Baked BBQ Chicken | Recipe
A recipe for easy baked BBQ chicken featuring chicken legs and thighs, plus a quick, homemade barbecue sauce (optional). A meal the whole family will love.
Baked BBQ chicken is a beloved American family meal. Kids love it, husbands love it, and us moms can make it lickety-split for a crowd-pleasing dinner. Therefore, we love it too. Yes, this is a no complaints kind of meal, and it stays on a steady rotation in our home for that very reason.
Baked BBQ chicken seems like a simple enough dinner idea, however, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's also a dish that can be royally screwed up. If the proper steps are not taken, you'll end up with a pile of rubbery chicken skin and a sauce barely clinging on. Does this sound appetizing to you? Yeah, me neither. So how do you cook barbecue chicken in the oven? Simple. All you need to know, straight ahead.
For oven baked BBQ chicken with a pleasing bite, and a defined and pronounced bbq flavor, there are three important things to keep in mind: (1) the chicken skin should be pan seared before going in the oven, (2) the barbecue sauce is important, and (3) the method in which you bake the chicken, matters.
Searing the chicken prior to baking not only helps to develop depth of flavor, but also gives the chicken texture. Next, the sauce. The sauce you choose to smother your chicken with should not be thin or watery barbecue sauce. Rather, it should be thick and viscous, almost sticky, so that it will better adhere to the skin of the chicken while baking. And lastly, the chicken should be baked both covered and uncovered, with an increase of temperature toward the end of the cooking process for optimal results.
If this at all sounds difficult, or even intimidating to you, allow me to break it down in its most simplistic form and put your mind at ease. Here's how it works: The chicken is seared on the stove top, then transferred to a baking dish and brushed with a thick, luscious barbecue sauce. It is covered with aluminum foil. The chicken bakes in the oven, then, toward the end of the cook time, the foil is removed. The chicken goes back into the oven and the oven temperature goes up. This last step in which we uncover the chicken and increase the temperature is just another helping hand in developing a desirable, and pleasing texture.
Oven baked barbecue chicken doesn't have to be rubbery, and it certainly shouldn't be lackluster in the flavor department. This simple recipe ensures that the dish remains a crowd-pleasing staple on any American dinner table, and one your family will eagerly look forward to. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons Canola Oil, separated
3 pounds Chicken Legs and Thighs, bone-in and skin on
1 tablespoon Unsalted Butter
1 tablespoon TAK House Seasoning
Method:
Preheat oven to 350°
Pour a ½ cup of barbecue sauce in a 9x13” casserole dish and set aside.
Heat 3 tablespoons of Canola oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Pat legs and thighs dry with a paper towel and drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of Canola oil. Add seasoning and rub into chicken evenly on all sides.
Add the butter to the saute pan. Taking care not to overcrowd the pan, add the chicken skin-side down as soon as the butter has stopped foaming. Cook 3-4 minutes without jostling. Turn the chicken over and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Remove from the pan and place in casserole dish. Once all of the chicken is properly browned, brush evenly with remaining barbecue sauce on both sides, cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Carefully remove the foil, place the chicken back into the oven and increase the temperature to 375°. Bake for an addition 15 minutes. Serve and enjoy.
Serves 6.
Would pair well with:
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