Barbecue seemed to be the theme of the week at my house. First ribs, now oven baked BBQ chicken. It’s been a cold week – 10° or colder. That’s dreadfully cold and it only gets worse. California dreaming on such a winters day.
Now I don’t venture outside any more than I have to during the winter. I know there’s a lot of “diehards” that cook out on the grill year round. I’m not one of them. I make do with what can be done in the warmth of my home and oven.
I’ve been playing around with this Chinese barbecue chicken for quite sometime now. I’ve tried numerous recipes – they’re always too salty, too peppery, too hot, too sweet, too bland, too seasoned – just never quite right. After many failed dinners – I finally ended up with a flavor I’m happy with it. It’s got a sweet, salty & bbq taste with a nice bite of heat from the sesame chili oil. Yum.
This is an easy dinner, great for busy weeknights. Recipe amounts will work with 3 – 5 pounds of chicken drumsticks. You can bake the chicken in a 13X9 baking dish or a larger baking sheet with higher edges lined with aluminum foil. Just keep in mind that the BBQ sauce in this recipe becomes liquid so you’re dish needs edges to contain it.
There’s not much to this recipe. Mix together the soy sauce, BBQ sauce, worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, sage, ginger and pepper. Heat and stir until combined. You can do this in the microwave or stove top. When heated through, stir in 2 teaspoons of sesame chili oil. Taste the sauce – if you’d like to heat it up a bit more, stir in an additional teaspoon or two of chili oil.
Spoon the sauce over the chicken and bake. I usually let it bake without bothering it for the first 15 – 20 minutes. After that I baste the chicken with the sauce every 10 minutes or so. The chicken will be finished in about an hour. You can broil it for a few minutes after baking if you’d like to brown it up a little.
That’s it, folks. Easy, oven baked barbecue chicken with a different but delicious sauce. I served this with steamed green beans and sticky white rice. This would also be great with typical barbecue fare – maybe a baked potato and some corn on the cob. It’ll make a great dinner served with whatever you got.
This is a tasty, family pleasing recipe made with pantry staples. If you don’t have sesame chili oil on hand you could substitute some sriracha hot sauce. Perfect for the night when you have chicken to make and no idea what to do with it.
Hope you try this chicken some night soon – I’d love to hear about! Thanks for reading : )
-Amanda-
Oven Baked Chinese BBQ Chicken
Ingredients
- 3-5 lbs chicken drumsticks
- 1/3 cup barbecue sauce
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup worcestshire sauce
- 3/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sage
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoon sesame chili oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Prep baking dish/pan.
- Mix together the soy sauce, BBQ sauce, worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, sage, ginger and pepper.
- Heat and stir until combined. You can do this in the microwave or stove top.
- Stir in sesame chili oil. Taste sauce. If you'd like more heat, stir in an additional 1-2 teaspoons of chili oil.
- Spoon sauce over chicken and bake.
- Let chicken bake without bothering it for the first 15 - 20 minutes. After that, baste the chicken with the sauce every 10 minutes.
- Chicken will be done after an hour. Go ahead and broil it for a few minutes if you'd like to brown it up a little more.
- Serve and enjoy : )
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