BBQ Glazed Crispy Chicken Drumsticks

These crispy on the outside, moist on the inside drumsticks give you the crunch of fried chicken and the sweet tang of outdoor BBQ without the grease and heavy feeling of regular fried chicken.

• Ready In: 50 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 4  chicken drumsticks, with skin
• 1⁄2 cup canola oil or 1⁄2 cup  peanut oil
• 2  tablespoons cornstarch
• 3  tablespoons barbecue sauce

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 375. If you have a convection oven, I highly recommend using that setting for this recipe. I have tested without a convection oven and while it did produce comparative results, the chicken was crispier when using convection.
2. Rinse drumsticks and pat dry to ensure that you get as much moisture off of the surface of the chicken as possible. Place on a paper towel and set aside.
3. Pour the cornstarch into a large Ziploc bag and close. Shake the bag to break up any lumps of cornstarch and to coat the inside of the bag. (I like to use the large freezer bags, but if you don’t have any you can use sandwich bags and work in batches).
4. Open the Ziploc bag and insert the drumsticks. Seal the bag again and try to leave a good amount of air in the bag. Give the bag a good shake to evenly coat the meat.
5. In a medium size pan with high sides, heat the oil over medium-high heat until small wisps of smoke appear on the surface. (You want to make sure that the depth of your oil is about a 1/4 inch; so the amount of oil you use is subject to the size of your pan)
6. Working in batches, fry the chicken for about 3-4 minutes per side or until the crust is just starting to brown. Transfer to a cooling rack placed over a paper towel to drain.
7. Line a cookie sheet or baking pan with foil and place a cooling rack on top of the foil. You can use the same cooling rack that you used to drain the chicken. Place the chicken on the cooling rack.
8. With a pastry or basting brush, paint the drumsticks with your favorite BBQ sauce. (I use a ketchup based sauce like Cattlemen's. I found it best to put a light coating of sauce on the meat to impart that hint of backyard BBQ without over powering the flavor of the chicken).
9. Place the drumsticks in the pre-heated oven and bake/roast for about 30 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and allow the drumsticks to sit for about 5 minutes to cool slightly before serving.