A week or so into the new year and I'm back. We soaked up the holiday's, and then promptly hit the "refresh" button on December 26th and put all the decorations away. It felt SO good.

With so much focus on the holiday season we ended up putting our efforts into making the month of December as magical as we could for the girls, which was both fun and kinda crazy. We fell into a bit of a food rut through. So with the new year, I'm seeking to mix things up a bit - and it started with these drumsticks.

We always end up with chicken breasts or thighs and sometimes I'll make hot wings on the weekend - I rarely ever grab drumsticks - I actually can't remember the last time we had some, but with the post-holiday sales at the store, I couldn't pass them up.

I took the same approach with these as I do with chicken wings, cooking them in the oven with a higher heat to seal in the juices.  I suggest you use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and/or drumsticks for this recipe. Chicken on the bone takes a bit longer to cook but is always juicier than boneless, and keeping the skin on will give you the yummy, crispy skin that tastes just so delicious.

When grilling chicken, it is usually basted frequently with sauce throughout the cooking process. The same technique is used for this recipe: after initially baking for 35 minutes, the chicken is basted in sauce & cooked for a couple short rounds to build flavor and crisp up.


INGREDIENTS:
8-12 chicken thighs and/or drumsticks (bone-in, skin on)
2 cups of your favorite barbecue sauce
olive oil, salt, pepper & garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Coat the chicken on all sides with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
3. Place the chicken skin side up on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 35 minutes.
4. Remove chicken from oven and turn the temperature of the oven up to 425 degrees.
5. Coat the top of the chicken with barbecue sauce using a basting brush. Use tongs to flip the chicken over and baste the other side of the chicken, and place back in the oven for 10 minutes.
6. Remove from oven, flip the drumsticks and baste again with barbecue sauce, and place back in oven for 10 more minutes or until chicken is crispy, parts are blackened, and it’s fully cooked.

NOTES:
Chicken not crisping up to your liking? Try broiling it for a few minutes at the end. 




We served these with garlic brown rice & caesar salad.. simple & delicious. Writing all this makes me hungry.. I may have to cook another batch tonight!