Crispy Oven BBQ Chicken

You may think this chicken looks burnt, but I cooked it this way on purpose to make it look and taste like chicken cooked on an outside grill. I know Baked BBQ Chicken is really common and most people can figure out how to cook it themselves. It is common to stick raw chicken on a flat pan and baste with your favorite BBQ sauce, right? I used to do that but was never satisfied with the outcome. We all know that chicken tastes better with the skin on, especislly if its BBQ, but when I cooked it in the oven the way I described, or sometimes in the crock pot, it always came out soggy and the sauce usually fell off and was drenched in a river of chicken broth. Not good.
So I decided to try something that I used to do when cooking BBQ chicken or pork ribs on the grill outside. We would always boil the chicken or ribs on top of the stove in water first, for about 15 minutes. This gave it a chance to cook out some of the fat plus cooking it some ahead of time ensures it will be cooked all the way through to the bone, on the grill, without having to cook it to death, which leaves a hard, dry meat. So today, I had the idea to do the same thing for oven bbq chicken.

About the last 5-10 minutes, you spread more bbq sauce on and let it cook under the broiler (see full recipe below), searing the sauce and crisping up the skin, the same way it is cooked on the grill. Walla! Success!
I will continue to cook the chicken this way from now on. I would even go so far as to say if you have to leave the house for work, you can cook the chicken in the slow cooker, and put the chicken and sauce under the broiler the same way as described here and it will be great. The broiler is the key!

Crispy Oven BBQ Chicken

Ingredients
1. Chicken pieces (any amount) bone in, with skin (I prefer thighs, wings and legs since they don't get too dry)
2. Sweet Baby Rays Honey BBQ Sauce

Preheat oven to 400º. While the oven is heating, place chicken pieces in a pot covered with water on top of the stove. Add a little salt and let it come to a boil. Turn the heat down a little and let it boil for about 15 minutes.
Drain the water and pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Place it, skin side up, on a broiler pan with holes or on a rack in a large flat cookie sheet with sides to catch any excess liquid. (See picture of pan and rack I used in picture below)

Squirt bbq sauce from bottle onto chicken. It will be thick and that's great. You can leave it that way or spread it on with a brush. Place chicken in oven on the middle rack and cook for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, turn chicken pieces over and put bbq sauce on that side same as before. Cook 12 minutes. Turn chicken over again with skin side up, adding more sauce. After about 10 more minutes, take chicken out and add more sauce. Turn oven temperature to broil. Place oven track at highest point and place chicken under broiler. Cook under broiler for 5-10 minutes, searing sauce and crisping up skin. You need to keep a close watch on the chicken, checking it often, because it will be very easy to burn it. I kinda like that but you may not! Cool a few minutes before serving and serve with potato salad.

I used this rack and you can see how it still had liquid that drained. Believe 
me, the chicken was still very tender and juicy!

My Potato Salad