BBQ Pepper Jelly Chicken Drumsticks Recipe - the BEST chicken drumsticks! SO simple! Marinate drumsticks in Italian dressing and Worcestershire sauce. Grill and baste in a mixture of BBQ sauce and pepper jelly. A little sweet and a little spicy and a whole lotta good! Perfect for your next cookout and tailgating! #chicken #grilling #laborday #bbq #drumsticks #tailgating
Place chicken drumsticks in a resealable plastic bag. Pour Italian dressing and Worcestershire sauce in the bag. Seal and toss to coat. Refrigerate at least 2 hours to overnight.
Prepare grill for indirect heat cooking by placing charcoal on half of the grill. Remove chicken from marinade and cook alternating between direct and indirect heat until internal temperature reaches 185ºF, approximately 30 minutes.
Whisk together pepper jelly and BBQ sauce. Brush over chicken and cook an additional 5 minutes.
Notes:
I used a garlic pepper jelly that I found at a local store. Any type of pepper jelly will work fine. My grocery store carries several types of pepper jelly. Save the leftover pepper jelly to serve over a block of cream cheese as an appetizer at your cookout. Double duty!
My favorite BBQ sauces are G. Hughes, Sweet Baby Rays, Stubbs, and Williamson Brothers.
We cooked these drumsticks on a charcoal grill. It took about 30 to 40 minutes.
Cook the chicken over direct and indirect heat. Start the drumsticks over the charcoal and move to the other side once the skin starts to char. Rotate the chicken about every 5 minutes to prevent the skin from burning. Once the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 185ºF, brush the drumsticks liberally with the BBQ pepper jelly mixture.
If you are cooking these chicken legs on a gas grill, follow the same method. Cook over direct and indirect heat for about 25 to 30 minutes.
While chicken is safe to eat at 165ºF, we found that these chicken drumsticks tasted better at 185ºF. Unlike white meat chicken, dark meat chicken pieces can cook a little longer and not dry out. Cooking these drumsticks to an internal temperature of 185ºF breaks down all the connective tissue in the drumsticks and made them super tender and juicy.