Grilled Chicken Drumsticks

Grilled chicken drumsticks is a new way to cook legs with dry rub perfectly on the inside with crispy skin all over. If you love easy baked chicken drumsticks but want to cook meals outside, this is a kid favorite.

So you have kids and they are picky. They love fried chicken legs and nuggets but you’re not going to give it to them all the time. NO worries, there are so many ways to cook them. Try out our grilled chicken legs here on your next go around so you don’t get so bored. (affiliate links present)

How Long to Cook Grilled Drumsticks

You can eat cow pretty raw and it’s okay. Leave it to poultry to be a sensitive and HAVE to be 165 degrees or more. In the case of chicken legs at 400 degrees on your gas grill you will want to have about 20 minutes set aside to get it done right. Of course timing will vary depending on how large or small they are but within 5 minutes of this is generally perfect.

Whether you call these drumsticks or legs we are seeing eye to eye on this. They’re going to be bone-in and almost always with the skin on which is what you want here. There isn’t much variation as far as this cut goes other than if you were to make lollipop chicken drumsticks which are fun for kids.

Ingredients

• 6-12 chicken legs
• 1.5 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp chicken seasoning 
  • or garlic powder + onion powder + seasoned salt

Variations

If you are a crispy chicken skin lover you will enjoy this method. In the case that you REALLY want the outside to be as crispy as all get out you should slice them first in the thickest part. We call these butterflied chicken legs which are amazing, and then follow our directions from there. With them laying flat on to the grill they won’t take as long that way.

Of course you can double or triple how many you make, the larger the grate the more you could add. Just make sure they don’t overlap or else some parts will cook properly and other sides will not.

Without a thermometer the meat should be pulling away from the bone and the juices run clear when poked.

Let’s talk first about the prep. If you do want to add a bunch of flavor and do have some time you can soak in a marinade. Bottled teriyaki is a great one or dry rub for chicken is great and become even more intense if you let it sit longer in a bowl (covered) for about an hour.

Another great one is this smoked chicken brine. Even if you don’t have a Traeger, and you are just using a bbq to make these, a good soak in this for a few hours or overnight really makes for tender meat and tons of flavor.

How to Grill Chicken Legs

• Rinse and dry with paper towels, the drier they are the crispier the skin will get.
• Coat with olive oil to keep moist and sprinkle with seasoning, at least with salt and pepper.
• Place in the center of high heat on a preheated grill. Cook at 400 degrees for 15 minutes of grilling.
  • if using charcoal wait for coals to turn white showing they have cooled down before setting inside
• Flip your pieces until the internal temperature on meat thermometer reaches 165 degrees F.

Nowadays there are many devices you can use to get those grill marks and a bit of a smoky flavor to your meats. From a charcoal grill, to electric grill – backyard bbq style, to the new indoor Ninja Foodi grill that works quite well too the timing is about the same.

FAQ

It really doesn’t take long to get this done, about 20ish minutes. If you want to start slow cooker collard greens in your slow cooker earlier in the afternoon, then get these going a few hours later you can have a great Southern dish served together for dinner.

Other Grilled Chicken Recipes

Ok so of course there are other parts of the bird or you can even use the same method to make beer can chicken (or gas grill works too) like we did here.

Those are the two we do most often as far as poultry goes, rather we will use our smoker for the others. Our Traeger will do both ways, in fact anything cooked over 250 F is technically grilling.

• Another you might like if you are serving a crowd, and want something done closer to 30 minutes, would be these fall off the bone grilled wings like this here.
• Smoked chicken thighs is the way we like these with dark meat and marinated in teriyaki sauce beforehand.

We explain step by steps on how long to grill Chicken Quarters Smoked here too if you want to keep the two pieces together. A great option if you are on a budget and trying to keep the cost down, but still serve a protein packed meal.

How do you reheat chicken legs without drying them out?

No matter whether you are making legs on the grill or other cuts, you need to always check and make sure the internal temperature reaches 165. To get an accurate read get a digital meat thermometer and remove each piece from the heat source before testing in the thickest part.

First off you need to make sure you save them correctly, in an air sealed bag and kept in the fridge. When you are ready to enjoy them again I like to reheat chicken in air fryer. With a bit of added sauce brushed on the outside to add moisture and flavor this is by far the best way of all to get the outside to crisp up again.