The secret to the best homemade BBQ chicken? Made-from-scratch BBQ sauce and lots of it! This chicken is smothered with tons of flavorful sauce, beautifully smoky, and is the absolute quintessential cookout chicken!
Alrighty, guys. I sincerely hope you brought your napkins and your game-face chicken chops today.
Because today I bring you the keys to a killer, and I mean KILLER Fourth cookout. Only the best, best, BEST homemade BBQ chicken for you all.
The biggest cookout of the whole summer is on the horizon and you need to start making your plans NOW to make the best BBQ chicken of your entire life.
In all seriousness, y’all. The.Freaking.Best. This chicken appears at nearly every summer cookout in my family and has never once let me down.
It’s absolutely time you guys got to experience such chicken bliss.
Secret spilling time, y’all. — So the secret to this chicken truly is in the sauce. Oh, heavens, the SAUCE!! ???
It’s just a classic homemade BBQ sauce, but I kid you not: it BLOWS Sweet Baby Ray’s all the way back to the grocery shelf. No need for that fake stuff anymore. Real deal BBQ chicken, please and thanks!!
It’s sweet, tangy, a little bit spicy, and I quite honestly just want to put it on everything.
Besides a good sauce, one of the only other best-kept secrets for an amazeballs BBQ chicken is WHEN to add the sauce. We don’t want to brush our sauce on the chicken before cooking it, because it will all cook off the chicken pretty much the moment we put it on the grill.
You’re gonna want to season your chicken nicely with salt and pepper and then throw it on the grill and let that cook away for awhile. THEN during the last 10 minutes of cooking…brush, baby, BRUSH all that glorious sauce into every single little chicken nook and cranny.
Once your chicken is fully cooked…more sauce on top. Seriously, just go nuts with the sauce.—it’s the best part.
Word to the wise: Make sure you save that white shirt for another day because this chicken is totally the messy kinda food, and let’s be honest: those are the best kinds of food.
You’re probably gonna need like 5 napkins, and that’s totally fine.
The one and only BBQ chicken your life needs is WORTH IT.
So many heart-eyes, guys. So many BBQ chicken feels. ??????
The Best Homemade Grilled BBQ Chicken
Ingredients
- BBQ SAUCE:
- 2 cups tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 1/2 cup dark molasses
- 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1-1/2 lbs chicken legs and thighs
Instructions
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, whisk tomato sauce, tomato paste, sugar, molasses, vinegar, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika. Bring sauce to a low simmer, then remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cool sauce and then store in refrigerator until ready to use (or up to 1 week)
- Make the chicken. Pat chicken pieces dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper to taste. Grill chicken over medium-high heat, turning occasionally until chicken registers 165F degrees. During last 10 minutes of cooking, start brushing chicken with BBQ sauce. Once chicken is done, brush with additional sauce. Enjoy!!
Nutrition
More cookout inspiration right this way!!
Cilantro Lime Marinated Grilled Chicken
Pesto Mozzarella Turkey Burgers
cameron says
Oh man, barbecue chicken is my favorite! My Grandpa used to make this on the grill, and it was just so good. I love that you made your own sauce, Sarah! This is totally calling my name and needs to happen soon!
Sarah says
Please let me know if you try it, Cameron! 🙂
Vertigovisual says
Love it