Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Drumsticks
This hybrid chicken drumsticks recipe takes advantage of the slow cooker to give you perfectly cooked chicken -- then requires just 10 minutes of broiling in the oven to caramelize the BBQ sauce and give it that oven-baked finish.
Servings 4
Ingredients
- 3-3.5 lbs chicken drumsticks trimmed
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar optional, if you're using a lower sugar BBQ sauce
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- Black pepper to taste
- 1 cup BBQ sauce divided
Instructions
- Trim drumsticks. Arrange the chicken in the bottom of the Crock-Pot, then combine all of the seasonings and brown sugar together in a small bowl.
- Rub the spice mixture evenly all over the chicken legs, then drizzle with ½ cup BBQ sauce and cook for 4-5 hours on low.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, and either spray the foil with cooking spray or brush with vegetable oil. Remove chicken from the slow cooker with tongs and arrange the drumsticks in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
- Brush the tops of the chicken with BBQ sauce and broil on high for five minutes, then flip, brush with remaining BBQ sauce, and broil another five minutes.
Notes
You could choose just to pour all of the BBQ sauce over the drumsticks and slow cook, but broiling for a few minutes at the end really helps caramelize the sauce and kick things up a notch.