Oven Baked BBQ Chicken

Life is so routine and boring these days. I want to kick start it by a surprise dinner party for my family. I started working on the menu. It much be simple yet wonderful. I thought off making a starter, main dish and dessert. I made all the arrangement before ahead like marinated the chicken, made the sauce and draw some sketches in my mind for "How to arrange the table".  On that day, I am wanting for my hubby to go to office, then it started raining, followed by a tornado warning. Boom, surprise went off and there was just a dinner party after all.

But, I want to make it something special, I made an invitation using all my skills in Photoshop and mailed to him. He was so excited. I sent my kid to school and started getting all the recipes in my menu into a shape.

Here is my menu
                       
                                BBQ Chicken
                                Shrimp Lasagna
                                Chocolate Coconut balls

Me and my little chef, Saanvi love items made with BBQ sauce - BBQ potato chips, pizza with BBQ sauce and BBQ chicken. I love that smoky flavor. For Saanvi, I want to try BBQ chicken at home. I picked canned BBQ sauce many times , read the ingredients used in it (they always frightens me) and placed it back.  Finally, decided to make at home. I though, making BBQ sauce is very difficult. But, it's very easy and tasty. I made this BBQ chicken again for a get together party and it was a big success.

Let's learn how to prepare BBQ Chicken.

Preparation for sauce : 15 minutes
Time to cook sauce : 35 minutes
Time to Cook Chicken : Approximately 1 hr 30 min

Ingredients

• Chicken legs - 5 piece
• Salt to taste
• Lemon juice - 3 to 4 tbsp
• Smoked paprika - 1 tbsp
• All spice mix or Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
• BBQ Sauce - 1 cup

Ingredients To Make Sauce:

• Tomato ketchup - 1 cup
• Onion - 1/4 cup
• Tomato - 2 tbsp
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Brown cane sugar - 2 tbsp( we can use honey or white sugar)
• Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
• Vinegar - 2 tbsp
• Chili powder - 1 tbsp (We can also use red chili sauce, I added hot red chili powder)
• Smoked paprika - 2 tbsp
• water - 1 cup
• Orange juice - 1/4 cup(optional)
• Salt to taste

Chicken preparation

• Clean chicken legs and cut slits.(We can leave skin on or remove it).
• Marinate it with salt and lemon juice.
• Keep it in fridge for over night or for 3 hours.

Sauce Preparation

• Heat oil in a pan, add onion and tomato pieces and cook till soft.
• Add all the remaining ingredients under sauce and cook for 20 to 25 minutes.
• Let it cool, transfer the mixture to a blender and blend till soft.
• If the sauce is too thick, add little water(1/2 cup) and cook for another 10 minutes.
• Check salt, sour, spicy and sweetness and adjust to your taste.

Baking Chicken

1. Preheat oven to 375 Degree F.
2. Take a oven safe pan and cover with sliver foil. (It will make cleaning easy)
3. Take chicken legs and if they are wet, dry them with napkin.
4. Mix smoked paprika and all spice mix and sprinkle on chicken legs on both sides and place them in the pan.
5. Place the pan with chicken in preheated oven and cook for 30 minutes.
6. Take the chicken out and turn to other side and cook for 15 minutes. (Total 45 minutes)
7. Take the chicken out and apply BBQ sauce on one side and cook for 10 minutes.
8. Again apply BBQ sauce on another side and cook for another 10 minutes.
9. Repeat step 8 for 3 to 4 time.
10. Serve hot