Drunken BBQ Chicken Legs
Drunken BBQ Chicken Legs are the perfect protein for your BBQ celebration. Made with a delicious marinade of beer, honey and spices, these chicken legs will up your grill game.
Grills are not just for Steaks
While we love a great indoor hack for traditional grill recipes, just like these INSTANT POT BABY BACK RIBS, sometimes you just need to fire up the old grill to make something really great. These Drunken chicken legs can help you think out of the old Steak box when it comes to grilling.
Chicken legs are great! They have just the right amount of fat on them to make a really flavorful protein for any meal. While we love to do steak and burgers on the grill, sometimes you need a lower cost option when feeding a crowd. We have you covered!
How to make them.
Most any great grilling recipe either starts with a great blend of seasonings or as in this case, a really good marinade. This marinade is a lot like the chicken legs. Inexpensive and not at all short on flavor. This is also a very flexible marinade when it comes to chicken as well. You can marinate chicken in it for anywhere from 2 to 24 hours. That means it will be great in a flash as well as if you have everything planned and in order.
- 2 pounds chicken legs – Family packs are a great option here. They are usually 2 or more pounds and are really inexpensive. Just like all of our recipes, it is easy to double if you need more or cut in half if you need less.
- 8 oz of Beer – any beer will do. We do recommend a light or pale beer for this one so it won’t overshadow the other flavors of the marinade.
- 2 tablespoons Minced Garlic – For flavor and utter deliciousness. I like the kind packaged in its own juice but feel free to use garlic powder, just cut it in half.
- 1/3 cup Honey – not just for added health benefits, honey’s natural sugars seep deep into the chicken and give it a beautiful sweetness!
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard – a little zip of that something special to balance out the sweet of the honey.
- 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar – again, this is one of those “looks can be deceiving” ingredients. Trust me when I say, you will be left with a smoky sweetness instead of a vinegar aftertaste.
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil – the olive oil acts as an emulsifier for the marinade and almost binds the ingredients together. The same way your eggs do in a cake or meta loaf.
- 2 Tablespoons Diced green onions – the onions add an earthy tone to this marinade and make it truly something special.
- Add all ingredients except chicken legs into a large bowl. Whisk together to mix well.
- Reserve 1 cup of marinade for later to use to baste the chicken with as it cooks. Place all chicken legs in a large zip top bag. Pour marinade over chicken and seal bag.
- Carefully massage and move chicken around in bag to coat well. Let rest in a bowl to avoid leaks. Place in refrigerator from 2 to 24 hours to marinate.
- When ready to cook, have grill ready and remove chicken from bag. Place on hot grill and cook on both sides, basting with reserved marinade. Cook until chicken reaches internal temp of 165 degrees. Remove from grill and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
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Tips and Tricks
Just like everyone’s ovens are different, grills are too. I always recommend using a good internal thermometer and cooking until the recommended temperature. In this case, chicken is done when it reaches an internal temp of 165 degrees. Make sure when using the thermometer, make sure to get as close to the bone as you can for accurate readings.
More than likely this means it may not be quite done. The trick to this is when you test the temperature, do so on the biggest piece of chicken you have on the grill. Make sure you also get the thermometer as close to the bone to get an accurate reading on the internal temperature.
Yes! The great thing about this is, as long as that internal temp is 165 near the center then your chicken is done!
One of the great things about this chicken on the grill is it is delicious and inexpensive. You can feed a large crowd on very little cost. This marinade is perfect for chicken or fish or even beef too, so this is really two recipes in one!
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Drunken BBQ Chicken Legs
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken legs
- 8 oz of Beer
- 2 tablespoons Minced Garlic
- 1/3 cup Honey
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 2 Tablespoons Diced green onions
Instructions
- Add all ingredients except chicken legs into a large bowl. Whisk together to mix well.
- Reserve 1 cup of marinade for later to use to baste the chicken with as it cooks. Place all chicken legs in a large zip top bag. Pour marinade over chicken and seal bag.
- Carefully massage and move chicken around in bag to coat well. Let rest in a bowl to avoid leaks. Place in refrigerator from 2 to 24 hours to marinate.
- When ready to cook, have grill ready and remove chicken from bag. Place on hot grill and cook on both sides, basting with reserved marinade. Cook until chicken reaches internal temp of 165 degrees. Remove from grill and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes. Serve and enjoy!