Chicken
Soy and Honey Glazed Chicken Drumsticks
Soy and honey glazed chicken drumsticks are finger licking good. They're straightforward to mix and the whole family will love them!
Soy and honey glazed chicken drumsticks are finger licking good. They’re straightforward to mix and the whole family will love them!
At a glance
What stands out: Sticky sweet and slightly salty, these chicken drumsticks are irresistible. You can use different cuts of chicken if you prefer.
How long it takes: 10 minutes to prep, 1 hour to bake
Equipment you’ll need: 9 x 13 inch baking dish, measuring cup
Servings: 6 (2 drumsticks each)
Tell us, are you all meal planners? Do you sit down on a certain day of the week and plan your meals for the entire week?
We're kind of a half-hearted meal planner even though we're pretty much a type A personality. When it comes to meals, for some reason we have a hard time thinking ahead. Maybe you have the same problem. That’s one of the reasons we've created free meal plans that are ready to go, including a grocery list.
Here’s how it usually happens. We sit down at the kitchen table. We open our computer to the grocery store ad. We have a sheet of notebook paper folded in half the long way. One side is for our grocery list and one side is for planned meals. On the side for the meals, we write each day of the week, noting activities that will impact dinner.
Long story short, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. For these chicken drumsticks, we saw that drumsticks were on sale so we put them on the list but we didn’t bother looking up or creating a recipe for them.
So yes, we just improvised when it came time to prepare them. We're happy with the way they turned out. Soy and honey glazed chicken drumsticks now make a regular appearance at our family meal times.
If you like the idea of honey glazed chicken, be sure to check out baked honey mustard chicken, hot honey chicken sheet pan dinner, and Instant Pot honey sriracha chicken. We also love this honey mustard chicken marinade!
About this Chicken Drumstick Recipe
The chicken drumsticks are sticky, sweet and so flavorful. This recipe makes a lot of sauce so enjoy the drumsticks with white rice or brown rice, oven roasted sweet potatoes, baked potatoes, or air fryer brussels sprouts, so none of the tasty sauce goes to waste.
Here’s what you’ll need to make this straightforward flavorful chicken. As always, you’ll find the complete printable recipe at the end of this post.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Chicken Drumsticks: We usually purchase about 3 ½ pounds but you can easily add more if you like. There’s plenty of sauce. If you prefer, use chicken thighs or chicken breasts. Wings are good, too.
- Olive Oil
- Soy Sauce: Use reduced sodium soy sauce to cut back on the salt.
- Ketchup: Look for a brand that doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup.
- Honey
- Dark Brown Sugar: Light brown sugar would work fine, too, add a teaspoon or two of molasses, if you want.
- Minced Garlic: A couple of cloves is good but if you like a lot of garlic, go ahead and add more.
How it comes together
This recipe is so simple. Put the drumsticks in a baking pan, stir up the sauce, and pour it over the chicken. Pop it into the oven and it’s ready in an hour. About halfway through the cooking time, flip the chicken over so both sides soak up the sauce, making the chicken juicy and flavorful.
Changes You can Make
Chicken choices: If you prefer white meat, use chicken breasts, either bone-in or boneless. Chicken thighs can be substituted or chicken wings. For crispy wings, after baking, remove the wings from the sauce, place them on a baking sheet, and broil lightly.
Prefer less sauce? You can cut the sauce ingredients in half if you don’t want as much sauce.
Less sugar: Omit the brown sugar.
Air fryer chicken: Try straightforward air fryer chicken drumsticks. Ready in 20 minutes, crispy and juicy, you’ll love them! Or, if you prefer chicken thighs, try rich air fryer chicken thighs. Air fryer chicken wings and air fryer chicken breasts are great, too.
Sheet pan dinner: We love these herb roasted chicken drumsticks and potatoes!
Keeping leftovers
Refrigerate/Freeze: Cool drumsticks slightly before wrapping or covering. Store extra sauce separately. They’ll keep for three to four days in the refrigerator. Cooked drumsticks can be frozen for a few months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
Reheat: For larger quantities, reheat the drumsticks and sauce in a covered baking dish at 350°F for 20 minutes or until heated through. You could also reheat them on the stove in a skillet. Individual portions can be reheated in the microwave.
Free Meal Plan
Interested in a weekly meal plan that includes this recipe? Take a look at Meal Plan #56. You’ll find a wholesome recipe for each weekday plus a categorized grocery list. We add a new meal plan weekly.
Browse Meal Plans- Yield: 6 servings
- Prep: 10 minutes
- Cook: 1 hour
- Total: 1 hour 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 ½ pounds chicken drumsticks (see note)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup ketchup
- ½ cup honey
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar (light brown sugar is okay, too)
- 1 large garlic cloves, minced (more to taste)
- ½ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper, or to taste
- Cooked rice for serving (optional)
- Fresh parsley for garnish (optional)
Method
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 9 × 13 inch baking dish with nonstick spray.
- Place chicken legs in baking dish. If you prefer, remove the skin from the chicken legs first.
- Combine olive oil, soy sauce, ketchup, honey, brown sugar, garlic, and black pepper in a small bowl or measuring cup. Pour sauce evenly over chicken.
- Bake 30 minutes. Remove drumsticks from oven and flip them over, using tongs, so they absorb the great flavor of the sauce on both sides. Bake for an additional 30 minutes or until chicken is done. The internal temperature of the drumsticks should be at least 165°F when measured with an instant read thermometer.
- Serve with rice and top with fresh chopped parsley, if desired.
Notes
We make these drumsticks both with the skin on or with the skin off. Either way works great.
This recipe makes plenty of sauce. Extra sauce can be used on the rice. If you have more than 3 ½ pounds of chicken, you won’t need to increase the amount of sauce.
If you prefer, substitute chicken thighs for the drumsticks. They make take a little longer to bake.
