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Sweet & Sticky Chilli Chicken Drumsticks

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Delicious sweet and sticky chicken drumsticks made with chilli sauce, honey and balsamic vinegar. Finger licking good!

chilli chicken drumsticks

With the cold weather setting in I’ve been looking to add some new quick, easy and affordable recipes to my winter menu.

We all need a repertoire of fail-safe meals that we know we can throw together in around 30 minutes on a busy evening. 

These Sweet & Sticky Chilli Chicken Drumsticks are a new favourite in my house. They’ll be making lots of appearances on our dinner table over the coming months!

I used to buy pre-marinated chicken drumsticks from the supermarket but when I started to actually read the ingredients lists I was shocked to discover the amount of sugar that some of them contained.

But this homemade marinade is sweetened only by honey and literally takes just a couple of minute to throw together. And with ingredients that you probably already have in your cupboard.

sweet and sticky chilli chicken

It’s no secret that kids love messy food so they are sure to enjoy getting stuck into these drumsticks.

Marinade

I use one tablespoon of chilli sauce in my marinade but you can alter that depending on your family’s tastes, or even leave it out altogether.

If you prefer the skin removed from your chicken then you can do this before you add the marinade. This recipe works just as well with chicken thighs too.

asian salad

To Serve With The Drumsticks

I serve these drumsticks with a chopped vegetable salad (julienne carrots and courgette, red pepper, red cabbage, kale and spring onion) but as it starts to get colder I will probably serve it with mixed veg fried rice or quinoa. Mmmmm… finger licking good!

If you liked this recipe, then please do leave me a comment and a star rating below. You can also share your pictures with me on Instagram.  I always love to see your creations!

OTHER RECIPES YOU MAY ENJOY

Easy Chicken Satay Skewers – The whole family will love this child-friendly no-marinade recipe for super easy Chicken Satay Skewers!

Peri Peri Chicken With Sweetcorn – My take on this classic Nando’s meal – Peri peri chicken with roasted sweetcorn, red cabbage coleslaw and spicy rice.

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The Fuss Free Family Cookbook By Ciara Attwell
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Sweet & Sticky Chilli Chicken Drumsticks

★★★★★ 4.8 from 5 reviews
  • Author: Ciara @ My Fussy Eater
  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Cook Time: 30 mins
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x
  • Category: Main Meal
  • Cuisine: European
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Description

Delicious sweet and sticky chicken drumsticks made with chilli sauce, honey and balsamic vinegar. Finger licking good!

Ingredients

  • 8 chicken drumsticks
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 tbsp sesame seeds
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp chilli sauce
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp fresh ginger, grated

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c. Place the chicken drumsticks into an oven dish. Make several slits in each drumstick with a knife to allow the marinade to soak in.
  2. Mix all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and pour over the chicken. Turn the drumsticks so that they are fully coated in the marinade. At this point you can cover the dish with cling film and refrigerate for up to 6 hours.
  3. Or alternatively cook the chicken straight away by baking it in the oven for 30-40 mins or until the juices run clearly, turning once.

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Comments

  1. Mich says

    I made this at the weekend to have instead of a takeaway and it was delicious. I served it with your carrot & parsnip fries from the blog and it really did feel like we were having take out!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  2. Richard says

    Thank you for sharing this recipe. I prepared it this evening for the family.
    I don’t bake chicken often, but I found while this recipe filled the house with a wonderful aroma, it didn’t penetrate the chicken and while very juicy, the taste of the marinade was too subtle for our liking. Perhaps this is just the difficulty of baking chicken drumsticks?

    I cut the drumsticks with a knife while marinating, but do you have any other suggestions how to make the marinade flavor stronger in the actual chicken drumsticks?

    Thank you very much!

    ★★★★

    Reply

    • Ciara Attwell says

      Hi Richard, sometimes I find that if you remove the chicken skin the marinade will penetrate into the chicken better. So maybe give that a try. You could also marinade for longer, so around 12 hours and that will help to intensify the flavour. Hope that helps!

      Reply

    • Drm says

      You need more chilli, try adding dry chilli or fresh to the marinade. Instead of balsamic I added rice wine vinegar , some fish stock teaspoon, and marinade overnight to get that punch….

      Reply

  8. Chuck says

    Sounds good, looks good, and the photos are world-class. Since drumsticks are my favorite part of the chicken (well, I do like thighs as well) I will try your method and test it on my VERY picky wife. Thanks.

    PS: I LOVE Irish gals. My wife is pure Scotch and we visit your area every other year or so.

    Reply

  9. Sophie at Franglaise Cooking says

    That looks delicious and I’m all about going for homemade sauces rather the sugar/salt-heavy store-bought ones. I’m pinning this now as I’m sure it’ll be a hit in our house 🙂
    #TastyTuesdays

    Reply

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