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Oven baked bbq chicken includes an assortment of wings, legs and thighs made with simple seasonings and sauce. Learn how to bake bbq chicken with this simple oven baked recipe with only 10 minutes of prep.
Baking chicken in the oven is always a great choice for dinner! It’s quick, easy and always reliable. This baked bbq chicken is often on our dinner menu. Use chicken thighs, drumsticks and wings for an assortment. Although BBQ can be intimidating to a lot of people, this easy oven baked recipe is hassle free and always delicious.
Use your favorite barbecue sauce to create a dish everyone loves. Create your favorite restaurant bbq chicken recipe at home using your favorite restaurant sauce or create your own homemade barbecue sauce. The options are endless!
Ingredients You Need
- Bone-in Skin on Chicken: Try a mixture of chicken thighs, drumsticks and wings.
- Olive Oil: For coating the chicken. You can substitute with avocado oil, if needed.
- Smoked Paprika: This helps bring out that smokey bbq flavor. You can use regular paprika instead.
- Brown Sugar: Light brown sugar is preferred. You can also substitute with honey or maple syrup.
- Lemon Juice: Helps enhance the flavors in the marinade.
- Garlic: For flavor.
- Barbecue Sauce: Use your favorite type of bbq sauce.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: Adds a tangy flavor to help balance the sauce.
Recipe Tip: You can make this recipe with only drumsticks. If you have young kids, baked bbq chicken legs or drumsticks may be easier (and sometimes more fun) for them to eat. Follow the same instructions, except place on a baking rack over a foil-lined baking sheet. This helps prevent the chicken legs from sticking to the baking sheet and makes clean up easier.
How to Make Oven Baked BBQ Chicken
- Marinate the chicken. Combine olive oil, smoked paprika, light brown sugar, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper in a large ziplock bag. Add the chicken pieces and massage the ingredients into the chicken. Seal the bag and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
- Bake the chicken. Next, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the chicken from the bag and place on a baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Bake the chicken for 40 to 45 minutes, or an internal thermometer reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Turn the broiler to high and continue roasting for 3 to 4 minutes until the skin blisters. Remove from the oven and rest for 5 minutes.
- Brush on the BBQ Sauce and Broil. In a small bowl, mix together the barbecue sauce and vinegar. Brush a layer of barbecue sauce on the chicken. Return to the oven and broil for 3 to 5 minutes. Flip the chicken and repeat, broiling until caramelizes. Serve with additional barbecue sauce, as desired.
See the recipe below for full measurements and details.
Expert Tips
- For Crispy Chicken: If you like crispy chicken in the oven, make sure you purchase chicken with the skin on. This helps create that outer layer crisp.
- Marinate the Chicken: A marinade helps to really bring out the barbecue flavors. Chicken is a tougher meat, so a good marinade can cut through the meat and really tenderize it. The lemon and kosher salt really breaks through and helps tenderize the meat.
- Adding the BBQ Sauce: Timing is key for cooking bbq chicken. Don’t brush with the BBQ sauce until after it bakes through. Once the chicken cooks for 40 to 45 minutes, remove it from the oven, brush a layer of BBQ sauce on each piece and then return to the oven to broil for a few minutes. This makes sure that it doesn’t burn and keeps the bbq sauce sticky.
- Using Boneless Chicken: You can use boneless chicken if you’d like in this recipe as well, but you may need to adjust the cook time since boneless often cooks faster than bone-in.
The best thing about this recipe is you can easily adapt to work with whatever type of chicken you have. BBQ chicken thighs and bbq chicken wings work great with this recipe. No matter what type of chicken you use, make sure the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit on an instant read thermometer.
What to serve with bbq chicken
Oven baked BBQ chicken is a versatile dish and is served with a variety of sides. A few of our favorite side dishes are below.
- Garlic Green Beans are a classic recipe! Sauté green beans in a skillet with garlic for 15 minutes.
- If you’re craving mashes potatoes, these Garlic Mashed Red Potatoes with Chives are amazing!
- We also love this Sautéed Corn with Tomatoes, Feta and Basil for a fresh and easy side.
- Baked Sweet Potato Fries are a classic side dish everyone loves.
Baked BBQ Chicken
Ingredients
- 8 pieces skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs and/or drumsticks or wings, (about 3 pounds)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 1/2 teaspoons light brown sugar
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup barbecue sauce
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Combine olive oil, paprika, brown sugar, lemon juice, and garlic in a large ziplock bag. Place chicken pieces in the bag. Massage marinade into chicken, seal, and refrigerate 24 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix barbecue sauce and vinegar in a small bowl and set aside.
- Remove chicken from bag and place on a baking sheet (line baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup). Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and an internal thermometer reaches 165 degrees F. Turn broiler on high and continue to roast 3 to 4 minutes until skin blisters. Remove chicken from oven and rest 5 minutes.
- Brush a layer of BBQ sauce on the chicken. Return to the oven and broil 3 to 5 minutes. Flip chicken and repeat, broiling until caramelizes. Remove from the oven and serve.
Notes
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
