Slow Cooked BBQ Chicken Drumsticks {Easy, Delicious, And Healthy}

Forget the store bought BBQ drumsticks. Once you try this easy slow cooked BBQ chicken drumsticks recipe you'll be making it all the time. A kid friendly favorite prepped in less than 10 minutes!

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Drumsticks

Tender fall off the bone chicken cooked in the trusty Crockpot. Sounds like a dream, right? These really are. They take very little time to prepare and then the Crock pot does all the hard work.

Tender fall off the bone chicken cooked in the Crockpot. Sounds like a dream, right? These really are. They take very little time to prepare and then the Crock pot does all the hard work.

The ingredients for this are simple. The Bbq flavor comes from both a homemade Bbq spice rub and Bbq sauce. I cook the drumsticks on the rub mixed with honey for sweetness, and then glaze them with Barbecue sauce before popping them under the broiler to crisp up the skin.

You can also bbq chicken legs or chicken wings if you can't find good drumsticks. I'd also recommend putting some foil or a baking sheet under these when you broil them so you're not cleaning bbq sauce off your cooker all afternoon!

How Long Do They Take To Cook?

I cook these in the Crockpot and they take about 4 hours on high, or 8 hours on Low. You can cook these in the oven if you're short of time but we love the tenderness of the chicken when it's been cooked in the slow cooker.

If you want to try these in the oven they'll take 25 minutes to cook fully, although I always break one open to make sure they're cooked before serving them to the kids!

Crisping Drumstick Skin

Now this is personal preference. Chicken skin is delicious to some people and gross to others.

If you have picky kids you might be familiar with the picking off of chicken skin, so feel free to remove the skin before you start this recipe if you like and if you do this, you can skip the broiler part at the end as that's purely to crisp up the skin.

After the chicken drumsticks have cooked in the slow cooker I like to crisp up the skin under the broiler. After being in the slow cooker for hours the skin is not crispy, and if your kids are anything like mine they like crispy skin, so I never skip this step.

Use a pastry brush to brush the Bbq sauce over the cooked drumsticks before the broiler to get an even flavor and crisp.

What To Serve With Drumsticks

Most often I make these as BBQ finger foods and let the kids tuck in with some other Bbq-y foods. I usually serve a coleslaw, a potato of some sort, usually these Parmesan potato chips, and some red pepper or vegetables of some sort, but here's some other suggestions you might like:

• Bacon fried potatoes
• Perfect baked potatoes
• Potato stacks
• Festive Caprese salad
• Cucumber tomato salad
• Chopped Mexican salad

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Storing Leftover Drumsticks & Reheating

If you find yourself with leftovers, pop them into the fridge and cover them with food wrap. You can then either eat them cold straight from the fridge or you can reheat them if you want them hot.

I just put them in the microwave for a couple of minutes if I want them to be warmed through, but they're super yummy cold and great for lunchboxes and picnics. Sometimes I make double of these and have them ready in the fridge for snacks and quick lunches. They can be quite sticky so if you're sending the kids off with these in their lunchboxes, you might want to pop a napkin in there too :)

More Chicken Recipes

• Honey chicken drumsticks
• Sweet and spicy chicken thighs
• Sheet pan Caprese chicken
• Dragon chicken
• Ginger chicken
• Chicken Piccata

How To Make Slow Cooked BBQ Chicken Drumsticks

Ingredients

• 1 kg Chicken drumsticks This is about 8-10 drumsticks depending on the size of them
• 1 Batch Homemade BBQ spice rub See post for recipe
• ½ Cup Honey Runny, clear honey
• ½ Cup BBQ Sauce Homemade or bought

Instructions

• Get your Crockpot out and turn it on to high (4 hours) or low (8 hours)
• Make a batch of Bbq spice rub (see post for recipe) and put to one side
• If you're removing the skin, remove it now
• Wash your chicken drumsticks and pat them dry with a paper towel to remove the moisture, then out them into a large bowl, making sure you have room to really get the rub into the drumsticks. You may need to do this in batches!
• In a small bowl add the honey and heat it for 30 seconds in the microwave until runny
• Add the Bbq spice rub to the honey and combine well, then add the the drumsticks on the bowl. Using your hands really work the honey bbq mix into the chicken and make sure each chicken drumstick is well coated. As the honey cools down it will thicken up. Add the drumsticks to the Crockpot when they're coated in honey bbq mix
• Slow cook the chicken for the given time
• An hour before the end of cooking, add half the BBQ sauce and mix the drumsticks around the slow cooker
• At the end of the cooking time, remove the drumsticks and place them on foil, and then brush with the remaining half of the BBQ sauce, skin side upwards
• Broil for a few minutes until the skins crisps up, grab a dish and then serve

Slow Cooked BBQ Chicken Drumsticks Recipe