Chicken leg quarters are a budget friendly cut of meat that tastes great when glazed with several layers of homemade barbecue sauce.

Time: 4/5
Bit of a challenge juggling the cooking times for food in the oven, pan, and microwave.

Effort: 4/5
Lots of steps and does feel fussy, but the results speak for themselves.

Saucy!

Having spent a good two days cooking some delightful smoky ribs in my home oven, I had some dry rub, and half a cup or so of homemade barbecue sauce left over. I wasn’t going to let that labour of love go to waste, so off I went to make good use of the sauce. Since I used the barbecue sauce to glaze my ribs after they were basically cooked, I reckoned I should try to do the same with some chicken leg quarters. 

To be honest, I’m a bit ashamed that I didn’t think of this earlier. In an earlier attempt to make minimalist chicken thighs, I marinated them in hot sauce and hoped the hot sauce would form a glaze in the oven. What actually happened was that as the chicken cooked, the water and the fat coming out of the meat basically washed off the marinade. If only I had listened to America’s Test Kitchen.

Oh well, you live and you learn. Sometimes there’s no way around putting in some good honest effort. The game plan was to basically replicate what I did with the oven baked ribs, but with the chicken quarters – season with dry rub, bake until tender, then glaze with sauce.

Par-cooking potatoes in the microwave

To keep the American theme going, I ditched my rice cooker (for now) in favour of home fry potatoes. This involved the second experiment, in which I par-cooked the potatoes in the microwave before browning them in the skillet in rosemary and garlic infused oil.

I’m pretty satisfied with how it turned out. It’s a lot less work than blanching or steaming the potatoes, and a lot less dishes to wash afterwards. As for the results, they were indistinguishable from parboiling.

In fact, there might even be theoretical advantages to using the microwave instead of a pot of boiling water to par-cook potatoes. The microwave adds no moisture, and the potatoes dry out even further as you let them steam off so it may be even easier to crisp them up in the pan.

Food pairing and balance

The chicken and potatoes can feel a bit too rich, so I served them with some blanched broccoli and a simple cherry tomato salad to balance things with some freshness.

I ended up serving this to my wife on her first evening back home from a long road trip, and got a raving positive review. She still considers this one of the best dinners she’s had, and I’ve made my fair share of amazing meals.

I guess it goes to show that hunger and fatigue are very potent seasonings, and sometimes food can taste great when there’s a good story to go with it!

Posts since the last recipe that was actually served with rice: 1

Dramatis Personae

Served 4.

Spice mix

• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp kashmirilal, or chili powder order choice
• 1 tsp mixed dried herbs
• 1 tsp salt

Chicken

• 6 chicken leg quarters 
• Half of the spice mix

Barbecue sauce

• Other half of the spice mix
• 50ml ketchup
• 0.5 tsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• Few drops of liquid smoke

Home fries

• 1 huge potato
• A few sprigs of rosemary
• A few cloves of garlic
• Salt, pepper and cooking oil to taste

Vegetables 

• 2 heads of broccoli
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes 
• Salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar to taste 

Executive summary

1. The day before, rub chicken with the spice mix. Mix barbecue sauce ingredients together. Refrigerate both overnight.
2. Cut potatoes into 1 inch cubes. Microwave potatoes on high for 5 minutes, mix, and microwave for 5 minutes more. Allow to steam off and cool, and refrigerate overnight as well.
3. On the day of cooking, roast chicken at 200C/400F for 30 minutes.
4. Cut the cherry tomatoes and season to taste. Cut broccoli and reserve. 
5. Meanwhile, blanche broccoli in boiling water and reserve.
6. Once chicken quarters are cooked, brush on a layer of barbecue sauce and bake at the same temperature for 10 minutes. Repeat for a total of 2 or 3 times.
7. Meanwhile, discard the water and dry off the pan. Add oil, cook potato cubes until crisp, then stir in garlic and rosemary. Serve hot.

Play by Play

Last things first. I want the chicken quarters to have some time to marinade, so they get spice rubbed well in advance.

Prep for the potatoes are also nice and easy. Cube up, salt and pepper, microwave, and allow to cool.

Here we are the next day. The chicken gets cooked before the sauce gets brushed on. Each layer of sauce gets about 10 minutes of heat before I add another layer. I forgot to take photos, but I used this time to steam broccoli in my stainless steel pan.

The potatoes are basically cooked too, so there isn’t much to do either. The pan is already hot from steaming the broccoli, so it dries out really fast. A generous amount of oil helps with even heat transfer, and I save the garlic and herbs until the end to avoid burning them.

I had my attention divided between the stove and glazing the chicken in the oven for a while, but after the final coat of sauce I was free to focus on the potatoes.

Just like that, dinner is served! One of the prettiest meals I’ve made in a while.

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