The Best Homemade Grilled BBQ Chicken

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!

5 from 15 votes

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!

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Servings -10 servings

Calories 194kcal

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