Chicken To Rinse Or Not To Rinse
To rinse or not to rinse, that is the question. It has been ingrained in many of us to rinse our raw chicken. I will call it the Julia Child effect. For many years I watched her carefully wash her chickens as did much of America.
But the FDA has for years advised against rinsing poultry before cooking it. When you rinse raw chicken, the bacteria that is present on the surface of the poultry can spread to everything thats nearby, sink, counter surfaces, kitchen utensils, other foods or you. SO for good food safety, it is a definite no to rinsing.
So what about getting bacteria off the surface of the chicken? First, you can not rinse it to sterile. That is not happening. Second, properly cooked chicken will kill any bacteria. So no problem there.
Last, does rinsing chicken with skin make it cook crispier? Cooks Illustrated says no. If you want to get rid of the juices on the meat, pat it dry with a paper towel instead of rinsing it.
So I’m mending my ways and suggest you do, too.
Let’s be safe out there.
DrDan
Technique For Grilling Chicken Leg Pieces
Do You Remove Skin From Chicken Legs Before Grilling
First and foremost, make certain that your chicken drumsticks are at room temperature before beginning to cook them. Place the drumsticks on the hot side of the grill and cook for about 10 minutes. With tongs, flip the drumsticks after the skin has begun to brown and loosen from the grate, allowing for the skin to begin to brown and crisp up all over the drumsticks surface.
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How Long To Bake Bbq Chicken Legs At 400 Degrees
Chicken legs are a dark meat and they take some significant time to cook. Typically it will take about 40 minutes for the chicken to reach an internal temperature of 165-175 degrees F. Use a meat thermometer for an accurate reading as cooking time will vary from oven to oven.
The good part about dark meat is that the higher fat content helps keep it juicy and can withstand some overcooking. This is good news for novice cooks and those that are nervous about under cooking poultry.
Chicken is safe to eat at 165 degrees F but drumsticks can cook even longer and still yield juicy chicken.
This leaves plenty of extra time to baste with the sauce at the end.
About Average Grill Temperatures

Often, food packaging will have instructions recommending that you cook your food at certain temperatures.
For chicken, the packaging will often say to cook it on medium heat. If youre only pan-frying your chicken, these instructions make sense. But if youre grilling it, then what does medium heat mean?
If your grill doesnt have low, medium, and high settings, how do you know when its at medium heat?
Use our guide below for average grilling temperatures and a wireless thermometer to make sure youre grilling at the proper temperature.
- Low heat means 250 to 275 °F
- Medium-low heat means 300 °F
- Medium heat is 350 °F
- Medium-high is 400 to 450 °F
- High heat means 500 to 650 °F
Do take note that cooking chicken too fast or too hot will burn the skin and undercook the meat. For a tasty, tender piece of poultry with crispy skin, cook it at a medium temperature.
Read Also: How To Grill Chicken Thighs
Best Homemade Dry Rub For Chicken Legs
Weve paired our favorite dry rub from Fit Foodie Finds with this recipe to create the ultimate crunchy, flavorful, and delicious grilled chicken leg recipe and we highly suggest following the recipe to a tee! Heres what youll need for the dry rub:
- garlic powder
Want to add more heat? Add in a pinch of cayenne pepper.
Easy Grilled Chicken Breast
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Grilled Chicken Breast is a quick meal with tender juicy chicken in a flavorful marinade. Its extra quick to make and perfect to enjoy on its own, add to pasta, or even put on top of a salad!
A quick and flavorful marinade and an even quicker grill time means this is meal on the table in no time at all!
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How To Grill Drumsticks
Your ingredients are whatever you want them to be.
We like serving ours with asparagus, but you can serve them with any side you wish. Most importantly, whats the chicken drumstick grill time?
You can spice your drummies with salt and pepper, or get creative with garlic salt, cayenne pepper or one of our favorites, Stubbs Rub.
Lets get to it. How long do you grill chicken drumsticks? Whats a good internal temp of chicken drumsticks? How long to grill chicken legs?
What To Serve With Bbq Chicken Legs
I love to serve fresh summer produce and classic bbq sides alongside the bbq chicken drumsticks. Here are a few of my favorites.
- fresh summer fruit
- potato salad
- Pat legs dry with a paper towel.
- Season both sides liberally with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Place chicken legs on a foil or parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake at 400 degrees F. for 20 minutes.
- Flip and bake another 20 minutes.
- Increase heat to 450 degrees. Liberally brush sauce on one side and bake an additional 5-7 minutes.
- Flip and generously brush more sauce on second side and bake another 5-7 minutes until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F and sauce is browned.
Don’t Miss: Baked Chicken Thighs And Legs
How Long Does It Take For Chicken Legs To Bake At 400
Chicken drumsticks can take 35 to 45 minutes to cook in an oven. preheat the oven to 400 degrees by moving the oven rack up one level from the center. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until golden brown and cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Remove chicken from pan and drain on paper towels.
Return chicken to skillet and add garlic, ginger, and scallions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is fragrant and ginger is soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until chicken is tender and sauce is thickened, 20 to 25 minutes, or until sauce thickens. Serve chicken with rice and garnish with cilantro, if desired.
Nutrition Information Yield: 4 servings, Serving Size: 1 drumstick Amount Per Serving: Freestyle Points: 3 ,Points +: 5 the nutritional information below is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionists advice.
Grilled Chicken Legs Ingredients
- Chicken legs: I buy a two pound package that has about eight legs.
- Olive oil: This adds flavor and keeps them from sticking to the grill
- Seasoning dry rub: Sea salt, black pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and chili powder
See that right there. Thats all you need for this recipe. I love that I have everything on hand and just have to grab some chicken legs!
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The Secret To Perfect Grilled Bbq Chicken
The secret to the best, juiciest, most tender, almost fall-off-the-bone, perfectly cooked grilled BBQ chicken lies in the cooking method!
The term of 2 zone grilling used to intimidate me until I learned that its only a fancy term for direct and indirect heat (one area of the grill on, and another area off! Big whoop!
Because barbecue sauce has a high sugar content, it can burn easily. Grilling the chicken with the sauce over high heat produces chicken that is burnt on the outside while the inside is still raw.
Grilling Zones
How Long To Grill Bbq Chicken Leg Quarters

Cooking time may vary depending on the size of your chicken legs and the temperature of your grill. Factors, such as whether you are using a charcoal or a gas grill could affect how long it takes for your meat to be finished.
Generally, it will take about 40-60 minutes. The key is to cook your chicken leg quarters over the most direct heat on your grill.
Any chicken you cook should have the internal temperature reach 165 degrees F before removing it from the grill. It is also important to let your chicken rest for 5 minutes before digging in. If you do not have an instant read meat thermometer, another way to tell if the chicken is done is whether or not the juices run clear when you cut into the meat.
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Why You Should Make This Recipe
- Flavorful: Sweet, savory and smoky flavor. This recipe makes fabulously delicious chicken drumsticks.
- Budget Friendly: Skin-on or skinless chicken legs are well priced and often on sale at the supermarket. This is a great meal to feed a crowd.
- Kid Friendly: Grilled bbq chicken legs are easy to eat kids love the flavor of bbq sauce! Win, win!
How Long Do You Grill Chicken Legs At 350
Preheat the grill to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the chicken legs on the grill and baste with part of the BBQ marinade that has been set aside. 185-190 degrees F internal temperature should be reached after 30 minutes of grilling or until they achieve the desired temperature.
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How Long To Grill Chicken Legs On A Charcoal Grill
Its important to use temperature zones when cooking your chicken legs because bone-in chicken takes a bit longer.
Chicken legs are tricky to grill properly as they give the appearance on the outside that theyre done, when theyre not thoroughly cooked on the inside.
Sear the chicken legs for 10 minutes on each side so you begin to see grill marks. The rest of the cooking will be done using indirect heat.
Cover the grill because this will take a while. After about 10 minutes, the chicken legs will even look like theyre done, but theyre not. Continue to grill for another 15-25 minutes until the temperature reaches 165 degrees. The difference in variation is due to how many chicken legs you have loaded on your grill.
When in doubt, its hard to overcook a chicken leg over hot coals because the dark meat is so juicy and the skin gets better as it roasts, they can be overcooked by 20 minutes and still turn out delicious.
Once over the indirect heat, you can open the grill and turn them every five minutes or so if you want because theyre cooking on indirect heat and slow roasting. This helps develop good barbecue-looking chicken skin.
Dont forget that chicken legs love a good glaze with barbecue sauce or other sweet glazes!
Is It Best To Grill Chicken On Direct Or Indirect Heat
Smaller pieces of chicken, drumsticks & wings, do well on direct medium heat provided that they are frequently turned to avoid burning.
For larger pieces such as whole bone-in breast, leg quarters and whole birds, cook using indirect heat for at least half of the cooking time and then brown the skin over direct heat to finish the cooking.
Obviously, the easiest recipes are the most successful when it comes to the home cook, because theyre not intimidated by them. If Im doing Boy Meets Grill, and I do something very simple like grilled hamburgers or steaks or chicken, those are the most sought-after recipes. Bobby Flay
Recommended Reading: Chicken Breast Stove Top Recipes
Bbq Grilled Chicken Drumsticks/legs Happy Food
Chicken drumsticks on a grill is just the sort of food that makes everyone happy! Once grilled, the succulent chicken tastes sweet, savory, tart, and smoky.
And that Vietnamese-inspired sweet chili sauce with fresh lime juice has an amazing tenderizing ability which makes the chicken drumsticks fall off the bone tender and super flavorful.
Its the smell, the caramelized chicken skins, and the shiny sticky glazesurprisingly easy to make and totally a crowd-pleaser!
How To Grill Chicken Breasts That Are Sooo Juicy
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How long do you grill chicken breasts for? Do they need to be brined or marinated? How do you get good grill marks? How do you grill the juiciest chicken breasts? All your grilled chicken breast answers are here!
With summer and grilling season coming up, its a great time to grill up some chicken as an entree, to put onto salads, or to use in your favorite chicken recipes. Its therefore a good idea that we take a moment to tackle the conundrum of grilling chicken breasts.
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How Long Do You Grill Chicken Drumsticks On A Gas Grill
You should sear the grill with gas between 400 F and 500 F.Once the drumsticks are cooking for approximately five minutes per side, let them stand there on all sides while you sear them in a skillet with white pepper.Grilling in a 40 degree Celsius temperature will be done in about 15 minutes.The water should turn halfway through, then stop for 25 minutes.
Temperature To Grill Chicken Legs

You have to Set your barbecue to about 425 degrees Fahrenheit. If the barbecue temperature goes up or down several degrees, dont stress because this is the natural behaviour of barbecue.
We like to barbecue our chicken somewhat more smoking than what wed heat it at with the goal that it gets pleasant and scorched. There truly is nothing satisfactory compared to barbecue marks!
Simply ensure that you watch your drumsticks and pivot them regularly after some minutes to not consume. You are grilling them on straightforward blazes, all things considered.
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How To Bbq Chicken Quarters On The Grill
I cook with a gas grill, but you can apply these same principles to a charcoal grill. With chicken legs, as with most meat, I like to use a combination of direct and indirect heat.
First, place the chicken legs over direct heat and cook for about 2 minutes per side, just to sear the meat slightly. Then move the legs to the indirect heat portion of the grill.
Close the grill cover and let the meat cook, undisturbed, for about 20 minutes. If your grill has a thermometer, try to maintain a temperature of about 325-350F.
How To Grill Bbq Chicken Legs
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Average Grill Temperatures And What They Mean
When a recipe says grill over medium heat, what do they mean?
If you arent familiar with the various temperature levels used in grilling, heres a handy guideline showing the average temperatures. Make sure you have a good wireless digital thermometer to check and monitor the temperature at the grill grates.
- Low heat 250 to 275 °F
- Medium low heat 300 °F
- Medium heat 350 °F
- Medium high 400 to 450 °F
- High 500 to 650 °F
- Cremation 650+ °F
Cooking chicken too fast or too hot will end up burning the skin but leaving the meat undercooked, ugh!
So, the correct chicken cooking temperature will be in medium range, to cook it long enough without burning.
Should I Grill Chicken On High
If you cook the chicken on too hot a grill, the skin will burn before the flesh cooks. Medium-low is the best temperature on a charcoal grill, and medium on a gas grill. But if youre cooking skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cook them on medium for a charcoal grill and medium high for a gas grill.
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Time For The Chicken Barbecue On The Gas
- The barbecue ought to be 450to500 degree Fahrenheit outside temperature. That is generally somewhat above moderate on most gas barbecues.
- Fire up your barbecue. When barbecuing leg quarters on a gas barbecue, cook them beyond moderate warmth, urges the National Chicken Council. Eagerly screen the chicken and turn it habitually to ensure, regardless, cooking. It took about 30- 35 minutes to barbecue chicken drumsticks on a gas barbecue.
- Cook the chicken until it shows up at an internal warmth of 165 °F to electrocute any ruinous germs, alerts the Centers for infection restriction and inhibition. Use a high-level thermometer inserted into the thickest segment of chicken to check the doneness.
- Freeze any additional items within 2 hours of barbecuing. Consume additional chicken within four to three days.