How to Make Chef John's Hot Honey Drumsticks

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In this video, turn up the heat with Chef John’s Hot Honey Drumsticks—a perfect balance of sweet and spicy! These crispy baked chicken drumsticks are coated in a sticky, flavorful glaze made with honey, vinegar, and just the right kick of heat. It’s an easy, crowd-pleasing recipe ideal for game day, weeknight dinners, or any time you’re craving bold flavor.

Transcript

00:00Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with Hot Honey Drumsticks.

00:08That's right, we're giving the sweet heat treatment to America's fourth most popular chicken part.

00:15Although I've heard from some of the cool kids, these are gaining in popularity,

00:19and I'd like to think this recipe might help the cause.

00:22So with that, let's go ahead and get started by transferring some drumsticks into a zip-top bag

00:27that we will place in a bowl in case there's leakage.

00:30Oh, and by the way, we're not supposed to call these chicken legs,

00:33since a drumstick is only half a chicken leg, with the other half, of course, being the thigh.

00:38And I only mention this in case someone calls it that at a party, and you want to be that guy.

00:44And that's it, once our half legs are set, we will move on to our Hot Honey marinade,

00:49which will start, not surprisingly, with a whole bunch of honey.

00:52And I'm using a nice local wildflower honey, although I'm pretty sure anything's going to work here.

00:57And then after the sweet, before we get to the heat, we will toss in some onion powder,

01:04as well as some garlic powder, followed by the first of four different hot peppers.

01:08And that's going to be some dried chili flakes.

01:12And I'm using Aleppo, but anything will work.

01:15And then we'll follow that with some dried ground chili, in the form of cayenne, of course.

01:19And then after the dried chilies, we'll go with some fermented chili,

01:24which I'm going to do with some Korean chili paste, known as gosujang.

01:28And now that we have dried pepper and fermented pepper, let's go with some fresh pepper,

01:32which for me is going to be one whole habanero.

01:35Oh yes, these are hot, so be very careful.

01:38Speaking of which, we're going to halve this and take the seeds out.

01:41But then, instead of mincing it fine by hand, which is probably going to get on our fingers,

01:45and then on other parts of our body, I'm going to toss it into a blender cup,

01:50and add some rice vinegar and some soy sauce.

01:53And then what we'll do is blitz that in the liquids,

01:55which is of course going to break it down nice and finely, without us ever having to touch it.

02:01Just don't, and I repeat, do not splash any of this in your eyes.

02:05That would be just as bad as the other scenario we're trying to avoid.

02:09And that's it, once our fourth hot component has been incorporated,

02:11we will add all that to our marinade, and we'll take a whisk and give it a mix.

02:16And yes, I might have been able to fit all these other ingredients in the blender cup,

02:20but the more stuff in that cup, the more chance I had of splashing it in my eye,

02:24so I decided to go this route.

02:26But no matter what method you use, once that's all been thoroughly mixed up,

02:30we will transfer that into our bag of chicken,

02:32and then you know the drill.

02:35We will give that a very nice, very thoughtful, very caring massage from the outside of the bag,

02:40just to make sure that marinade's coating everything evenly,

02:44at which point we'll squeeze out the air and seal up the bag,

02:47and we'll transfer that into the fridge to marinate anywhere between not at all,

02:52up to overnight.

02:54And generally, I find two to three hours is plenty,

02:57during which time it's not a bad idea to flip it over a couple times.

03:01And that's it, once we're ready to roast,

03:03we will transfer that into some kind of baking dish.

03:05And if you're using 10 drumsticks like me,

03:08a regular 9x13 casserole dish should be perfect.

03:12And then what we'll do is arrange these into a nice single layer,

03:16as evenly spaced as possible.

03:18And then after cleaning off a few drips on the dish,

03:21we can go ahead and transfer that into the center of a 400 degree oven,

03:25for about 20-25 minutes,

03:27at which point we'll pull it out,

03:29and we'll give those drumsticks a flip.

03:31Although I guess if you wanted, you could leave them where they are,

03:34and just baste them.

03:36But I'm a flipper from way back,

03:38so I prefer to turn them over.

03:40And then what we'll do is pop those back in the oven,

03:43continuing to give those a flip or a baste,

03:45every 15 or 20 minutes,

03:46until they're cooked through,

03:48which is probably going to take about an hour total,

03:51although that depends on the size of the pieces.

03:53So that is going to be up to you.

03:55I mean, you are after all the drone,

03:57of making sure that meat comes clean off the bone.

03:59But anyway, about 45 minutes later,

04:03mine looked like this.

04:05And I made sure to give them a test with the tip of a knife,

04:07which would pierce that meat super easily,

04:09all the way down to the bone with no effort.

04:12And then if we wanted,

04:13we could serve just like this,

04:15with that sauce underneath, spooned over the top.

04:17But what I like to do is transfer these onto a serving plate,

04:21and cover them loosely with foil,

04:22while I transfer all the sauce from the dish into a pan,

04:26that I'll reduce over medium-high heat for a few minutes,

04:30or until it thickens up a little bit more.

04:33And by the way, once a sauce like this cools,

04:35it's going to be about twice as thick as it is when it's hot.

04:38So keep that in mind when you make these executive decisions on how far to go.

04:42But anyway, right about here,

04:43after reducing for about three minutes,

04:45it looked to be about perfect.

04:46So I pulled it off the heat,

04:49and spooned it over those already amazing looking drumsticks.

04:52Which, as you can see,

04:54is going to make it look even more beautiful.

04:56And yes, in case you're wondering,

04:58it is in fact going to taste as hot as it looks.

05:01And that's it.

05:01I finished out by garnishing with some freshly snipped chives from the garden,

05:05and my hot honey drumsticks were ready to enjoy.

05:09And if you're wondering what the best way to eat these is,

05:12well, it's right in the name.

05:13Just pick these up like a drumstick,

05:16and take a big old bite.

05:18And that, my friends, was incredibly spicy,

05:20intensely flavorful,

05:22but not as sweet as you might think it would be.

05:25Right, when you cook and caramelize honey,

05:27it becomes much less sweet,

05:29while at the same time taking on a more complex flavor.

05:32So I really did think this was perfectly balanced.

05:35And as you can see, that meat's coming cleanly off the bone,

05:38which means it was cooked properly.

05:40And of course, this would be amazing to serve with so many things.

05:43But I decided to pair it with a nice herbaceous potato salad

05:46that may or may not be a chimichurri potato salad

05:49that I might show you in an upcoming video.

05:52But anyway, for a contrast,

05:54when we're serving something hot and intensely flavored,

05:57having something cold and bracing and acidic on the plate

05:59is usually a great way to go.

06:02And yes, to answer the obvious question,

06:04this would also work wonderfully with chicken thighs,

06:07or wings, or even chicken breast if you don't overcook them.

06:10But whether you use one of the three more popular chicken parts or not,

06:14I love this technique,

06:15and how beautiful it makes the chicken look and taste.

06:19And I really do hope you give this a try soon.

06:22So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts,

06:25a printable written recipe, and much more info as usual.

06:28And as always, enjoy.

06:33And as always, enjoy.

06:36You go and enjoy.

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