Baked BBQ Chicken is a classic American family dinner. Kids love it, husbands love it, and us moms can make it lickety-split for a crowd-pleasing dinner — therefore, we love it too. With crisp skin and BBQ sauce that actually stays put, this easy recipe for perfect Baked BBQ Chicken Legs and Thighs is guaranteed to be the best Baked BBQ Chicken you have ever had!
While baked BBQ chicken seems like a simple enough dinner idea, it’s also a dish that often gets the short end of the stick. However, there will be none of that here.
Oven-baked Barbecue Chicken doesn’t have to be rubbery, and it certainly shouldn’t be lackluster in the flavor department. This simple recipe ensures that the dish remains a crowd-pleasing staple on any American dinner table, and one your family will eagerly look forward to again and again.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED FOR BAKED BBQ CHICKEN
In addition to the ingredients for your Baked BBQ Chicken Legs and Thighs, you will also need a large pan, a casserole dish, and aluminum foil.
This dish doesn’t require much in the way of ingredients. In fact, you’ll only need three of them. They are as follows:
- Chicken Legs and/or Thighs
- BBQ Sauce
- Canola Oil
CHICKEN LEGS AND THIGHS
Legs and thighs are the perfect vessels for oven-baked BBQ chicken. You’ll find them much more forgiving when it comes to staying moist, whereas the breasts are more likely to dry out. You can use both chicken legs and thighs, or one or the other — just make sure they are bone-in and skin-on for consistent results.
If you’re in need of more chicken leg recipes, make sure to take a look at our easy Baked Chicken Legs recipe! Super simple — always delicious!
BBQ SAUCE
The sauce you choose to smother your chicken with should not be thin or watery. Rather, the BBQ sauce should be thick, viscous, and almost sticky so that it will better adhere to the skin of the chicken while baking. Use your favorite sticky-sweet storebought sauce or whip up a batch of Easy Homemade BBQ Sauce.
OIL
To ensure your Baked BBQ Chicken Legs and Thighs don’t end up with rubbery or chewy skin, pan-sear the chicken before baking in the oven.
Any time you are searing meat on the stovetop, you’ll need an oil that can withstand high temperatures. Canola oil and Avocado oil are the best options for searing meat at a high temperature as their smoke points are very high and they are truly flavorless oils.
HOW TO MAKE PERFECT OVEN-BAKED BARBECUE CHICKEN
If the proper steps are not taken, you’ll end up with a pile of rubbery chicken skin and a sauce barely clinging on. So how do you cook barbecue chicken in the oven? Simple. All you need to know, straight ahead.
- Prep and sear the chicken.
- Brush with chicken with sauce.
- Bake in a casserole dish, covered, and then, uncovered.
1. SEAR THE CHICKEN…BUT WHY?
Searing the chicken for Baked BBQ Chicken prior to baking not only helps to develop depth of flavor but also gives the chicken texture. However, before you sear the chicken, you should take a couple of steps to ensure it is optimized for browning.
Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel to remove excess water, drizzle it with oil, and then sprinkle it with either TAK House Seasoning (a simple mix of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder) or your favorite poultry seasoning.
To sear the chicken legs and thighs, add oil to a large pan and place it over medium-high heat. Place the chicken skin-side down in the hot oil and cook it for 4 minutes without jostling or moving the chicken around. This will allow it to develop a nice sear. Then, turn the chicken over and cook it an extra 3 minutes.
2. BRUSH WITH BBQ SAUCE
Have your pan prepared with a thin layer of BBQ sauce on the bottom. This way, the chicken legs and thighs will have big BBQ sauce flavor on both sides.
Once the legs and thighs go into the casserole dish, brush or spoon the remaining sauce over each leg and thigh and cover with aluminum foil.
3. BAKE COVERED AND UNCOVERED
The Baked BBQ Chicken Legs and Thighs will first bake covered at 350° for 3o minutes. Once the time is up, you’ll pull the aluminum foil, increase the oven temperature to 375° and allow the chicken to bake for an additional 15 minutes.
This additional 15 minutes at a higher temperature, uncovered, will allow the BBQ sauce to thicken, bubble and better adhere to the chicken.
TIPS BBQ BAKED CHICKEN LEGS AND THIGHS
For Baked BBQ Chicken Legs and Thighs without rubbery skin, there are three important things to keep in mind:
- Use bone-in, skin-in legs, thighs (or a combination of the two).
- Pan -sear the chicken before it goes into the oven.
- The barbecue sauce you pick is important! See tips above.
- How you bake the chicken matters:
- First, bake it covered to cook the chicken through without drying it out.
- Then, increase the oven temperature, and bake it uncovered to help the sauce stay put on the chicken.
5 MORE COMFORT FOOD DINNERS YOU’LL LOVE
- Homemade Spaghetti and Meatballs features a quick and easy marinara sauce and perfect baked meatballs!
- Cheesy Broccoli and Rice Casserole with Chicken is a classic American comfort food casserole well deserving of a comeback! Featuring melty Colby Jack cheese and a crunchy Cornflake topping. The perfect comfort food casserole!
- Oven-Baked Crusted Pork Chops features pork chops with a crispy panko breading. Always tender, never dry — this easy pork recipe will be your family’s new dinnertime favorite!
- Fork-Tender Pot Roast is slow-cooked, savory and smothered in a rich brown gravy. This just might be the most wanted comfort food dish of all! And, this one, in particular, shines far above the rest thanks to a few simple steps other recipes are leaving behind.
- Slow-Cooker Spare Ribs are as close to ribs hot off the pit as you’ll get, and although cooked indoors and in a crock pot, they yield the perfect bite with a burst of big BBQ flavor. Best of all? They’re seriously easy to make.
A recipe for easy baked BBQ chicken featuring chicken legs and thighs, plus a quick, homemade barbecue sauce (optional).
- 4 tablespoons Canola Oil separated
- 3 pounds Chicken Legs and Thighs bone-in and skin on
- 1 tablespoon TAK House Seasoning (or your favorite seasoning blend)
- 1 ½ cups sweet and sticky-style BBQ sauce
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Preheat oven to 350°, and pour a ½ cup of barbecue sauce in a 9x13” casserole dish and set aside.
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Heat 3 tablespoons of Canola oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Pat legs and thighs dry with a paper towel and drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of Canola oil. Add seasoning and rub into chicken evenly on all sides.
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Taking care not to overcrowd the pan, add the chicken skin-side down, and cook 3-4 minutes without jostling. Turn the chicken over and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Remove from the pan and place in casserole dish.
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Brush evenly with remaining barbecue sauce on both sides, cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
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Remove the foil, place the chicken back into the oven and increase the temperature to 375°. Bake for an addition 15 minutes. Serve and enjoy.
Recipe Video
Definitely going to try this for dinner one night!! Looks delicious!! Thanks for sharing!
Anytime, Joyce 😉
Can I use bone in chicken breasts in addition? I have some people that only eat white meat.
Yes, but depending on the size, the chicken breasts may need to stay longer in the oven.
You can never go wrong with a great chicken recipe. Grilled chicken is the BEST. This looks juicy and delicious. I know it would be a crowd pleaser for sure at any BBQ party.
Don’t understand why you rate a recipe when you have not tried it…I guess if it looks good or sounds good then you give it a 5 star rating? You’re not being helpful to the cooks who are reading the reviews to learn from your experience when you actually use the recipe and taste it for an HONEST review. What a waste of time it is to read this review,
I completely agree with you Cindy. I’m scrolling right passed the comments until I can finally get to someone commenting and actually tried it.
I absolutely agree. Adding a few changes in recipe to accommodate taste is helpful.
I love BBQ chicken, but that rubbery skin isn’t doing it for me. Thank you so much for providing such an easy step-by-step on how to get it right in the oven! I’m not a master griller, so I prefer to do things in the oven, and this is just great.
This BBQ chicken is perfection, love the golden color so appetizing! This chicken if served in my table will be devoured by my family in no time.
Oh yum! I’m drooling over that sauce and it seriously look magical. Perfect for grilling!
Thank you, Linda!
Amazing tips for us to enjoy our “BBQ” chicken all year round!! We love using thighs and drumsticks, they are a more affordable option for feeding a bigger crowd!
It’s crazy that the best meat is the cheaper of two 😉 Dark meat is my favorite!
That chicken looks delicious. I use my oven a lot in the winter and it’s great to be able to make bbq dinners in it when I can’t use the outdoor barbie!
This sounds like a great fool-proof recipe! My hubby is obsessed with bbq chicken so I’ll definitely have to make this for him!
I love BBQ chicken and can’t wait to try this baked BBQ chicken recipe – your BBQ sauce looks sooooo good and full of flavor!
We love BBQ chicken, but the sauce always seems to burn when I cook it on the grill. What a great idea to make it in the oven! Pinning to try soon!
Yay! Thanks so much, Meredith!
Yum yum yum! Girl, I would eat a couple of these for breakfast if I had them in my fridge, but they probably wouldn’t even make it to the fridge. They look so scrumptious and perfect for fall game days. Just pinned!
I need these in my life! they look absolutely delicious & easy
I have some chicken thighs thawing right now for dinner tonight. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them … but now I know!!
Ha! Thank you, Lisa!!!
I love making BBQ chicken this way. So easy and sooo good.
Same here, Michelle! Thanks!
You are right…the whole family would love this. Finger licking good. A great way to prepare chicken for a crowd too.
I’m always looking for good chicken recipes! Baked is the way to go too. This looks so delicious!
This is such a great way to make barbecue chicken. Talk about flavorful and super moist. Love it. Thanks for a great recipe!
Thanks, Amanda!
This looks so good, and so many great tips to ensure a perfect result each time. Thank you!
there is something so wonderful about simple bbq chicken. done right it’s so perfect and juicy. i have a bbq sauce that I make that i always use on my chicken 🙂
Great video – it’s lovely to see exactly how you make this. It looks quite doable too – I’ll have to have a go myself at home. And obviously perfect for English weather!
These baked chicken look so amazing and that sauce looks so fingerlickin good! Love every bite of it and perfect for my next gathering.
The barbecue sauce sounds so flavoursome, I bet it really sets off this dish. Can’t beat some chicken drumsticks for an easy midweek supper!
Thank you, Kacie!
Your bbq chicken looks perfect. I love the sauce, really thick and sticky. Love indoor bbq meals!
I just love the color of the skin that you got on this chicken! It looks wonderful and I am loving the blender BBQ sauce. I can’t wait to give it a try with baked chicken!
I live in an apartment where grills are not permitted on the balcony, so I often need bbq recipes that can be baked in the oven. This chicken will be going into my summer rotation for sure!
Thank you, Byron!
Okay, this recipe is finger lickin’ good! LITERALLY. Holy moly. This is great for me because my HOA doesn’t allow outdoor grills! Thank you so so so much for sharing!
Thank you, Krista!
I can already see why everyone should lvoe this recipe – it is so juicy and flavorful that I doubt there will be any leftovers. Perfect for parties and just to have a fun night at home. Thank you for sharing!
I would say that the barbecue sauce is mandatory! 🙂 This BBQ chicken is sooo goood when you add that barbecue sauce to it. Fantastic recipe that I can’t wait to use for my next party!
This is such a great BBQ roasted chicken and my mother has a finger licking version that this totally reminds me of!
I love baked BBQ chicken. My mouth is watering by just looking at that picture .
Making it tonight! I never seared the chicken before and can bet this will make the difference! It looks fabulous!
Wait hold on.. it’s done .. going to taste it now…
WOW!!! AMAZING! Thanks so much! My family is going to go crazy over this BBQ chicken!
Just tried this recipe last night. I stayed away from cooking barbecue chicken because of the rubbery skin. Now after finding this recipe I will have barbecue chicken more often. This Rhapsody is definitely a keeper the chicken look amazing and taste incredibly moist and juicy flavorful and non rubbery.
That’s amazing! Thank you, Cynthia! We love this recipe too 🙂
Baked chicken is great but baked BBQ chicken is even better – the flavor that it produces must be out of this world. Can’t wait to try how crisp the skin is in this recipe!
Looks absolutely stunning and delicious! I can’t believe it has so few ingredients. I’m saving this one to make all the time this summer!
I love “baked” bbq chicken so much! It’s so easy and perfect anytime of the year! Yours looks positively mouthwatering!
Thank you, Lori!
Chicken is one of my absolute favourite things to make. Because I don’t have a BBQ, I wand the flavour of a BBQ in my baked chicken. This looks perfect!!
Oh my, I can’t wait until I go all in with my grill again. This recipe is such a must-cook! Definitely something I would cook for a crowd – the chicken looks delicious!
What can be better on a lazy evening than delicious baked BBQ chicken! I like that you made the recipe super simple, will save it for future!
First of all, your TAK seasoning rocks. I’ve been putting it on everything! Second, this recipe is so delicious and so simple that I’m sure we’ll be making it all the time from now on. We are all dark meat lovers in this family and I’m always happy to find a great dark meat chicken recipe that comes together as quickly as this one does. Thanks for a great recipe!
This looks truly delicious. My family would love this for dinner. I will definitely put this on my menu for next week. What an easy and healthy family recipe.
I’m loving this as a way to enjoy BBQ chicken year round! Perfect for busy weeknights or a way to change things up during the upcoming holiday season. Also love your tip for searing the chicken first before baking!
Decided I needed to share my thoughts, as it seems as if the majority of posts are people that have NOT tried the recipe.
I have made it several times exactly as written and it is always very good. Thank you.
Awesome recipe and really well written blog! First time attempt and seemed to nail it! My husband and our neighbor were very impressed. Quick, easy, and flavorful. We used Sweet Baby Ray’s! Thank you for posting!
Thank you, Ciara! Glad everyone enjoyed it 🙂