A few weeks ago I discovered that cornstarch makes the most wonderfully crispy surface for tofu and that discovery totally rocked my world. Wellllll this week I happened across this post on Cookful.com, which describes a similar process for chicken. Since I had some leftover chicken drumsticks in my freezer, I was all over that. After making my Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Drumsticks, I slathered them in a sweet and spicy honey sriracha sauce and I was in HEAVEN.
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How to Make Crispy Oven Baked Chicken
The process is so simple. Just coat your bone-in, skin-on chicken with a little corn starch before baking. The cornstarch and fat from the skin combine to make a wonderfully crispy exterior, without deep frying!
What Sauce Can I Use?
I whipped up a simple honey sriracha wing sauce for these Crispy Baked Honey Sriracha Chicken Drumsticks, but you could just as easily drench them in your favorite BBQ sauce, store bought wing sauce, or a homemade raspberry balsamic sauce. Report back with your favorite sauce so I can have an excuse to make these again, k? Thx!
Can I Use a Different Cut of Chicken?
This technique is originally meant for wings (see my Raspberry Balsamic Baked Chicken Wings), which are much smaller than drumsticks, but I found that the skin crisped up nicely with drumsticks as well, and the meat inside was tender and juicy. I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t do the same thing with thighs or breasts. Just make sure you’re using bone-in, skin-on chicken and you’ll need to adjust the cooking time depending on the size of the pieces.
Honey Sriracha Chicken Drumsticks
Servings 6Ingredients
- 6 chicken drumsticks (about 1.75 lbs.) ($3.54)
- Pinch of salt and pepper ($0.05)
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch ($0.08)
- 1/4 cup sriracha ($0.34)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.22)
- 2 Tbsp honey ($0.24)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with foil, then top it with wire cooling racks to hold the chicken up off the baking sheet. For easy cleaning, spritz the wire racks with non-stick spray.
- Place the chicken drumsticks in a large bowl and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Sprinkle the cornstarch over top, then stir until the drumsticks are evenly coated in cornstarch.
- Place the coated chicken pieces on the prepared baking sheet. Bake the drumsticks for about 50 minutes, or until the surface is golden brown and crispy.
- While the chicken is in the oven, combine the sriracha, butter, and honey in a small sauce pot. Heat over a low flame until the butter is melted and the sauce is smooth. Set the sauce aside.
- When the chicken comes out of the oven, brush the sauce liberally over the surface of the chicken, then serve.
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Equipment
- Mixing Bowls
- Wire Cooling Racks
- Baking Sheet
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Chicken Drumsticks – Step by Step Photos
Start by preheating the oven to 400ºF. Place six skin-on chicken drumsticks in a large bowl and season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Sprinkle 2 Tbsp cornstarch over the chicken, then stir until the pieces are evenly coated.
Line a baking sheet with foil, then place two wire cooling racks on top. (For even easier cleanup, you can spritz the racks with non-stick spray.) Place the cornstarch coated chicken pieces on the racks.
Bake for about 50 minutes, or until they’re golden and crispy. They won’t get super dark, and some spots that had extra thick cornstarch may still be white.
While the chicken is in the oven, prepare the wing sauce. Simply place 1/4 cup sriracha, 2 Tbsp butter, and 2 Tbsp honey in a small sauce pot. Stir and heat over a low flame until the butter is melted and the sauce is smooth. This only takes about 5 minutes.
Back to those gorgeous drumsticks…
Slather that delicious honey sriracha sauce all over the wings. As I mentioned earlier, you could actually use any type of sauce that you want… BBQ is an easy choice.
And now your amazing Crispy Baked Honey Sriracha Chicken Drumsticks are ready to eat!
I mean seriously, how easy was that?? I can’t wait to try more versions…
Will this recipe work in an air fryer?
I’m sure you could try it! I would just keep an eye on it because the honey might burn!