Chicken drumsticks are my favorite part for buffet dinners. They are easy to serve and are the perfect portion when combined with other dishes.
The recipe here makes using them even easier, as they are mixed with the marinade in the pan ahead of time, and kept in the fridge until ready to roast.
The main ingredient in the marinade is a homemade sweet and spicy peppers sauce, which, unlike store bought ones, contains mostly fresh peppers, without any preservatives or additions. It’s very easy and quick to make, and it gives the marinade and the dish wonderful flavor and aroma. Try it and enjoy.
Notes:
* The sauce can also be used as a dipping sauce for fried chicken, fish or shrimps, and a tablespoon of it will upgrade soups, stews and other dishes.
* Pectin powder is a natural thickener which is extracted from fruits. It works best when added to heated liquid that has some sugar in it, so make sure to add it only after the sauce has been cooked for a while.
Makes: 10 buffet portions or 5 dinner portions
Prep time: 10 minutes (not including preparing the peppers sauce)
Marinating time: 1 hour and up to overnight
Roasting time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
2.8 lbs (1.25 Kg) Chicken drumsticks (preferably air chilled)
1/3 cup sweet and spicy peppers sauce (recipe below)
¼ cup soy sauce
2 Tbs apricot jam
2 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste
1 tsp ginger, chopped fine to a paste
1 Tbs whole grain Dijon mustard
1 tsp Sriracha sauce (or any other hot sauce), or to taste
1 tsp salt
For serving:
2 scallions, chopped
1. Line a deep roasting pan with aluminum foil and baking paper. Dry the chicken drumsticks well with paper towels and place in the pan. Add the peppers sauce, soy sauce, apricot jam, garlic paste, ginger paste, mustard, Sriracha sauce and salt. Mix to coat the chicken with the marinade. Cover and place in the fridge for an hour, and up to overnight. Turn the chicken in the marinade occasionally.
2. When ready to roast, preheat the oven to 400F (205C). Bring the chicken to room temperature and place in the oven. Roast for 15 minutes, then turn down the temperature to 375F (190C). Roast for about 45 minutes longer, turning the chicken and basting with the marinade 2-3 times while roasting. If the chicken turns too dark, cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil.
3. Transfer to a serving dish, scatter chopped scallions on top and serve hot.
Sweet and Spicy Pepper Sauce
Makes: 1½ cups
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Combine 3 cups seeded mini peppers, 1 garlic clove and ½ cup water in a bowl. Using a hand blender, blend to a fine mixture. You should end up with 1 2/3 cups mixture. Transfer into a medium size pot. Add ¼ cup apple cider vinegar, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 Tbs salt, 1 tsp hot paprika, 1 tsp red Tabasco sauce. Mix well and bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to simmer and, while whisking, add 1 Tbs pectin powder. Mix again and cook for another 20 minutes, until the sauce thickens, mixing occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. The sauce will keep, in an airtight jar the fridge, for up to a month.
Yummies! I have a whole jar of pectin to make jelly – would that work?
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Thank you Judie, glad you liked the dish.
Yes, pectin for jelly is what I’ve used here. I like how it thickens the sauce without making it too dense.
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Interesting-must experiment.
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Hope you’ll enjoy it! 🙂
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Looks tasty
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Thank you! 🙂
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Sweet and spicy always gets my attention. I like the sauce very much and the fact it is made from scratch – good for shrimps dipping too!
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Thank you, I’m glad you liked the dish. The sauce is one of my favorites, so easy to make and so full of flavor. It is indeed perfect for shrimps dipping. 🙂
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This sounds so delicious, sauce is perfect for any meat I can imagine.
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Thank you Myra, I’m glad you liked the dish. The sauce indeed is perfect for meats. It also goes great with fish and shrimps. I even add a bit to salad dressing and soups. It’s great to have a jar in the fridge – it’s so versatile. 🙂
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Yes I can imagine how versatile it must be. They sell peppers by the bag full here on the market so I’ll be making some soon. Thank you.
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Hope you’ll enjoy it! 🙂
By the way, if you’ll be using regular peppers, you may need less water – or a bit more pectin – as they are more watery than the mini peppers I’ve used here.
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Sweet and spicy combination is always amazing! Looks so delicious and definitely on my “to – do” list, I love the combination! ❤
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Thank you Vero, I’m glad you liked the dish. It’s one of my favorites and I hope you’ll enjoy it as well. 🙂
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Until I read this recipe, I’ve never even considered using pectin to thicken a sauce. I’d probably typically use corn starch to thicken this type of sauce. Does sauce thickened with pectin have different characteristics from one made with corn starch (better texture, taste, etc.)?
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I prefer pectin here, as the sauce is more of a jelly/jam type, rather than a starchy one. Also, sauces thickened with cornstarch don’t keep as long as with using pectin. I guess it’s best to try it once and see if you like it. 🙂
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So a pepper sauce, then apricot jam. Wow. and the other Asian ingredients as well. Just brilliant. A good way to use those big bags of little peppers!
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Thank you Mimi, I’m glad you liked the dish. These ingredients combined so well together, it was worth writing down the recipe.
As for the peppers, I actually came up with the sauce when I ended up with too many mini peppers, and needed to find another use for them. Now I buy these peppers especially for making this tasty sauce! 🙂
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I don’t blame you. Typicallly this kind of sticky sauce has so much sugar and sweetness in them that I can hardly look at the ingredient list. This just sounded wonderful!
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So true! 🙂
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Your chicken sounds very good. I’ve got to try your homemade spicy pepper sauce.
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Thank you Karen, I’m glad you liked the dish. It’s great to have a jar of the pepper sauce in the fridge. I can be used in so many ways. Hope you’ll enjoy it. 🙂
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Oh yes, please! All that flavor!!
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Thank you Mollie, I’m glad you liked the dish. It was a hit! 🙂
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The glaze is amazing ✌
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Thank you Jyo, I’m glad you liked the dish. 🙂
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I love the sound of this and never thought to use pectin so thank you…I need a new spicy recipe it is handy to keep in the fridge :)Thank you, Ronit nice one 🙂
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Thank you Carol, I’m glad you liked the recipe. I hope you’ll enjoy the sauce. It is indeed very handy and can be used in so many ways. 🙂
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We love hot sauces and it is lovely to vary them isn’t it? 🙂
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Absolutely! 🙂
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Absolutely delicious and looks so colorful as well! great share!
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Thank you Nisha, I’m glad you liked the recipe. It’s my pleasure to share. 🙂
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Sweet and spicy… Sounds delicious 💖
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Thank you, it really was! 🙂
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Perfect for summer. Great idea to use pectin and I love the apricot jam adding too!
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Thank you! It is indeed a great dish for summer, especially when served with some nice cold wine or beer. 🙂
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Great pictures and great recipe!
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Thank you Jennifer, so nice to hear. 🙂
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Like these saucy chicken drumsticks 🙂
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Thank you Rita, I’m glad to know. 🙂
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I will definitely give this one a try. I’m excited you used pectin! I feel more doors opening for me…
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Thank you Dorothy, I’m glad you liked the recipe. The pectin gave it a nice texture. I hope you’ll enjoy it. 🙂
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