Canada's food guide
BBQ chicken drumsticks
These delicious drumsticks are coated in heavenly homemade barbecue sauce. Sweetened with Medjool dates, this is guaranteed to be your go-to sauce for grilled meats.
Prep time
10 min
Cook time
35 min
Servings
5
Ingredients
- 5 mL (1 tsp) vegetable oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 15 mL (1 tbsp) chopped fresh thyme
- 10 mL (2 tsp) chili powder
- 1 mL (¼ tsp) ground pepper
- 500 mL (2 cups) passata (strained crushed tomatoes)
- 175 mL (¾ cup) chopped pitted Medjool dates
- 60 mL (¼ cup) cider vinegar
- 15 mL (1 tbsp) Worcestershire sauce
- 5 mL (1 tsp) hot pepper sauce
- 10 skinless chicken drumsticks (about 900 g)
Directions
- In a saucepan, heat oil over medium heat and cook onion, garlic, thyme, chili powder and pepper for 3 minutes or until softened. Stir in passata, dates, vinegar, Worcestershire and hot pepper sauce and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Scrape into blender and purée until smooth. Makes about 625 mL (2 ½ cups) of sauce.
- Place drumsticks on greased grill over medium heat for 10 minutes. Turn and grill for 5 minutes more. Start brushing with about 250 mL (1 cup) of sauce, turning often and basting for about 10 more minutes. Use a digital food thermometer to check that chicken has reached an internal temperature of 74°C (165°F).
- Serve with some of the remaining sauce, if desired.
Learn about food safety.
Recipe developed by Emily Richards, P.H. Ec. for Health Canada and the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Tips
- Serve with grilled vegetables such as bell peppers, onions or zucchini.
- Ask your kids to help measure out ingredients. Do they want to do more? Encourage them to remove the pit from dates and chop them.
- You can use the same amount of skinless, bone-in chicken thighs instead of drumsticks.
- Cover and save the remaining sauce in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
