Easy Broiled Chicken is a quick cooking method with room for your creativity or favorite spices.
While hot sauce adds flavor and salty goodness, you can just as easily leave out the hot sauce altogether or add just a little for a mild kick. Use this basic technique for everything from little wings and drummettes to whole bone-in breasts and thighs. Remember to broil the big pieces for longer; a large bone in chicken breast will take about 30 -35 minutes total under the broiler.
When it’s too cold to grill outside or you don’t have a grill pan, broiling chicken in the oven is a good alternative. Play around with this basic technique and you will have another go – to favorite to add to your rotation of easy chicken dinners.
Try substituting soy sauce or tamari sauce for the hot sauce and leave out the salt completely or combine the melted butter with a curry spice rub for Indian style broiled chicken. Don’t use dried herbs in this chicken- they will burn! Stick with ground herbs or powdered rubs for best flavor and appearance.
You’ll need chicken pieces, butter, cayenne pepper, hot sauce, salt and pepper.
Easy Broiled Chicken
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 25 mins
- Yield: 4-5 pieces 1x
- Category: Chicken Main Dish
- Cuisine: American
Butter and hot sauce combine to give big chicken pieces that hot wing flavor everyone loves. If you don’t like hot sauce, just add paprika, butter and spices to give the chicken a dark golden hue.
Ingredients
- 1½ lbs. chicken legs or 3 skin-on, bone-in breasts
- 4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted
- ½ teaspoon cayenne
- 2 – 4 tablespoons Frank’s Hot Sauce
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Adjust your oven rack so that the top rack is on the second to the highest level in your oven. Preheat oven to high broil (550 F). Line a baking sheet with foil, tear an extra sheet of foil for later and set aside.
- In a small bowl stir together slightly cooled melted butter, cayenne and hot sauce.
- Prepare chicken: Rinse and pat dry chicken legs. Place chicken on paper towels or on a brown paper shopping bag. Sprinkle chicken all over with 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper.
- Pour spicy butter mixture into a Ziploc bag and add chicken pieces. Close bag completely and shake bag to coat chicken thoroughly.
- Space chicken legs apart on the foil lined baking sheet and broil 8 minutes. Take out chicken and use a fork to turn pieces over and carefully transfer chicken to a new sheet of foil. (Throw the first sheet of foil away.) Put chicken back in the oven for 5 minutes. If chicken is not crispy or charred enough to your liking, place chicken on highest rack in oven and broil JUST a minute or two longer. Watch chicken carefully to make sure it does not burn. For chicken breasts, place chicken skin side down and broil 10 minutes, then take out chicken,use a fork to turn skin side up, transfer to a new sheet of foil and return to the oven for about 20 minutes. Set chicken on a lower rack if the skin starts to burn. Chicken is done when a meat thermometer inserted into the deepest part of the breast (but not touching the bone) reaches 165 F or higher for at least 5 seconds.
- Serve hot, cold or at room temperature with your favorite raw veggies and dips, such as ranch, blue cheese or guacamole.
- This recipe can be easily doubled.
Notes
Adapted from Ina Garten
What can I use instead of hot sauce for the marinade?
6 Tablespoons olive oil or avocado oil
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
Pinch Of fresh or dry ginger
This is a marinade that is also great for marinating salmon for 1-2 hours, before grilling.
Enjoy!