In this video, turn up the heat with Chef John’s Hot Honey Drumsticks—a perfect balance of sweet and spicy! These crispy baked chicken drumsticks are coated in a sticky, flavorful glaze made with honey, vinegar, and just the right kick of heat. It’s an easy, crowd-pleasing recipe ideal for game day, weeknight dinners, or any time you’re craving bold flavor.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with Hot Honey Drumsticks.
00:08That's right, we're giving the sweet heat treatment to America's fourth most popular chicken part.
00:15Although I've heard from some of the cool kids, these are gaining in popularity,
00:19and I'd like to think this recipe might help the cause.
00:22So with that, let's go ahead and get started by transferring some drumsticks into a zip-top bag
00:27that we will place in a bowl in case there's leakage.
00:30Oh, and by the way, we're not supposed to call these chicken legs,
00:33since a drumstick is only half a chicken leg, with the other half, of course, being the thigh.
00:38And I only mention this in case someone calls it that at a party, and you want to be that guy.
00:44And that's it, once our half legs are set, we will move on to our Hot Honey marinade,
00:49which will start, not surprisingly, with a whole bunch of honey.
00:52And I'm using a nice local wildflower honey, although I'm pretty sure anything's going to work here.
00:57And then after the sweet, before we get to the heat, we will toss in some onion powder,
01:04as well as some garlic powder, followed by the first of four different hot peppers.
01:08And that's going to be some dried chili flakes.
01:12And I'm using Aleppo, but anything will work.
01:15And then we'll follow that with some dried ground chili, in the form of cayenne, of course.
01:19And then after the dried chilies, we'll go with some fermented chili,
01:24which I'm going to do with some Korean chili paste, known as gosujang.
01:28And now that we have dried pepper and fermented pepper, let's go with some fresh pepper,
01:32which for me is going to be one whole habanero.
01:35Oh yes, these are hot, so be very careful.
01:38Speaking of which, we're going to halve this and take the seeds out.
01:41But then, instead of mincing it fine by hand, which is probably going to get on our fingers,
01:45and then on other parts of our body, I'm going to toss it into a blender cup,
01:50and add some rice vinegar and some soy sauce.
01:53And then what we'll do is blitz that in the liquids,
01:55which is of course going to break it down nice and finely, without us ever having to touch it.
02:01Just don't, and I repeat, do not splash any of this in your eyes.
02:05That would be just as bad as the other scenario we're trying to avoid.
02:09And that's it, once our fourth hot component has been incorporated,
02:11we will add all that to our marinade, and we'll take a whisk and give it a mix.
02:16And yes, I might have been able to fit all these other ingredients in the blender cup,
02:20but the more stuff in that cup, the more chance I had of splashing it in my eye,
02:24so I decided to go this route.
02:26But no matter what method you use, once that's all been thoroughly mixed up,
02:30we will transfer that into our bag of chicken,
02:32and then you know the drill.
02:35We will give that a very nice, very thoughtful, very caring massage from the outside of the bag,
02:40just to make sure that marinade's coating everything evenly,
02:44at which point we'll squeeze out the air and seal up the bag,
02:47and we'll transfer that into the fridge to marinate anywhere between not at all,
02:52up to overnight.
02:54And generally, I find two to three hours is plenty,
02:57during which time it's not a bad idea to flip it over a couple times.
03:01And that's it, once we're ready to roast,
03:03we will transfer that into some kind of baking dish.
03:05And if you're using 10 drumsticks like me,
03:08a regular 9x13 casserole dish should be perfect.
03:12And then what we'll do is arrange these into a nice single layer,
03:16as evenly spaced as possible.
03:18And then after cleaning off a few drips on the dish,
03:21we can go ahead and transfer that into the center of a 400 degree oven,
03:25for about 20-25 minutes,
03:27at which point we'll pull it out,
03:29and we'll give those drumsticks a flip.
03:31Although I guess if you wanted, you could leave them where they are,
03:34and just baste them.
03:36But I'm a flipper from way back,
03:38so I prefer to turn them over.
03:40And then what we'll do is pop those back in the oven,
03:43continuing to give those a flip or a baste,
03:45every 15 or 20 minutes,
03:46until they're cooked through,
03:48which is probably going to take about an hour total,
03:51although that depends on the size of the pieces.
03:53So that is going to be up to you.
03:55I mean, you are after all the drone,
03:57of making sure that meat comes clean off the bone.
03:59But anyway, about 45 minutes later,
04:03mine looked like this.
04:05And I made sure to give them a test with the tip of a knife,
04:07which would pierce that meat super easily,
04:09all the way down to the bone with no effort.
04:12And then if we wanted,
04:13we could serve just like this,
04:15with that sauce underneath, spooned over the top.
04:17But what I like to do is transfer these onto a serving plate,
04:21and cover them loosely with foil,
04:22while I transfer all the sauce from the dish into a pan,
04:26that I'll reduce over medium-high heat for a few minutes,
04:30or until it thickens up a little bit more.
04:33And by the way, once a sauce like this cools,
04:35it's going to be about twice as thick as it is when it's hot.
04:38So keep that in mind when you make these executive decisions on how far to go.
04:42But anyway, right about here,
04:43after reducing for about three minutes,
04:45it looked to be about perfect.
04:46So I pulled it off the heat,
04:49and spooned it over those already amazing looking drumsticks.
04:52Which, as you can see,
04:54is going to make it look even more beautiful.
04:56And yes, in case you're wondering,
04:58it is in fact going to taste as hot as it looks.
05:01And that's it.
05:01I finished out by garnishing with some freshly snipped chives from the garden,
05:05and my hot honey drumsticks were ready to enjoy.
05:09And if you're wondering what the best way to eat these is,
05:12well, it's right in the name.
05:13Just pick these up like a drumstick,
05:16and take a big old bite.
05:18And that, my friends, was incredibly spicy,
05:20intensely flavorful,
05:22but not as sweet as you might think it would be.
05:25Right, when you cook and caramelize honey,
05:27it becomes much less sweet,
05:29while at the same time taking on a more complex flavor.
05:32So I really did think this was perfectly balanced.
05:35And as you can see, that meat's coming cleanly off the bone,
05:38which means it was cooked properly.
05:40And of course, this would be amazing to serve with so many things.
05:43But I decided to pair it with a nice herbaceous potato salad
05:46that may or may not be a chimichurri potato salad
05:49that I might show you in an upcoming video.
05:52But anyway, for a contrast,
05:54when we're serving something hot and intensely flavored,
05:57having something cold and bracing and acidic on the plate
05:59is usually a great way to go.
06:02And yes, to answer the obvious question,
06:04this would also work wonderfully with chicken thighs,
06:07or wings, or even chicken breast if you don't overcook them.
06:10But whether you use one of the three more popular chicken parts or not,
06:14I love this technique,
06:15and how beautiful it makes the chicken look and taste.
06:19And I really do hope you give this a try soon.
06:22So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts,
06:25a printable written recipe, and much more info as usual.
06:28And as always, enjoy.
06:33And as always, enjoy.
06:36You go and enjoy.