Honey-Soy Chicken Drumsticks, Thighs or Wings
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In the spirit of old-fashioned, unsubtle, crowd-pleasing recipes, I offer another oldie but goodie from The New New York Times Cookbook (Craig Claiborne, 1979), a recipe my mother pulled out for nearly every cocktail party she hosted and attended for at least two decades. The original recipe calls for wings, which people go gaga over, but the sauce and cooking method work just as well with drumsticks and thighs, if you’re looking for a super-easy dinner adored by children and adults alike.
While the chicken bakes for a fairly long time — an hour to an hour and 15 minutes — in the brief time it takes for your oven to preheat, your chicken can be prepped and smothered with the magic sauce, a mixture of honey, soy sauce, ketchup, garlic and oil, leaving you with an hour of freedom, perhaps to prepare a simple salad or side dish, perhaps to sit down with a good book and a nice cocktail.
As with the honey-baked chicken legs, it’s hard not to play caveman while eating these drummies — a fork and knife just can’t get the job done. What can I say? This is not gourmet cooking, and it’s not gourmet eating — you might just want to break out the moist towelettes for this one.
Don’t be alarmed when you open your oven and find this:
Once the bubbling subsides, your chicken will surface…
…piping hot, meat falling off the bone.
Try not (initially at least) to curse my name during the post-dinner clean-up:
After a quick soak and a teensy bit of elbow grease, just a few burnt edges will remain.
I have been making this a lot recently. When we have visitors, I double up on the drumsticks,
or use a combination of thighs and drumsticks:
Super Easy, Oven-Baked, Honey-Soy Chicken Drumsticks
- Total Time: 1 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 to 8
Description
Adapted from The New New York Times Cookbook (Craig Claiborne, 1979)
Notes:
- If making a small batch — 5 drumsticks or 4 thighs, etc. — halve the sauce recipe but keep the cooking time the same.
- Wings are perfect for a Super Bowl party. Definitely cook the wings until the sauce is thick, which usually means 1 hr and 15 minutes. Wings are very forgiving — don’t worry about overcooking them (within in reason).
Ingredients
- 18 chicken wings or 10 drumsticks or 4 thighs and 5 drumsticks, etc.
- kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons oil — peanut, canola, vegetable, etc.
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1 cup honey
- 2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF. If using wings: wash and dry, cut off wing tips and place on a rimmed baking sheet. If using the larger quantity of drumsticks and/or thighs: wash and dry and place in a 9X13-inch pan; if using the smaller quantity, wash and dry and place in a 8×8-inch (or something similar) pan. Season lightly with salt (as soy is salty) and pepper to taste.
- Combine remaining ingredients and pour over chicken. Toss chicken (with your hands, if you don’t mind, or with tongs, if you do) and then arrange skin-side down in the baking pan. Place in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove pan, turn chicken over, and return to the oven for another 30 minutes.
- Remove pan and turn chicken over once more. I find that the chicken is usually done at this point, but my mother likes to cook hers for another 15 minutes, which is what the original recipe calls for, too, although the original recipe also calls for a 375ºF oven temp. It’s your call — you can’t mess it up. I suggest turning the oven down to 375ºF if you do bake it for an additional 15 minutes.
- If your sauce is not the thickness you like, but the chicken has completed its cooking, you can transfer the sauce to a small sauce pan and simmer it down stovetop till it thickens.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hours 15 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Asian
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246 Comments on “Honey-Soy Chicken Drumsticks, Thighs or Wings”
I have these in the oven right now! I’m looking forward to some sticky chicken goodness! The teens asked “what’s for dinner,” and I told them “sticky chicken”! I used McCormick’s Pepper Medley Grinder for the pepper to give it a little more of a kick! 🙂
It smells good! I’ll report back!
This was very good! Our family of four polished off 10 drumsticks without batting an eye! My sauce didn’t thicken as well as it should have, so when the chicken was cooked I took it out and put it in another dish. Then I poured the sauce into a saucepan and turned up the heat… I whisked in cornstarch and thickened up the sauce before pouring it over the legs. It was a hit! Hubby said he really liked it. The teens enjoyed it, too! Thanks!! I’m sure I’ll make this again! I served it with some steamed broccoli and some miniature corn on the cobs. I put some of the sticky sauce on my corn, and it was delicious! 🙂
Judy, thanks so much for reporting back! And well done on the improvisation at the end with the cornstarch and sauce — a few other people have had issues with the thickening, too, and I’m not sure how to explain this. I need to make these again, soon. The sauce recipe is great, too, with wings — perfect to make for a football-watching event. Love the idea of serving the sauce over the corn…yum! Happy Holidays!
Yes, I’d love to try it on wings! I’m sure that’s delicious!
I have made this multiple times now and it’s always my boyfriend’s favorite! Will be making it again for an easy but delicious crowd-pleaser at our simple Christmas Eve dinner tonight, this time to be shared with my parents — thank you!!
Wonderful to hear this Tammee! Hope everyone loved it on Christmas Eve. Happy 2014!
I just made this right now and it came out perfectly. It’s so delicious! I had a disposable aluminum tray handy; saved me some elbow grease 🙂 Thank you for a wonderful recipe that I’ll be using often.
Wonderful to hear this, Sana!
I have these in the oven right now as well – just finished the first 30 minute cooking leg and flipped the drumsticks. The sauce isn’t very thick yet but I’ll probably take your advice and do that extra 15 mins at 375 once the entire hour is up. Thanks for this recipe!! They smell great already 🙂
Okay, just popped these out of the oven and let them cool. They’re PERFECT and the sauce finally thickened!!! So delicious. Thank you!
Yay! So happy to hear this! Thanks so much for reporting back with the sauce situation 🙂 It’s amazing how much it thickens up at the very end. So glad you liked it.
Can I do this recipe in a crock pot? And if so, would I same the same ingredients as cooking in the oven?
Andrea, I don’t see why not. I must admit I do not know my crockpot very well, but I think it will definitely work. If at the end, the sauce is too soupy, just transfer it to a small saucepan and reduce it till it’s thick.
Just popping in to say that I am once again making this awesome recipe! It seems that when my husband is traveling and I don’t know when his flight arrives, this is my go-to meal. I always have the ingredients and it’s just as good a couple hours later as it is when it’s fresh from the oven! I added a little sambal oelek, ginger and char-siu to the mix for some extra spice. Thanks again for another winner!
Awesome to hear this, Tracey! Love the sound of all of your additions. Totally trying those next time around.
Would this recipe work if i used one of those aluminum baking dish that i can throw away afterwards instead of cleaning.. 🙂
Yes, absolutely!
Stumbled across this. Good find! Made this tonight. There’s a fine line between honey’s done and honey’s burnt. I call that the “Sweet spot”.
Better “Soupy” than burnt.
Of course I used my grill (As always).
I will take your recipe and I will make it my own.
CHEERS!
Indeed! Hope you found the “sweet spot!” Cheers!
Hello…I am really wanting to make this…sounds delish but I scrolled thru to see if anyone had made this without the skin on the chicken before bugging you but couldn’t see anything. I hate the skin & won’t eat it but i can’t see having to take it off…it seems that’s where all the sticky flavor would be. I have no problem using thighs and legs since we eat chicken breast nearly every night but I just wondered if you or anyone else had ever cooked this without the skin? Looking forward to it on my menu this week but just wondered about skin or no skin…that is the question?;)
Hi Gabby! I have two thoughts: 1. Leave the skin on during the cooking. Remove it (scrape off as much sauce as possible beforehand) and discard it after the cooking. Spoon sauce over the pieces before serving. This will prevent drying out. 2. Remove skin before cooking. Baste periodically during the cooking time. I have never tried this but it is worth a shot if you abhor skin 🙂 I worry a little bit about the pieces drying out. Good luck with it! I love this recipe.
i just wanted to say hi – i came across your website in an attempt to see if my mother’s wing recipe would work for thighs. i wanted to make it so badly but the store didn’t have any wings. your site was the first result and wouldn’t you know, it’s pretty much the same recipe my mom has been making for ages too!
she uses brown sugar in place of the honey, and each time she turns the chicken, she sprinkles on a bit more brown sugar and dribbles on a bit more soy sauce. even though they are done probably after 1.5 hours, she always manages to keep them in for 2.5 or yes, really, even THREE hours to ensure they are super sticky and delicious! (at 375 for the first 45 minutes, and 350 thereafter.) i haven’t yet been able to keep mine in that long without burning them, but i have hit the two hour mark with good results. i also saw some (albeit old) comments about foil – my mom always uses heavy duty foil with this to save the pan and make cleanup easier and i have never noticed a difference in taste. when i make it i just use a naked glass baking dish though – simply because i’m lazy and never seem to remember to buy foil to have on hand, haha.
sorry for the novel, i just love running into other people on the internet who have the same memories about random stuff. great site!
Love the novel! Thanks so much for writing in. My mother somehow lets her wings go for forever, too, without burning. Love the idea of brown sugar — going to try this. And I have never had adverse affects with foil either. It really can be a huge time saver. Thanks for your kind words!
I found your recipe but had no chicken on hand so I decided to slow cook a pork roast I had using the same recipe. It was absolutely amazing! All I did was put the roast on very low heat in the oven and covered it until it was done. I’m finally trying it today with the chicken legs and I know it’s going to be great! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Wonderful to hear this Jamie! What cut of pork did you use? I would love to try this sauce on some pork. Thanks!
I LOVE this recipe! Do you think it would also work in the crock pot?
So happy to hear this! And, although I have never tried, I think this would be the perfect recipe to make in the crock pot. You are inspiring me. Let me know if you have success!
I have made this dish several times already ever since I discovered it a couple of months ago. It’s that good! I ran out if honey once and used maple syrup instead. It wasn’t as sticky but it still came out delicious. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
I am a complete chicken freak, always on the look out for delicious new recipies. My mother is a fantastic cook but she lives in devon while i live in the netherlands and your recipies bring me really close to her, i feel. I am going to try this when she is coming over for a holiday next week. Sure she and i will love it. Thank you very much for the recipy.
I tried to thicken the sauce, i did everything but it just wouldn’t thicken
I tried cooking the sauce down in a pan and it totally worked! I also added some chili pepper flakes and it gave it a little spice which was delicioussss!(: thank you for the recipe
Oh yay! Glad reducing worked. Love the idea of chile flakes– yum!
Ok first: these were DELISH. I wanted to start with that because the rest is simply informational.
Because my husband is the cleanup guy, and because I value our marriage, I lined my pan with foil. 🙂 With that said, my sauce didn’t glaze up either. I considered reducing it (and may in the future), but I didn’t want to take the extra step. Instead, I put the pan under the broiler (after 1 hour at 400 and 5-6 min at 375) for 5 min or so. It blistered the skin slightly and thickened the sauce ever so slightly. I still wouldn’t call it a glaze, but again, this was DELICIOUS. My toddler gobbled it up!!!!!
You are hilarious. I love this comment. Great tips re pan lining and finishing under the broiler. Glad the toddler approved…my kiddos love this one, too!
Such good info…I’m gonna try today. And, I’m siked.
Could you eat these cold, was thinking of doing them for a buffet?
Many Thanks
I think you could, though they definitely are best when hot. I would say room temperature versus refrigerated would be best, though I must admit, I eat leftovers cold straight from the fridge 🙂 Again, warm or room temperature, however, is my vote!
Thanks for the super easy and delicious recipe! I made a double batch tonight (I always make enough for lunches the next day) and my family was very happy with the chicken legs over white rice. My sauce didn’t thicken in the oven but the chicken legs were partly frozen so they gave off a lot of liquid as they cooked. I cooked them in my large roaster (non-stick!) for 2 hours, started at 425deg and reduced the heat by 25deg every half hour. At the end I removed the legs from the pan and reduced the sauce on the stove until it was thick and glazy (glaze-y?). It all worked out great and I’ll definitely make again, probably with partially frozen chicken again because I never plan ahead. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!
Haha, I love it…one day we’ll learn to plan ahead, right? So happy to hear this worked out despite the liquid content, but glad you were able to reduce the liquid stovetop. And hooray for non-stick roasters! That is ideal for this recipe.
I had planned on trying this out in the crock pot while we did something fun with the kids, bounce house or something…but…. My fiance didn’t take the chicken out to defrost when I asked and my 3 yr has his first ear infection! Sooo….the oven as directed it is! It’s in now and smells amazing!
Oh good, hope they turned out well!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, I made it for dinner tonight, served with potato wedges and homemade cheesy coleslaw, it was delicious, my husband liked it so much he said he would pay for it in a restaurant and could he have it for dinner again tomorrow, lol
So happy to hear this! And those sides sound divine. What a compliment from the husband! Love it.
these were absolutely finger lickin delicious! But like others said the sauce did not thicken after an hour and 15 minutes so I thickened it on the stove. Thanks for the recipe!!
Glad you were able to thicken the sauce on the stove, and glad you liked the chicken! That’s an oldie and goodie around here!
I am making this for dinner tonight. It looks so good.
Tried the recipe tonight and it was very yummy! Thanks for sharing. I love the shiny glaze. I used less soy sauce and honey and it was still plenty for 10 drumsticks. Don’t need to include any salt.
Made it. Tried it. LOVED IT!
I made this tonight and it was amazing!! But my sauce didn’t thicken? Is there something different you did to make it thick?
Adrian, you are not alone! I have never had trouble with the sauce thickening, but many people have. A simple solution many have had success with: remove chicken from oven when it’s done; pour sauce in saucepan and reduce until thick. Hope that helps! Glad you liked the chicken even so!
Looks delish! On what level should we put the rack? I can’t wait to make!
Right in the middle! Yum!