Asian Glazed Drumsticks

Asian glazed drumsticks are made with tender, juicy baked chicken drumsticks that are tossed with an incredible sticky Asian sauce. 

Baked chicken drumsticks are a favorite of mine to make for dinner. They require hardly any hands-on time and the chicken is so tender and juicy. The sauce for these Asian glazed drumsticks is perfectly balanced and packed with so much flavor, you will want to put it on everything! 

Ingredients for the Asian Sauce: 

• Soy sauce: Use low-sodium.  
• Oyster sauce: Oyster sauce is savory with a hint of sweetness. It's perfect for bringing fast, well-balanced, and complex flavors to a dish. 
• Honey: Sticky and sweet honey is perfect for rounding out the saltiness in the sauce. 
• Rice wine vinegar: Adds a little acidity to the sauce.
• Mirin: Mirin is a Japanese rice wine that is slightly sweet and adds great flavor.  
• Sambal Oelek or chili garlic sauce: Both of these can be found in the Hispanic aisle at grocery stores. Sambal Oelek is spicier than chili garlic sauce, so if you don't want the sauce to be very spicy you can leave it out and use only chili garlic sauce. If you want a spicier sauce use only Sambal Oelek, or for a medium sauce use half of each.
• Spices: Garlic powder and ground ginger. 
• Sesame oil: Sesame oil has a mild nutty flavor. It's used in Asian cooking more as a seasoning ingredient than as a cooking oil.
• Water: Because the flavors in the sauce are all very strong, adding water helps to dilute it slightly.
• Cornstarch: Mixed with the water and then added to thicken the sauce. 

How to Make Asian Glazed Drumsticks:

Bake the Chicken Drumsticks:

1. Arrange the chicken drumsticks in a parchment-lined baking pan with high sides. Add 1 tbsp. of olive oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle ½ tsp. of salt evenly over the chicken.
2. Bake the chicken in a 425° oven for 25 minutes. Flip the chicken over and continue baking for another 25 minutes. 

Make the Asian Sauce:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk all of the sauce ingredients except for the water and the cornstarch together and add it to a medium saucepan.
2. Whisk the water and the cornstarch together until the cornstarch is dissolved. Add it to the pot with the sauce ingredients.
3. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce the heat slightly, and cook, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens. The sauce will thicken more the longer it cooks. 

Pour the sauce over the baked chicken. Set the pan with the top of the chicken about 3" away from the broiler and broil the drumsticks on high for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until the skin is crispy and the sauce is caramelized.

Serve warm with a side of rice and garnish with toasted sesame seeds and sliced green onions.  

More Asian Recipes:

• Asian Glazed Meatballs
• Beef and Broccoli
• Chicken Katsu
• Orange Chicken

📖 RECIPE

Asian Glazed Drumsticks

Asian glazed drumsticks are made with crispy baked chicken drumsticks that are tossed with a perfectly balanced, sticky Asian sauce.

5 from 3 votes

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Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings: 5 people

Ingredients

  

½1x2x3x

• 3 lbs. chicken drumsticks
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ teaspoon salt

Asian Sauce:

• ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 and ½ tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 and ½ tablespoon honey
• ½ tablespoon Sambal Oelek*
• ½ tablespoon chili garlic sauce*
• ½ teaspoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 cup water
• 1 and ½ tablespoon cornstarch

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 425°F.
• Arrange the chicken drumsticks in a parchment-lined baking pan with high sides. Add 1 tbsp. of olive oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle ½ tsp. of salt evenly over the chicken.
• Bake the chicken in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Flip the chicken over and continue baking for another 25 minutes.

Make the Asian Sauce:

• In a medium bowl, whisk all of the sauce ingredients except for the water and the cornstarch together and add it to a medium saucepan.
• Whisk the water and the cornstarch together until the cornstarch is dissolved. Add it to the pot with the sauce ingredients.
• Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce the heat slightly, and cook, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens. The sauce will thicken more the longer you cook it.
• Pour the sauce over the baked chicken. Set the pan with the top of the chicken about 3" away from the broiler and broil the drumsticks on high for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until the skin is crispy and the sauce is caramelized.
• Serve warm with a side of rice and garnish with toasted sesame seeds and sliced green onions, if desired.

Notes

• *For a sauce with medium heat use ½ tbsp. Sambal Oelek + ½ tbsp. chili garlic sauce.
  • For a milder sauce: Use 1 tbsp. chili garlic sauce and leave out the Sambal Oelek.
  • For a spicier sauce: Use 1 tbsp. Sambal Oelek and leave out the chili garlic sauce. 

The cooking temperature and time for the chicken will be the same no matter how much chicken you're cooking. 

If you want to make the sauce ahead of time, whisk all of the ingredients except for the cornstarch and the water and store the sauce in an airtight container in the fridge. Add the cornstarch and water and cook the sauce once you're ready to use it.  

Nutrition

Calories: 337kcal | Carbohydrates: 10.3g | Protein: 34.4g | Fat: 17.8g | Saturated Fat: 4.2g | Cholesterol: 135mg | Sodium: 1143mg | Potassium: 31mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 6.7g | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 2mg