s make some chicken legs!
- The recipe comes together with very basic pantry staple ingredients that create the dry rub which acts as the marinade. The dry rub helps the chicken achieve flavor and crispy skin.
- You’ll also simmer together your favorite barbecue sauce with a bit of apricot jam. Apple jelly is lovely too and orange marmalade works for an option with less sweetness. Most any jam you have on hand should likely be fine since you’re only using 1/4 cup. My Slow Cooker Grape Jelly BBQ Meatballs are a perfect example of jam + bbq sauce working well together.
- Slather this doctored up bbq sauce onto the chicken in the final moments of grilling so seal in flavor, moisture, and put the finishing touch on these tangy-sweet-savory-smoky chicken drumsticks!
- Occasions like Father’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, tailgating parties, backyard get-togethers, block parties, and more are all perfect venues for these chicken legs that can be either an appetizer, snack, or the main course.
Ingredients in BBQ Chicken Legs
Dry Rub (Marinade) – Brown sugar, kosher salt, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, and black pepper are what I use. Chili powder or a pinch of cayenne pepper will add heat if you’d like it.
Chicken – I use 4 pounds of frozen chicken legs that I first thaw and then marinate. Make sure to leave amble time for thawing (overnight in the fridge is a good trick). You can use this recipe with other chicken including chicken thighs (bone-in) or chicken breasts.
BBQ Sauce – Doctor up your favorite bbq sauce with a bit of apricot jam.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Barbecue Grilled Chicken Drumsticks
In the Notes section of the recipe card, I provide my suggestions for how you can make this recipe work indoors on a grill pan or baked in the oven.
- Dry Rub – Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix.
- Marinate – Blot the drummies with a paper towel, place on a large plate (or something that’ll fit in your fridge), rub the dry rub all over them, cover, and place in the fridge for 1-2 hours. You can marinate overnight if that’s better for you. Tip – Remove the chicken from the fridge 30 minutes before grilling so they aren’t cold when put on the grill which can result in uneven cooking.
- BBQ Sauce – Add the bbq sauce and jam to a small saucepan, bring to a gentle simmer for about 10 minutes, or until slightly your semi homemade bbq sauce has thickened.
- Grilling Chicken Legs – Oil the grill grates, preheat your gas grill or charcoal grill so that one side is on high and the other side is on medium heat. Place the chicken on the cooler side of the grill (indirect heat), cook for 5 minutes with the lid closed, flip, and move the pieces that were farthest from the high heat now so that they’re closer now to it (more of the direct heat) side. Cook for another 5 minutes.
- Basting – In the final 4 minutes of cooking, brush the drumsticks with the bbq sauce, cook for 2 minutes or until there’s a light char, flip, baste again, cook for 2 more minutes, or as needed until done which is an internal temperature of 165F on an instant read meat thermometer. Rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for step-by-step photos and process shots of the cooking process.
what to serve with BBQ Chicken Drumsticks
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Grilled BBQ Chicken Drumsticks
Ingredients
Dry Rub for Marinating
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar, packed
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- chili powder or cayenne pepper, optional and to taste for spiciness
- 4 pounds chicken legs, if using frozen, make sure you allow ample time to fully thaw
BBQ Sauce
- 1 cup BBQ sauce
- ¼ cup apricot jam, apple or grape jelly work well, orange marmalade is a less sweet option
Instructions
- Dry Rub – In a small bowl, combine all the seasonings and spices and lightly mix to combine.
- Marinating – Place the chicken on a large plate (something that will fit in your fridge), pat it dry with paper towels, and rub in the dry rub evenly to all the drumsticks. Cover with plastic wrap or foil, and place in the refrigerator to marinate for 1-2 hours, or overnight if you prefer. Tip – Remove the chicken from the fridge 30 minutes before grilling so that it cooks more evenly.
- BBQ Sauce Mixture – Add your favorite bbq sauce and jam to a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat or until simmering, and simmer over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, whisking occasionally until the sauce has thickened slightly. Set aside until step 5.
- Grilling – Lightly oil the grill grates and preheat your grill so half the grill is on high heat while the other half is on medium heat. Place the chicken on the medium heat side, close the lid, and grill for about 5 minutes.
- Open the lid, flip the drumsticks, and move those that are farther from the high heat to be closer to it now, and move those that were closer to the high heat more to the medium heat side and cook for 5 more minutes. Tip – Use your judgment for how exactly you're moving and shuffling the chicken around and flipping it; the goal is to not burn it but make sure the cooking is progressing.
- Basting – When the chicken is about 80% of the way done (about 4-5 minutes from being finished), use a brush to generously baste the BBQ sauce mixture all over the chicken, and cook for about 2 minutes with the lid closed. Open the lid, flip, baste the other side of all the pieces, close the lid, and cook for about 2 more minutes, or until chicken is done. Take the temperature, don't guess. Chicken is done when the internal temp reaches 165F as measured with a thermometer.
- Resting – Allow the chicken to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving. If desired, you can garnish with fresh herbs, green onions, sesame seeds, red pepper flakes, etc.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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