Spice-Roasted Chicken Drumsticks

May 2025

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2025

The magazine article had recipes for barbecue spice-roasted chicken and curry-roasted chicken. We like dark-meat poultry and this recipe looked easy to carry out, appropriate for a weeknight, and would make easy to reheat leftovers for a second meal. We chose the more familiar-sounding barbecue recipe.

Each of the recipes included instructions and ingredients for an easy to make dipping sauce but we skipped it this time. I cooked 5 drumsticks, 1.3 pounds, about half of what the recipe specified, but I made the full spice recipe. A spice rub was made by mixing kosher salt, brown sugar, pepper, coriander, cumin, granulated garlic (substituting for garlic powder), onion powder, smoked paprika, and cayenne pepper (just ⅛ teaspoon). The spices were bloomed to bring out their flavors by mixing with warm tap water then, after a few minutes of hydration, vegetable oil to make a loose slurry. The drumsticks were patted dry with paper towels, rolled in the spice slurry, then placed on a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet that had been lined with aluminum foil. The chicken was baked in a 350° oven to an internal temperature of 180° then broiled for a few minutes to brown the drumsticks. Total time, mostly roasting, was 80 minutes.

We enjoyed this very flavorful chicken. The spices added a lot of flavor but not too much. The chicken was tender and juicy and the skin crisp. This is a dish to make again, perhaps with the curry spice mixture.