Grilled Firecracker Chicken
This Grilled Firecracker Chicken is spicy, smoky, sweet, and packed with flavor. Chicken drumsticks are marinated in a fiery hot sauce mixture, soaked in buttermilk, coated with a brown sugar and cayenne-spiked dry rub, then smoked over hickory and basted until juicy and deeply flavorful.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Chicken or 8-12 drum legs
- 1 gallon Buttermilk (depending on the amount of chicken)
- Parsley for garnishing
Firecracker Marinade
- 10 oz Franks red hot
- ½ cup Soy sauce
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- ⅓ cup Apple cider vinegar
- ⅓ cup Chopped scallions
- 2 tbsp Garlic paste
- 1 tbsp Kosher salt
- 1 tbsp Black pepper
- 2 tsp Cayenne pepper
Firecracker Dry Rub
- ¼ cup Brown sugar
- 2 tbsp Kosher salt
- 2 tbsp Smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp Black pepper
- 1 tbsp Chili powder
- 2 tsp Garlic powder
Instructions
- Start off by prepping all of your chicken drum legs by scoring three diagonal cuts along the drum leg. This allows the marinade to penetrate deeper into the chicken for more flavor. Now add to a gallon-sized zip-lock bag or storage container you use for marinating.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl add all of your marinade ingredients: Hot sauce, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, garlic paste, chopped scallions, kosher salt, black pepper, chili powder and garlic powder. Whisk for 2-3 minutes and allow the ingredients to combine together.
- Pour 1/2 of your marinade into the zip lock bag (keep the other 1/2 of the marinade, this will be used to baste the drum legs during the cooking) with the chicken drum legs and seal that it is airtight. Hand toss for a minute or two and place in the fridge for one day. The next day, remove the chicken from the marinade and add it to another marinade container and pour your buttermilk in until it is all covered. Let sit for 12-24 hours.
- The next day, remove the chicken and wash it and let sit out for 30 minutes in room temperature conditions. Now pat dry and take to your seasoning station. Combine all the dry rub ingredients into a mixing bowl: Brown sugar, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, chili powder and garlic powder, hand mix until it is nicely combined. firecracker chicken dry rub on wings
- Have the drum legs ready and spray them with duck fat, this is used as a binder and you can use other sources of a binder such as mustard or canola oil, and season the chicken generously until the whole drum leg is coated evenly. Do this for everyone and let them sit for 30 minutes, this allows the chicken to absorb the seasoning.
- During this time, fire up your smoker and get the temp at 300-325 degrees. Once the temperature is set add a few chunks of hickory wood chunks for a nice hint of smoke.
- Add the drum legs and smoke for 30 minutes and turn, once you turn them baste with a layer of the firecracker marinade liquid we saved from the beginning. After another 20-25 minutes flip the drum legs and baste a layer of the firecracker marinade. You can do as many layers of the basting that you want but I am looking for a nice deep red color.
- When the drum legs reach an internal temp of 165 remove and rest for 15-20 minutes in a sealed place. I typically do this by applying aluminum foil on top.
- Plate and garnish with parsley.
- Enjoy with family and friends!
Nutrition
Calories: 498kcalCarbohydrates: 37gProtein: 28gFat: 27gSaturated Fat: 12gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0.04gCholesterol: 112mgSodium: 5198mgPotassium: 1011mgFiber: 2gSugar: 31gVitamin A: 2264IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 595mgIron: 2mg
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