This is chicken at its best: sweet, messy, sticky and meant to be eaten with your hands. That's the key part here → Eat. With. Your. Hands. ← It's so much more fun that way.
Growing up my mom used to make the best chicken drumsticks (Shake n' Bake, anyone?) that my sister and I would devour using our hands as cutlery. We'd slurp up every delicious morsel and then go back for another. And another.
My dad, on the other hand, would insist that my sister and I use a knife and fork, like civilized people. But we were tomboys, not civilized ladies, and the task of getting all the meat off the bone was next to impossible. It was not fun. Not fun at all.
{Ps. Love you, dad, but eating chicken with mom was way more fun! 🙂 }
Have I mentioned how sweet and sticky and insanely delicious these hoisin glazed chicken drumsticks are? Oh right, I already told you that. They're just so good that I need to keep saying it.
The key here, and with all chicken, is to not overcook it.
I highly recommend that you use a meat thermometer every time you cook chicken to avoid over cooking it. {Holy overboard with the bold type! I just wanted to stress how important I think this is. }
The baking time I've listed here is much less than most other baked chicken drumstick recipes, but I find that chicken drumsticks take a much shorter time to cook than most recipes indicate. The ‘looking for pink test' is not reliable when you're cooking drumsticks as dark meat often looks pink even when fully cooked. To avoid dry, overcooked chicken please please please always check the temperature of your chicken as you are cooking it. I bet you'll be surprised at how much less time chicken takes to cook than most recipes say. {And how much juicier your chicken will be when you don't accidentally overcook it.}
To test if your chicken is done insert an instant read meat thermometer into the thickest part of the chicken, making sure to avoid the bone. When the thermometer reads 165 degrees Fahrenheit, the chicken is fully cooked.
If you make these Easy Hoisin Glazed Chicken Drumsticks, make sure to snap a pic and tag @theendlessmeal on Instagram so I can like and comment on your photos. I love seeing TEM recipes you create.
- ½ cup hoisin sauce*
- 3 garlic cloves, finely minced or grated on a fine microplane
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon garlic chili sauce or sriracha
- ½ teaspoon rice vinegar (or substitute apple cider vinegar)
- 2 tablespoons water
- 8 chicken drumsticks (I like them with the skin on but skinless will work too)
- Preheat the oven to 420.
- In a small bowl whisk together the hoisin sauce, garlic, soy sauce, garlic chili sauce or sriracha, rice vinegar and water.
- Lay the chicken drumsticks in a single layer in a small baking dish. Pour the sauce over top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the thickest part of the meat reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Broil the chicken during the last 5 minutes to crisp and brown the skin.
A few other finger lickin' good chicken recipes:
Honey Garlic Baked Chicken
Sesame Ginger Baked Chicken
Healthy Baked Chicken Nuggets with Honey Mayo Sauce
Kristen Stevens
Latest posts by Kristen Stevens (see all)
- Spicy Buffalo Corn on the Cob - July 28, 2017
- Veggie Rainbow Wraps with Satay Dipping Sauce - July 25, 2017
- Grilled Maple Dijon Carrots - July 22, 2017
Kristen is the person working behind the scenes at The Endless Meal. She takes all the pics, creates all the recipes and eats all the leftovers. 
Just made this for my family and it was an instant hit! I love anything with Hoisin sauce so this was perfect. Chicken was so juicy and tender! I added a bit of chilli powder and onion powder to give it a bit more flavor according to my family’s taste, and they all loved it and went back for seconds!
I’m so happy to hear they all liked it! Hooray!!
These were so good!! But when I made them, the sauce became very liquid-y, should I use less water?
Hi Julia!
Did you cover the chicken while it was cooking? My sister had given me the same feedback but then realized that she had covered them while they were in the oven … that’s why I asked.
If you didn’t cover them then definitely leave the water out next time. I find with my oven that I need the water so they don’t dry out, but all ovens are a little different so results can vary a little too.
Hope that helps!
Your chicken recipes look insanely good. I can hardly wait until tomorrow to try them.
Thank you so much, Deborah!!
Kristen, these sticky drumsticks look PERFECT! Thank you for the tip and the next time cooking drumsticks we will use a meat thermometer 🙂
J+C
You’re so welcome! Hope you love them as much as I do 🙂
Kristen, these sticky drumsticks look PERFECT! Thank you for the tip and the next time cooking drumsticks we will use a meat thermometer 🙂
J+C