Ultimate Oven Fried BBQ Chicken Quarters
Find more fantabulous recipes, tips and tricks at www.thekitchenwhisperer.net. Also, join our TKW Family on Facebook
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: serves 4
- Category: bbq chicken, easy chicken, dark meat, budget friendly
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: bbq chicken, easy chicken, dark meat, budget friendly
Ingredients
- 4 chicken leg quarters *See notes on how to cook bone-in breasts and drum sticks
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups Sticky Thick Honey BBQ Sauce or Cowboy BBQ Sauce *note if using the honey bbq, add in 1 teaspoon of liquid smoke
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F, rack in the middle. Line a baking sheet with foil and top with a cooling rack. Spray the cooling rack with non-stick spray and set aside.
- Rinse the chicken leg quarters in cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Place the quarters on a plate and season the skin side with salt and pepper.
- In a large stainless steel or cast iron pan over medium heat add in olive until it begins to shimmer. Carefully add in 1-2 quarters skin side down and cook for 5-8 minutes or until the skin is golden brown and crispy. It may smoke so if you have an exhaust fan, use it. Do not try and move the chicken too soon otherwise, you’ll tear the skin off. Place the legs from the pan onto the cooling rack, crispy skin side down. Repeat the above steps to cook the remaining leg quarters.
- Brush on some of the BBQ sauce on the leg quarters, flip, and repeat to coat the skin side. You’ll use only about 1/3 of your sauce here. Bake for 20 minutes and remove from the oven. Flip the legs brushing more sauce on the underneath of the legs, flipping skin-side-up, and brushing on more sauce. You’ll use another 1/3 of your sauce here. Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, crank the heat to 450F, and brush on the remaining BBQ sauce to both sides leaving the skin side up. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the sauce has turned deep in color and appears almost charred. Insert a thermometer in the thickest part of the leg (but not touching the bone). You want the temp to be 165F. Remove from the oven and plate. Allow to cool for a few minutes before chowing down as the sauce will be super hot!
Notes
To cook drumsticks
- Pan sear all skin sides until crispy ~8-10 minutes. Brush on the sauce and bake for 15 minutes.
- Flip and brush on more sauce, baking for 20 minutes. Insert thermometer and test for temp to be 165F.
To cook bone in breasts
- Pan sear skin side until crispy ~10-12 minutes. Brush on the sauce and bake for 20 minutes. Flip and brush on more sauce, bake for 20.
- Flip and brush on more sauce, bake for 20 minutes. Insert thermometer and test for temp to be 165F.