BBQ Chicken

By Sam Sifton

Updated Aug. 1, 2025

BBQ Chicken
Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards.
Total Time
45 minutes
Rating
4(2,798)
Comments
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Barbecued chicken isn’t, really: It’s grilled rather than smoke-roasted at low temperature. But it requires a similar attention to technique. You’ll want to move the pieces around on the grill to keep them from burning, and flip them often as well. Cooking barbecued chicken benefits from a basting technique used by the chef and outdoor cooking maven Adam Perry Lang, who thins out his sauce with water, then paints it onto the meat he’s cooking coat after coat, allowing it to reduce and intensify rather than seize up and burn.

Featured in: Mixed Grill, the American Way

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Ingredients

Yield:6 to 8 servings
  • 1cup barbecue sauce (see recipe)
  • 6 to 8chicken legs (drumsticks and thighs) skin-on, bone-in, about 3½ to 4 pounds
  • Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

533 calories; 35 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 15 grams monounsaturated fat; 7 grams polyunsaturated fat; 15 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 12 grams sugars; 36 grams protein; 783 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Build a fire in your grill, leaving one side free of coals. When coals are covered with gray ash and the temperature is medium (you can hold your hand 5 inches above the coals for 5 to 7 seconds), you are ready to cook. (For a gas grill, turn one of the burners down to low or off, lower cover and heat for 15 minutes.)

  2. Step 2

    Meanwhile, combine barbecue sauce with 1 cup water and stir to combine. Set aside.

  3. Step 3

    Sprinkle the chicken pieces generously with salt and pepper, then put them on the grill directly over the coals and cook for about 15 minutes, turning once every 5 minutes or so, and brushing with the thinned barbecue sauce. When the chicken skin starts to crisp and darken, move the pieces to the cooler side of the grill and let them cook for 15 to 20 minutes more, or until a peek inside shows that the meat no longer has any red at the center.

  4. Step 4

    Move the chicken back onto the hot side of the grill and baste with sauce again, turning the meat a few times. Remove to a warmed platter and serve.

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FAQS

  1. There are so many dishes that make wonderful accompaniments to BBQ chicken, like pasta salad, potato salad, corn on the cob, cucumber salad and more.

Ratings

4 out of 5
2,798 user ratings
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Comments

barry

you forgot a most important step, maybe the most important: salt the chicken the day before.
and another important point: it's the 21st century: get an instant-read thermometer. when breast meat is 160-165F, it's perfect; thigh meat should be 185-205F.

breezyvalley

Every recipe should start with "don't get drunk" lol

William Shaw

Brining helps poultry and pork. Just don't get drunk, as I have been known to do, and forget to take the meat out of the salt. In that case, don't try to salvage. It is not much good at that point. Throw the meat away and start anew.

This is apropos of nothing, but the NYT's cuisine-team is brilliant. I really do pay attention in my few moments of lucidity.

Bonnie Boyce

75 yo Southerner here. BBQ chicken don’t taste right iffin it ain’t a tab bit burnt on de skin. Y’all don’t know nothin’ ! Who uses a clean baster (I use small paint brush) every time you turns it over? What’s a meat thermometer? This recipe is great! Pass the collards and corn!

big D

This recipe should be called burned chicken with raw meat.

Shannon

Chicken should be cooked over indirect heat. There's no reason to move it around the grill. Heap all of the coals to one side, or leave them in the middle and cook the chicken at the edges of the grill. Start it skin side down, and after about 15 minutes, turn it right side up to finish. Not only is this much easier than the process described in this recipe, it's much less likely to produce the burned skin than is shown in the photograph.

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