These honey orange glazed chicken drumsticks are always a hit when I make them for parties and Boxing Day dinners because the chicken is always fall-off-the-bone juicy. People love the glaze — they always go for seconds! You may quarter 2 chickens if you aren’t able to get legs from your butcher, but I find the legs are juicier and save money. Serve this dish with fragrant rice and dilled carrots or roasted asparagus.
Preparation Details
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 2 hrs
Total Time: 3 hrs 20 mins
Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 8 large chicken legs
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 cup honey
- 1 cup orange juice with pulp
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 7 sprigs fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- 2 oranges, zested
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (Optional)
- ground black pepper to taste
Steps
- Sprinkle chicken with salt and place in a large glass or plastic bowl.
- Whisk together honey, orange juice with pulp, butter, rosemary, orange zest, garlic, and pepper in a separate bowl. Pour orange mixture over chicken; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Place chicken in a single layer in a roasting pan; pour orange mixture over chicken.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Baste chicken with pan juices and reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C). Continue basting chicken every 20 minutes and cook until chicken is a deep orange-brown color, no longer pink at the bone, and the juices run clear, about 90 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat near the bone should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).
